Reviews
Mille batailles
Festival TransAmériques 2016 By Mark Mann, Philip Szporer Milles batailles“Dance is physical combat most of the time,” wrote Louise Lecavalier in the notes for Mille batailles, a ferocious new work by the legendary Montréal choreographer and dancer at Festival TransAmériques.
Posted June 7, 2016
Never Stop!
Festival TransAmériques 2016 By Philip Szporer Judson Church is Ringing in Harlem (Made-to-Measure) Trajal HarrellThe premise for Judson Church is Ringing in Harlem (Made-to-Measure) centres around what might happen if the Judson Church postmodern artists (Yvonne Rainer, Trisha Brown and the lot) had gone uptown to Harlem to perform alongside the vogue ballroom performers. (His previous works saw the voguers going downtown.)
Posted June 6, 2016
The Black Piece by Ann Van den Broek
Festival TransAmériques 2016 By Mark MannWhen the lights go down at the beginning of The Black Piece by Ann Van den Broek, they stay down. True to the title, the Dutch choreographer plunges both the audience and the performers into obscurity and leaves us there. The darkness isn’t perfect – exit signs and stair lighting reduce pitch-blackness to deep shadows – but it is enveloping, and surprisingly electric.
Posted May 31, 2016
Existential Reflections
Nous (ne) sommes (pas) tous des danseurs by Katya Montaignac and Sophie Corriveau By Philip Szporer Nous (ne) somme (pas) tous des danseurs.Katya Montaignac teams with Sophie Corriveau, artist-in-residence at the Agora de la danse, for a round table event. Artists involved included a veritable who’s who, mainly drawn from Montréal’s deep pool of dance talent.
Posted May 25, 2016
Renaissance Reimagined
Ballet Kelowna By Brittany Duggan RenaissanceRenaissance is an evening of contemporary ballet and contemporary music inspired by the music of Renaissance masters, a mixed program between Ballet Kelowna and Toronto’s Continuum Contemporary Music.
Posted May 24, 2016
A Ferocious Dance Toward the Heart
Serge Bennathan and Les Productions Figlio By Naomi Brand Just WordsJust Words by Serge Bennathan reaches unabashedly for the heart with its words but hits the guts with its movement. Les Productions Figlio’s latest evening-length work addresses somewhat rare topics in contemporary dance these days such as love, beauty and art, all without apology.
Posted May 13, 2016
This Is Not a Review
Newton Moraes Dance Theatre By Lee Slinger TestosteroneTitles challenge. They confront the potential audience member with a statement about a work. In his newest work, Testosterone, Newton Moraes uses the title as a challenge.
Posted May 11, 2016
The Inertia of a Heavy Heart
DA Hoskins By Emma Doran Jackie Burroughs is Dead (and what are you going to do about it?)Heavy-hearted, but not without curiosity, Hoskins’ choreography in this work is captive to gravity, and the dancers (purposefully) crumple under its inertia.
Posted April 19, 2016
Blinded by Sound, Playing at Life
Bill Coleman and Gordon Monahan’s Dollhouse By Victoria Mohr-Blakeney DollhouseAt first glance, the set of Dollhouse is its own cause for concern, a booby-trapped mess of wires, ladders, mousetraps and sound equipment. Coleman staggers through the chaos, knocking down tables and yanking wires, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.
Posted April 14, 2016
La Démarquise
Louise Bédard Danse By Mark Mann La DémarquiseRite of Spring makes an appearance in Louise Bédard’s new work La Démarquise. It’s a small reference, delivered with a wink about a quarter of the way through the 110-minute performance – one of a handful of references to canonical works of art woven into this show.
Posted April 8, 2016
The Beauty of Life in Progress
Program 2 by Ballet BC By Pia Lo Program 2Ballet BC’s Program 2 featured two world premieres by choreographer Medhi Walerski. Both exemplified the poetic beauty of life in progress.
Posted April 5, 2016
Avec Pas d’Coeur
Maï(g)wenn et les Orteils question intellectual disability and sexual intimacy as a human right By Lucy Fandel Avec pas d'coeurOne of the greatest strengths of Maïgwenn Desbois’ new choreography with her company Maï(g)wenn et les Orteils is that it provokes a level of nuanced and lingering reflection from audiences about their own roles and assumptions.
Posted April 4, 2016
Finding Balance: Text, speech and audio, oh my!
By Kallee Lins Audio GuidesThis mixed program featured three choreographies, each one exploring the relationship between movement and language, and the interplay between the sonic and the visual.
Posted March 31, 2016
Sounding Off
Broken Sound2 by Brian Webb Dance Company By Jennifer Mesch Broken Sound squaredIn Broken Sound2 by sound and visual artist Gary James Joynes and dancer/choreographer Brian Webb, the entire audience is invited onto the proscenium stage. The audience sits on benches and cushions around the performers and become enclosed within the stage space and the projection panels as the curtain closes.
Posted March 16, 2016
