dance: made in canada / fait au canada presents artists from across

PROGRAMMING ANNOUNCED
dance: made in canada / fait au canada presents artists from across Canada
August 13 – 16, 2015, Betty Oliphant Theatre

Festival Artistic Director Yvonne Ng, Co-Festival Directors, Janelle Rainville & Jeff Morris, alongside guest curators Tedd Robinson and Debashis Sinha, are pleased to announce the programming for the dance: made in canada / fait au canada (d:mic/fac) Festival, running August 13-16, 2015. Over two dozen artists will be seen at the Betty Oliphant Theatre in Toronto in three different programs: Mainstage, What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) and Arts Encounters.

The d:mic/fac MainStage Series consists of three different series totalling seven unique Canadian dance works by an exceptional list of contemporary artists:

Robinson Series

• Fila 13 Productions / Lina Cruz (Montreal) performs Waiting for a Sleepless Night (WORLD PREMIERE), choreographed by Cruz. On an imaginary terrain, two “buddies” wander into the heightened sensitivity of a sleepless night.
• Andrew Tay / Wants&Needs Danse (Montreal) performs You can’t buy it (WORLD PREMIERE), a solo which questions modern society’s connection to spirituality using the body, elements of ritual and the relationship between the performer and spectator.

“In curating this evening, I chose Cruz’s work for its physicality and intimacy,” says Robinson. “I chose Tay’s work because I found it to be intriguing and curious in concept. Together, I feel that we will see into the inquisitive minds of these two creators. One leans toward the physical, and the other leans toward performance. I like to think that there is room for both on the stage.”

Sinha Series

• Ryan Cunningham / Troy Emery Twigg (Calgary) bring They Shoot Buffalo, Don’t They? (TORONTO PREMIERE). This is a contemporary piece for three dancers that uses mask reminiscent of traditional dances and ceremonies. The physical narrative is expressed through the perspective of the wild Buffalo; the masks, choreography and performance embody the evolution of the wild Buffalo in North America.
• Jacob Niedzwiecki (Toronto) choreographs A Review of Criticality Accidents (WORLD PREMIERE), a literary adaptation from an unlikely source: a landmark 2001 review of every ‘process’ nuclear accident in both the Russian and American nuclear programs. Niedzwiecki’s piece explores the report’s stories and the dangerous science behind them, with a gifted cast of five (or four?) interpreters.

Says Sinha: “Dance has been most exciting to me when it comes out of something that is part of our collective unconscious – the experience of nature, perhaps, or of relationships, or how we place our human lives in a universe so much more vast than we are. In this program, I choose two pieces that are driven by these currents, albeit in very different ways.”

Morrison/Ng Series

• Kate Hilliard (Toronto) choreographs and performs the duet Jane and Sam with Robert Abubo (WORLD PREMIERE). The piece questions mortality and the unknown suspense that death creates.
• Marie France Forcier (Toronto) performs her solo Little Guidebook for Using your Suffering Wisely (WORLD PREMIERE), an ironic journey through Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. A character embarks on a self-help audiobook journey, guided by a narrator.
• Throwdown Collective (Toronto) performs Various Concert (working title) (WORLD PREMIERE). The piece explores the dynamic form of the trio as a choreographic structure relating to the themes of perspective and time.

“What pulled these works together for me is that each choreographer is a performer within their own works,” says Ng. “This gives each piece immediacy, intimacy and a touch of irrationality that is compelling. When the choreographer and dancer are one and the same, the choreographic process is intuitive, and more akin to biological growth than architectural design. This gives the audience a glimpse of the interior self.”

To view the full release, please click HERE.