MAKING MOVES
’Dance Card’ is the latest in a series of bold, innovative new programs on view,
In an unusual turn of events, two local companies, Cloud 9 and Kaeja d’Dance, are currently presenting programs of new work running in repertory at the same venue. They’re the final offerings on the Theatre Centre’s “Dance Card” and good examples of the kind of bold, innovative and sometimes downright zany contemporary dance on view since the series began last fall.
Cloud 9 was launched four years ago specifically as a vehicle and showcase for older dance artists still eager to explore the boundaries of performance. Members of the group assembled for this, Cloud 9’s second outing, range in years from 45 to 67. Claudia Moore and Karen Kaeja, who with Sylvie Bouchard were the original co-founders, continue now as co-artistic directors.
Cloud 9 performs two works. Lina Cruz’s Room #7 features Moore, Kaeja and Montreal’s Louise Bédard as three characters negotiating a shared space that can seem alternatingly oppressive and liberating. Composer/musician Philippe Noireaut is fully integrated into the piece and his delightfully whimsical score, including improvised percussion, is the perfect complement to Cruz’s almost absurdist scenario.
Kaeja and Moore are joined by Larry Hahn and Robert Regala for choreographer DA Hoskins’ Bird Nesting in Fingers in Bloom, the title coming from a modernist sculpture by Joan Miró. The work itself often has overtones of an animated art installation and, as in Cruz’s Room #7, the relationship of the characters to the space that contains them is central to the overall effect.
Hoskins’ thrives on imagery and objects although sometimes the point of them can seem obscure. Regala, who moves through space with an almost beatific grace, is often handling a blue basketball, its symbolism open to various interpretation. Moore makes much of a huge sheet of plastic, as does Kaeja of a sack of assorted shoes.
As co-artistic director with husband Allen Kaeja of Kaeja d’Dance, Karen Kaeja does double duty across both programs as performer and choreographer, reviving her 2013 work Crave, this time with Sarah Shugarman’s score performed live by a string quartet.
Kaeja’s theme is the push-pull of an intimate relationship with Michael Caldwell and Stéphanie Tremblay as the protagonists. It’s a prickly, fraught relationship of shifting dynamics, the desire for independence rubbing uncomfortably against the urge for oneness; and it’s not a particularly compelling advertisement for the joys of togetherness.
Defiant, Allen Kaeja’s new work, is less focused but also more ambitious in scope, its large cast ranging widely through remembered indignities and violent confrontations, contrasted with moments of tenderness and empathy. There is much dressing and undressing — from judogi to fullon nudity — as well as some foul language. Spoken words, possibly autobiographical reminiscences, are not always clearly audible.
Dance has had a long presence within the Theatre Centre’s varied programming but it was the move to a new permanent venue three years ago that created the opportunity for the Dance Card series that winds up this week.
The main upstairs space is ideal for contemporary dance and immediately attracted the interest of local performers.
Says Theatre Centre artistic director Franco Boni: “When I saw all the requests coming in to use the space, I took a step back and thought why not create a marketing tool to promote the work.”
Dancer/choreographer Nova Bhattacharya, whose Nova Dance company performed at the Theatre Centre in January, is convinced being part of the Dance Card helped attract a big- ger audience, including plenty of new faces.
“There was an elevation of awareness and curiosity engendered for the art form,” says Bhattacharya. “It’s been the best piece of marketing collateral for dance produced in Toronto in well over a decade.”
“Contemporary dance remains obscure to many people,” says Claudia Moore. “This united effort brings greater exposure, and generates more public excitement.”
Franco Boni says that despite its success, the Theatre Centre is not planning to make the Dance Card an annual offering. Instead, he hopes it serves as a collaborative model that local dance companies can employ in the future.