REVIEW: dance: made in canada
Any avid Intermission reader will be very familiar with reading about performance “made in Canada.” It’s pretty great, right? But what makes theatre, dance, and other performances unequivocally Canadian? The answer can feel both broad and quick-shifting, just like the population and politics of Canada itself.
The biennial “dance: made in canada / fait au canada” festival supports Canada as a hub for dance creation by being “a platform for emerging, mid and established dance artists to share their visions and voices.” The festival, which played at the Betty Oliphant Theatre in mid-August, offered a variety of dance programming, including dance film screenings, workshops, a podcast called “The ‘D’ Word,” and informal artist chats. A particularly unique series called “What You See Is What You Get” places pieces by emerging choreographers into a lottery right before the show starts; what’s performed is totally up to chance.
Importantly, this year’s festival showcased dance’s distinctive nature in this country through its dedication to Danny Grossman. A boundary-pushing central figure in Toronto’s dance community, Grossman passed away on July 29 of this year as he was curating the festival’s front-of-house exhibition in his honor. Walking through this retrospective between programs, you can feel Grossman’s great importance to his network of dancers at York University, his touring company, and beyond.
For the festival’s Mainstage series, founder Yvonne Ng brought in National Ballet of Canada choreographic associate Robert Binet and Kaha:wi Dance Theatre founder Santee Smith/Tekaronhiáhkhwa to each curate hour-long programs featuring choreography created and performed by dancers from across Canada. I had the opportunity to see the Morrison Mainstage Series (curated by Ng in memory of lighting designer David Morrison) and the Binet Mainstage Series, and was sorry to miss Smith’s program.
True to the festival’s purpose, Ng’s Morrison Series is an exemplary showcase of the ways in which Canadian artists are innovating dance as concurrent means of storytelling and aesthetic expression. The first piece is an excerpt from You Touch Me, performed and choreographed by Vancouver-based artists Emmaleena Fredriksson and Arash Khakpour. From the moment the two hit the stage, You Touch Me proves both infectiously charming and subtly provocative. Central to this work are Khakpour and Fredriksson’s reckonings with their Canadian identities, both having been born and raised abroad. They explore this tension by blurring the boundaries between movement and text so well that the two no longer feel mutually exclusive. They use contact improvisation as a game to see who can cup the other’s eyeball first, or explain a dance combination to each other only using their mother tongues.
The piece is rich with moments that feel simultaneously hilarious and innovative: using different multilingual covers of Drake’s “Hotline Bling” as transition music between sections was unexpectedly delightful. Each of the pair’s choices feel unserious yet intentional while being incredibly engaging throughout.
While You Touch Me interrogates the increasingly global nature of Canadian identity, the Morrison Series also presents L’ENCRE NOIR (translatable to “Black Ink”), a very different but equally exciting work that epitomizes the distinct aesthetic of contemporary dance in Montréal. Choreographed and performed by Montréal artists LA TRESSE (Geneviève Boulet, Erin O’Loughlin, and Laura Toma), the piece’s program notes that it “draws upon the Romanian, Québécois, and Irish roots” of each artist. The result is a visceral yet aesthetically striking exploration of early European rituals, with clear allegories to both pagan and theistic motifs (curated by set designers Marilène Bastien and Alexanda Levasseur, and lighting designer Hugo Dalphond). A revolving runic symbol lights up in the back corner of the stage, while the dancers are costumed in the likes of red nun habits and Puritanical grey skirts and blazers.
These bold curatorial choices perfectly complement compelling choreography and performance. Toma begins the piece rolling through her spine and shoulders walking towards the front of the stage, harshly whispering in a foreign tongue. Donning a form-fitting magenta unitard, Boulet only uses her back to move herself from one side of the stage to another. Uncanny yet evocative, the piece represents an unwavering commitment to a shared aesthetic vision on all fronts. Both pieces in the Morrison Series are excerpts of longer works, and I hope these artists have the opportunity to perform them in full in Toronto soon.
As a festival that advances new work by project-based artists, it’s important to me to emphasize the great success of the choreography presented in the Morrison Series. The Binet Series includes works entirely by Toronto choreographers (Jasad Dance Projects / Meryem Alaoui, Derek Souvannong, Vania Dodoo-Beals, and Human Body Expression / Hanna Kiel). These pieces included fantastically skilled dancers, with choreography emphasizing dance as a medium for interpreting musical accompaniment. I hope that in their future endeavors, these artists use choreography to construct dancework of a deeper narrative, cultural, or aesthetic meaning, alongside great musicial collaboration.
At the end of each series, audiences have the chance to cast a ballot for their favourite piece of the night for an award bestowed later. At least for the Morrison Series, I’m still conflicted about my choice. When it comes to dance made in Canada, there’s an overabundance of great work happening.
dance: made in canada closed on August 20. You can learn more here.
Intermission reviews are independent and unrelated to Intermission’s partnered content. Learn more about Intermission’s partnership model here.
Martin Austin
Martin Austin is a PhD student at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies. Martin’s research explores the past and current state of ethics in Euro-American dance practice. He is research assistant for Category Is, a study of house ballroom communities in Toronto and Montréal, and lead administrative coordinator of the Institute for Dance Studies.
LEARN MORE
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz
REVIEW: Studio 180 Theatre’s Four Minutes Twelve Seconds stirs one moment and puzzles the next
As the script ties itself in narrative knots, Megan Follows never loses sight of the dramatic situation’s overwhelming nature; it’s as if her character is fending off a panic attack at every moment, grabbing onto any scrap of hope she can.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Beautiful Scars is a rousing, heartfelt new musical on the life of Tom Wilson
In Beautiful Scars, Hamilton’s hometown hero shares his life story, using the ever-magnetic Sheldon Elter as a mouthpiece.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
Soulpepper and Outside the March effectively drown Uncle Walt’s highly manicured public image in acetone, leaving the audience with a grotesque portrait that feels at once comically exaggerated and painfully accurate.
iPhoto caption: Video still courtesy of the Grand Theatre.
REVIEW: In One Step At A Time, Andrew Prashad unpacks disability through tap dance
Prashad’s play is undeniably impactful and advocates for the spina bifida community with great passion and joy.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Kate Dalton.
REVIEW: Women of the Fur Trade makes a heartthrob of Louis Riel
There’s a war going on out there somewhere, and Louis Riel isn’t here.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Roya DelSol.
This play is such a delight to watch, and I would definitely go again. I live for this quality of performance, and I’m looking forward to how this play will continue to inspire Black Canadian theatre to come.
iPhoto caption: Original photos by Kendra Epik.
With its Spring Double Bill, Toronto Dance Theatre centres community and new voices
For the Spring Double Bill, artistic director Andrew Tay is considering how programming can be a means of supporting emerging artists.
iPhoto caption: Photos by Roya DelSol
REVIEW: Boundary-pushing TDT double bill features face-riding and odd sensuality
Both pieces in the winter double bill are par for the course with TDT’s recent artistic output: unabashedly queer and consistently experimental.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Ambra Vernuccio.
REVIEW: Jungle Book reimagined needs a little reimagining
Indeed, Akram Khan “reimagines” a historically complex story into a two-hour exposé on the environmental catastrophe. Jungle Book’s captivating visual effects and dynamic physicality brought the opening night audience to their feet. But as the choreographer’s first billing as director, Jungle Book’s storytelling doesn’t always live up to Khan’s skill as a dancemaker.
iPhoto caption: Photo by David Hou.
REVIEW: Richard II at the Stratford Festival
There’s an electricity in every step Stephen Jackman-Torkoff takes as Richard, with his propensity for vanity, pleasure, and rash decisions.
REVIEW: X (DIX) at Crow’s Theatre/Côté Danse
A beguiling night of dance, X (DIX) is what happens when a group of talented artists come together and let each other shine.
REVIEW: L-E-A-K at Sara Porter Productions/Theatre Centre
A mix of dance, spoken word, and multimedia components, the often lighthearted nature of L-E-A-K’s composition evokes the delicate seafoam at the ocean’s surface more than the deep, dense waters below it.
Comments