| Festival Of Contemporary Dance 2008 | July 3 to 12 | |||
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| SHARE THE EDGE, WIN A MUG! Dancing on the Edge is a mere seven days away and we wanted to share some of the highlights of the opening weekend with you. We hope you are enjoying our new EDGE newsletter and would ask you to consider sending it along to a friend to encourage them to join us in the dance. Everyone who forwards this email will be entered in a draw to win a lovely EDGE coffee mug. It may not be an iPod or a trip to Cancun, but it's easy to use, has a smaller carbon footprint, and you don't have to read any instructions to get full value. You want a mug don't you? We thought so! Please use the "Forward email" link at the bottom of this newsletter |
EDGE PRESS THIS WEEK Edge's 10 new works The Province Downtown Eastside offers up its ghosts Serge Bennathan comes full circle |
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| FESTIVAL PROFILE: SOLID STATE Take it Back Breakdancing is an innovative dance form, which has become well known throughout the world, and like other Hip Hop arts, it is considered a tool of empowerment for those who practice it. However, since it began, there have only been a handful of women involved in Breakdancing. The Solid State Breakdance Company traversed new ground by participating in an art form that was traditionally restricted to men. Solid State began as a collective with the initial goal of helping Montreal B-girls (Breakdancers) share skills, knowledge and provide support to each other. Today, Solid State creates work that explores themes present in street dance culture, mixing B-girling with contemporary dance, to give rise to a new style best described as Urban Dance Theatre. With "Take it Back", Solid State asks the question, "Why don't we dance in couples anymore?" The popularization among urban youth of dancing in mass groups (rave culture) or the soloing format of street forms such as Breakdancing, has created an environment where individuals can dance however and whenever they want to. In an attempt to create a social partner dance that speaks to a generation of individuals, Solid State has paired the high physicality of B-boying (Breakdance) with the partnering structures of LindyHop (Swing) which like B-boying is a street dance based on free-styling or improvisation. This cooperation of styles breathes with freedom, and spontaneity as the dancers wrestle with the awkwardness of asking each other to dance, dancing close together, and shifting between leading and following roles. |
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| FESTIVAL PROFILE: BRIAN WEBB DANCE COMPANY Nine Points to Navigate Artistic Director Brian Webb says, "Dance celebrates our aliveness in the moment. Dance is always about the dancing; the dancing that is taking place right before the audience. The dancing body feels its senses totally engaged and communicates this aliveness to the viewing public. The dance is not complete until it is received by the audience. This exchange between the dancer and the viewer is what makes contemporary dance alive in the here and now." Brian Webb and Sheri Sommerville are collaborating on a new work...marking the first time that these two well-known Edmonton artists have created and performed together. A tribute to their fathers, Nine Points to Navigate will be presented in a most intimate setting. Each audience member will feel as though they are in the centre of this interdisciplinary performance piece as they join the artists on their adventure of exploring layers of memory as one navigates through life. Says Sommerville, "The piece examines the fact that we are shaped growing up in the shadow of our fathers' experiences. We are a product of our heritage and all its imperfections. You shouldn't attempt to escape what you are, but accept it with compassion." "As you reach a certain age, memories become more and more precious," says Webb. "They become sentimental, compassionate, gentle. We must accept all of our memories...both joyous and painful. The gift of adversity is that is provides the conflict and angst we use to shape our art." Music Collaborators Howard Fix and Haley Simons join Webb and Sommerville on this raw and expressive journey. An eclectic range of music is used in the production from Iggy Pop to J.S. Bach... from Trent Reznor to Leonard Cohen. |
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| FESTIVAL PROFILE: LOLA MACLAUGHLIN Princess, part of Edge One Lola Dance uses detailed, inventive choreography to shape a language of emotionally driven, poetic movement and curiously resonant imagery. Artistic director and choreographer Lola MacLaughlin’Äôs geometric understanding of movement and structure translates the complexity of the inner life with wry, ironic wit. Since its founding in 1989 Lola Dance has toured nationally, with the company’Äôs pas three works enjoying cross-country tours. Lola Dance has most recently returned from presenting Provincial Essays at the 2008 Canada Dance Festival in Ottawa. In addition to many performances at the Canada Dance Festival, the FIND (Festival international de nouvelle danse) in Montreal the company has also performed at the 20th Danceweek Festival in Zagreb, Croatia. This excerpt, from a full-length work entitled Princess, Infanta, Queen, considers the mantle of duty assumed by royal figures, and explores an historical figure who feels the social, physical and emotional boundaries in which she must live her life. |
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| FESTIVAL FUNDRAISER: 4 THE EDGE Please join us for a fun and fabulous fundraising brunch for Dancing on the Edge. You will have the opportunity to meet three of Canada’s preeminent choreographer’s Serge Bennathan, Peter Bingham & Alvin Tolentino plus Festival Producer, Donna Spencer and enjoy good people and a light brunch -- in the process, you'll be supporting Vancouver's most exciting contemporary dance festival. The Dancing on the Edge festival will celebrate twenty years of bringing great contemporary dance to Vancouver when it launches its 2008 edition, July 3rd thru 12th. ENTRY BY DONATION ($50 to $250 suggested) Please RSVP directly to dotefestival@gmail.com Held at the home of Terence Little and Ben Clermont |
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