Welcome to the Friday Round-Up, a place for the Vancouver community of dancers and dance lovers to come together and share what is going on in the local dance community. In this new world in which we find ourselves, it is now more important than ever to find ways to connect and share all the many new and innovative ways in which we create, communicate and relate in the world of dance. So if you have something you would like to share with the Friday Round-Up, please send it to debora@dancehouse.ca. We look forward to hearing from you!

Spring is definitely making itself known – have you seen the cherry blossoms appearing around town? Oh joy!

March 17-23 (link available for 7 days) DanceHouse is thrilled to present Joe, a pivotal work by the late Jean-Pierre Perreault, an iconic Canadian dance work. Joe presents an image of the human condition that is so accurate and so moving that it remains forever imprinted in the memories of those who have seen it. To the sound of 32 pairs of work boots obsessively pounding the floor, 32 dancers dressed in long coats and hats, move in a compact mass from which individuals occasionally attempt to free themselves to escape a foreordained destiny. 

This video recording of the piece Joe, produced in 1995 by Bernard Picard for Radio-Canada, not only pays tribute to one of Canada’s greatest choreographers, but also allows the public to discover or rediscover an absolutely breathtaking performance that has had a profound impact on contemporary dance. Joe is a masterpiece, a landmark work not only in Jean-Pierre Perreault’s oeuvre but in Canadian contemporary dance. Enjoy this archival video in its vintage resolution, which is already 26 years old. The technology may have aged a little, but Joe hasn’t! Check out a video preview of the work here. After the performance, there will be a 25-minute documentary contextualizing the creation. But tickets for yourself, or for the whole family, here.

Take the opportunity to visit the Richmond Art Gallery from February 12 to April 3 to check out Brendan Fernandes‘ Inaction. Fernandes is a visual artist who works with the melding of dance and visual arts. Inaction addresses the potential for change through collective action. The installation comprises two main components: a newly commissioned series of nine sculptural works and the two channel video projection Free Fall: for Camera. Check out a video about the work.

Working in collaboration with the architecture and design firm Norman Kelley, Fernandes has designed a set of mobile dance supports and platforms for activation by local dancers. The mats, rug, tumblers, and square grid evoke communal spaces of training and play such as gymnasiums and playgrounds. In public performances throughout the exhibition, Fernandes’ choreography guides dancers to utilize the sculpture objects in movements, referencing a mix of childhood play and professional dance warm-up exercise. Performances are scheduled for March/April. Visit the website for details.

Paired with the installation is the two channel video work Free Fall: for Camera. Evolved from a live performance piece Free Fall (2017), this new work is in response to the mass shooting of predominantly racialized LGBTQ2S patrons at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida in 2016. Free Fall: for Camera explores the act of falling. Featuring sixteen dancers, the work demonstrates the cataclysmic moments when bodies fall onto a stage. Intimate shots are intercut with stunning aerial views, creating kaleidoscopic imagery reminiscent of film director Busby Berkeley’s visionary style. For more info.

The annual Vancouver International Dance Festival (VIDF) has opened, and online programming continues through June 2021. Today and tomorrow, March 5 and 6, you can still check out Ne Sans. Opera & Dance in Hourglass. The work is set to 4 Piano Études by acclaimed minimalist composer Philip Glass and features a duet with Racheal Prince & Brandon Lee Alley (Dance//Novella), joined on stage by pianist and celebrated conductor Leslie Dala. Established in 2017 by Artistic Director Idan Cohen in Vancouver,Ne. Sans Opera & Dance is re-imagining and reconnecting Opera & Dance. Directing opera through contemporary dance opens a whole new world of collaborative opportunities: an environment that involves working with singers, dancers, musicians, visual artists, and designers. Tix

VIDF has a huge array of dance to see over the next few months, including Vancouver based Bharata Natyam dance artist Vidya Kotamraju (May 6 -8), and Camp, a new artist run entity that is focused on the collaborative process of art making. Check out the full VIDF program here.

Streaming March 9 to March 16, Kinesis Dance somatheatro will share excerpts of Debris, a work in progress, followed by a discussion with the choreographer, Paras Terezakis. Debris is a contemporary dance work inspired by the increasing urgency of pollution and its contribution to the climate crisis. As we buckle under the weight of the accumulation of man-made waste, Debris asks where is the body (humanity) and nature within this? In this collaborative work, 5 dancers physically explore the effects of ‘debris’ that submerge both their internal and external environment. The work seeks for a hopeful re-integration of a respectful relationship between nature, the body and each other.

Friday March 12 – Thursday March 18 (online) The Dancers of Damelahamid produce the annual Coastal Dance Festival. The Festival brings Indigenous artists together to share and support one another in a celebration of lived artistic practices. Guest national and international artists have connected the Coastal Dance Festival with a global community of Indigenous dance. This year’s Festival includes the Chinook Song Catchers, an Aboriginal dance group that descends from the Squamish and Nisga’a nations, and The Rez Kids I Guess, a duo of Musqueam youth artists, Casey James and Demetrius Kenoras-Paul, as well as many others. For more info