GET YOUR SHOES ON — DANCE IS IN SEASON
If Ballet B.C.’s return doesn’t get your toes twinkling, there’s any number of alternatives to do the trick
This fall’s dance card is highlighted by Ballet B.C.’s Program 1. The venerable company is back after the summer with a new work from resident choreographer Cayatano Soto, as well as the North American premiere of Johan Inger’s Brisa. The new program runs Nov. 2 to 4 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
Also returning for a fall turn is the always-popular and longstanding Vancouver International Flamenco Festival from Sept. 12 to 14. The event is presented by Vancouver flamenco stalwart Rosario Ancer and welcomes special guest Granada Spain’s Fuensanta, a.k.a. La Moneta.
Later in the fall (Nov. 22 to 26) the Dance in Vancouver showcase is back. Held every two years, the event is a celebration of local contemporary dance.
While these bigger events are all worth a spin, there is a lot more dance to get you moving into a performance space near you. Here are three on tap:
MAINSTREAM Wells Hill Nov. 24 to 26 |Goldcorp Centre for the Arts at SFU dancehouse.ca
DanceHouse choreographer Vanessa Goodman has taken Canadian icons Marshall McLuhan’s and Glenn Gould’s ideas on how we consume and relate to art and information, and uses them as bedrock for the contemporary dance piece Wells Hill.
Thinking about these two Canadian heavyweights and how they might relate to a dance is an exciting proposition as both men offered up such cerebral and visceral ideas.
Co-presented with Simon Fraser University’s Woodward’s Cultural Programs and the SFU School for the Contemporary Arts, the performance stars dancers Lara Barclay, Karissa Barry, Dario Dinuzzi, Byhn Ho, Arash Khakpour, Alexa Mardon and Bevin Poole.
If the medium is the message, the message here is movement as a form of communication. Dance fans note there will be a preshow talk at 7:15 p.m. on Nov. 24 and 25.
INDIE Meta Oct. 27 and 28, 8 p.m. | The Dance Centre mutablesubject.ca
The idea for Meta seems simple: Our bodies aren’t one simple thing, but a mash-up of all sorts of great bendy, bouncing bunches of movable parts — you know, perfect for dancing.
“Exploring a fluidity of persona, within ourselves and between each other, Meta asks: How do we blend one into the other? Where do we overlap? Ranging from the virtuosic to the surreal, Meta activates our imaginings of what our bodies can be,” Deanna Peters says.
Peters (who also goes by the name Mutable Subject) is a cocreator of the piece. A winner of the Iris Garland Emerging Choreographer Award, Peters will join fellow dancers Justine A. Chambers and Kim Sato on stage. The new show is part of the very busy Dance Centre’s 2017-18 season.
WILD CARD Goblin Market Oct. 3 to 14 | York Theatre thecultch.com
This earns wild-card status because it’s technically called a contemporary circus. However, the New Zealand company The Dust Palace show is packed with dance and movement. Its weirdness and lack of category makes it a fit for just about any arts list. This show — adults only, by the way — is based on Christina Rossetti’s 19th-century narrative poem, Goblin Market.
The poem has many interpretations over the years, but at its heart the story is about two sisters, some tempting fruit and, yes, goblins. Yup, temptation, sacrifice and salvation are front and centre in this gritty and racy piece. This, by the way, is Dust Palace’s Vancouver debut.