REBO(U)ND

April 29- May 8 | Starting 30 minutes after sunset until 10:30 pm
English Bay  (On Denman Street at Davie Street)

FREE
Running time: 7 minutes – Looped

With spring in the air and vaccines rolling out, DanceHouse is thrilled to offer the urban video-mapping work (an outdoor video projection) titled REBO(U)ND. Coinciding with International Dance Day (April 29), this free outdoor public installation is the perfect thing to view on a spring evening’s walk. (Remember to wear a mask and stay socially distanced.)

A choreography of suspension and presented in silence, REBO(U)ND reveals and magnifies bodies on the verge of escaping gravity. Created and produced by choreographer Caroline Laurin-Beaucage, Montréal Danse, Lorganisme and HUB Studio, this is an exceptional project and a first in Vancouver! REBO(U)ND reveals the ephemeral moment when the dancer floats, between momentum and fall, between freedom and imbalance, while the body seems to defy space and time.

Projected on the wall of a tower in English Bay, REBO(U)ND will be offered to the gaze of all passers-by, bringing dance out of theatres and studios, and directly into the general public in a celebratory moment for artists, local businesses and neighbours to rebound from the past year’s challenges. The projection plays with perceptions, the notions of time, gravity, scale and space. A visual experience to live, to feel, REBO(U)ND is a vibrant tribute to dance, sharing the feelings of abandonment and freedom.

Following a long year of restrictions and many lives and projects put on hold, REBO(U)ND is a metaphor of our resilience, our capacity to bounce back from adversity. Another way art brings us together, looking forward to better days.

For more information:

• WHEN: nightly, April 29 – May 8; beginning 30 minutes past sunset (8:57 pm on April 29, advancing to 9:10 pm on May 8); ending each night at 10:30 pm
• WHERE: on Denman St, between Pendrell St and Morton Ave. Best viewed from several locations either on Denman Street just north of Davie. 
• We invite you to support the West End businesses by making your evening a culinary experience as well as an artistic one! With plenty of parks and beaches nearby, you can enjoy takeout from one of the West End neighbourhood restaurants.

With support from the following partners:
The English Bay Hotel

We would like to thank the Ocean Towers building and the surrounding neighbourhood for supporting this project.

Photo: REBO(U)ND © Hub Studio.

More than Dance, We are a Movement

Link available April 14-20, 2021

Streaming in Canada only.
Running time: 58 minutes

DanceHouse is proud to offer a new film celebrating Red Sky Performance’s 20th-anniversary story as a leading company of contemporary Indigenous performance in Canada and worldwide. More Than Dance, We Are A Movement contains excerpts from their award-winning work and interviews with collaborators who have participated in this remarkable journey. This film captures the creative drive of founder and Artistic Director Sandra Laronde and the exceptional artistic vision that propelled Red Sky Performance to prominence and critical acclaim.

About Miigis
Miigis represents the “perfect breath” of life, a symbol that informs our origin story of travel from the Atlantic Coast to the Great Lakes. Fusing contemporary Indigenous dance with athleticism in an extraordinary form, Miigis explores the catalysts for movement, ancestral forces and living memory, and the cycle of life.

About Trace
Trace is a highly kinetic contemporary dance work inspired by Indigenous (Anishinaabe) sky and star stories. Our ancestral origins stretch across the Milky Way to the atoms burning inside of us in the here and now. Trace offers a glimpse into our origin as the star people as well as our future evolution.

This Digidance streaming is an initiative of DanceHouse (Vancouver), Danse Danse (Montreal), Harbourfront Centre (Toronto), and the National Arts Centre (Ottawa), co-presented with Springboard Performance (Calgary).

Tickets

Purchase your ticket via The Point of Sale:

• After signing up and purchasing your ticket, you will receive a confirmation email from The Point of Sale. If you do not see it, please check your junk folder.
• Prior to the performance, you will receive another email from The Point of Sale with a link to access the performance. The link will be valid from April 14 00:00 PDT to April 20 23:45 PDT
• The live stream can be played on any screen: on your PC, Mac, laptop, phone or iPad/tablet. For the best experience, we recommend using the largest screen possible, or connecting your laptop to a TV.
• The performance must be streamed from one device. During the performance, you can pause, rewind and reopen the link as needed.

For a list of frequently asked questions about accessing the performance click here. If you have any troubles accessing the link please contact: boxoffice@dancehouse.ca

With Support from:

Photo: Red Sky Performance, Trace © Rob De Vito

Speaking of Dance
Women Weaving Stories of Transformation

Presented by Matriarchs Uprising in partnership with DanceHouse and SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs

April 23, 2021 | 11am PDT

Speakers: Maura Garcia (Maura Garcia Dance), Jessica McMann (Wild Mint Arts), Michelle Olson (Raven Spirit Dance), Santee Smith (Kaha:Wi Dance Theatre)

Co-facilitators: Olivia C. Davies (O.Dela Arts), Starr Muranko (Raven Spirit Dance)

Free to the public

Running time: 75 minutes

Matriarchs Uprising festival was launched in 2019 by O.Dela Arts as a way to center Indigenous women who are creating and producing contemporary dance. In this conversation hosted by Olivia C. Davies (O.Dela Arts) with Matriarchs Uprising artists Michelle Olson (Raven Spirit Dance), Maura Garcia (Maura Garcia Dance), Jessica McMann (Wild Mint Arts), Santee Smith (Kaha:Wi Dance Theatre), and Starr Muranko (Raven Spirit Dance) we consider how contemporary choreography by Indigenous women from across Turtle Island considers our collective responsibility to land, to self, and to one another. At its core, our contemporary Indigenous dances require that artists are accountable to their traditional values while asserting their place in the present as dreamers of potential futures that can be communicated through movement. Defining this reality through dance can reveal the ways our Indigenous worldview strikes a balance between old and new ways of being, thinking, and reacting to the world around us.

Audiences are invited to sit in circle with us and listen as we speak to each other, with open hearts, and open minds. To learn more about Matriarchs Uprising and this event, visit their Instagram, Facebook, and on Olivia C. Davies’ Talking Truths page.

Artist Bios

Joe

Link available March 17-23
Streaming worldwide.

With English and French subtitles
Runing time: 80 minutes

DanceHouse is thrilled to present Joe (1984), a major piece of the Canadian dance repertoire. A pivotal work by the late Jean-Pierre Perreault, Joe presents an image of the human condition that is so accurate and so moving that it remains forever imprinted in the memories of those who have seen it. To the sound of 32 pairs of work boots obsessively pounding the floor, 32 dancers dressed in long coats and hats, move in a compact mass from which individuals occasionally attempt to free themselves to escape a foreordained destiny.

One of the most influential and respected contemporary dance artists in Canada, choreographer, painter and set designer Jean-Pierre Perreault (1947–2002) created works whose significant influence both at home and abroad has contributed to the growth of dance audiences.

This video recording of the piece Joe, produced in 1995 by Bernard Picard for Radio-Canada, not only pays tribute to one of Canada’s greatest choreographers, but also allows the public to discover or rediscover an absolutely breathtaking performance that has had a profound impact on contemporary dance. Joe is a masterpiece, a landmark work not only in Jean-Pierre Perreault’s oeuvre but in Canadian contemporary dance.

Enjoy this archival video in its vintage resolution, which is already 26 years old. The technology may have aged a little, but Joe hasn’t!

After the performance, there will be a 25-minute documentary contextualizing the creation.

This Digidance streaming is an initiative of DanceHouse (Vancouver), Danse Danse (Montreal), Harbourfront Centre (Toronto), National Arts Centre (Ottawa) in collaboration with La Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault. Thank you to Radio-Canada Archives.

With support from

Tickets

Purchase your ticket via The Point of Sale:

• After signing up and purchasing your ticket, you will receive a confirmation email from The Point of Sale. If you do not see it, please check your junk folder.
• Prior to the performance, you will receive another email from The Point of Sale with a link to access the performance. The link will be valid from March 17 at 0:00am PST until March 23 at 11:45pm PST
• The live stream can be played on any screen: on your PC, Mac, laptop, phone or iPad/tablet. For the best experience, we recommend using the largest screen possible, or connecting your laptop to a TV.
• The performance must be streamed from one device. During the performance, you can pause, rewind and reopen the link as needed.
• For a list of frequently asked questions about accessing the performance click here. If you have any troubles accessing the link please contact: boxoffice@dancehouse.ca

Top photo: Joe © Robert Etcheverry.

February 20, 2021 | 12pm PST

Length – 60min (Workshop: 50min; Q&A: 10min)
Venue – Online

Enter the world of Crystal Pite

To complement our online presentation of Crystal Pite’s Body and Soul, her assistant and long-time associate, dancer Jermaine Spivey, will give a virtual dance workshop open to everyone.

Spivey joined Kidd Pivot, Crystal Pite’s Vancouver-based company, in 2008. During the creation of Body and Soul with the Paris Opera Ballet, he assisted Pite in her work with 36 dancers from the renowned ballet company.

During the workshop, participants will explore Crystal Pite’s style using improvisation with simple actions such as bending, extension, rotation, contraction, expansion and weight shift.

Through this movement exploration, participants will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the choreographic work Body and Soul. Regardless of their experience, all participants will be able to adapt the experience to their own body and abilities.

The workshop will be given in English on the Zoom platform. Limited number of registrations.

This workshop is an initiative of Danse Danse (Montréal) together with DanceHouse (Vancouver), Harbourfront Centre (Toronto) and the National Arts Centre (Ottawa), in association with Springboard Performance (Calgary).

Jermaine Spivey

Jermaine Maurice Spivey was born in Baltimore, Maryland USA and is a graduate of Baltimore School for the Arts and The Juilliard School. From 2002-2017, Jermaine lived and worked predominately throughout Europe. He has been a company member of Ballet Gulbenkian and Cullberg Ballet, worked as a freelance/guest artist for Hofesh Shechter Company, Robyn Live 2016, The LID, Arias Company and The Forsythe Company from 2013-2015 as well as a cast member of American Repertory Theater’s original production The Shape She Makes conceived by Susan Misner and Jonathan Bernstein. Since 2008, Jermaine has been a member of Crystal Pite’s project-based company Kidd Pivot. He has rehearsal assisted and/or staged Crystal Pite’s work for companies such as Cedar Lake Ballet, Carte Blanche, Hessisches StaatsBallett Wiesbaden, Netherlands Dance Theater and Paris Opera Ballet. Jermaine has instructed dance all across North America and Europe for professional companies, universities, studios and training programs including USC Kaufman School of Dance, Cal Arts, The Juilliard School, UCLA, NYU Tisch, Baltimore School for the Arts, The Performing Arts Project, MOVE NYC, No)one. Art House, Nuova Officina Della Danza and GöteborgsOperans Danskompani. He is a 2001 Princess Grace Awardee and a 1998 National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts 1st Level Awardee. As a choreographer, Jermaine has been commissioned by Salt Contemporary Dance, Rambert 2 and most recently LA Dance project. Jermaine has also created and performed two full-evening works with partner and collaborator Spenser Theberge titled Rather This Then and Position 3.

Top photo: Paris Opera Ballet,  Body and Soul © Julien Benhamou. Bottom L-R: Jermaine Spivey © Jacob Jonas; Jermaine Spivey © Michael Slobodian.

Crystal Pite

Body and Soul

February 17–23, 2021 | Link available for 7 days
Streaming in Canada only.

With French and English subtitles   
Run time: 100 minutes

DanceHouse is thrilled to present the online Canadian premiere of Body and Soul, choreographed by Vancouver’s own Crystal Pite, and performed by the Paris Opera Ballet. Following the phenomenal success of The Seasons’ Canon in 2016, Pite was invited back in 2019 to create a full-length work for thirty-six dancers of the Paris Opera Ballet.

A work in three distinct parts, Body and Soul articulates Pite’s ongoing fascination with conflict, connectedness and the embodiment of the human spirit. The performance begins with voice-over text that describes, in purely physical terms, a scene of conflict between two individuals.

As the performance progresses, the script’s meaning morphs and deepens with each iteration: conflict creates a vital, compelling tension between individuals, between groups, between species. The company’s mastery as an ensemble is evident in Pite’s complex choreographic swarms; individual dancers are virtuosic in breathtaking solos and duets. The dancers evoke scenes of epic protest, profound personal struggle, and collective survival. Body and Soul is a portrait of the human condition that is timeless, vast and heartbreakingly intimate.

Before the performance, there will be a 15-minute pre-recorded exclusive interview with Crystal Pite and the Kidd Pivot creative team, all of whom contributed artistically to the creation of Body and Soul: Owen Belton (Composer), Eric Beauchesne (Assistant to the Choreographer), Nancy Bryant (Costume Designer), Jay Gower Taylor (Set Designer), Jermaine Spivey (Assistant to the Choreographer) and Tom Visser (Lighting Designer).

This project is an initiative of DanceHouse (Vancouver) in collaboration with Danse Danse (Montreal), Harbourfront Centre (Toronto), the National Arts Centre (Ottawa) and Springboard Performance (Calgary).

Tickets

Purchase your ticket via The Point of Sale:

• Note that the performance will be available exclusively to patrons watching in Canada.
• After signing up and purchasing your ticket, you will receive a confirmation email from The Point of Sale. If you do not see it, please check your junk folder.
• Prior to the performance, you will receive another email from The Point of Sale with a link to access the performance. The link will be valid from February 17 at 0:00am PST until February 23 at 11:45pm PST
• The live stream can be played on any screen: on your PC, Mac, laptop, phone or iPad/tablet. For the best experience, we recommend using the largest screen possible, or connecting your laptop to a TV.
• The performance must be streamed from one device. During the performance, you can pause, rewind and reopen the link as needed.

For a list of frequently asked questions about accessing the performance click here. If you have any troubles accessing the link please contact: boxoffice@dancehouse.ca

Restaurant Partners

DanceHouse is pleased to extend your Parisian experience by offering you two pairing opportunities, French style. 

Production Sponsors

Anndraya Luui and Sonya Wall

With Support From

Top photo: Paris Opera Ballet,  Body and Soul © Julien Benhamou. Sidebar photo: Crystal Pite © Michael Slobodian.

École des Sables (Senegal)

Dancing at Dusk – A Moment with Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring

October 21-28
Streaming in Canada only

With French and English subtitles
Run time: 75 minutes

Join us for the opening night on the evening of October 21 to enjoy the screening with a special DanceHouse dinner offer (see below).

DanceHouse is thrilled to present Pina Bausch’s stunning interpretation of The Rite of Spring (1975), performed by a specially assembled company and produced by the Pina Bausch Foundation, École des Sables and Sadler’s Wells. Faithful to Stravinsky’s composition, this seminal work examines the power of ritual and sacrifice, as a young woman is chosen to mark the changing seasons.

In this stunning film, Pina Bausch’s iconic choreography for The Rite of Spring takes place in an extraordinary setting, on a remote beach near Toubab Dialaw, Senegal. Created as the world descended into pandemic lockdown, the performance captures the final rehearsal of 38 dancers from 14 different African nations. In addition to offering a rare opportunity to watch one of the world’s greatest dance works, the performance documents a singular moment in time, as the performers gathered in preparation for an international tour.

Before the performance, there will be a pre-show documentary of the history of The Rite of Spring by Valérie Lessard, dance history specialist. The presentation will be followed by the screening of a short making of film as well as an interview with founder of École des Sables Germaine Acogny as well as Jorge Puerta Armenta, former member of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch company and re-stager of The Rite of Spring at Ecole des Sables.

This project is an initiative of Danse Danse (Montreal) in collaboration with Canadian Stage (Toronto), DanceHouse (Vancouver), Harbourfront Centre (Toronto), National Arts Centre (Ottawa), Springboard (Calgary).

TICKETS

Tickets from $15. Purchase your ticket via Le Point de Vente.

• After signing up and purchasing your ticket, you will receive a confirmation email from Lepointdevente. If you do not see it, please check your junk folder.
• Prior to the performance, you will receive another email from lepointdevente /thepointofsale with a link to access the performance.
• The live stream can be played on any screen: on your PC, laptop, phone or iPad/tablet. For the best experience, we recommend using the largest screen possible, or connecting your laptop to a TV. Note that the performance will be available exclusively to patrons in Canada.

With Support From

Top photo: Dancing at Dusk © Polyphem Filmproduktion

NDT2: Dare to Say – LIVE from The Hague

November 6-8 | 11 am PST

Tickets $25 | tickets are on sale until Saturday, November 7 | limited quantity available
Run time: 70 minutes
Streaming available worldwide

Note that this presentation is live and there will be no recording available afterward, so  ticket holders must be available to watch it at 11am PST on the date of their choosing.

In Dare to Say, dancemakers Alexander Ekman and Dimo Milev challenge their performers with distinct new approaches to movement and choreography, necessitated by the restrictions imposed by COVID-19. The result is radically exciting new choreographic works: Alexander Ekman’s Four Relations and Dimo Milev’s Fusions and Some Confusions. DanceHouse is thrilled to present these two new world premieres featuring NDT 2’s distinctive creative voices. The livestream presentation will include an introduction to the work followed by a fully staged performance. Collapsing time and space, the digital livestream will allow audiences to enjoy the dancers on stage in The Hague, from the comfort of their own home.

After his dance career, former NDT 2 dancer Alexander Ekman focused exclusively on creating choreography. Taking a clever and percussive approach to movement, and incorporating his special gift for staging, Ekman often composes the music and develops the stage designs for his own choreographic work. In Dare to Say, Dimo Milev collaborated with composer Miguelangel Clerc Parada.

TICKETS

• After your order, you will receive a standard confirmation from DanceHouse. Please note this is not your ticket.
• A week before the performance, you will receive an email from NDT* with a unique link for the livestream performance. Please check your spam folder if you do not see it.
• On the day prior to the event, you will receive another email from NDT as a reminder
• The livestream can be played on any screen: on your desktop, laptop, phone or iPad/tablet. For the best experience, we recommend using the largest screen possible, or connecting your laptop to a television

* by purchasing a ticket to this presentation, you are agreeing to have your email shared with NDT for the purposes of communicating about the program.

About the Choreographers

Top photo: NDT 2 – Dare to Say © Joris Jan Bos, Rahi Rezvani.

Battle / Street Dance

November 15 | 4pm PST – LIVE From Montreal

Tickets: $15
Run time: 90 minutes

Note that this presentation will be streamed live at 4pm PST on November 15 and will be available for 24 hours, until 5:15pm PST on November 16.

Recognized worldwide for its international festival which brings together street dance and related arts, music production and DJing, Jack of all Trades’ Battle / Street Dance is an artistic presentation that showcases the creativity of artists in a form commonly known as “battle”.

All over the world, frequently in improbable places, masters of the mind- blowing dance moves of popping meet in a supercharged atmosphere of exchange, confrontation and adrenaline. Hosted by an MC, powered by a DJ, and adjudicated by a jury, the battle consists of a series of competitions of solo dance, improvised according to strict guidelines. Born on the American West Coast, popping, in its strict sense, is a dance style characterized by sudden tensing and releasing of the muscles to the rhythm of musical beats, mainly funk and g-funk.

In this presentation, eight Canadian dancers will perform, accompanied by three renowned DJs, in an atmosphere of expression, exchange and confrontation. Large screens will be placed in front of the dancers enabling audience members to react to the battle, just like when they attend in person. It is an opportunity to experience a usually underground dance event, in a format as close to the original event as possible.

This project is an initiative of Danse Danse (Montreal) in collaboration with DanceHouse (Vancouver), Harbourfront Centre (Toronto), National Arts Centre (Ottawa).

Top photo: Armel Low © Do Phan Hoi.

Speaking of Dance – Future Memory: Session 2

Co-Presented with SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs

February 26, 2021 | 11am PST

Artists: Louise Lecavalier (Louise Lecavalier/Fou Glorieux), Stephen Page (Bangarra Dance Theatre) and Rodrigo Pederneiras (Grupo Corpo)
Free to the public
Running time: 60 minutes

DanceHouse’s new online series Speaking of Dance focuses the spotlight on the exceptional artists who have previously presented work on the DanceHouse stage. We will ask each of our alumni artists the same questions, centred around upcoming creative practice and projects, as well as their individual perspectives and histories. Utilizing the theme of future works is intended both as a protest against the uncertainty of our times, as well as a call to creativity and the importance of hope.

This series will feature eight artists from across the continents sharing 10-minute video presentations about their inspirations and plans for the future.

These events are intended to offer an interactive and live quality. Get ready to engage in meaningful conversations and dialogue via a live chat during the video-streaming. Moderators will select questions from the online chat sessions, allowing for the speakers to personally respond to questions.

Artist Bios

Louise Lecavalier – Choreographer

Dancer and choreographer Louise Lecavalier worked with Édouard Lock and La La La Human Steps from 1981 to 1999, a period of exceptional intensity punctuated by works that have since become mythical along with scintillating collaborations (David Bowie, Frank Zappa…). Her extreme dance, filled with a fiery energy, caught the imagination of a whole generation. Since founding her own company, Fou Glorieux, in 2006, her movement research has been emblematic of her whole career, emphasizing the surpassing of limits and risk-taking, a search for the absolute in which she seeks to bring out the “more-than-human in the human.” In 2012, she created So Blue, her first full-length choreography, followed by Battleground in 2016. Both works have toured extensively, nationally and internationally. In February 2020, her new solo work, Stations, premiered in Germany, and will tour for the next two years. Louise has received many prestigious awards during her career.

Stephen Page – Director and Choreographer

Stephen is a descendant of the Nunukul people and the Munaldjali clan of the Yugambeh Nation from South East Queensland. In 1991, Stephen was appointed Artistic Director of Bangarra and has developed a signature body of works that have become milestones in Australian performing arts.

Stephen continues to reinvent Indigenous storytelling within Bangarra and through collaborations with other performing arts companies. He directed the Indigenous sections for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies and created a new dance work as part of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony. Stephen has choreographed over 25 works for Bangarra. His most recent works include the Helpmann Award winning work Bennelong in 2017 and the work Dark Emu in 2018, choreographed together with former Bangarra dancers Daniel Riley and Yolande Brown, and which went on to become the most successful production in the history of Bangarra.

Stephen’s first full-length film SPEAR premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival before screening at various arts festivals around Australia in early 2016. He has also directed the chapter Sand in the feature film The Turning (2013) and choreographed the feature films Bran Nue Dae (2009) and The Sapphires (2011).

In 2015, Stephen was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Creative Arts by the University of Technology Sydney. In 2016, he received both the NAIDOC Lifetime Achievement Award and JC Williamson Award. In 2017, Stephen was honoured with the Australia Council Dance Award for significant contributions to the cultural and artistic fabric of the nation, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).

Rodrigo Pederneiras – Choreographer

Rodrigo Pederneiras has been Grupo Corpo’s choreographer since 1978, and his work is recognized nationally and internationally. He has choreographed for the most important Brazilian companies. Outside Brazil he has choreographed for companies that include Deutsche Oper Berlin (Germany), Gulbenkian (Portugal), Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal (Canada), Stadttheater Saint Gallen (Switzerland), José Limón Dance Company (USA) and Opéra du Rhin (France). But creating for Grupo Corpo remains his primary focus. “Grupo Corpo today has its own language, which is something hard to achieve and does not mean that things become easier. On the contrary, I may make a mistake one thousand times while creating, until I find that which I want. This is not possible with other dance companies. There are pressures for time.” Creation, almost by definition, means anguish. Grupo Corpo’s dancers learn what the body of ours is, as imagined by Rodrigo during the creation phase. They are like tuned up instruments ready to be played. If Grupo Corpo has a language of its own, it is Rodrigo’s language: it has his unmistakable accent, which is understood by everybody—because it is our body that he induces to dance.

Special thanks to the Consulate General of Brazil in Vancouver and the Australian Consulate in Vancouver in support of this activity.

Watch the recording of Future Memory: Session One, from November 26, 2020.

Photos: Top – Speaking of Dance 2018 © Heather McDermid. Portraits – Louise Lecavalier © Massimo Chiaradia; Stephen Page © Tobias Rowles; Rodrigo Pederneiras © Jose Luiz Pederneiras.