2013-14 – DanceHouse

Emio Greco | Pieter C. Scholten – ICKamsterdam (Netherlands)

admin — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 17:16:29 +0000

Rocco

April 4 & 5, 2014, 8PM
Vancouver Playhouse

In Rocco dancers become boxers and boxers become dancers. Inspired by Luchino Visconti’s movie Rocco e i suoi Fratelli, about brotherhood and the struggle for a better life, one challenges the other by striking punches, fast footwork, and virtuoso tactics. The intense surrender which is evident in the boxing scenes of the film, finds its parallel in the physical dedication of the dancers, who trained with an Italian boxing teacher during the work’s development. The dancers represent brotherhood in all its senses: the good and the bad, devil and angel, the androgynous and the incestuous. They are Cain and Abel, Romulus and Remus, Laurel and Hardy. Rocco is a dance performance about physical and psychological extremes.

Grupo Corpo (Brazil)

admin — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 20:24:11 +0000

Sem Mim & Ímã

February 7 & 8, 2014 | 8PM
Vancouver Playhouse (800 Hamilton Street)

An audience favourite, the Brazilian dance sensation Grupo corpo returns to DanceHouse with two new works. In Sem Mim, meaning without me, “tattooed” dancers merge the rhythm of the sea with the music of medieval Portuguese-Galician chants. The second work, Ímã, which means magnet, takes inspiration from the law of magnetism.

Founded in 1975, and based in Belo Horizonte, far from the influence of Rio de Janeiro, Grupo Corpo has commissioned more than 35 full-length works, and over 2,000 shorter pieces. The company gives 80 performances a year in places as far from their Brazilian home as Iceland, South Korea, the US, Lebanon, Italy, Singapor, the Netherlands, Israel, France, Japan, and Mexico.

Production Sponsor

Grupo Corp, Sem Mim. © Jose Luiz Pederneiras.

Frédérick Gravel (Montreal)

admin — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 17:22:40 +0000

Usually Beauty Fails

January 28 – 30, 2014, 8PM
Fei & Milton Wong Experimental Theatre at SFU Woodward’s in the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts

Usually Beauty Fails is a declaration of ambiguous love for popular culture and the high culture of dance. The piece is performed by nine dancers/musicians who break loose to the music of Grouped’ArtGravelArtGroup and the trenchant words of Gravel. Following in the path of Gravel Works (2008) and Tout se pète la gueule chérie (2009), acclaimed both in Canada and Europe, this new creation contains physical intensity, rock music, and a coexistence of artistic genres.

Presented with the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival and SFU Woodward’s

Wen Wei Dance (Vancouver)

admin — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 17:15:20 +0000

7th Sense

November 8 & 9, 2013, 8PM
Vancouver Playhouse

Inspired by the dichotomy that informs improvisation—uninhibited abandon and controlled precision—choreographer Wen Wei Wang examines ideas of control and power through his new dance. The full-length work is an exploration of how we wield control and succumb to it, an invisible force that shapes our lives and our relationships. Wang’s work is rich with complex and insightful explorations of the human condition from a global perspective. 7th Sense reflects a multiplicity of dance and social experiences, influenced by the evolution of personal identity.

Stephen Petronio Company (USA)

admin — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 17:20:12 +0000

Underland

September 27 & 28, 2013, 8PM
Vancouver Playhouse

Originally created for the Sydney Dance Company, Underland is a sexy, enigmatic fusion of dance, music, and visual imagery inspired by the dark and bittersweet songs of Australian balladeer Nick Cave. Dancers hurl through space with razor sharp precision, fiercely energized one moment, sensually lyrical the next. The triptych of video screens provides a cinematic backdrop to the work, the mood of which shifts in rhythm with Cave’s music throughout this frenetically energised dance piece.