Motaz Kabbani is still making a name for himself on the Canadian dance scene, and now he has done something somewhat daring and unusual that should garner attention.
Posted November 14, 2003The 12th annual edition of the Moving Pictures Festival of Dance on Film and Video, curated by Kathleen M. Smith and Marc Glassman, opened in grand style, with a ballet-based evening of screen dance.
Posted November 9, 2003How much can you renew a traditional fairy tale? Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal and Belgian choreographer Stijn Celis answer with “Celle qui, dit-on, aurait perdu sa chaussure (Cendrillon)”.
Posted November 6, 2003It’s the individual movement that stays with you: bodies, male and female, unfurling legs and arms, flattening their torsos forward, winding and reaching like exotic plants trying to face the sun or growing in all directions in fast motion right before your eyes.
Posted November 1, 2003The second part of this year’s edition of FIND was characterized by unusually fine weather outdoors, uneven programming indoors and an absolute obsession with technology everywhere you looked. Could these three elements possibly be related?
Posted October 28, 2003From high culture venues to warehouse-styled art spaces on Montréal’s tenderloin, Festival international de nouvelle danse (also known as FIND-Lab) audiences had the opportunity to witness in real-time Gertrude Steins adage that “great art is irritation”.
Posted October 26, 2003In “Cinq voix, cinq visages”, choreographer Jane Mappin conjures up a whole community of dancers, singers, storytellers and a mixed-generation cast, in a ninety-minute medley of stage performance along with video interviews and moving images. Mappin says she’s fascinated by the idea of memory.
Posted October 18, 2003Usha Gupta’s “Asht Nayika” was the first performance in the 25th anniversary season presented by the Brian Webb Dance Company in Edmonton. This fusion exploration brought together kathak dance, Usha Gupta’s South Asian form, as well as flamenco and modern dance to explore the central theme translated as “Eight different states of women.”
Posted October 12, 2003When words fail, dance can still tell an eloquent story. But how satisfying it is when words and movement are mixed in just the right proportions (for me, three parts dance to one part language) to present complicated ideas about personal history, emotional truth and the sad/funny foibles of the human condition.
Posted September 27, 2003Neither the dark sky, nor the wet grass deterred the formidable crowd from coming out on the evening of July 11th, to enjoy the first park on Corpus two-park Dusk Dances festival. This year marks producers David Danzon and Sylvie Bouchards ninth event. Since its inception, Dusk Dances has become a summer-time institution
Posted August 1, 2003The fifteenth annual Dancing on the Edge, presented by the Firehall Arts Centre in Vancouver from July 3rd through 13th, was a remarkably mature edition.
Posted July 27, 2003Its always cause for celebration when artists look beyond their own navels for inspiration.
Posted July 1, 2003Responses in poetry.
Posted June 21, 2003In this expanded review, I hope that the enterprising young women of Integrated Dance Artists Collective (IDAC) won’t mind if I use them as an example for all groups on an inaugural run.
Posted May 24, 2003