Vancouver International Dance Festival 2023 wraps up with new work by Noam Gagnon, April 20 to 22
A solo called being by the acclaimed choreograher-dancer and founder of Vision Impure will be livestreamed
Noam Gagnon, being. Photo by @erikzennstromphotography
Vancouver International Dance Festival presents Vision Impure’s being on April 20 and 21 at 7 pm and on April 22 at 4 pm via livestream from KW Production Studio
NOAM GAGNON IS well-known to dance fans right across the country and beyond. The Montreal-born Vancouver-based choreographer, performer, and artistic director has helped propel Canadian dance to the global stage—while propelling himself through space in works that are by turns electrifying, arresting, and intimate.
An associate dance artist of Canada’s National Arts Centre, Gagnon is artistic director of Vision Impure, a satellite company of The Holy Body Tattoo (which he cofounded Dana Gringas). Vision Impure’s work explores the nuances and complexities of human relationships. Gagnon will appear at the 2023 Vancouver International Dance Festival, bringing this year’s fest to a close with a new solo.
Gagnon choreographed and will perform being, which is about accepting a certain lack of meaning in life and living for momentary beauty.
Featuring lighting design by James Proudfoot and music by Faye Mallett, Braden Jones, Lindsay Cuff, Jesse Griffiths, and MJ Coomber, performances will be captured by state-of-the-art equipment at KW Production Studio and streamed live. The studio’s four-camera system allows for unique visual perspectives of the choreography and a cinematic experience for viewers. Registrants will receive a YouTube link and instructions on how to view the performance.
Upon forming Vision Impure in 2006, Gagnon has created, choreographed and performed full-length works such as The Vision Impure (winner of The Isadora Award for Excellence in Performance), Thank You, You’re Not Welcome, and This Crazy Show. Regularly commissioned by dance artists and companies near and far, he has collaborated with artists such as Nigel Charnock, Daniel Léveillé, The Tiger Lillies, Steven Gilmore, and William Morrison. Gagnon is also the founder and director of Beyond Pilates.
During his time as co-artistic director and choreographer for The Holy Body Tattoo, Gagnon toured the globe with Gingras in our brief eternity, winning the Dora Mavor Moore award for best ensemble performance in dance. The duo performed Circa, winner of the inaugural Alcan Performing Arts Award, more than 100 times worldwide. The company’s largest and most ambitious piece, monumental, premiered in 2005, toured across Canada and the USA, and was remounted in 2016 with a score performed live by post-rock collective Godspeed You, Black Emperor!
Following the VIDF April 21 performance of Vision Impure's being, Gagnon will take part in an artist talkback. Tickets (donation, $15/$20) and more details are here.
