Performances 2021/2022 Season

PERFORMANCES 2021/2022 SEASON

JANUARY 27, 2021

An Interview with Choreographer Wen Wei Wang

DanceWorks Curator, Mimi Beck, interviews founder of Wen Wei Dance, Wen Wei Wang.

Wen Wei Wang began dancing professionally in China with the Langzhou Song and Dance Company. In 1991, he came to Canada and joined the Judith Marcuse Dance Company, followed by seven years with Ballet BC. In 2000, he received the Clifford E. Lee Choreographic Award and since then has choreographed for Alberta Ballet, Ballet BC, and Ballet Jazz de Montreal. In 2003, he founded Wen Wei Dance.

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2020
SNEAK PEEKS
FEBRUARY 26, 2021 FILM PREMIERE

Human Body Expression's film Again

Again focuses on nine dancers with disparate lives and painful pasts as they embark on a journey towards forgiveness and the unconditional love of a child.

The film is choreographed by Hanna Kiel and features an intergenerational cast of dancers: Susie Burpee, Kendra Epik, Bonnie Kim, Ryan Lee, Pulga Muchochoma, Kelly Shaw, Darryl C. Tracy, Oriah Wiersma, and 11-year-old dancer Eva Teece-soter.

JANUARY-MARCH 2021
VIDEOS RELEASED MONDAYS AND FRIDAYS

Holla Jazz's 12 Notes

12 Notes is a series of twelve videos featuring Holla Jazz artists sharing thoughts and reflections about jazz dance and music.

Featuring Natasha Powell, Ashley ‘Colors’ Perez, Caroline ‘Lady C’ Fraser, Hollywood Jade, Miha Matevzic, Raoul Wilke, Sarah Tumaliuan, Tereka Tyler-Davis, Jacob Gorzhaltsan, Seika Boye, and video created by Kristine Flores.

Streaming April 29, 2021 at 7:00pm -
May 2, 2021 at 11:00pm

Ebnflōh's Hanging by a Thread

Ebnflōh’s Hanging by a Thread is a hip-hop dance piece created in the midst of the pandemic. The choreographic language is rooted in the depths of hip-hop dance and its global culture, with movement inspired by popping, house, and krump.

Artistic director & choreographer Alexandra ‘Spicey’ Landé, music by producer-songwriter Shash’U, dancers and collaborators Ja James Britton Johnson, Christina Paquette, Nindy Pierre-Louis, Elie-Anne Ross, Jonathan Mokuma, Jaleesa Coligny, Alexandre Philippe Beaudoin, and Junior Dorsaint.

JULY 8 - SEPTEMBER 6

Summer Reel 2021

DanceWorks Moving Online presents Summer Reel, a compilation of short dance films that were created and performed by Canadian dance artists, beginning in January, 2020. Curator, Mimi Beck, shares:

“These works emerged during different periods of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each captures the energetic body in a magical encounter with the film medium. Some remind us of the joy of live performance. Others reflect the mutating moods that have marked this unusual time of suspension, longing, stillness and solitude”.

October 7, 2021 - November 5, 2021*
(*with FFDN Livestream Pass)

Danah Rosales + Sara Porter

DanceWorks is delighted to co-produce a double-bill of queer work in partnership with Fall for Dance North and the Citadel: Ross Centre for Dance in Toronto.

Featuring Toronto-based artists Danah Rosales and Sara Porter in a juxtaposition of works that finds shared ground in theatricality, spectacle and Queer identity – directed for film and livestream by William Yong.

Rosales, a.k.a. Maldita Siriano, Mother of the Kiki House of Siriano’s Toronto Chapter, presents The Grand March of the House of Siriano, an extravagant mini house ball where dance, beauty and fashion intersect.

Porter presents a new filmed version Getting to know your Fruit, woven from movement, memoir and wit. The performance features intimate prose and – yes – actual pieces of fruit.

Nov 4, 2021 at 7:00 PM – Nov 7, 2021 at 11:00 PM EST
ONLINE

Verkörperung CoWorks Double Bill

Verkörperung, German for ‘expressing embodiment’, encompasses the crux of the two dance films presented in this double bill by Tracey Norman and Angela Blumberg.

Tracey Norman’s ensemble piece Where We Intersect is a dance film that shines light on the points at which we meet and overlap with others, art, nature, and urban structures.

Angela Blumberg’s Portrait 2020 is a multimedia film that draws, dances, and vocalizes last year’s experiences. The film’s collection of subjective impressions overlaps with the collective experience of sacrifice, uncertainty, and constant change.

November 25, 2021 at 7PM EST
ONLINE

Denise Fujiwara's
Love Learn Listen

Can we be courageously open and curious, and then respond rather than react to what scares us? Can we be aware, creative, sensible and radical, within the reality of each moment?

Love Learn Listen is a dance film that romps through a part of Tkaronto, shot in a lull between pandemic waves. It features a new song, a round that invites you to sing along. Join us!

December 9, 2021 at 7 PM EST
ONLINE

Holly Small's Haunted

Trapped inside their own house, a young couple find they are also caught in opposing dimensions of time and space. Unable to escape their separate realities, they haunt each other in an unending cycle.

Choreographer Holly Small, director Nika Belianina, composer John Oswald, and performers Kaitlin Standeven & Brodie Stevenson.

March 31 & April 1, 2022 at 8PM
Harbourfront Centre Theatre

Lina Cruz / Fila 13 Productions MORPHS

An insatiable movement storyteller, Lina Cruz creates a surprising world of mischievous dream-weavers. The Morphs are fairy-tale chefs, who cook up mischievous cuisine, drawing us into their world of illusion.

Composing strange snippets of dreams, these creatures await the arrival of their sleepy clients. Enigmatic and evasive, their intentions are charged with tenderness and an immense caring love.

July 28 at 7:30pm - July31 at 11:59pm
ONLINE

Human Body Expression's But Then Again

How do we navigate change, grief and acceptance in times of uncertainty? DanceWorks presents But Then Again, Human Body Expression’s documentary film work, featuring choreography by Hanna Kiel.

Through constant cancellations and a transition from live performance to film, this project explores transformation through artists’ work, and adapting to ongoing change.

July 8 at 8pm- Sept 8 at 11:59pm
ONLINE

Summer Reel 2022

DanceWorks is back with Summer Reel 2022! As part of the Moving Online series, Summer Reel offers dance artists a platform to showcase their creativity within the digital realm.

Featuring work by Jera Wolfe, Kylie Thompson, Sarah U 余衍晴, Fumu Jahmez Dance, Candace Kumar, Phyllis Whyte, Andrea Nann, Elvina Raharja, and Mackenzie Carlson.

LIVE PROGRAMMING ON HOLD

Due to Covid-19 our Mainstage and CoWorks Series are on hiatus. We will be back with live events when we can gather safely.

COC’s Free Noon Hour Concerts

These FREE concerts take place at the Canadian Opera Company’s beautiful Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre! A vibrant series that brings you up close and personal with dance artists in advance of selected Mainstage events.

Post-show Talk Backs

Moderated talkback sessions bring artists and audiences together to share impressions and viewpoints on the work.

Carol’s Dance Notes

Dance artist and writer Carol Anderson pens insightful comments on choreographic works; created in collaboration with Dance Collection Danse.

Pre-show Chats

Choreographers share the inspiration that drives their creative process.

CoWorks Series presentations are on hiatus during the 2021/22 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

LIVE ON INSTAGRAM

Thank you @balletedmonton, @wenweiw1 @doroteasayka…

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THANK YOU TO OUR FUNDERS, SPONSORS & DONORS

Donors are the heart of our season.

We acknowledge the Toronto/Tkaronto as One Dish One Spoon Indigenous territory. We honour the ancestral caretakers of this land: the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Wendat and most recently the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation who have a Treaty relationship with Canada. We are grateful to have the opportunity to work in their community, on this territory. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and future.

Top image of Indigenous Enterprise by Danny Upshaw