Harbourfront Centre
TORONTO
June
13, 2005—Harbourfront
Centre Dances
We’re
very excited this season to be able to bring three companies to the
Harbourfront Centre Theatre for a new series of edgy, theatrical dance,
adds
Holmes. The less formal intimacy of the HCT strips away the
boundaries
between audience and artist. Expect a more in-your-face energy in all
three works beginning with an evening of celebration and spirit with
the
welcome return of Vincent Sekwati Mantsoe in our Parallel Ports
co-production with Danceworks followed by the unsettling and ominous
physicality of Stan Won’t Dance in their Canadian premiere,
and the
first ever co-production between the Milk International Children’s
Festival of
the Arts and Harbourfront Centre Dance with the Toronto premiere of a
new work
for youth audiences by Montreal’s Hélène Blackburn and Cas Public.”
Back at the PDT, the season brings new voices
from
Finland and Japan, welcomes two powerhouse companies from South
America,
explores the urban energy of Montreal and New York City and celebrates
the
global view of Toronto’s own dance community,” concludes Holmes.
This
series embarks on an international exploration of contemporary dance Tuesday, November 8 – Saturday, November
12 with Venezuela’s Danzahoy featuring
their new work Exodo.
This is
followed by Toronto Dance
Theatre world premiere Tuesday,
November 22 – Saturday, November 26, with one of
Canada’s
musical sensations, The Hidden Cameras.
BJM
Danse (Montreal) presents The
Stolen Show by internationally acclaimed Canadian choreographer
Crystal Pite, Tuesday, December 6 – Saturday, December 10.
This new series launches in
October with Parallel
Ports:
Vincent Sekwati Mantsoe (Johannesburg) October 20– October 22
– A co-production with DanceWorks two
new works. This is followed in 2006 by the Canadian
Premiere of London, England’s Stan Won’t
Dance with Sinner,
Thursday, March 30 – Saturday, April 1. The HCT Series
concludes Thursday, May 25 – Saturday
May 27 with
For Ticket Information call Box Office:
- 30 –
Bill Bobek; 416-973-4428;
wbobek@harbourfrontcentre.com
THE LINEUP FOR 2005-2006
Harbourfront
Centre Dance 2005-2006 Season
The Companies: The PDT
Series
Danzahoy (Caracas)
Tuesday,
November 8 – Saturday, November 12
Celebrating the poetic in the everyday,
Danzahoy
embodies the open, culturally diverse society
of Venezuela with a uniquely
expressive style. In the nostalgic Exodo,
you find that the bittersweet spirit of the tango is never far
away. Warm
and sad, scratchy like an old vinyl record Exodo
speaks of lost souls, the nature of love and the eternal search for
meaning
in the face of oblivion.
Tuesday,
November 22 – Saturday, November 26
Toronto Dance Theatre joins forces with
alt-pop sensations
The Hidden Cameras for a brand new production. The audience is
guaranteed to be
on its feet in this joyful, edgy, high energy riot of dance and music.
Called
“a match made in heaven” by Carl Wilson of The
Globe and Mail, TDT’s first collaboration with The
Hidden Cameras was completely sold out.
BJM Danse (Montreal)
Tuesday,
December 6 – Saturday, December 10
Canadian choreographic sensation Crystal
Pite’s The
Stolen Show is an irreverent sketchbook of movement set on the
dynamic and
sexy dancers of BJM Danse. After 32
years as Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, this reinvigorated company
really shows us what they’ve got with a trio of dance
works that are part homage and part parody, full of theatrical
invention, and
sparkling with witty irreverence.
Wednesday,
January 25 – Saturday, January 28
The first of a cycle of Grossman
greats delves into a repertoire of more than 30 original works to bring
you a
program that spans the range of
human
emotion from grief to joy to humour. This season will showcase the
power,
athleticism, and expressiveness of this popular Toronto dance company
through
Grossman’s rich and engaging repertoire, including some classics not
seen in
more than 10 years!
Tuesday,
January 31 – Saturday, February 4
An explosive hit with audiences
and
critics alike in 2003, Julia Sasso
dances promises to amaze us again with the
betrayal project. Pulsing with
the far-reaching rhythms of the human heart, this potent new creation
for
Sasso’s stellar company lays bare the deepest paradoxes of our living,
loving,
leaving. “… mesmerizing dance… polished yet raw, passionate yet
cerebral,
sophisticated yet instinctual, physical yet reflective” The
Globe and Mail.
Tuesday,
February 14 – Saturday, February 18
Otherworldly spectacles that transcend cultural barriers are the
calling card
of Japanese performance art ensemble Pappa Tarahumara. Artistic
director
Hiroshi Koike creates unique and magical stage poetry, merging
traditions –
ancient and new - with contemporary dance and a bit of theatrical
alchemy. His
captivating works of refined abstraction offer exquisite panoramas of
light,
darkness, shadow and sound.
Tero
Saarinen Company (Helsinki)
Tuesday,
March 14 – Saturday, March 18
One of Finland’s most successful dance
artists, Tero
Saarinen is fascinated by the absurdity of human behavior. Imagine the
clean
lines and strong colours of Nordic design refracted through a slightly
damaged
lens. The company brings a mixed programme including their
international
break-through hit Westward Ho! and
Saarinen’s mesmerizing solo The Hunt
set to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring in
which the dancer, in a union with technology, becomes the hunter and
the
hunted.
Grupo Corpo (Belo Horizonte)
Tuesday,
March 21 – Saturday, March 25
With astonishing energy, lightning bodywork
and
vibrantly joyful movement Grupo Corpo makes the hottest dance in the
coolest
way. Brazil's most successful contemporary dance ensemble offers two
new works
- Leucona, a series of passionate duets, in which the
intoxicating heat of romance is set to the music of “the
Cuban Gershwin” Ernesto Lecuona, and Onqotô
a
celebration of the company’s home province Minas Gerais.
Toronto
Dance Theatre (Toronto)
Tuesday,
April 4 – Saturday, April 8
Toronto Dance Theatre presents Sly
Verb, Christopher House’s critically acclaimed hymn to the
human body. A bold, provocative look at the sense of touch, Sly
Verb seduces with the beauty of its
dancing and the force of its ideas featuring a haunting score by Phil
Strong
and exquisite design by artist Scott Eunson.
Ronald K.
Brown/EVIDENCE (New York)
Tuesday,
April 18 – Sunday, April 22
Master storyteller Ronald K Brown chronicles
life in
America with his finely crafted, superbly performed choreographies.
Salted with
the tradition of West Africa and seasoned with contemporary urban
movement, his
works celebrate heritage, truth and the
liberation of the spirit within. The company brings an evening
of mixed
repertoire new to Toronto audiences including Grace and Come
Ye, a
tribute to the “high priestess of soul” Nine Simone.
Tuesday,
April 25 – Saturday, April 29
Wednesday,
May 3 – Saturday, May 6
ABSENCES
This work speaks of goodbyes. The goodbyes that we say throughout our
lives and
those that we avoid because they are too painful. The goodbyes of a man
to a
woman, the goodbyes of a mother to her child, the goodbyes of men to
other men,
hands pulling away, silently crying. We are bound to live a life of
abandonments in order that we may reach the purest state, our essence.
This
essence in turn becomes our parting gift -- the final mark we leave to
the
souls of the living.
The Companies: The HTC Series
Parallel
Ports: Vincent Sekwati Mantsoe (Johannesburg)
Thursday,
October 20 – Saturday, October 22
Co-production with DanceWorks
One of the voices of the new South Africa
Mantsoe
merges ancestral rituals with the street dances of Johannesburg in a
style that
transcends influence. A magnificent performer who moves with contained
grace
and nobility, he invites his audience to travel with him on a joyful,
spiritual
journey. His two new works NDAA
(Awakening of the Self) and Ntu,
celebrate the physicality of life with uplifting freedom and a brooding
reverence.
Stan Won’t
Dance (London)
Thursday,
March 30 – Saturday, March 1
DV8 alumni Rob Tannion and Liam Steel present
the
brutally physical, confrontational dance work Sinner, based on
the true
story of the bombing of a London gay bar. Themes
of loneliness and loathing, identity
and prejudice run through this hard-hitting, psychologically intense
performance. With this self-destructive solo for two men Stan Won't
Dance will
make you think twice.
Cas Public (Montreal)
Thursday, May 25 – Saturday May 27
Hélène Blackburn, a leader in
Quebec’s new
generation of choreographers, pushes boundaries with her fiery,
physically
demanding style. Her company, Cas Public, is internationally known for
its
potent sense of theatricality and intense, athletic movement. As
diverse as it
is unpredictable, Cas Public debuts with a spectacular new work for
audiences
of all ages. A co-presentation with the Milk
International Children’s Festival of the Arts
Offstage
Learn more about contemporary dance
DanceSpeak: Post-show Talks
On the second night of each performance run, moderators from The Dance
Current conduct
an informal discussion with the evening’s choreographer and company
members.
Free with purchase of tickets.
Dance On-line
Additional information about the companies in
our
season and other dance performances at Harbourfront Centre can be found
on the
Dance page of our web site. Visit www.habourfrontcentre.com
and click on Performing Arts and then Dance.
Dance E-news
Keep in the dance loop with this free monthly
electronic newsletter with details of all the great dance events
year-round at
Harbourfront Centre. To subscribe, follow the instructions at www.harbourfrontcentre.com/news.htm
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Media Contacts:
Bill Bobek; 416-973-4428; wbobek@harbourfrontcentre.com