FTA wins Grand Prix du Conseil des arts de Montréal

>> by Naomi Brand
The Festival TransAmériques (FTA) has won the twenty-eighth Grand Prix du Conseil des arts de Montréal for its work in increasing the visibility of contemporary theatre arts and dance worldwide. The jury recognized Marie-Hélène Falcon, the Festival’s executive and artistic director, for her achievements over the past thirty years. As winner of the Grand Prix, FTA will receive a bursary of $25,000. Among the finalists was BJM - Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, which received $5,000. The prize recognizes the excellence and achievements of Montréal's artistic organizations within nine arts disciplines: circus arts, visual arts, digital arts, film and video, dance, literature, music, theatre, and new artistic practices.

Canadians help celebrate Jacob's Pillow anniversary

>> by Jaimée Horn
This summer marks the eightieth anniversary of Jacob's Pillow international dance festival. Every year thousands of people visit Western Massachusetts to experience the festival, which welcomes companies and audiences from around the world. This year, in celebration of The Pillow's founder Ted Shawn and his company of male dancers, Tina Croll and Jamie Cunningham have created The Men Dancers: From the Horse’s Mouth. The piece consists of a unique show in which twenty male dancers execute original choreography as well as share brief personal anecdotes. Among the rotating performers were dancers from various backgrounds including Canadians Josh Beamish and Hari Krishnan. Krishnan performed a version of his solo work Pissing off the Neighbours as part of The Men Dancers: From the Horse's Mouth. Other Canadian companies contributing to this summer's festival are the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, returning after a nearly fifty-year absence, to perform Canadian choreographer Peter Quanz's In Tandem, the pas de deux from Mark Godden's As Above So Below and Mauricio Wainrot's Carmina Burana; Crystal Pite's Kidd Pivot returns to perform Dark Matters; and Out Innerspace performs ME SO YOU SO ME as part of the Inside/Out outdoor performances.
More: http://www.jacobspillow.org/

Jeanne Holmes appointed artistic producer of CDF

Jeanne Holmes / Photo by David Hou

>> by Cynthia Brett
On December 1st, Jeanne Holmes will take her post as the new artistic producer of the Canada Dance Festival (CDF). With a background in performance, production, programming and arts management, Holmes brings over twenty years of diverse experience to the position. She is currently the producing director of Dancemakers and the Centre for Creation in Toronto as well as the chair of Dusk Dances Toronto. Recalling her personal experiences at the festival, Holmes told The Dance Current: "It is close to my heart and where some of my best Canadian dance memories have been created. I have been inspired in the past by the hard work and dedication of Brian Webb and Cathy Levy and am honoured by this opportunity to build on their incredible legacies." In 2012, the CDF will celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary. Board Chair Pamela Fralick commented in a press release that "Jeanne's extensive experience in the world of the performing arts, her reputation as a collaborator and community builder, coupled with her enthusiasm for the future of dance in Canada is exactly the right combination to lead us onward into the next quarter century."

Kaha:wi Dance Theatre brings together dance and lacrosse

Performers Danny Vyse, Shayne Martell, Jared Robillard, Vaughn Harris in The Creator's Game.
Photo by Elizabeth Thipphawong

>> by Naomi Brand

Kaha:wi Dance Theatre Artistic Director Santee Smith was commissioned to choreograph a new contemporary work combining lacrosse and dance. The Creator's Game was a three-way co-production between Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, the O’Kaadenigan Wiingashk Collective and Public Energy for this year's Ode’min Giizis Festival. The piece integrates movement from contemporary dance, traditional Haudenesaune (Iroquois) dance and the athleticism of lacrosse, while honoring the spiritual and cultural significance of the sport. The work was performed by a company of professional dancers and Six Nations lacrosse players with an original musical score composed by Derek Miller. Leading up to the festival, a ten-minute excerpt of The Creator's Game was performed before a lacrosse game at the Peterborough Memorial Centre with over 3,000 lacrosse fans in attendance. "Our idea was to bridge, or weave together the sporting community with the arts community," said Patti Shaughnessy, director of the Ode’min Giizis Festival. The final presentation of The Creator's Game took place outside, as part of the Traditional Gathering of the festival and was free to the public. The Ode’min Giizis Festival is a multi-disciplinary indigenous arts festival that takes place in Peterborough, Ontario, each June around the time of National Aboriginal Day.
http://okw-arts.ca/festival/
www.kahawidance.org

Dance 2 Danse Festival cancelled

>> by Brittany Duggan
Toronto’s Dance 2 Danse (D2D) Festival has been cancelled for 2011, and possibly for good. Sion Irwin-Childs, artistic director and founder, has informed artists who applied before the deadline that their submissions are currently in the process of being returned along with all application fees. The decision comes shortly after applications were due for 2011, and just one year after the festival’s founding. D2D was a summer dance festival in Toronto that catered to a range of artists and dance disciplines. The programming consisted of a curated cabaret and a series of mainstage shows chosen by lottery. Irwin-Childs has chosen not to comment.

Brian Webb announces his departure from CDF

Brian Webb / Photo by Ed Ellis

>> by Naomi Brand
Brian Webb, artistic director of the Canada Dance Festival (CDF), announced in January that he will be completing his tenure in October 2011. Webb has been at the helm of the festival since 2001 where his programming has contributed to greater diversity and new audience development. Among his achievements was the conception and presentation of “Hip Hop 360” and “Dancing Through Cultures”, two of the most successful programs in the festival’s history. "CDF has opted to view Brian’s departure as an opportunity to thoughtfully review our past and plan for our future," CDF Chair Pamela Fralick told The Dance Current. With the help of an independent, external consultant, the board is seeking input from the Canadian dance community about their expectations for a renewed CDF. The results of this research will inform the creation of a new vision for the festival and a strategic plan for CDF's future. The board hopes to launch the search for a new artistic director in August. In the meantime, the 2011 festival lineup is set to be announced in the coming weeks. This year's festival will take place June 15th through 18th in Ottawa.
http://www.canadadance.ca/pages/

Vancouver Global Dance Project and Toronto's D2D Festival

>> by Samantha Mehra
From July 26th through August 13th, Vancouver hosted the city’s first contemporary dance festival for young and emerging artists: The Vancouver Global Dance Project (VGDP). Directed by Brenna Mclaud, Claire French and Heather Laura Gray, the project aims to use education and performance to unite the dance community and support young choreographers in creating contemporary dance work. The project also emphasizes the tools emerging choreographers require when creating and presenting new compositions. The VGDP included a three-week dance intensive for youth and pre-professionals, as well as a performance series in which festival participants and youth dance companies performed work for the public at Vancouver’s PAL Theatre on August 12th and 13th. Festival participants had the opportunity to work with guest choreographers Susan Elliott and Justine Chambers.
www.vancouverglobaldance.com

Toronto’s Dance 2 Danse Festival, the city’s newest annual dance festival, began its first run in August. Artistic Director Sion Irwin-Childs created the festival in order to provide diverse, economically sound and accessible opportunities for dancers and audiences. The festival is comprised of four dance series that showcase mixed programs of performers and choreographers: Eros, Thanatos & the Avant-Garde ~ The Cabaret Series (performed at The Rivoli); D2D Dance Duels (performed at the Winchester Street Theatre) in which the audience votes for its favourite pieces; D2D DLX! at which the favourites are performed; and D2D DIVERGE/DIVERSE, which presents seasoned dance artists and emerging artists.
www.d2dfestival.ca.

Canadian dance film short wins awards

>> by Cynthia Brett

Slip (2008), a six-minute dance film that takes place inside a women's change room, won two awards at the Canadian Film Centre's Worldwide Short Film Festival in Toronto June 1st through 6th, 2010. Director Chelsea McMullan took home the award for Best Experimental Short while Maya Bankovic won the Kodak Award for Best Cinematography in a Canadian Short. Slip was funded by Bravo!FACT and choreographed by Yvonne Ng, artistic director of Tiger Princess Dance Projects.

Festival of New Dance celebrates 20 years

Members of the early performance collective Neighborhood Dance Works (NDW): Lois Brown, Beni Malone, Mandy Jones, Peggy Hogan and Cathy Ferri / Photo courtesy of NDW

>> by Naomi Brand
St. John's-based presenter Neighbourhood Dance Works (NDW) celebrates the twentieth anniversary of its Festival of New Dance from September 16th through 25th, 2010. Festival highlights include: Peggy Baker, Gwen Noah, Lee Su Feh, Daniel Léveillé, Heidi Strauss and Mira Hunter among others. Newfoundland-based artists will include Louise Moyes and emerging artist Mark Bath; two remounted works are included as part of a retrospective look at NDW's history.
NDW was founded in 1981 by Cathi Ferri and Agnes Walsh as a performance collective creating innovative dance pieces for the stage. In 1990, the organization shifted its focus towards presenting, introducing the first Festival of New Dance curated by Ann Anderson and later by Lois Brown, Anne Troake, Sarah Joy Stoker and now by a committee made up of board and community members. NDW is a member of the CanDance Network and programs local, national and international new dance for St. John's audiences, and supports the careers of dance artists in Newfoundland and Labrador through professional development programs.

Dance highlighted at The Images Festival

>> by Naomi Brand

The Images Festival kicked off on April 1st and will be held until the 10th in twenty-five venues across the Greater Toronto Area. This year's festival highlights dance with Tacita Dean's (UK) Craneway Event, a film featuring the late choreographer Merce Cunningham; New York duo robbinschild's Sonya and Layla Go Camping; and choreographer, dancer and film/video maker Yvonne Rainer as the keynote speaker of the International Experimental Media Congress hosted by The Images Festival. Now in its twenty-third year, The Images Festival is North America's largest festival for experimental and independent moving image culture featuring screenings, live performances and media art installations by international artists.
www.imagesfestival.com

New international dance festival in Toronto

>> by Brittany Duggan
This summer, Toronto will host a new annual international dance festival for emerging, mid-career and established dance artists. Curated by Artistic Director Sion Irwin-Childs, Dance 2 Danse Festival 2010 will run from August 18th through 22nd at the Winchester Street Theatre and The Rivoli. Proposals to the artistic director will determine the works for Eros, Thanatos & The Avant-Garde – The Cabaret Series; while a lottery, drawn on June 1st, 2010, at The Rivoli, will determine the participating artists for D2D Dance Duels, an interactive program with audience voting, as well as the artists for the longer programs, D2D DLX! and D2D DIVERGE / DIVERSE. The deadline for applications is May 27th, 2010.
DanceTODanseFestival@hotmail.com.

Fluid Movement Arts Festival celebrates physical performance

>> by Naomi Brand

Calgary's Fluid Movement Arts Festival wrapped up its fourth year on October 25th. The week-long festival presented by Springboard Performance merges contemporary dance and physical performance from local, national and international artists. This year's festival presented Calgary artists in a small-stage cabaret; two showcases of artists whose work has been imprinted by Alberta, including Helen Husak, Tania Alvarado and Lin Snelling; as well as Montréal Danse and the international headliner The Hofesh Shechter Company from the UK. The festival was rounded out by a full schedule of classes, workshops and artist talks.

http://www.springboardperformance.com/

IMPACT 09: Waterloo Region's theatre festival

>> by Brittany Duggan

The Waterloo Region of Ontario hosted a ten-day festival featuring theatre, physical theatre and dance from September 24th through October 3rd in various performance venues. The festival included artists from four continents and incorporated more than twenty programs and over seventy public presentations. Co-created by over twelve arts organizations, IMPACT 09 catered to a range of artists, from local to international, emerging to established, and traditional to contemporary.