Dance

Though her parents were born in India, Toronto dancer/choreographer Nova Bhattacharya is unfalteringly Canadian. She defines her dance works the same way, highlighting the fact that they are influenced by where she lives and who her influences are, and stressing their accessibility. But unlike many of the country’s acclaimed contemporary dancers, Bhattacharya brings something different […]

The only slot choreographer Marie Chouinard has free for an interview is at eight o’clock in the morning. She’s that busy. But where others might still be shaking off traces of sleep at that hour, Chouinard is bright as a sunbeam. And she hasn’t even had a morning coffee—her high is all-natural. “I’m awake all […]

Though I can’t recall exactly when I last stomped my feet like this, I don’t think I’d be too far off in guessing that I was of tantrum-throwing age. Back then, I was probably sporting my size-two tap dance shoes for maximum impact; on this night, I’m stomping around in a pair of heels and, […]

One of the things that makes dance so magical—and oftentimes so moving—is its ability to transcend language. Using movement, a skilled performer can make us feel and understand things at a level that can’t be reached through other means. That same ethereal quality, however, can sometimes make dance hard to talk about, especially for a […]

So let’s get one thing straight: When dancer and choreographer Tedd Robinson takes to the stage this weekend with his latest work, REDD, it won’t be the last time we see him perform. Sure, it feels that way from here, what with Halifax being the last place he performs his last solo performance, after two […]

When Toronto choreographer Ame (pronounced “Amy”) Henderson set out to create her newest dance work, she turned to the trappings of live music for inspiration. Unlike dance and theatre, traditionally tethered to the distancing proscenium arch, Henderson found herself wondering what it might be like to perform dance in the style of a live-music show. […]

It’s no coincidence that Louise Bédard calls her contemporary dance work Ce qu’il en reste/What Remains (on this weekend at the Sir James Dunn Theatre) a “collage made of bodies.” It was, after all, inspired by a literal collage—the kind made from cutting images out of magazines and reassembling them on paper with glue, to […]

If you’ve over 18, you may not have heard of Soulja Boy and his song “Crank Dat Soulja Boy.” Kathy Casey, artistic director of Montréal Danse, hadn’t either. It was her sons, aged 11 and 15, who turned her on to the catchy hip-hop tune. The song—and its accompanying choreography—has become something of a phenomenon […]