my battery is pure love

Native Earth's production Niimi'iwe, which opens tonight,  is a three-night dance series featuring powerful contemporary Indigenous dance works - and a world premiere - from  Thursday March 30 to Saturday April 1 in Toronto's Aki Studio . light breaking broken,  a creative collaboration between Vancouver-based artists  Margaret Grenier  (Gitxsan/Cree) and  Karen Jamieson  comes to Toronto directly from its world premiere at the Vancouver International Dance Festival. The world premiere of  the NDN way , a  Brian Solomon Electric Moose  production is based on a 1974 radio documentary for the CBC program Ideas, which features an interview with a Metis-Cree man from Northern Saskatchewan, Ron Evans. Starting each night at 7:00 pm is  light breaking broken  followed by  the NDN way  at 9:00 pm. For tickets and info:   http://www.nativeearth.ca/niimiiwe/ Between our very crammed schedules, ...

When I got the email invitation to cover Carmen Romero's upcoming show (opening March 16th at Theatre Centre), I was excited. I have seen Carmen perform only a handful of times over my 20 years in Toronto, but I remember each time clearly. I remember seeing her at Dusk Dances with my son -- his first encounter with flamenco -- and could feel his startled excitement as well as her ferocious femininity in the open air.  Unforgettable. I jumped at the chance to visit a rehearsal. Because I'm a bit of a creative process nerd and I love (LOVE) coming in to rehearsals and witnessing how people work, probably because I've been a loner a lot of my life. And because I am so intrigued by the story behind Carmen's show, Jacinto.  According to Camen, "I had been working on a project that involved the theme of Tragedy.  In flamenco dance we interpret song. There are three divisions or categories of flamenco which are: Cante Chico or Festeros (Small song/Festive), C...

They are funny, smart, rebellious in the most endearing way. They are Common People and they are bringing you what is bound to be a smart, rebellious and quirky double bill production next week at the Citadel. Blue Valentine throws Emma Kerson and Andrew Hartley into two commissioned duets, one by Simon Renaud, the other by Tedd Robinson presented as part of Coleman Lemieux Compagnie's Bright Lights series February 15-18th. Andrew Hartley and Emma Kerson LR: I know you and Andrew have known each other since you were students at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre, but were you drawn to work together then? What makes you want or need to work together? EK: It’s true, we met over eight years ago, and I can actually remember us becoming friends on the first day of school.   We collaborated a lot in things like the student run coffee houses where you can really try out wacky ideas and experiment.   Our sense of humour really brought us together to dream up some crazy wo...

Early in January I had the new-year joy of sitting with Peggy Baker to talk about her upcoming show SplitScreen at Theatre Centre. A clear, crisp day of fresh month, Church street seemed cleaner and brighter as I headed over to the National Ballet School, where she and her company are resident, to meet with her. Peggy was just emerging from Christine Wright’s ballet class for contemporary dancers (a program spear-headed by Peggy Baker Dance Projects), and we headed up to her office, lined with books and a smattering of gorgeous posters on the walls. I have known Peggy for a long time now, but I still get a little nervous when we talk. The clarity and precision of her thoughts possess the same clarity and precision of her choreographic works, with a beautiful layer of warmth as well.   Wisdom in motion. photo of Peggy Baker by Aleksander Antonijevic We started with a little chat about the New Yorker... P: I subscribe to the New Yorker and what I really app...

In my quest to expand the coverage of these interviews and articles and to learn the methods and madness of new dance artists, I offer now an interview with the seemingly tireless Roberto Campanella, current artistic director and co-founder of ProArteDanza. They have a show coming up next week which includes a world premiere by Roberto and a ProArteDanza premiere of Robert Glumbek's work Diversion, originally made for Ballet BC. Read on for Roberto's answers on change, passion, inspiration and the amazing dancers of the company. Roberto Campanella LR: Probably you've been asked this question a thousand times, but from the vantage point of more than a decade of ProArteDanza, what spurred you to found the company and what drives you to continue? RC: Well...sometimes I feel it was very naive of me and Joanna Ivey to found a dance company in this very challenging financial climate.... A lot of our inspiration stemmed from the need to create a venue for all those ...

Allison Cummings' work album  -- a collaboration with actor and sound designer Lyon Smith -- is a compare and contrast visit through the memories of Allison's and Lyon's lives. Just writing those words creates a vibrating potency. An album contains captured moments of life, often visual and visceral triggers, for something bigger than the paper or the 0s and 1s that make them up. There's a trend in the dance contributions of the Summerworks festival this year, undoubtedly shaped by curator Jenn Goodwin, of simple, strong ideas guiding creations. They lead to deeper things, by way of the body not a philosophical, conceptual or technical approach. Below is a short interview with Allison Cummings, a wry, passionate, uncompromising woman who surprises with each performance work she makes. Her show opens THIS AFTERNOON at 2pm. Go see it and be moved. photo of Allison Cummings by Jan Blythe LR: OK, so the obvious but important question is what triggered the creati...