A stark stage with muted lighting flooding the space in every direction, a man stands muscular, powerful. Motionless on stage left, he commences by moving his arms in an angular fashion, as if starting the engine of his being. He seems unsure when to begin. Is it fear holding him back?
Victoria: Modern Myth Physical Theatre’s Not Fit for Flight just didn’t do it for me. A dance piece about the increasingly paranoid behaviour of an isolated 1950s housewife who is addicted to barbiturates and confined to her home, this strange Flight seemed to split the audience down the centre on Saturday night, with half laughing often and approvingly at her hallucinations and the other half glancing at their watches.
Victoria: If you’re looking for an elegant night out at this year’s Fringe, here it is. The Point Ellice Heritage House tea garden sets the stage, complete with wicker seating, blankets, tea cozy hats and tea and cookies. If you can brave the biting cold and the 30-minute walk (or five-minute drive) from the central downtown Fringe area, go.
*endORPHIN*, creatd by the Plastic Orchid Factory and presented by this year's Dancing on the Edge Festival, takes us on a dark, apocalyptic journey into the subconscious of the 21st century. It shows human culture on the cusp of the cyborg era. The title endORPHIN – which ironically joins catastrophe and pleasure – suggests that this is a grim psychic reality where the only happiness is a terror-induced euphoria.
Natalie LeFebvre Gnam from EndORPHIN, a dystopian world
Audible by the 605 Collective, presented by Dancing on the Edge, is dance for the purist. Yes, the piece fuses genres—from martial arts to tango to hip hop—but the performers’ sheer physicality fills the stage, uncomplicated by a set, props, or elaborate lighting.
605 crew: Maiko Miyauchi, Lisa Gelley, Josh Martin, Sasha Kozak, Shay Kuebler; photo: Chris Randle
As the name suggests, the 12 Minutes Max Sampler presented works drawn from this past season’s 12 Minute Max series, a series designed to showcase the work of “emerging talents and emerging works from established artists” in Vancouver.
“Who is she?” ask the program notes for Robin Poitras’s performance of SHE at the Chapel Arts Centre, part of the Dancing on the Edge festival. “Is she a musician/is she a dancer/is she a singer?” But the performance itself – an arresting, vivid contribution by a deeply skilled performer – asks more radical questions about embodiment, momentum and resonance.
Thank you Deborah Dunn for being so talented a dancer and so funny too!
Deborah Dunn presented four short choreographies, Four Quartets, as part of the Dancing on the Edge Festival; it was the last show I saw as part of the festival, and it was such a welcome highlight.
Henry Daniel’s *T2*, performed as part of this year’s "Dancing on the Edge Festival", was a piece with some interesting and some aesthetically pleasing moments but overall it left no distinct impression emotionally, aesthetically or intellectually. It’s not that there wasn’t any worthwhile content – there was – but this was a piece composed of so many disparate elements that I simply had a hard time finding a throughline or central message or truth from this show.
