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The Sleeping Beauty on Ice

The Imperial Ice Stars present the beloved classical Russian ballet The Sleeping Beauty By Jillian Groening

Think of Sleeping Beauty as a highbrow snooze-fest? Think again. With Tchaikovsky blaring through top-of-the-line theatre speakers, and coloured lights flashing on the frosty stage, The Imperial Ice Stars take the cherished traditional ballet and insert a vibrant dose of theatrical tricks and stunning athleticism. Featuring a cast of over twenty Olympic, World, European and National Championship level skaters, The Sleeping Beauty on Ice uses the tried and true Russian repertoire, first choreographed by Marius Petipa in 1890, as a platform to perform daring figure skating manoeuvres that are bound to leave more than one jaw on the concrete floor. Not to mention the forty-one gold, seventeen silver and six bronze medals between the crew of enthusiastic ice dancers. This show is stacked to the sparkly epaulets with stellar performative talent. The award-winning ice dance troupe will have one Canadian stop, at Toronto’s Sony Centre November 20 and 21, on their massive world tour.

Posted November 13, 2015

Caribana is Our Stage

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.

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Swan Lake Syndrome

The forty-minute solo by Toronto-based artist Linnea Swan is a comedic and poignant autobiography of the highs and lows of a life and career in dance – starting with having the last name Swan as a young ballerina.

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