What a couple of weeks of dance coming up – enjoy!

You still have until March 6 (online)to watch the Digidance presentation of Via Katlehong Dance from South Africa in Via Kanana. Pulsing with rhythmic energy, the seven dancers and single musician of Via Katlehong Dance have teamed up with contemporary choreographer Gregory Maqoma for Via Kanana, examining corruption in South Africa and asking wider questions about those in power and the unfulfilled promises made in the transition to democracy. Careening from the mundane to the metaphorical, this production takes its inspiration from South Africa itself, evoking a new promised land that never arrives (Kanana in the Sotho language) which people must rise up and seek for themselves. Under South Africa’s apartheid regime, black rural populations were displaced to the townships that ring big cities. In these ghettos, surrounded by unemployment and crime, Pantsula was born as a dance of protest. Originally just a dance, it’s now a lifestyle, covering fashion, music, and language. Via Katlehong Dance, founded in 1992, combines pantsula, tap dance, step, and gumboot—a miners’ dance based on handstrokes on the thighs and calves—into a distinctly South African choreographic language that celebrates the urban and calls for positive change. “Beyond protest, Via Kanana is a hymn to hope.”—Toute la Culture. What better way to spend a rainy weekend evening – get your tix here!

If you did not see this the first time round, or if you did and want to see it again, get your tickets now for Kidd Pivot‘s Revisor, March 30 – April 2! The work is a twinned hybrid of dance and theatre fuelled by the classic tropes of political satire. In Revisor, choreographer Crystal Pite and writer/director Jonathon Young take inspiration from Nikolai Gogol’s scabrous pantomime of power and politics. “The result is astonishing not for its imitation, but for its exactitude: the rhythms and intonations of speech drive every gesture, stance and step. Choreographically, it’s riveting, both for the inventive articulation of individual bodies and for the fine-tuned dynamics of the ensemble, as responsive as conversation itself.” – The Guardian.

Integrating movement, original music, text, and rich visual design, Kidd Pivot’s performance work is assembled with recklessness and rigour, balancing sharp exactitude with irreverence and risk. Under the direction of internationally renowned Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite, the company’s distinct choreographic language — a breadth of movement fusing classical elements and the complexity and freedom of structured improvisation — is marked by a strong theatrical sensibility and a keen sense of wit and invention. Check out a video of Revisor and buy your tickets here. At the Vancouver Playhouse, 8 pm.

You still have time tonight and tomorrow, February 25 and 26, to catch Tuning, a new duet commissioned by Alexis Fletcher created and directed by Vanessa Goodman, featuring collaborating dance artists Alexis Fletcher and Ted Littlemore. This new work focuses on how we tune to one another in relationships. In Tuning, the performers create a live sonic and physical atmosphere using their voices to amplify the conversations of the body. Looking at intimacy between two people, this work explores the body through a sensory, sonic and physical connection. The audience is invited into a sensitive atmospheric environment where trust and care are built between the performers, with gorgeous and vibrant lighting from James Proudfoot. At the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, 8 pm. Tix

It is that time of year for the Vancouver International Dance Festival (VIDF) until March 26, where you can catch a multitude of artists and performances, both live and online. Tonight and tomorrow night, February 25 and 26 as part of the Festival, Holly Bright and Celestine Aleck present their work The Sun and the Moon, the story of how the relationship between the Sun and the Moon came to be.  It is a story about their love and the arc it paints in the sky. The sunrise, sunset, eclipse – the meetings of these two beings – remind us of the mystery and beauty of love and hope for an evolving world.

This is a contemporary dance based on Snuneymuxw author Celestine Aleck’s children’s book of the same title. The work tells the story of the love between the Sun and the Moon. The story, rich with potential for imagery and metaphor, is the basis for the dance. The work speaks to all ages while also opening doors for dialogue regarding creative exchange between Indigenous and non-indigenous artists. The story unfolds as a poetic telling in which the artists transform characters, bring to life visions, and embody the landscape. Costumes, bones, feathers and Snuneymuxw art by Cole Good – within landscape imagery by Chimerik – fill the stage as the word expands and creation evolves toward love, yet not without love’s sacrifice. To learn more about the work, please go here. At the Orpheum Annex, 8 pm. Tix. Free and by donation tickets for Indigenous communities.

There are many more offerings at VIDF including Olivia Shaffer, Manuel Roque and Tiger Princess Dance Projects, and on Wednesday, March 4 – 5 Kokoro Dance contemplates transience and imperfection in Wabi-Sabi, a duet choreographed and performed by Kokoro Dance directors, Barbara Bourget, and Jay Hirabayashi to live music performed by an 8-piece ensemble directed by composer Joseph Hirabayashi. The choreography in these WABI-SABI performances consists of a structured score within which Barbara and Jay have the freedom to improvise. Each performance will be unique. The music, by Joseph Hirabayashi, lighting by Gerald King, costumes by Tsuneko Kokubo, and projected photography by Jay Hirabayashi, were conceived independently from the choreography. Each collaborator intuitively understands Kokoro Dance’s aesthetic choices through decades of working together on Kokoro’s creative projects. At the Vancouver Playhouse, 8 pm. Tix

On Monday February 28, working with theatre technician Chengyan Boon during their DanceLab residency, Flamenco trio Calle Verde explores what happens when light becomes an integral fourth member of the group – a fourth presence. Focusing on experimentation, play and process, Calle Verde will share their learnings and present excerpts of work in progress. At the Scotiabank Dance Centre, 5 pm. FREE, but please register in advance.

Thursday March 3 – Saturday March 5, The Biting School presents a double bill of personal, bold solo works created and performed by Arash Khakpour (The Biting School) and Kelly McInnes. The two dance solos, Melon Piece + Blue Space , offer a balance of light and dark, evoking a timely reflection on our current struggle to exist in harmony with one another and the planet. At the Roundhouse Community Centre, 7 pm. Tix

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!