Across four evenings this June, VIVO presented Tender Engine, a performance-installation piece co-choreographed by Alexa Mardon and Erika Mitsuhashi. The artists have been in research for over a year through residencies in Vancouver and Halifax, during which they investigated four areas: technology, language, storytelling and “performative expertise.”
Posted July 23, 2019Helen Simard explores the life and work of music icon Iggy Pop in her newest creation called Requiem Pop, which tackles the notions of hero worship, fandom and the cultural icons we don’t know but love. The work unleashes an electric bolt of messy, self-destructive Iggy chaos onto the stage.
Posted May 21, 2019The co-creators of the bold and distinctive Revisor, Jonathon Young and Crystal Pite, bear witness to themes of deceit, tyranny, greed and corruption in their re-telling of Nikolas Gogol’s The Inspector General.
Posted April 23, 2019Just how deep does the damage go? In SHINY Kelly McInnes gets to the guts of this question in a persistent and stealthy topic: the effects of the beauty standards inflicted on women through media.
Posted April 16, 2019The program describes the duet as a “requiem for wood and stone” – a “primitive mystery of vulnerability and transformation.” With or without these descriptions, the setup places us immediately inside some kind of ritual or spiritual journey, though its parameters and significance are unclear.
Posted April 15, 2019An inquisitive storyline begins as a pomegranate flips through the air. In response, the ensemble rises to engage in a syncopated choreographic trail.
Posted April 5, 2019To 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, 20192019 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, 2019Guy 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, 2019James 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, 2019In 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, 2018fantasylover layers pop culture references and vibrant subversion of fairy tale tropes to create a feminist utopia.
Posted November 23, 2018Rooted 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, 2018A 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.
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