Newton Moraes Dance Theatre celebrates their 20th anniversary season with a world premiere of WIRED LOVE, a DanceWorks CoWorks presentation that explores cultural trends in love and friendship.
Here we talk to Artistic Director and choreographer Newton Moraes about the landmark anniversary and new work.
DANCEWORKS: This is the 20th anniversary season of Newton Moraes Dance Theatre. Can you reflect on some of the significant moments in the company’s history?
NEWTON: Newton Moraes Dance Theatre (NMDT) has mounted a regular season in Toronto since 1997. There are several significant moments in our company history! Here are a few:
We were thrilled when NMDT was selected to be part of Dance on Tour / La Danse en Tournée booklet created by the Canada Council for the Arts. This was a worldwide selection of dance and NMDT was one of the few local companies listed along festivals, theatres, dance companies, presenters, and magazines.
Jean Laurent was one of NMDT’s greatest collaborators in 2006. Jean Laurent worked with Pina Bausch and Tanztheater Wuppertal.
NMDT’s Brazil tour in 2007 was a great success. We performed in 14 cities in the state of Sao Paulo at cultural centres in Votorantim, Sao Joao da Boa Vista, Jundiai, Dracena, Presidente Prudente, Fernandopolis, Sao Jose dos Campos, and Sao Joao do Rio Preto.
NMDT was selected to meet choreographer Fred Traugth to perform in Bonn and Bielefeld in Germany, with support from Foreign Affairs Canada and the Canadian Embassy in Germany in 1998.
We have showcased our work and performed in many of Toronto’s venues such as the Premiere Dance Theatre (now Fleck Dance Theatre), Betty Oliphant Theatre, Winchester Theatre, Royal Ontario Museum, Dusk Dances, and fFIDA Dance Series at the Distillery District.
DANCEWORKS: Does your new work WIRED LOVE connect to the anniversary of the company? If so, how?
NEWTON: Yes! We are exploring elements from early NMDT works to showcase our company’s best repertoire including ideas, images, physicality, and aesthetics that will bring a new level of hybridity between contemporary and Brazilian dance. An incredibly talented cast of performers include Ryan Kostyniuk, Andrea Rojas, Shakeil Rollock, Deltin Sejour, and Katherine Semchuk, and the fabulous Sharon DiGenova is our lighting Designer.
DANCEWORKS: Can you tell us more about the themes explored in WIRED LOVE?
NEWTON: WIRED LOVE is a production exploring a new chapter in human relationships and how humanity connects in the ever-evolving age of technology. WIRED LOVE connects the past, present, and future.
Reflecting on how technological advancements have affected our capacities as a human race to connect and interact on an emotional and cognitive level, we collaborated with artists that have worked with NMDT in various capacities over the last 20 years. The artists worked together on this project involving original music, new choreography and set design, and multi-media elements.
The project involves a constant thread of gathering the movement vocabulary of the diverse cast of artists and their origins in Canada, Brazil, Haiti, Mexico and Bahamas.
DANCEWORKS: Thank you, Newton.
DanceWorks CoWorks presents Newton Moraes Dance Theatre’s WIRED LOVE will premiere March 6-9, 2019 at The Citadel: Ross Centre for Dance at 8pm. Tickets are available here.
