Helioscape premieres at DANCE:FILM 09 in Edinburgh: Saturday May 23 11:30pm
Helioscape Premiere
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48 Hours — Let’s Do A Thing
Entered the DFA’s Choreograph/Shoot/Edit in 48 Hours contest. Video is online.
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Help Us Do Something Crazy
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Upcoming Premiere: ‘Bastard Fugue’
I’ll be premiering a new work at The Chimera Project’s Fresh Blood at 8pm on October 29th, at the Enwave Theatre. Bastard Fugue features the National Ballet of Canada’s Naoya Ebe (at right) and is set to the Fugue from Bach’s Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue in C Major, arranged for mixed percussion. Including cowbell. Bach + cowbell is like chocolate + bacon: two great tastes that go great together! You can buy tickets here.
Bastard Fugue fuses live performance and projection to explore fugal composition with a single dancer. The Bach fugue, originally composed for organ, is stripped of melody and becomes a propulsive rhythmic fundament for a powerful performance. Some preliminary special thanks:
- Naishi (Kamen) Wang of Toronto Dance Theatre for his valuable participation in the creation process;
- The National Ballet School and the National Ballet of Canada for donating rehearsal space;
- Malgorzata Nowacka for the opportunity to show this work;
- Jeff Morris and Robert Stephen for participating in the technical workshop which spawned some of the ideas explored in this work.
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Wingéd — Running Now Through May 8th
A few months ago I got an email from Toronto director Diana Kolpak. I’d heard of Diana’s amazing 2004 clown show, The Gorgonetrevich Corps de Ballet Nationale in “Bethany’s Gate”, though I was unable to see it as I was performing at the time. Diana invited me to collaborate on a show she was working on with actor David Tomlinson, creating video imagery and projections; the connection came through their lighting designer Sharon DiGenova, who I worked with on Bastard Fugue. The script hooked me instantly: it was sexy, contemporary, and brilliantly written.
The last two weeks have been a blur of preparation, as we worked to turn the DeLeon White Gallery (1139 College St. at Dufferin — not on Queen West anymore, despite what Google will tell you!) into a fabulous performance space, with a specially curated exhibition of art from residents and special guests complementing the show. David blogged the process at No Rest for the Wingéd.
The show is a set of three linked monologues based on characters from different mythologies, tracing an arc from falling to taking flight again: Icarus, Lucifer, and Phoenix. We run every night from now ’til next Sunday, May 8th, except for Monday May 3rd. You can get tickets at the door ($20 / $18 students or Equity) or online at Brown Paper Tickets. Tix for next weekend are going fast so come early next week for best availability. It’s hilarious, inspired, and stunningly performed. Come and check it out!
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Always Be Closing – Next Week!
I’m premiering a new work, Always Be Closing, next week as part of At The Wrecking Ball V.
Always Be Closing is a bruising, physical, virtuosic solo for Montreal dancer Catherine Larocque. It takes the form of a hardcore sales seminar, putting the audience in the middle of the action.
It has a double musical accompaniment: Alec Baldwin’s testosterone-drenched monologue from David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, and the virtuoso Presto movement from Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto.
At The Wrecking Ball is happening at the Lower Ossington Theatre, at 100A Ossington Ave. There are four shows: Thursday February 9th through Saturday February 11th at 8pm, and a matinee on Sunday February 12th at 4pm. Tickets are $15.
The show also features work by eight of Toronto’s leading dance artists. It should be a great night!
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Frequency
Designed video projections for Yvonne Ng’s work Frequency, running at the Citadel March 8th to 11th.
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Chorus and the Ring Fundraising Drive
Chorus and the Ring is the working title for the short film I’m currently working on. It brings me back together together with a few artists I’ve worked with before — National Ballet of Canada soloist Jenna Savella, Toronto Dance Theatre alumnus Luke Garwood, and Director of Photography James Sainthill — and features a few new collaborations, with an original score by Jamie Drake and the TorQ Percussion Quartet, costumes by Krista Dowson, and amazing, sculptural 3D-captured forms designed by painter and VFX artist Matt Crookshank.
We’re heading into the final stages of post-production, and we’re asking for a little help to get this project across the finish line. Your donation will allow us to get the most out of our 3D rendering, sound mix, and colour grading — putting the best final polish possible on the film and supporting Luke and Jenna’s amazing performances. We welcome donations of any amount; even ten or twenty dollars will help. All our supporters will receive a “Special Thanks” credit and an exclusive animated GIF of one of the dancers’ 3D forms, as rendered by Matt Crookshank. Donors of $75 or over will receive a framed and signed production still. So hit that button and give what you can!
We’re really excited to get this project out into the world. Thanks for your help! As a treat, there’s a few more stills below the jump.
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