Reviews

When Bygones Won’t Let Go

The newest work from Out Innerspace Dance Theatre By Kate Morris

To “let bygones be bygones” means to let go of negative elements of the past and get on with things. Out Innerspace’s Bygones invites us to consider how negative experiences persist in the present and the ways we might cling to them, even at our own expense.

Posted January 9, 2020

Dystopian Impressions

Marie Béland’s Beside By Philip Szporer

Fragmentation immediately pervades Marie Béland’s imaginative Beside, a collaboration of maribé - sors de ce corps and Montréal Danse.

Posted January 7, 2020

Expanding Their Reach

All Bodies Dance Project investigates sightless dance By Rachel Silver Maddock

How do we experience dance through our non-visual senses? This is one of the questions asked by All Bodies Dance Project in their new work Translations.

Posted January 2, 2020

On the Steps of the Escalators

An after-hours performance with jes sachse By Tak Pham

Under the roof of the library, sachse’s questions were nuanced by this highly regulated architectural space: equipped with sound mufflers, fluorescent lights and surveillance points, libraries are typically built to deter disturbance and promote solitary contemplation.

Posted December 31, 2019

Devious Spine Chills

Hélène Blackburn and Lucie Bazzo’s Suites Ténébreuses / The Monsters By Xdzunúm Danae Trejo-Boles

There was a soft calmness to the dark theatre space of Agora de la danse as a mixed audience entered to see Cas Public’s Suites Ténébreuses / The Monsters, co-created by choreographer Hélène Blackburn and lighting designer Lucie Bazzo.

Posted December 9, 2019

Humanity Adrift

Alan Lake Factori(e)’s Le cri des méduses By Dylan Schoenmakers

A painting come to life, Le cri des méduses dramatizes humanity at its most fractured and desperate.

Posted November 21, 2019

Repetition is a Form of Change

Andrea Peña’s Untitled I + III By Helen Simard

In her latest work, choreographer Andrea Peña uses “sameness,” or repetition, as a catalyst for change, highlighting the transformative nature of the body as it oscillates between a site of resilience and vulnerability.

Posted November 12, 2019

In the Grip of a Crowd

Hanna Kiel’s Resonance By Erin Baldwin

If you’re looking for clues to deciphering Resonance, the new dance production from Toronto-based choreographer Hanna Kiel, you might start with the name.

Posted October 29, 2019

A Quizzical Assortment

Three choreographers remix Melanie Demers’ Cantique By Philip Szporer

When you let other choreographers remix your work, radical shifts can result, bringing into question cultural practice

Posted October 28, 2019

Performing Radical Sincerity

Dana Michel’s CUTLASS SPRING By James Oscar

Dana Michel’s latest serving challenges us to reach into our imaginations to create our own intimate vocabularies while sitting with the work.

Posted October 9, 2019

A Glimmer of Hope

Rodney Diverlus and Syrus Ware’s burn, burned By Valeria Nunziato

Through their original work, burn, burned, Rodney Diverlus and Syrus Marcus Ware present a fictitious futuristic setting following a band of revolutionaries looking to salvage what is left after decades of race-driven war and destruction.

Posted October 7, 2019

Reclaiming Narrative for a Contemporary Audience

Josh Beamish’s @giselle By Rachel Silver Maddock

In @giselle, Josh Beamish takes the tragic romance of Giselle, which dates back to 1841, and inserts a third player, social media, to expose its role in modern-day relationships.

Posted September 19, 2019

Defying the Familiar

dance: made in canada’s Mrozewski Series By Valeria Nunziato

The Mrozewski series at this year’s dance: made in canada festival defy the familiar with Katia-Marie Germain’s Habiter and Josh Martin’s Leftovers.

Posted September 17, 2019

Blending In, Blending Out

Syreeta Hector’s Black Ballerina By Valeria Nunziato

Syreeta Hector’s Black Ballerina bears a loaded title, with an equally weighty repertoire of choreography. At SummerWorks Performance Festival, we were offered a preview of this work-in-progress, her first-solo work, with the full program premiering at The Citadel this fall.

Posted September 10, 2019

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