Residents of Ottawa beware!  The Hofesh Shecter Dance Company is coming for you!  From September 29 – 30, Hofesh Shecter’s dance company will be performing the Canadian premieres of Uprising and In Your Rooms at the National Arts Centre.  Uprising was created in 2006, and features an all-male cast dancing to music Shecter himself also composed – though I guess that’s no surprise, given that Shecter was a rock and roll drummer before he turned to the world of choreography.  I have not had the pleasure of seeing Shecter’s company perform myself, though I’m already hooked by watching the YouTube clips he’s got out there.  Such energy and emotion!  In Your Rooms was created in 2007, and just recently Shtecher put the two works together for something he calls “the choreographer’s cut” – and it sounds like it’s going to be an incredible evening of dance.  A review from The Observer in London said of him, “In two of the year’s most exciting shows, Hofesh Shechter Company and his dancers rage thrillingly against the void…he has you on the edge of your seat, dry-mouthed, from start to finish” – with a review like that, how can you not go and see this performance?!  It sounds amazing – and when you add in the fact that the music which Shecther has composed is performed live, with 20 musicians accompanying the 17 dancers on stage, it’s just an incredible evening of performance.

And those of you in other Canadian cities, don’t fret, Hofesh Shecter Company is touring to both Montreal and Quebec City in the beginning of October, so you’ll have a chance to watch this amazing dance performance there as well!  Hofesh was honoured in 2008 with the Critic’s Circle National Dance Award for Best Choreography – modern.  All signs point to his becoming an increasingly prominent and powerful voice in dance, so for those of you able to go see his company, please let us know how it was!

Marie Chouinard is an amazing choreographer, and I am always impressed by the way she is constantly evolving, pushing boundaries, never settling.  I am often struck by the way her costumes, makeup and hair, which individually are each so distinctive, work together and create such a unified sense of atmosphere for her dancers.

I’ve just discovered that Marie Chouinard is about half-way through a run of her 2008 work, Orpheus and Eurydice at the Theatre Junction Grand in Calgary.  Her run started September 22, and goes until the 26.  Those of you living in the Calgary area, this is a great opportunity to see a great artist’s work. 

Montreal’s Studio 303 has definitely become a hotbed of contemporary dance in Canada.  Now 20 years old, the studio began when three independent choreographers wanted a communal space where dancers could train, rehearse and perform all under one roof.  It has since evolved into one of Quebec – and Canada’s – most accessible and diverse centres for research in dance and interdisciplinary practices.  Many emerging dance artists enter into the professional scene through Studio 303.

In the 20 years its been around, Studio 303 has presented the works for over 1, 350 artists from all over the world!  They’ve presented over 200 dance shows, 130 related art shows, and workshops, classes and masterclasses with over 325 dance professionals from a range of international backgrounds.

On September 25, so this Friday, Studio 303 is hosting an Open house, from 2 – 6 pm!  There will be a launch of their new performing season, a brunch, a conference based around the concept of ‘demystifying interdisciplinarity’, and a performance by Wants & Needs Dance!  Wants & Needs is a very cool sounding dance group, in addition to performing and choreographing with a wide range of artists, they also curate Piss in the Pool and Short & Sweet, two very interesting Montreal, site-specific choreographic works.   All these events are free, so it’s well worth checking out if you’re in the Montreal area!

Tonight at the Sound Academy in Toronto the 2009 Canada Pro Bboy Championships are happening, as part of the 3rd annual Manifesto Festival of Community and Culture!  The competition draws crews and judges from around the world – such a cool opportunity to see some amazing dance!  Seven crews are going to battle for the $5000 prize money, with a panel of six judges and the audience to let them know what we think of their moves!  Battles will be about eight-minutes long, and I’m willing to be there are going to be some crazy stunts pulled on the dance floor, I can wait to check it out!

To get a taste of it, click here to see some moves by some of the judges, and here for information on the Championships themselves.

Both the dance and film worlds are less a great star today, with the news of Patrick Swayze’s death last night.  I’m not sure if teenagers and kids today have a sense of the impact Swayze’s performance in Dirty Dancing had upon my generation of women, but it was huge.  Most women of my age can tell you the first time they watched Dirty Dancing, and the effect Swayze’s sensitive-yet-tough Johnny Castle had on them.  The movie, made in 1987, not only launched Swayze’s career, but it made dance cool again.  Thanks to Johnny Castle and the staff at Kellerman’s, dancing became fun, exciting and sexy.  It wasn’t staid or boring or traditional, it was edgy and fun and we all wanted to learn how to do it.

I learned, in reading obituaries of Patrick Swayze today, that he was a classically trained ballet dancer, and had danced with both the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago and the Eliot Feld Ballet, in New York City.  His ability to dance while still being a tough, manly guy changed the way many of us viewed masculinity and dance, all for the positive.  That such a big, muscular guy could look so graceful, and that such a graceful guy could do such powerful lifts and jumps was part of the allure of Dirty Dancing.

I know Patrick Swayze was an actor who went on to film numerous movies, including Ghost, which was a huge success.  But to me he will always be a dancer who happened to act.  I learned today that he returned to Broadway in 2003, dancing the role of Billy Flynn in Chicago, thus, I’m sure, causing a whole new audience to fall in love with him all over again.

The final scene of Dirty Dancing is one that has been imprinted on the memories of most people I know – indeed, when I went to see the stage musical, the audience was singing and standing in the aisles dancing, for so much of the show that I lost focus on the stage and instead got swept up in the energy of the audience. That overwhelming urge not just to watch it and love it from a distance, but to learn it and become a part of it is what I will always think of, when I remember Patrick Swayze.

I send my thoughts to his family and friends and hope they know the amazing impact he had on dance – and on so many of us.   As a tribute to him, I encourage everyone to watch this clip, and enjoy Patrick Swayze at his best, dancing and loving it.

Having recently blogged both about Vancouver and The National Ballet of Canada, I feel like I should look elsewhere in the country now, to see what dance events are happening there.  But, there is some news from NBoC about the west coast that I wanted to share with everyone.  As most readers are probably aware, The National Ballet of Canada had to cancel its western tour this year, thanks to the effects of the recession.  This was sad news for many Canadians, as the company only tours every other year as it is, which can mean a long wait to see some great ballet.  However, the company has recently announced that some of its dancers will be heading to Vancouver, Victoria and Nanaimo for shows this fall!  They’ll be performing a mixed programme, featuring Musings (James Kudelka), Apollo (George Balanchine), Act I Pas de Deux from Lady of the Camellias (Val Caniparoli) and Act III Pas de Deux from The Sleeping Beauty (Rudolf Nureyev, after Petipa).  Full casting as well as ticket information has been released – click here to check it out!

This time of year in Toronto is always an exciting one, as the Toronto International Film Festival kicked off yesterday.  For ten days the city gets taken over not just by celebrities and paparazzi, but also by amazing films and filmmakers.  This year, I’ve read through the list of films and seen that there are several having something to do with dance!  The film La Danse is the latest work by renowned documentarist Frederick Wiseman, and is all about the Paris Opera Ballet.   Mao’s Last Dancer tells the true story of Li Cunxin.  He was born in 1961 in China’s Shandong Province, but he was selected by recruiters from  Madame Mao’s ballet academy in Beijing to train to become a ballet dancer.  He was eventually recruited by Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson and was one of the first exchange students allowed by Mao’s regime to go to America.  It’s also a year of musicals, with Hipsters, a Russian musical, St. Louis Blues, a Senegalese musical and Bran Nue Dae and Aboriginal musical all playing throughout TIFF.  It’s great to see dance making something of a big screen comeback these days!

One of cool things that TIFF does, in addition to bringing all these great films here to the city, is program a series of free outdoor events that run in conjunction with the films being screened.  As part of the event around a screening of Mao’s Last Dancer, I’ve just learned that The National Ballet of Canada will be participating in the free event happening next Wednesday, that’s September 16, at 9 pm at Yonge Dundas Square!  The company will be performing an excerpt from the new work Canadian superstar choreographer Aszure Barton is creating.  The work is as-yet un-named, and will have its world premiere with the company in November, so this is an amazing opportunity to get a sneak preview of the exciting stuff the NBoC is bringing to the stage this year, I can’t wait to check it out!

Vancouver is a beautiful city with so much to offer everyone. Lately all the news about Vancouver, and B.C. in general, is about the upcoming Olympics, which is indeed an exciting happening. But, I don’t want anyone to forget about the amazing dance taking place in Canada’s West Coast! Vancouver is home to The Dance Centre, an amazing facility that offers classes, workshops, performances and more. They’ve got two exciting things coming up. One is starting Friday September 11, Rob Kitsos and Dancers kick off their next performances. For details check out Rob’s webpage here:
http://www.sfu.ca/~rkitsos/bio.html

And, starting September 24, Discover Dance! noon series kicks off. This is a curated set of performances happening in the dance centre, over lunch hour. For more information on the series, or to become a subscriber, please check out the website here:

http://www.thedancecentre.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=439%3Adiscover-dance-2009-2010-season&catid=1%3Alatest&Itemid=1

As mentioned previously, I’ve never been to the Yukon, and don’t know much about it. I did discover there seems to be a vibrant square dance community throughout the Yukon and Alaska. Today I stumbled upon a crazy breakdance community in the Yukon, headed by the Groundwork Sessions Crew, the Yukon’s only Bboy group. You can find more details about them and what they’re up to by following them on their facebook page.

These guys seem pretty awesome. I did a little more digging and found that back in July, they helped to coordinate the Yukon’s first-ever Breakdancing festival, called Klondike Heat: Breakin’ the Ice & B-Boy Battle. Groups from across the country came to help the Yukon celebrate its inaugural breakdancing event. Not only does Klondike heat sound awesome, but there are some amazing photos available by reading this article and checking out their slideshow:
http://www.yukon-news.com/arts/13801/

According to Wikipedia, a Feis is “a traditional Gaelic arts and culture festival”. In ancient times, Feisana (the plural of Feis) were very important to local communities and were opportunities for everyone to gather together and participate in singing, theatre, sports and dancing. The largest of these festivals was the Aonach, the great festival ta Tara, which was the city of Ireland’s High King at the time.

Today Feisana are usually structured around Irish dancing competitions. There is a strong Irish dancing contingent in Canada, and it looks like there are festivals and competitions happening from coast to coast on a regular basis. There’s one coming up next weekend in Kitchener, the June Butler Memorial Feis. For details on this event, check out their website:

http://www.junebutlerfeis.com/