Breu/Parabello

April 23 & 24, 2010
Vancouver Playhouse

Founded in 1975, Grupo Corpo has become the foremost contemporary Brazilian dance company. With moves borrowed from African, Portuguese, modern, ballet, and ballroom dance traditions, as well as from martial arts, Grupo Corpo brings a stunning diversity and technical mastery to work that is in turn cerebral, cosmopolitan, primitive, existential, and tough—while always remaining recognizably its own.

For its Vancouver debut Grupo Corpo will perform two pieces, Breu and Parabelo. A poetic translation of the violent times we live in, Grupo Corpo’s Breu, which debuted in 2007, features Artistic Director Rodrigo Pederneiras’ most radical dance movements in 30 years as the company’s choreographer. The gorgeous dancers collide, push, shake, rise and fall, barely surviving in a netherworld of aggression and alienation. Parabelo is Pederneiras at his most regional. Inspired by working and devotional chants and the memory of the rhythmic baião, the choreography that emerges is full of hip swaying, feet stamping expressions of Brazil.

Top photo: Grupo Corpo, Parabelo © José Luiz Pederneiras.

The Golden Mean

March 12 & 13, 2010
Vancouver Playhouse

Montreal’s Compagnie Marie Chouinard dazzled Vancouver audiences with bODY_rEMIX in spring 2008. The reigning queen of contemporary dance in Canada returns with the world premiere of a newly commissioned work. This latest group piece by Marie Chouinard is full of subtle shades of meaning; a study of the delicate ebb and flow of the agitations of the body.

Based on the notion of time recaptured, the work combines group movements performed in unison, a living treatise on anatomy, and the on-stage presence of strange devices. The new work will feature live projections mirroring the fluctuations in the music and bodies, developed in collaboration with media artist Luc Courchesne. For the first time, Chouinard will create a vocal score, a gentle opera, to accompany the dance.

Presented with Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad/Olympiade Culturelle.

Co-produced by Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad (Vancouver), National Arts Centre (Ottawa), Place des Arts (Montreal) with the support of ImPulsTanz (Vienna).

Top photo: Compagnie Marie Chouinard, The Golden Mean © Slyvie-Ann Paré.

Dark Matters

February 26 & 27, 2010
Vancouver Playhouse

“Dark matter” is the terra incognita of our day. Comprising roughly 96 percent of the observable universe, dark matter affects the speed, structure and evolution of galaxies, yet its nature remains a mystery. This potent, affecting darkness is paralleled in Crystal Pite’s Dark Matters. Emerging out of Pite’s curiosity and fascination with the unseen forces at work on mind and body, Dark Matters, features seven extraordinary dancers, and a stunning original score from long-time collaborator Owen Belton.

Presented with the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad/Olympiade Culturelle.
Co-produced by Dance Victoria, National Arts Centre (Ottawa), L’Agora de la danse (Montreal) and Arts Partners in Creative Development.

Top photo: Kidd Pivot, Dark Matters © Chris Randle.

Moon Water

Febraury 5 & 6, 2010
Queen Elizabeth Theatre

According to legend, Cloud Gate is the name of the oldest known dance in China, a ritual some 5,000 years old. In 1973, choreographer Lin Hwai-min adopted this classical name for the first contemporary dance company in any Chinese speaking community: Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan. Cloud Gate’s rich repertoire has its roots in Asian myths, folklore and aesthetics, but it brings a contemporary and universal perspective to these age-old beliefs and stories. The company is made up of two dozen dancers whose training includes Tai Chi Tao Yin, meditation, martial arts, Chinese Opera movement, modern dance, ballet and calligraphy. Cloud Gate’s Moon Water is a modern exploration of ancient Tai Chi Tao Yin movement set to Bach’s Six Suites for Solo Cello.

Presented with Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad/Olympiade Culturelle.

This tour was made possible by a grant from the Council for Cultural Affairs, Taiwan.

Uprising and In Your Rooms

November 6 & 7, 2009
Vancouver Playhouse

Hofesh Shechter is a fast rising star of the UK dance scene. A former member of Batsheva Dance Company, he has made an impressive impact as a talented and creative new choreographic voice. His work is supremely physical, embracing elegant stage compositions and charged with engaging ideas.

Uprising is an energetic and muscular work for seven men. In your rooms is “an arrestingly powerful piece” (The Guardian) for 11 dancers and five musicians with an original score by the choreographer. Both pieces brim with playful, gritty physicality that is at times provocative, political and personal, presenting a society which is scarily alienating, yet shockingly familiar.

Presented with Vancouver New Music.

Commissioned by The Place, Southbank Centre and Sadler’s Wells (London). Supported by Arts Council England. Hofesh Shechter is a creative associate of The Point, Eastleigh.

Top photo: Hofesh Shechter Company © Andrew Lang.