TO Live
iPhoto caption: Members of the company of 'Play Dead.' Photo by Alexander Galliez.
Play Dead trades death-defying circus tricks for bigger emotional risks
“The idea of consequences in [Play Dead] can make someone think the show is a little dreary, but we think of it more as a surreal celebration of all the little things that make up life,” says performer and People Watching co-artistic director Jérémi Lévesque.
iPhoto caption: Members of the company of 'Theatre of Dreams.' Photo by Tom Visser.
It’s tough to tie Shechter’s style to any one dance lineage, but modern floorwork; commonplace gestures rendered sharp and frenzied; and loose, hip-circling movements often reserved for low-lit clubs evoke the woozy surreality of half-revealed consciousness.
iPhoto caption: 'Dance Me,' choreographed by Andonis Foniadakis, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, and Ihsan Rustem. Photo by Marc Montplaisir.
“It’s very ambitious,” says artistic and executive director Alexandra Damiani. “Each choreographer has a clear vision and language. Leonard Cohen wrote, ‘There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.’ When I see Foniadakis work with Cohen’s music, he finds the cracks between the notes, beats, and words.”
iPhoto caption: Kateryna Larina in Paradisum. Photo by Bálint Hirling.
TO Live to present Recirquel’s Paradisum in Toronto
Next week, a circus-dance hybrid will swing into the Bluma Appel Theatre as part of TO Live’s 2025-26 season.