Hubbard Street Dance

April 24 & 25, 2009
Vancouver Playhouse

Acclaimed for its exuberant and innovative repertoire, unparalleled versatility and inspiring performances, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago takes the stage April 24 & 25, 2009. Hubbard Street presents an eclectic selection of work by leading international choreographers. Their 2009 tour will feature dances selected from a number of works in the repertoire, including new works by Jorma Elo (resident choreographer at Boston Ballet), Alejandro Cerrudo, and HSDC Artistic Director Jim Vincent. Other pieces in the touring repertoire include Danny Ezralow’s work SF/LB and Doug Varone’s The Constant Shift of Pulse. As Chicago’s leading contemporary dance company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is one of the only American dance companies to operate year-round, continuing to produce bold and passionate performances for its home base of Chicago, as well as national and international audiences; always changing and evolving while maintaining the highest artistic standards.

On the Ice of Labrador

March 6 & 7, 2009
Vancouver East Cultural Centre

BC choreographer Sarah Chase creates a new piece for Montréal Danse, known for its captivating repertory and for its exceptional dancers. On the Ice of Labrador highlights the magical number of seven: the seven members of Montréal Danse; seven narratives woven into a biographical tapestry.

This exploration of seven combines unexpected elements: aviators, trombone players, mortality on railroad tracks, bodies washed in Hotel Dieu, blood sugar cycles of a young diabetic, a woman from England standing in a hut in BC’s Interior, the journey of Alzheimer’s… Identity and memory are built up, only to collapse into something unnameable at the centre of each of our souls.

A British Columbia premiere, On the Ice of Labrador is a co-production of the CanDance
Network Creation Fund, the Canada Dance Festival, the Vancouver East Cultural Centre,
the Agora de la Danse, the Brian Webb Dance Company.

Photo: Montreal Danse, On the Ice of Labrador.

Deca Dance

February 20 & 21, 2009
Vancouver Playhouse

Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company is one of the most dynamic and sought-after contemporary dance companies on the international stage today. For the company’s long-overdue Vancouver visit, 20 phenomenal dancers will make their way through Deca Dance, a vibrant collage of excerpts from artistic director/choreographer Ohad Naharin’s most celebrated works. Set to music ranging from resonating Hebrew chants to “Cha-Cha de Amor”, this high-spirited work is an exuberant ode to Naharin’s creative vision and movement’s many possibilities.

Since its founding in 1964 by Martha Graham and Baroness Batsheva De Rothschild, Batsheva Dance Company has become one of the most influential dance companies in the world. Specially devised to showcase the dazzling breadth of Naharin’s choreographic invention, Deca Dance features highlight scenes from his most celebrated creations during the last decade. From aggression and fierce lust for life to capricious dream worlds, Deca Dance reflects Naharin’s vision of the company as a meeting place for artists of all disciplines.

Co-presented with Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad/Olympiade Culturelle and Chutzpah! Festival.

Les Écaille de la Mémoire (The Scales of Memory)

November 7 & 8, 2008
Vancouver Playhouse

Senegal’s all-male Compagnie Jant-Bi has stripped traditional African dance of all its folkloric trappings in a positive way. Through the filter of Western movement, Artistic Director Germaine Acogny has developed a pure dance language that captures the essence of African dance, rituals, and community spirit.

With equal parts compassion, humor, muscle, and grace, Urban Bush Women Artistic Director Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s works have told evocative stories about topics ranging from black women’s concepts of beauty and self-esteem to civil rights in the rural American South.

In a unique artistic exchange bridging continents and cultures, Urban Bush Women and Compagnie Jant-Bi collaborate to create Les écailles de la mémoire (The Scales of Memory)—a work that will be seen across North America, including stops at New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Kennedy Center. Fourteen dancers join forces for an evening of highly energized dance that explores the importance of place and community. The movement vocabulary created by mixing Acogny’s nature-inspired technique and Zollar’s brand of contemporary dance influenced by Black vernacular movement forms a compelling cross-cultural exchange.

Avec le soutien du Consulat général de France à Vancouver.