Reviews
Lonely Elegy
Akram Khan’s XENOS By Philip SzporerTo appreciate Akram Khan, the exalted British dance artist, is to see his fierce spins, angled gestures, intricate patterns and the sublime articulation of hands, fingers and feet. But it also means seeing his moments of soft repose, which give pause.
Posted March 4, 2019
In the Cypher
Three street-to-stage performances in Montréal By Helen Simard2019 might be the year that the Montréal stage dance community finally catches on to what’s going on in our city’s street dance scene.
Posted March 1, 2019
Phosphorescent Figures Rattle
Priscilla Guy and Sébastien Provencher’s Deux squelettes By Philip SzporerGuy and Provencher’s characters are, in their work Deux squelettes, two artists who’ve shed, well, everything to probe the meaning of their existence.
Posted February 11, 2019
Stepping into the Twilight of the Sacred
Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet presents Vespers at the National Arts Centre By Sheenagh PietrobrunoJames Kudelka transforms the religious evocation of this 1610 choral masterpiece into a contemporary spiritual testament to the union between animals, humans and nature.
Posted January 11, 2019
Navigating the Voyage
Lucie Grégoire’s Territoires By Philip SzporerIn many ways Lucie Grégoire’s new work, Territoires, is like an elusive secret. She notes that this piece is drawn from previous works and new material – a revisiting of her creative bank of work.
Posted December 7, 2018
Turn Me Inside Out
Rock Bottom Movement’s fantasylover brandishes a feminist awareness with a self-aware wink By Jillian Groeningfantasylover layers pop culture references and vibrant subversion of fairy tale tropes to create a feminist utopia.
Posted November 23, 2018
The Roots and Realities of Colourism
Esie Mensah’s Shades: What is Colour? By Collette MurrayRooted in the fractured phenomenon of shadeism or colourism, Shades: What is Colour? engages with the discrimination deeply embedded in global communities of colour.
Posted October 31, 2018
Watching is Not Seeing
Rebecca Margolick and Andrea Peña & Artists By Lucy FandelA video projection of swaying torsos opens New York-based choreographer Rebecca Margolick’s birds sing a pretty song. Belonging to Austin Tyson and Margolick the torsos slowly turn and cross in front of one another, arms loosely wrapped around themselves.
Posted October 29, 2018
Inner Worlds and Outer Lives
Janelle Hacault and Jane Mappin at Festival Quartiers Danses By Lucy FandelThe unseen and unspoken are themes that echo through a double bill with works by Janelle Hacault and Jane Mappin.
Posted October 29, 2018
Our Inevitable Fall
Alix Dufresne and Marc Béland’s Chutes: Descendre du ciel By Lucy FandelUninhibited and tender, Chutes is a confrontation of our physical and mental fall at the end of life.
Posted October 16, 2018
A Process of Fulfillment
Benchmarq presents Darshan By Brannavy JeyasundaramThe margam in bharatanatyam is a traditional repertoire consisting of core sections (or items, as they’re called in the form), strategically arranged to evoke a spiritual journey.
Posted August 29, 2018
Make It Rain
Eroca Nicols is the truthteller By Emma DoranTruthteller is an interactive presentation engaging with performance economies, rituals and intimacies between bodies.
Posted August 21, 2018
Yes Manifesto (2018)
Linnea Swan interprets modern dance history, makes us laugh, makes us cry and makes us laugh-cry By Emma DoranWith Swan’s impeccable comedic timing, we’re in good hands on a journey through modern dance moments. Each performance is enacted by Swan as she struggles with anxiety, and each is interrupted by one of Yvonne Rainer’s tenets. Nijinsky? Swan asks through her performance (“No to spectacle”). Duncan? (“No to transformations and magic”). Chouinard? (“No to trash imagery”). Ugh, fine, karaoke? (“No to camp”). And so on …
Posted August 21, 2018
Sensational but Stuck
Breakaway Entertainment’s Anatomy of a Dancer at the Toronto Fringe Festival By Grace Wells-SmithBefitting a show dedicated to Gene Kelly, I walked in the pouring rain to the Al Green Theatre in Toronto to see Anatomy of a Dancer by Breakaway Entertainment and choreographed by Adam Martino at the Toronto Fringe Festival.
Posted August 9, 2018
