PAST SHOWS: 2009-2010

Founded in 1975, Grupo Corpo has become the foremost contemporary Brazilian dance company. With moves borrowed from African, Portuguese, modern, ballet, and ballroom dance traditions, as well as from martial arts, Grupo Corpo brings a stunning diversity and technical mastery to work that is in turn cerebral, cosmopolitan, primitive, existential, and tough—while always remaining recognizably its own.

For its Vancouver debut Grupo Corpo will perform two pieces, Breu and Parabelo. A poetic translation of the violent times we live in, Grupo Corpo’s Breu, which debuted in 2007, features Artistic Director Rodrigo Pederneiras’ most radical dance movements in 30 years as the company’s choreographer. The gorgeous dancers collide, push, shake, rise and fall, barely surviving in a netherworld of aggression and alienation. Parabelo is Pederneiras at his most regional. Inspired by working and devotional chants and the memory of the rhythmic baião, the choreography that emerges is full of hip swaying, feet stamping expressions of Brazil.

“The fusion of light and darkness makes Breu an intense experience and the 40 minutes go by as fast as a lightning bolt.”—O Globo, Rio de Janiero

“A spicy, simmering stew of Brazil’s African, Arabic, and European influences.”—The Times, London

Presented with

70 minutes, no intermission

Montreal’s Compagnie Marie Chouinard dazzled Vancouver audiences with bODY_rEMIX in spring 2008. The reigning queen of contemporary dance in Canada returns with the world premiere of a newly commissioned work. This latest group piece by Marie Chouinard is full of subtle shades of meaning; a study of the delicate ebb and flow of the agitations of the body.

With this new commission, Chouinard extends the possibilities of a traditional proscenium theatre and explodes the conventions of ballet and large-scale contemporary dance. A long ramp extends into the audience, and a few lucky audience members will view the work from the intimate perspective of the stage. This new work also features live projections of the dance that mirror the fluctuations of the music and the bodies on stage.

“de profundis - soft virtuosity – state of grace - multiple intelligences conversing - the golden mean - time regained”: These were Chouinard’s touchstones in developing the work. On stage, the 11 dancers appear to come from a strange, yet friendly future, and hope to tap into our senses in a serene yet profound way. In addition to the choreography, Chouinard herself designed the sets and props for The Golden Mean.

Co-produced by Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad (Vancouver), National Arts Centre (Ottawa), Place des Arts (Montreal) with the support of ImPulsTanz (Vienna).

“Remarkable boldness… superhuman energy… magnificent collisions between love and war.” —Voir, Montreal

“Dance and music meet in a totally new way.” —Stuttgarter Nachricht

Please note: Latecomers will not be permitted.  This piece contains male and female nudity.

Presented with

120 minutes, with intermission

“Dark matter” is the terra incognita of our day. Comprising roughly 96 percent of the observable universe, dark matter affects the speed, structure and evolution of galaxies, yet its nature remains a mystery. This potent, affecting darkness is paralleled in Crystal Pite’s newest creation, Dark Matters. Emerging out of Pite’s curiosity and fascination with the unseen forces at work on mind and body, Dark Matters, features six extraordinary dancers, and a stunning original score from long-time collaborator Owen Belton.

Dark Matters is structured into two distinct acts: Act One portrays the tension between creation and destruction through a decidedly theatrical fable; the players are manipulated by anonymous puppeteers who drive the narrative yet subvert its artifice. Act Two is pure dance, with choreography that aspires to the impossible purity and grace of a marionette, while grappling with the essential question of free will, and the conflict inherent in manipulation. The revelations of Act One inform the way we view the dancing in Act Two.

With "dark matter" beautifully embodied in the shadowy puppeteer, Dark Matters is a haunting portrait of the unknown, a performance that pulls itself apart in an attempt to discover what it’s made of.

Co-produced by Dance Victoria, National Arts Centre (Ottawa), L’Agora de la danse (Montreal) and Arts Partners in Creative Development.

“Pite’s vocabulary is absolutely distinct…”
—Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“Pite’s as energetic as a sparkler, as fluid as quicksilver…”
—Ballet Tanz Magazine

Presented with the assistance of

Please note: Latecomers will not be permitted until intermission.

Presented with

Hofesh Shechter is a fast rising star of the UK dance scene. A former member of Batsheva Dance Company, he has made an impressive impact as a talented and creative new choreographic voice. His work is supremely physical, embracing elegant stage compositions and charged with engaging ideas.

Uprising is an energetic and muscular work for seven men. In your rooms is “an arrestingly powerful piece” (The Guardian) for 11 dancers and five musicians with an original score by the choreographer. Both pieces brim with playful, gritty physicality that is at times provocative, political and personal, presenting a society which is scarily alienating, yet shockingly familiar.

Commissioned by The Place, Southbank Centre and Sadler’s Wells (London).
Supported by Arts Council England. Hofesh Shechter is a creative associate
of The Point, Eastleigh.

“Probably the most important new dance work to be created
in Britain since the millennium.” —The Observer, London

“He layers order upon chaos upon order until everything finally comes together in a cathartic, kinetic payoff.” —Daily Telegraph, London