Harbourfront Centre: Media Release

TORONTO, August 20, 2007 NextSteps, Harbourfront Centre's programme presenting a variety of expressions in contemporary dance announces an exciting lineup for this upcoming season. Presented both in Harbourfront Centre’s Premiere Dance Theatre and Harbourfront Centre's Enwave Theatre, NextSteps brings together an amazing selection of creative dance companies.

"Dance at Harbourfront Centre is back for another great season", adds Harbourfront Centre dance programmer, Jeanne Holmes. "NextSteps 2007-2008 offers audiences a window into the richly diverse community of creators and performers who call the stages of Harbourfront Centre their own. With dance works inspired by everything from faith and family history to the music of Handel's Messiah, and mapping the human genome this season is a whole new perspective on dance in Toronto."

This season's programme mirrors our expansive and expressive world in movement with Toronto-based artists who hail from Italy to India, from Azerbaijan to Spain, and from Asia to the Caribbean. New participanats to this year's NextSteps series includes ProArteDanza, Kaeja d'Dance, the Ontario Genomics Institute's Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and Kathak master Rina Singha.

Over the past thirty-odd years Harbourfront Centre has been a primary supporter of Canadian dance performance, presenting seminal work by such noted groups as Compagnie Marie Chouinard, Ballet British Columbia, Dancemakers, O Vertigo, Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Company, Toronto Dance Theatre, The Holy Body Tattoo and Danny Grossman Dance Company to name just a few. NextSteps gives rise to the new generation of contemporary dance in the Greater Toronto Area.

Package tickets go on sale Tuesday, September 4 and single tickets Tuesday, September 11. For tickets and information call 416-973-4000 or visit www.harbourfrontcentre.com/nextsteps .

NextSteps Fall 2007 Participants:

Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, presented by OGI

(Ontario Genomics Institute)

FEROCIOUS BEAUTY: GENOME

September 27-29, 2007 – 8pm

Premiere Dance Theatre

Inspired by the mapping of the human genome, this multi-media dance piece is the result of a rare and uniques collaboration between artists, scientists, and educators.

Come witness this rare display of theory through movement as the multi-generational cast of dancers bring the scientific process to life through projected video segments and live action on stage in the Canadian premiere of Ferocious Beauty: Genome.

Tickets: $30; Student/Senior: $25

NextSteps Package Prices: $25, Student/Senior: $20

Passion in performance

October 3-6, 2007, 8pm

Premiere Dance Theatre

Explosive and athletic, ProArteDanza fuses the worlds of classical ballet and contemporary dance. Founded by former National Ballet of Canada soloist Roberto Campanella, ProArteDanza returns to the stage with a breathtaking new programme featuring choreography by three of Toronto’s hottest choreographers: Robert Glumbek, Matjash Mrozewski and Roberto Campanella. Special guest dancers include National Ballet of Canada Principal Dancers Guillaume Côté and Heather Ogden along with an ensemble of outstanding classical and contemporary dancers.

Tickets: $38-$22; Student/Senior: $33-$20

NextSteps Package Prices: $33-$20; Student/Senior: $30-$15

Manzilen- A Journey

October 12-13, 2007, 8pm

Premiere Dance Theatre

A feast of insightful storytelling dances and scintillating rhythmic works, Manzilen - A Journey marks Kathak master Rina Singha's 40th anniversary of bringing the beauty and sophistication of Kathak to Canadian audiences. Manzilen refers to milestones or turning points that shape the course of life's journey. Singha presents a program of solo and group works inspired by the images and experiences in her life.

Tickets: $30; Student/Senior: $25

NextSteps Package Prices: $25; Student/Senior: $22

Danceworks presents Toronto’s longest running contemporary dance series. Embracing the future with inspired works that run the spectrum of Canada’s dance scene, each of this year’s performances sparkles with originality and technical virtuosity as world premieres dominate an exciting and stellar 2007/08 season.

2007-2008 Mainstage Series, Enwave Theatre

Tickets: $27; Student/Senior: $17

NextSteps Package Prices: $25; Student/Senior: $16

DW166- Hari Krishnan inDANCE

Recipes For Curry

October 18-20, 8pm

Artistic Director Hari Krishnan serves up a delicious and sexy feast of four world premieres - a luscious solo commissioned from dance legend Margie Gillis; a fiery duet with virtuoso master Allen Kaeja; Inverse, a frenetic dialogue with five dancers; and the tongue-in-cheek Recipes for Curry, a Canada/UK international collaboration for eight dancers, presenting a truly global view of Indian dance as current and contemporary within the Canadian context.

DW167- Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie

October 25-27, 8pm

Interiors takes place on a wintry Sunday evening. We see a family from outside in, peeking into a very intimate world. Set to a Schubert Sonata and lit by Jean-Philippe Trepanier, Interiors speaks about childhood and contemporary families. The piece is performed by highly acclaimed dancers Laurence Lemieux, Bill Coleman and their children, Jimmy and Juliette.

The Mi Young Kim Dance Company

November 9-10, 8pm; November 10 Matinee at 4 p.m.

Premiere Dance Theatre

A Harbourfront NextSteps & DanceWorks CoWorks Series Presentation

Kaksori is an enticing celebration of traditional and contemporary forms of Korean dance, including two exciting new works by Artistic Director Mi Young Kim, three popular selections from the company¹s repertoire, and five bold, new solos by emerging choreographers from Canada¹s vibrant Korean community. Based on traditional Korean dance combined with modern technique, this program features Mi Young Kim’s creative mask dance, and Kaksori Taryung, a new solo work inspired by the tale of Hwang Jin Yee.

Tickets: $28; Student/Senior: $25

NextSteps Package Price: $20

DANCEWORKS SERIES

DW168 – Serge Bennathan

Manga is a 60-minute duet created by choreographer Serge Bennathan for superlative dancers Susie Burpee and Linnea Swan, with original music composed by Bertrand Chenier. Following Absences created for Dancemakers in 2006, Bennathan explores the elegance of the inner dancer with an approach that is subtle, poetic, and ferocious.

DANCEWORKS SERIES

DW169- Chartier Danse

Nov 29-Dec 1, 8pm

Using the great Canadian painter Betty Goodwin's pictorial work as a starting point, Bas-Reliefs is a multi-disciplinary collaboration from a stellar team of eleven artists from Toronto and Montreal who integrate their artistic visions into an extraordinary creation under the artistic direction of Marie-Josée Chartier. Bas-Reliefs reveals a spatial environment fraught with drama and contrasts, marked by a troubling humanity.

Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Company

Caminos Flamencos, Celebrating 25 years

November 29-December 1, 8pm; December 2, 3pm matinée

Premiere Dance Theatre

Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Company marks a milestone as they celebrate

their 25th Anniversary! Be enthralled once again with past favourites as well as new choreographies highlighting Spanish Classical and contemporary Flamenco dance. Hailed as one of Canada's most innovative dance companies, it's history is rooted in "flamenco puro" and Spanish classical dance, but by fusing contemporary music, non-traditional instrumentation and modern dance forms with the essentials of true flamenco they have created a style that is exciting and unconventional, projecting a vision that is intense and current.

Tickets: $36-$21; Student/Senior: $25-$18

NextSteps Package Prices: $35-$18

Toronto Dance Theatre

December 4-8, 8pm

Premiere Dance Theatre

Artistic Director Christopher House is pleased to present an exhilarating double bill, a fresh take on movement invention, by two of the most intriguing young choreographers at work in Canada today, Dora-nominees Valerie Calam and Sasha Ivanochko.

This truly dynamic duo will create new works for TDT's amazing dancers, "some of the best on the planet" The Globe and Mail. Calam integrates eccentric movement and video into her work while Ivanochko brings unusual

gifts for kinetic poetry and emotional architecture to the stage. This programme promises to be full of surprises!

Tickets: $38-$22; Student/Senior: $33-$20

NextSteps Package Prices:

$33-$20; Student/Senior: $24-$15

Under the artistic direction of Caribbean-born dancer, choreographer and percussionist Patrick Parson, Ballet Creole provides a multicultural forum for choreographers, dancers and musicians. It’s high-energy works range from African ritualism to abstract modern, with a repertoire, driven by the rhythm of the drums.

Glorious Soulful Messiah

December 14-15, 2007, 8pm; December 16, 3pm

Premiere Dance Theatre

Ballet Creole presents a rich and innovative dance rendition of the holiday favourite. Infused with captivating soul by the spine-tingling voices of Aretha Franklin, The Boys Choir of Harlem, Patti Austin, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, and more – offering up a cornucopia of popular contemporary dance, and African-Caribbean forms.