Dancing on the Edge 2015

July 2 - 11, 2015

Dancing on the Edge looks toward next year after a big jump in attendance

The 2014 festival ended on a high with a 36% jump in ticketed attendance this year. More than 3,000 dance fans came out to ticketed and free outdoor performances at the festival which ran July 3 – 12. This year the festival saw more audiences engage and interact with live performance in new ways through the immersive, participatory installation Dance Machine and dialogues about dance following select performances.

Festival Producer Donna Spencer announced that the festival has commissioned 3 new works for next year and expects audience interest in the festival to continue to rise.

“We are blessed with a wealth of dance talent in Vancouver and are happy to see that our audiences agree that the festival is heading in the right direction. We are excited to be commissioning new works by local artists for the 2015 festival and to help keep dance in our city vibrant,” says Spencer.

Dance artist Justine A. Chambers has been commissioned for a short new work that will be based on her unique sold-out Edge 2014 hit, Family Dinner. This new work will take the ‘research’ from this immersive dining performance and create a movement piece based on it to premiere at the 2015 festival.

Two other yet-to-be-announced site-specific pieces will be decided on in the coming months for the 2015 festival. New commissions from the 2014 festival included works by Meghan Goodman (be graceful in the wind), Karissa Barry (Veritas trUth), Lee Su-Feh (Dance Machine) and Yvonne Chartrand (Cree Creation Story).

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Dance for Everyone and Everyone for Dance!

Founded in 1988 by the Firehall Theatre Society, the Dancing on the Edge Festival incorporated in 1998 as its own society. Created in direct response to the local dance communities’ need for a supported place to perform their work, the festival has evolved into an annual event which presents on average thirty performances in mixed programs and full length works from over twenty different dance companies and choreographers from across Canada each festival. The festival is recognized for its support of new works through its presentations, commissions and residencies programs. Artists such as Paul Andre Fortier, Wen Wei Dance, the 605 Collective, Serge Bennethan, Peter Bingham, Amber Funk Barton, Lola MacLaughlin, Joe Laughlin, Karen Jamieson, Kokoro Dance, Chick Snipper, Alvin Tolentino and Brian Webb, and Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg, to name just a few, have all benefitted from the Festival’s commitment to dance and to bringing dance in all shapes and forms to our audiences.

Enjoy!

2014 Performances

Full Programs

Crumbling
Matthew Romantini
Firehall Arts Centre Courtyard

Feast
Katie DeVries
Firehall Arts Centre Courtyard

Karen Jamieson Dance
solo | soul | Karen Jamieson
Scotiabank Dance Centre

MascallDance
The Three Cornered Hat | Jennifer Mascall
Chapel Arts

Ottawa Dance Directive
Fracture | Yvonne Coutts
Trembleherd Bells | Tedd Robinson
sho me wut u gut | Noam Gagnon
Firehall Arts Centre

The Body in Question
Toronto Dance Theatre | Deborah Hay/Christopher House
New York/Toronto

Four Intimate Pieces
Four Intimate Pieces | Edmond Kilpatrick
Chapel Arts

what belongs to you
what belongs to you | The Contingency Plan | Vanessa Goodman
Scotiabank Dance Centre

NGS (“Native Girl Syndrome”)
Lara Kramer Danse | Lara Kramer
Firehall Arts Centre

Mixed Programs

EDGE One
a crazy kind of hope | Sarah Chase (Astrid Dance) | Andrea Nann (Dreamwalker Dance Company)
Northern Journey | Raven Spirit Dance | Michelle Olson

Firehall Arts Centre

EDGE-UP
Itch | Deanna Peters
Tessellate | Thoenn Glover
Conversation | Olivia C. Davies
Rain Collector | Dupuis Dance
Firehall Arts Centre, 280 East Cordova