Review: (Toronto / Dance) So Blue (Luminato)

(photo by André Cornellier)

So Blue: A review OR A treatise on the dynamism and athleticism of Louise Lecavalier 
by Kallee Lins

Lecavalier’s accolades speak for themselves. She was the first Canadian to win a Bessie Award (1983) and the first dancer—rather than a choreographer—to receive the Jean A. Chalmers National Award (1999). She has been appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada (2008), the French Critics’ Union named her “Dance Personality of the Year 2010-2011,” and in the same season, she won the Prix de la danse de Montréal. 

Lecavalier rose to prominence as a star of Édouard Lock’s La La La Human Steps. A dancer with the company for more than 18 years, she appeared in all of their iconic productions until 1999 including the international sensation Human Sex (1985). She has appeared on stages around the world, in films, music videos and concert tours, most notably performing with David Bowie (check out Bowie’s video for Fame)—leaving no doubt that she is one of the few, veritable rock stars of contemporary dance.

All that to say it is astounding that So Blue is her first choreographic work. Premiering in 2012 and touring since, the hour-long So Blue is split between a dizzying solo performed by Lecavalier herself, and a duo in which she is joined by Frédéric Tavernini.

Review: (Toronto / Dance) Stones in Her Mouth (Luminato)

by Kallee Lins

There are moments in Stones In Her Mouth when the chants of the performers palpably resonate in your chest.  Deconstructed rhythms of Maori speech score the entire performance. The sound of each song and chant is compelling, hypnotic at times, and deeply affective. 

Visually, the stage has been stripped of all colour. Upstage is a massive screen of subtly flickering black and white projections while along the front of the stage runs fluorescent tube lighting. Helen Todd’s lighting design is immensely innovative in its reliance on the potential of darkness, perhaps more so, than illumination. Lemi Ponifasio’s choreography makes exceptional use of the shadows. The show concludes as the dancers slowly submerge themselves into complete darkness.

Review: (Toronto / Dance) Kontakthof (Luminato)

An Air of Archaic Pageantry
by Beat Rice

I remember standing in line for ages to see Pina at TIFF in 2011. I also remember getting turned away because it sold out so quickly.

Director and Choreographer Pina Bausch passed in 2009. Her work and vision lives through the company, the Tanztheater Wuppertal, and her dancers, who have come to Toronto to present Kontakthof at Luminato.

Bausch’s almost three-hour piece takes place in a dancehall with 21 dancers. During the evening there are countless variations of encounters, pairings and full group numbers. A recurring theme in the piece is the standard of beauty, and how it exists differently for the male and the female. There is one moment where a few of the women struggle to make it across the stage in their high heels.

Review: (Toronto / Theatre) Cineastas (Luminato)

(photo by Carlos Furman)

Fictions of Cities
by Kallee Lins

Even while acknowledging that artists in the context of a festival like Luminato are rarely responsible for the content of their marketing, I tend to be wary of performances that explicitly promote their design and aesthetic concepts.  Cineastas’s formal experimentation, however, strongly serves its narrative content—albeit a delightfully fragmented one—making for a visually stunning performance and theatrically powerful production. 

Based on interviews with Argentinean filmmakers, Mariano Pensotti wrote and directed a story that flashes back and forth between the lives of four film directors over the course of a year as they film their latest projects in Buenos Aires. Mariana Tirantte has designed a split-level stage that allows the audience to simultaneously watch the filmmakers in their private lives in a home/office space on the bottom level, while scenes from the directors’ films take place on the sparsely decorated upper level. Alejandro Le Roux’s lighting design creates stark contrast between these two spaces with occasionally remarkable cinematic effect.

Sunday Feature: Interview - Angela Hewitt on Keys on The Street (Luminato)

(photo by Bernd Eberle)

The Piano, the Dancer and the City
by Kallee Lins

One of the world’s leading pianists, Angela Hewitt regularly appears in recital and with major orchestras throughout Europe, the Americas and Asia. Her performances and recordings of Bach have drawn particular praise, marking her out as one of the composer's foremost interpreters of our time. The 2013/14 season includes concerts at Seoul Arts Centre, Tokyo’s Oji Hall and Nagoya’s Shirakawa Hall; Glasgow’s City Halls and The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh; Wimbledon Music Festival, Sociedad Filarmónica de Bilbao, the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco, and De Doelen, Rotterdam; as well as several appearances at Wigmore Hall, London. In addition Angela Hewitt will undertake a tour of Australia with Musica Viva, performing recitals in major cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane,

Keys on the Street – A recital of Urban Dance and Piano brings together the international pianist and preeminent performer of Bach, Angela Hewitt, and renowned dancer, choreographer and So You Think You Can Dance Canada judge, Tré Armstrong, for an unlikely merging of artistic genres. Armstrong has been working with a group of urban dancers to choreograph Hewitt’s interpretations of Debussy, Bach and other classical composers. CharPo contributor Kallee Lins caught up with Ms Hewitt about such a radical departure from her usual concert circuit. 

CHARPO: How exactly did Keys on the Street come about? 

HEWITT: It was actually the idea of Jorn Weisbrodt who is the Artistic Director of the Luminato Festival. We were in touch about a lot of things and he  loved my playing and he wanted to bring it to a wider audience… to a different audience, perhaps, than in the standard concert hall. I don’t know Tré. I’ve never met her, but he had this idea of pairing us together and I watched some of her stuff and thought it was great, so I went “Ok, I’ll try it.” This is very much a first time and I don’t really know how it’s going to come out, but we’ll see. 

I tried to choose music that I felt was danceable – I mean, I was a classical ballet dancer myself for 20 years, so I have a feeling for dance.  Of course I never did urban dance, but I know what it’s about.  It’s all great music.  It’s all beautiful music.  And something like Bach’s Goldberg Variations which is the main part of the program –  40-45 minutes – that’s really one of the great masterpieces of Western music, and I’m very interested to see what Tré’s done with it. She’s been working to tapes that I sent her because we’re not in the same part of the world, but we will be getting together several times before the event and that should be really exciting.  This will be the first time ever that I’ve been up on a stage playing in a concert with dancers at the same time. Something I’ve thought of in the past; first time I’m actually doing it. I think we both will have to be flexible.

News: (Toronto) Luminato announces new season (report)

Baque de Bamba Marching Band at press conference

All This and Boy George Too
by Émilie Charlebois

Following a lovely breakfast spread and speeches from CEO Janice Price and sponsor l’Oréal, Luminato Festival Artistic Director Jörn Weisbrodt took the stage to spill the beans on the 2014 Luminato Festival program, and there were a lot of beans to spill. As always, there is much to expect and look forward to, which made the announcement somewhat dizzying as Weisbrodt took us through the assortment of innovative creations that aim to make Toronto an international stage for culture and creativity. 

Review: (Toronto) Feng Yi Ting (Luminato)

(photo by Julia Lynn)

China Girl
by Shannon Christy

China is on pace to become the world’s largest economy by 2017.  Currently the country is serving the United States a big piece of humble pie on the world stage in the form of Eric Snowden a low level member of a private security firm who showed the planet that the United States has access to all of our information.  There goes the freedom.

The one thing the country does not produce enough of is girls.  Due to the single child policy Chinese families have produced a stunning amount of sons to daughters as male heirs are still the preferred choice.  With this in mind I was delighted by Luminato’s performance of this Chinese literary classic Feng Yi Ting.