TORONTO,
Canada (Harbourfront Centre) Harbourfront Centre offers up an
outstanding series of dance performances for the second half of
Harbourfront Centre Dance 2004-2005 season. The '05 half of the season
kicks-off with O Vertigo's celebration of 20 years on Tuesday, February
15 and concludes with Dancemakers Metamorphoses, Friday, May 20.
This
second installment of the season features a varying array of talented
companies representing leading contemporary dance from Canada, the
U.S., Argentina and Italy/The Netherlands. Harbourfront Centre's
intimate Premiere Dance Theatre is renowned as Canada's first and only
facility designed and built exclusively for the presentation of
contemporary dance.
Two of the season's companies, Stephen
Petronio Company and Emio Greco|PC are included in and representative
of HE, Harbourfront Centre's current, ideas-based programming which
runs January through April, 2005. HE - an examination of the changing
nature of male identity and men's evolving roles in contemporary
society - offers a hypothesis as to the direction of the modern male.
First
up for 2005 is the Toronto premiere of Passare, by Canada's O Vertigo.
The latest choreographic creation by prolific Quebecois artistic
director, Ginette Laurin celebrates her company's 20th anniversary
using movement to explore the traces we leave behind as we move through
time and space. Described as "one of Canada's most imaginative
choreographers" by The New York Times, Montreal-based Laurin worked
closely with an astrophysicist to ensure that Passare explores both the
"infinitely large and infinitesimally small" elements in life. The end
result is a playful but touching dance work that explores themes of
time, chaos, dreams and angels and "has moments of shivering beauty
that brush the sublime." - Sanjoy Roy, The Guardian. Passare, another
shape for infinity runs Tuesday, February 15 through Saturday, February
19.
In March, Stephen Petronio Company brings its
internationally acclaimed groundbreaking choreography to Toronto for
the first time. The U.S.-based company will perform a mixed repertory
inspired by the full-on, urban experience of life in New York City.
Works include The Island of Misfit Toys, a series of adult gothic
nursery rhymes with music by rock icon Lou Reed and a set design by
renowned visual artist Cindy Sherman. City of Twist features a score by
Laurie Anderson, while Broken Man is an expressive, emotional solo,
evocative of the fears generated by a world in disarray after September
11. Led by renowned choreographer Stephen Petronio, the company is best
identified with provocative dances that combine new music, visual art
and fashion in a modern collision of movement that powerfully stimulate
the senses. As Petronio states, "I used to believe that good dance was
only about architecture, making one beautiful and dazzling picture
after another. Now I think it's more about flesh and spirit." The
Stephen Petronio Company performs Tuesday, March 15 through Saturday,
March 19. Stephen Petronio's Broken Man is associated with the HE theme.
In
April, the mesmerizing Brenda Angiel Aerial Dance Company makes its
Toronto debut with a spectacular gravity defying performance led by
Argentina's leading choreographer Brenda Angiel. Hailing from Buenos
Aires the troupe performs its entire program suspended in the air,
producing an evening of dance that is described by The New York Times
as "hauntingly beautiful and full of subtle surprises." Suspended by
ropes and harnesses, the dancers effortlessly twist, hang, tumble and
soar mid-air giving audiences a mesmerizing perspective on the body
freed from traditional constraints in spaces generally untouched by
traditional dance companies. The Brenda Angiel Aerial Dance Company
performs Tuesday, April 5 through Saturday, April 9. NOTE: 2 p.m.
Saturday matinee performance has been added.
Also in April,
Toronto Dance Theatre presents a world premiere by celebrated Canadian
choreographer and Artistic Director, Christopher House. Known for his
uniquely stimulating and original dance works, House constantly pushes
the boundaries of movement and dance and is described by The Globe and
Mail as a choreographer whose success is derived "from his willingness
to keep moving forward in a process of continuous rebirth." Founded in
1968, Toronto Dance Theatre has had a profound influence on the
Canadian dance scene and is currently dedicated to the creation of
original works that celebrate the power of the human imagination.
Toronto Dance Theatre performs Tuesday, April 12 through Saturday,
April 16.
Italian choreographer Emio Greco and Dutch theatre
director Pieter C. Scholten have dazzled audiences and critics with
their unique and edgy collaborations since 1995. In May, Emio Greco|PC
makes its Toronto debut with Rimasto Orfano, a powerful creation that
fuses gutsy with almost tribal classical forms of movement. Rimasto
Orfano, literally meaning Abandoned Orphan, echoes the first seven
years of collaboration between Greco and Scholten. Set against a
dramatic backdrop of grey silk the work is a synthesis of past
explorations but also a new beginning in which the dancers dramatize
the struggles between body and mind, harmony and chaos. Described by
The London Times as a performer who " is in command of one of the most
exciting, original and eccentric dance vocabularies of anyone in
contemporary dance!" Emio Greco|PC is known for its use of movement to
communicate a wisdom of the body that needs no added explanations. In
their performances dance is not used as a medium to convey a message or
decorate theatrical space, but instead, is seen as having an
intelligence of its own. Rimasto Orfano runs Tuesday, May 3 through
Saturday, May 7.
Rounding off the season, Canada's Dancemakers
celebrates its 30th anniversary with Metamorphoses, a work that
highlights the company's signature energy and unique style.After three
decades of evolution Dancemakers has developed into an impressive
company that remains on the leading edge of contemporary dance.
Metamorphoses features new Ovid-inspired works choreographed by
award-winning artistic director Serge Bennathan and company artists
Julia Aplin, Susie Burpee and Shannon Cooney - artists who continuously
push the boundaries of expression, physicality and emotion - "the joie
de vivre on stage is irresistible." The Globe and Mail
Metamorphoses
combines dance, voice and music to produce a spectacular result that is
expressive, athletic and poetic. Dancemakers will perform Tuesday, May
10 to Saturday, May 14 and Wednesday, May 18 to Friday, May 20 as part
of the city-wide Metamorphosis Festival, celebrating transformation and
the arts.
The popular DanceSpeak series continues throughout the
second half of the season in its Wednesday night time slot. This
popular post-show question and answer period allows audience members to
interact with the choreographer and company members and learn more
about the creative process of dance.
