Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 ways to celebrate International Dance Day in Vancouver, April 29
From a wave of new Micro-Commissions to a massive projection at English Bay, dance shows its resilience
Xin Hui Ong’s Kindred, part of the Micro-Commissionss streaming via the Dance Centre at 5 pm. Photo by Joel Krahn
Look up, way up, after sunset to see REB(O)UND by English Bay. Photo by © Hub Studio.
WHEN UNESCO SET OUT International Dance Day in 1982, it probably couldn’t have predicted that almost 40 years later, the event would have to be almost entirely celebrated onscreen.
No doubt: it’s been a tough year for dancers. But we have a lot of talent to toast here. And it’s a small miracle that dancers have managed to continue to create at all through the pandemic—let alone produce some of the striking filmed work that’s emerged this year.
As Vancouver choreographer Ziyian Kwan puts it in her International Dance Day Message for the Dance Centre:
“Reflecting on the last year, I have seen and felt dance in every how and every where. In this time when it’s hard to discern what weekday flows into the next, I’ve been deeply moved by colleagues who have reached into their imaginations to experiment and share:
“Living room solos that are windows into people’s lives. Outdoor duets reminding us that oceans and trees are nature’s choreography. Invocations for social justice that are ensembles of solidarity. Physical poetry created in studios, laneways, theatres, parking lots and forests. All these things – and more to come.
“These artful actions inspire me to believe that it’s possible to rebuild differently, this container we call a milieu.”
Below, find five “artful actions” to mark the day, even if it can’t be in a theatre. Remember that the art form’s Vancouver hub, the Dance Centre, is running free events all day from 11 am to 6 pm online. And note that Ballet BC announced this morning it will also run an encore presentation of its stunning program REACHING U, with the fluid GARDEN and the hypnotic Bedroom Folk; head here for details. Last, but not least, head to the Goh Ballet site to see a video specially created for International Dance Day, aptly titled Together, We Dance.
Dance Café
Dance Centre, via Instagram Live @response.dance, from 1 to 4 pm
Contemporary dance artists show their stuff in locations of their choice on the hour, every hour, in a program curated by the response. artistic director Amber Funk Barton and Kaia Shukin. Check out Shana Wolfe at 1; Lisa Gelley with Lily Yuriko Tamoto at 2; Sammy Chien at 3; and Jee Lam at 4 pm.
REBO(U)ND
DanceHouse presents the screenings half an hour after sunset near English Bay
Head down to Davie and Denman streets tonight as DanceHouse projects a larger-than-life video across an eight-story-high tower near Davie and Denman Streets. Created and produced by Montreal choreographer Caroline Laurin-Beaucage, Montréal Danse, Lorganisme and HUB Studio, and presented by DanceHouse, the looping, seven-minute work captures the fleeting instant at the height of a jump, when a performer floats between momentum and falling. The multimedia public-art project marks DanceHouse’s first foray into presenting dance in the form of a large-scale outdoor projection.
Tomoyo Yamada’s Stuck in 2020, streaming via the Dance Centre. Photo by Sam Mason & Charlotte Telfer-Wan
Micro-Commissions
Via the Dance Centre’s Youtube channel at 5pm
The Dance Centre commissioned six short dance films for International Dance Day, featuring a compelling mix of established and emerging names. They include Arely Santana's The Show Must Go On, celebrating salsa, bachata and other Latin styles; Bharatanatyam artist Ashvini Sundaram’s Swan Alarippu, about the blossoming of a swan; Clala Dance Project/Tomoyo Yamada’s Stuck in 2020, riffing on the feelings of isolation,and frustration of time in quarantine, using movement, music, and a quirkily awesome set design; Loscil + Action at a Distance’s Cobalt, a new creation by collaborators choreographer Vanessa Goodman and musician Scott Morgan, combining their interests in both the natural and industrial world; Meagan O'Shea/Stand Up Dance’s Vicarious Time, a short film that explores incantation, time, a radical suspension of disbelief, long-distance healing, and collective migration; and Xin Hui Ong's Kindred, highlighting the symbiosis between dancer and musician, and the creation of movement and music as the utmost expression of our identity.
How to Say Goodbye: The Final Chapter
Via the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, 7 pm
Choreographer Amber Funk Barton bids adieu to her 13-year-old dance company the response. with this final free, streamed trio of solos. The dancer takes the stage for one of the pieces, along with standout local dancers Isak Enquist and Katie Cassady. Though Barton has been working on the piece since before the pandemic, its haunting explorations speak profoundly to this time of loss and absence. Stay tuned as Barton intends to announce which local dancemaker will inherit and rename her company.
Josh Martin in Brimming, via VIDF. Photo by David Cooper
Brimming
Vancouver International Dance Festival, 7 pm
Round off the day with an intense work from 605 Collective’s Josh Martin. The ace Vancouver dancer-choreographer plays with ideas of containment, and the way we hold ourselves in—proof that the creative talent in this city continues to brim over, even as a pandemic tries to keep it boxed in.
Related Articles
