COBA – Collective of Black Artists present
YEBO
Celebrating 15 years of tradition and innovation in African movement
February 29 - March 1, 2008 | 8pm
March 2, 2007 | 3pm
Premiere Dance Theatre
207 Queens Quay West,
3rd floor
Choreography by
BAKARI E. LINDSAY, ROBIN HIBBERT and
VINCENT SEKWATI MANTSOE
COBA, Collective of Black Artists leaps boldly into its 15 th year with YEBO! – a season program that pays homage to African traditions and blazes an exciting trail for the future of contemporary dance.
Following a two-year creative hiatus, COBA’s artistic co-founders BaKari E. Lindsay and Charmaine Headley are gearing up a rejuvenated company to satisfy faithful COBA followers and new audiences alike with the Toronto premiere of two new dance creations: Cross Currents, a highly anticipated African contemporary piece by Lindsay; and Doundoun dance (Hibbert), a recreation of a women’s traditional drumming dance from Guinea. Both pieces will be unveiled February 29 to March 2 at the Premiere Dance Theatre when COBA takes YEBO! to the stage during Black History Month as part of the Harbourfront Centre’s NextSteps series of globally-inspired dance from Canada’s best.
Also, on the program is the return of acclaimed South African dance master Mantsoe’s Bodika / Sessions, an avant-garde fusion of traditional African physicality with Balinese dance and martial arts. COBA’s will make its first UK appearance in May with the international premiere of a new co-creation (commissioned by dance Immersion) between the Collective and the London UK-based Tavaziva Dance Company.
An exclusive YEBO! sneak preview concert is set for February 12 at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre in the prestigious Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.
www.coc.ca/performances/concerts.html
COBA presents YEBO!
at Premiere Dance Theatre, 235 Queens Quay West,
Feb 29-Mar 1 at 8pm; Mar 2 at 3pm
Tickets: $25-$30 ($20-$25 students & seniors)
Box Office: 416-973-4000 or www.harbourfrontcentre.com
MOonhORsE Dance Theatre presents
Older & Reckless
February 28, 29 & March 1 at 8pm at Dancemakers Studio in the Distillery Historic District
55 Mill Street (South of Front Street, Between Parliament and Cherry Streets)
Reservations and information call 416-504-6429 ext. 30
This 14th edition of Older and Reckless features choreographers
Douglas Dunn, Keiko Kitano, Dan Wild and Bill James.
OLDER & RECKLESS, an informal performance series, features work from OLDER artists who continue to grow more RECKLESS as time goes by. OLDER & RECKLESS provides an opportunity for seasoned dance artists to perform short works and a chance for the audience to see some of Canada’s most celebrated senior choreographers.
Conceived as a twice-yearly event by Claudia Moore, artistic director of MOonhORsE Dance Theatre, OLDER & RECKLESS is “an intimate exchange for both the performer and the observer; exciting, terrifying, and lots of fun. The performances are followed by a party with music, refreshments, and a chance to talk with the artists about work, process, and whatever else comes up!”
In this 14th edition, Moore is thrilled to present New York dance luminary, Douglas Dunn “a dance man of prodigal invention. He puts more beautiful and unusual dancing into the hour than most [choreographers] can produce in several years.” (Deborah Jowitt, Village Voice). Dunn will be bringing his work, Tithonus to Toronto, a work originally performed at the Anseong Juksan International Arts Festival in South Korea (2004). Dunn, described as “a fluent, complex, eccentric mover” (Deborah Jowitt, Village Voice) continues to create and perform internationally and MOonhORsE Dance Theatre is honoured to feature this distinctive artist in OLDER & RECKLESS.
Kieko Kitano has been performing as a solo artist for over ten years, with a strong background in butoh and contemporary dance. Kitano is presenting an excerpt of her newest work On the Wings / Surrender, which explores the Japanese aesthetic concept of MA. Simply defined, MA is intervals in time and space, or a space between two objects in time. Kitano’s work investigates this concept as it relates to space, dance and music. Kitano is collaborating with Taiko drummer and Shamisen player Aki Takahashi and multimedia artist Rick Thomson. Thomson’s soundscape and video provide textures of old and new world, combining the three elements of dance, music and video.
Dan Wild has worked professionally on the stage for over 25 years. He danced with Dancemakers for 8 years, was a featured performer with Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers, and performed and toured extensively with the Caravan Stage Company. He will be presenting an excerpt of his newest work A Simple Statement for this Mosaik, a solo performed by Marie-Josée Chartier. In this work, Wild creates a dialogue reflecting on life, love and loss, and the lifting of memories. It is a journey in creating and sharing these memories of internalized landscapes, feelings, descriptions and depictions of living grief.
Bill James is a dancer, choreographer, mentor and teacher. Former artistic director of Dancemakers, Singapore Fringe Festival and Atlas Moves Watching Dance Projects, James continues a long and exciting career in dance. Since 2006, James has been working with Old Men Dancing, an eclectic group of men from Peterborough who love to dance. In OLDER & RECKLESS, James will perform some of his “first-ever solo,wearing a ‘Tesla suit’ that responds to electro-magnetic waves.” James is collaborating with designer Shelagh Young and Doug Back (electronic gizmo artist) and we can’t wait to see the results!
O & R: Free Informal Showing
February 27 at 5 pm at York University, 4700 Keele Street in the McLean Performance Studio (244) Accolade Building East.
DanceWorks presents
Choreographies of
Migration
by Sashar Zarif Dance Theatre
March 6-8, 2008, 8pm
Harbourfront Centre's Enwave Theatre
231 Queens Quay West, Toronto
Podcast CLICK HERE
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DanceWorks 2007/08 Mainstage Season; part of Harbourfront Centre's NextSteps Series
Tickets: $27 ($17 students/seniors/CADA/WIFT/SCDS)
Box Office: 416-973-4000 Information: www.danceworks.ca
DanceWorks is proud to present Choreographies of Migration by Sashar Zarif Dance Theatre. In this richly layered program, internationally acclaimed Azerbaijani-Iranian dance artist Sashar Zarif explores a series of migrations and cultural adaptations that ultimately led to his life in Canada. In so doing, he invites us to consider our own origins in a new way. This striking presentation features two solos, a trio and a quartet performed by a superlative company of seasoned dance artists. The production runs March 6-8, 8pm nightly at Enwave Theatre as part of Harbourfront Centre’s NextSteps Series.
Through this quartet of works, Zarif presents a very personal vernacular. From a pastiche of languages, cultures and movement, he creates a unique contemporary style and a fresh way of communicating using traditional Central Asian, Near Eastern and Western dance forms.
Zarif's sense of displacement underlies Choreographies of Migration. Born into an immigrant family in Tehran, moving through India, Turkey, and other countries before arriving in Canada, he compels us to examine the various and often complicated relationships that inform ideas of home, identity and self. Each piece represents a different period of awareness and growth in his journey from Iran to Canada; each borrows from different stops in his physical and spiritual odyssey that saw him survive revolution, war and refugee camps.
In The Letters of My Name uses 38 letters that spell his full name in three languages (Arabic, Persian, Azerbaijani), drawing on Zarif's memories of his early life in Iran as well as his time in refugee camps. Originally commissioned by Dance Ontario, this solo is performed by Zarif and is co-choreographed with Holly Small featuring music by John Oswald and dramaturgy by Soheil Parsa. It was the winner of the 2006 Paula Citron Award at the Toronto International Dance Festival (formerly fFIDA). In granting the award, Citron said, "Only wisdom and knowledge of life could have produced this powerful work."
The compelling trio Wait conjures memories of Zarif's childhood and a love of movement and dance passed on from his grandmother. Choreographed by Zarif, Wait is performed by dance artists Jennifer Bolt, Keiko Kitano and Robyn Alfonso.
The third and fourth segments, Anar and Life is the Feeling of a Migrating Bird are both world premieres choreographed by Zarif.
Created in honour of his 16-year-old cousin who was executed in Iran, Anar (pomegranate) is a quartet for accomplished dancers and York University professors Holly Small, Carol Anderson, Susan Cash and Terrill Maguire. Life is the Feeling of a Migrating Bird is an autobiographical solo performed by Zarif to live music performed by celebrated musician Anne Bourne on cello and vocals (heard also in Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter). The final work of the evening, it is the summation of his migratory experience.
Sashar Zarif received his formal academic training in Azerbaijani Classical Dance in Baku and was awarded the title "Artist for the People of Azerbaijan." His varied studies in dance include the Indian classical dance Bharatanatyam, Uzbek, Tadjeek and Persian dance forms as well as Sufi performance and Central Asian shamanic rituals. He founded the Toronto-based Sashar Zarif Dance Theatre and Joshgoon Dance Academy in 1993. In 2001, he founded, and continues to direct, Dancers for Peace, an international festival reflecting a vision of hope and peace that transcends barriers between nations, races and religions which will be hosted by York University in the fall of 2008. In 2004, he received his Masters from York University, Faculty of Fine Arts, in Dance and Dance Ethnology. He is the winner of the 2006 Paula Citron Award (along with Holly Small) and the 2008 New Pioneers Arts Award from Skills for Change. After teaching at York for three years, he is currently pursuing a PhD in Performing Arts from Middlesex University in London, England. His choreographic work has been seen throughout North and South America, Europe and Azerbaijan.
Holly Small is a choreographer, performer and teacher who has been creating major collaborative works with like-minded choreographers, dancers and composers for over 25 years. She has been a member of York University’s dance faculty for 17 years.
Creative collaborators for the evening includeArun Srinivasan as lighting designer and Katherine Duncanson as creative facilitator.
There will be a pre-show gallery exhibit in the lobby, curated by Elnaz Hemmati, featuring some of Zarif’s letters, writings and drawings from his time in a refugee camp, a video installation and other cherished items that assist in telling this story of migration. The focal point of the gallery exhibition will be The Wishing Tree, an interactive installation created by Hemmati and Zarif.
DanceWorks presents Choreographies of Migration from Sashar Zarif Dance Theatre
March 6-8, 2008, 8pm at Harbourfront Centre's Enwave Theatre, 231 Queens Quay West, Toronto
DanceWorks 2007/08 Mainstage Season; part of Harbourfront Centre's NextSteps Series
Tickets: $27 ($17 students/seniors/CADA/WIFT/SCDS)
Box Office: 416-973-4000 Information: www.danceworks.ca
Please join us for the
Dance Initiative Lottery Party!
DANCE INITIATIVE LOTTERY PARTY ANNOUNCED
The Lottery Party for the Fringe of Toronto Dance Initiative will take place on Monday, March 3. The event is generously hosted by HUB 14 at 14 Markham St. Doors open at 8 pm, draw begins at 8:30 pm. Admission is free and all are welcome!
Eight companies will be drawn by lottery to participate in the first year of the Dance Initiative. The Fringe received 34 applicants in total. Five of these applicants, from Montreal, St. Johns Newfoundland and Winnipeg, will be competing for the one spot for Canadian/International category. The other 29 will be vying for seven Ontario spots.
The Dance Initiative is a new program developed in cooperation between the Fringe of Toronto and the Dance Umbrella of Ontario. The Dance Initiative is the creation of eight new dedicated dance performance slots at the Toronto Fringe Festival, to be premiered at the 20th anniversary Fringe, July 2-13, 2008.
For more information about The 2008 Fringe of Toronto Theatre Festival call 416.966.1062 or visit www.fringetoronto.com <http://www.fringetoronto.com/>
For more information about Dance Umbrella of Ontario call 416-504-6429 or visit www.danceumbrella.net.
SERIES 8:08
CHOREOGRAPHIC
PERFORMANCE
WORKSHOP
METRO-CENTRAL YMCA
20 GROSVENOR ST.
(North of College, West of Yonge)
March 29th @ 8:08 PM
$8.00
Series 8:08 is a monthly performance workshop showcasing new dance ideas, works in development and newly completed works choreographed by professional and emerging Canadian choreographers. The audience becomes a part of the exciting creative process by giving the artists written feedback about the works they see. An open-dialogue between the choreographers and the audience is encouraged at our post-performance meet and greet.
This month’s Series 8:08 choreographers: Alison Daley, Marianne Desjardins, Megan English, Andrea Nann, and Kate Stashko/Catherine McLaughlin.
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