Features

Caribana is Our Stage

Embodying tradition, ritual and art in Canadian Carnival By Kevin A. Ormsby

Themes of becoming, shaping from and returning to are central to Caribbean performance arts. As one of these art forms, Carnival is a nuanced performance art practice rooted in the cultural memory of the lives of Caribbean peoples throughout Canada and the diaspora. But whose story is told (or not told) and in what context? The telling or omission of stories can be traced to a lack of understanding of the complexity of the Caribbean and its Carnival – a performance tradition that is more than the mass commodification, sexuality and “loud music” we often associate it with.

Posted September 27, 2018

Where Are All the Women?

In an industry where women outnumber men, ballet still has a long way to go to achieve gender equality By Tessa Perkins Deneault

In an industry where women outnumber men, ballet still has a long way to go to achieve gender equality. Take a look into the state of gender parity and representation in Canadian ballet.

Posted March 30, 2018

Sarah Elola in her own work La Pileuse / Photo by Stacyann Lee

Decolonizing Dance Stages

Presenters talk about breaking barriers By Rhodnie Désir

This year in Canada, the conversation about diversity, inclusion and representation has been omnipresent. I’m profoundly happy that more presenters, curators and jurors have brought these words into their vocabulary. But I question what they’re really referring to. Do we all really feel and understand the urgency? More precisely, when asking, “What does the word diversity really mean?” the answers from the dance milieu are often incomplete, reflecting a lack of comprehension of the issues at stake.

Posted January 18, 2018

The Politics of Dance

The current moment of arts advocacy at the federal level By Kate Cornell

Ten years ago, in the Summer 2007 issue, Shannon Litzenberger, then executive director of the Canadian Dance Assembly, wrote a column about the dance community and the federal government, “Coping with the Conservatives: CDA reflects on a year of cultural policy under Canada’s new government.” The Dance Current asked current executive director Kate Cornell to comment on the changes over the past decade and the relationship with the Trudeau Liberal government.

Posted November 7, 2017

Choreographing Community

Vancouver’s community-engaged dance momentum By Brittany Duggan

“You have to almost fall out of love before you’re going to open up to other possibilities,” recalls Karen Jamieson, of her journey into community-engaged dance. A Canadian pioneer of the practice, Jamieson shares with Brittany Duggan how this practice spread through Vancouver and how it was “utterly different from professional dance” as she had previously known and practised it.

Posted October 11, 2017

Expressive Bodies and Digital Cultures

Thinking about the Symposium IX on “Embodied Spaces” By Dena Davida

What is at stake for dancers and the dance profession in the face of technological advances? Dena Davida explores this question, based on her experiences at Symposium IX, presented by Audiokinetic and organized at/by the Société des arts technologiques (SAT) in Montréal, Québec, from May 30th through June 3rd, 2017.

Posted July 20, 2017

Broadening the Stage

Connecting with dance audiences through body diversity, representation and inclusivity By Cristina Matteis

Pervasive conceptions about which bodies are considered beautiful, professionally acceptable or healthy continue to restrict how individuals seek self-expression through the art of dance. Activists, experts and dance artists discuss the importance of body diversity in presenting a wider range of lived experiences onstage, reaching new audiences and connecting with them more meaningfully.

Posted July 14, 2017

Code of Silence

A call to action to address and prevent abuse in dance communities By Marie France Forcier

In the March/April issue of The Dance Current, Marie France Forcier hosted the print conversation, “Creating Safe Spaces.” The article focused on sharing strategies for identifying and preventing abusive situations. In this follow-up, Forcier delves deeper into the problematic, widespread and systematic experiences that lay at the root of that discussion by challenging what she identifies as the code of silence within the discipline.

Posted May 25, 2017

Moving Others

The relationship between audience engagement and attendance By Emma Doran

Most dance artists and presenters must negotiate the tension between creating work that meets their artistic goals, that is accessible to their community and that provides the fiscal support required to live as an artist and to run a company. Emma Doran speaks with artists, organizations and presenters across the country to discuss how they envision their audience, how they are seeking to reach those individuals and what constitutes meaningful engagement with them.

Posted March 31, 2017

Dance artists and faculty, including Adi Salant, Tilman O’Donnell and Jermain Spivey, in the studio during Banff Centre’s Creative Gesture residency / Photo courtesy of Banff Centre

Fundamental Questions

How conflicting ideas about the goals of a mature dance collaboration derailed Banff Centre's Creative Gesture Residency in 2016 By Mark Mann

In July of 2016, Banff Centre ran a residency designed to answer the need for professional development opportunities for mid-career dance artists. By the end of the program, only five of the original ten participants remained. This is what happened.

Posted March 17, 2017

Avinoam Silverman / Photo courtesy of Silverman

Movement Memory

How we learn, retain and remember dance By Carolyn Hebert

How do we learn, retain and remember dance? What happens when a dancer forgets well-known choreography? How can we improve our recall for movement sequences? Carolyn Hebert spoke with diverse dance professionals about memory and the verbal cues, mental imagery and bodily experiences that shape their memory.

Posted February 17, 2017

Contemporaneity

Coming together to decolonize dance space By Aparita Bhandari

Brandy Leary and Soraya Peerbaye launch a project looking to make understandings of contemporary dance performance more inclusive and diverse.

Posted January 26, 2017

Amy Nostbakken and Norah Sadava in their own work Mouthpiece / Photo by Brooke Wedlock

Memorable Moments, Methods and Mediums

Celebrating Canadian Dance in 2016 By Emma Kerson

Is there a work or a collection of Canadian dance works that stand out as highlights to you from 2016? Are there any themes or ways of working that stand out to you as interesting or unique? We asked this question to dancers and dance enthusiasts from around the country and this was their reply.

Posted December 22, 2016