we live in volatile times. as a · dalisa pigram & serge aimé coulibaly | choreographers eric...
TRANSCRIPT
This Page | MAYDAY’s Animal Triste | Photo: Mathieu Doyon
Harbourfront Centre presents a season of
contemporary dance created by visionary
female choreographers from around the globe.
A collection of rising and legendary talent,
this season’s work is an illustration of societal,
environmental and political resistance.
Torque is the force that creates physical
rotation, overcoming resistance in
the process. In dance, this manifests as energy
against physical obstacles. In the works
presented in this season— and in life —Torque
represents humanity’s will to survive and
thrive against conflicting forces.
We live in volatile times. As a North American society, we can’t deny that our Western prosperity has been built on historical and systemic conflict, oppression and exploitation.
Freedom, equality, sovereignty: what do these concepts
mean if they don’t apply to everyone?
This dance season ref lects on these themes in wildly
different ways, with works that are demanding both
of the artists and the audience. These brilliant pieces
explore urgent realities and uncomfortable truths,
which in turn make hope and connection possible.
Prepare to be challenged, moved and exhilarated.
nathalie bonjour
Acting Director of Performing Arts,
Harbourfront Centre
Front Cover | Fou Glorieux’s Battleground | Photo: André Cornellier
Louise Lecavalier & Robert Abubo | Photo: André Cornellier
BATTLEGROUNDFOU GLORIEUX | QUEBEC
TORONTO PREMIEREOctober 5–6, 2018 | 7:30pm | 60 minutes
Fleck Dance Theatre
Louise Lecavalier | Choreographer, PerformerRobert Abubo | PerformerAntoine Berthiaume | Music
Canadian contemporary dance icon Louise Lecavalier
explores new territory with Battleground, a solo and duet
inspired by two Italo Calvino characters. The stage is
a fight ring where a thousand battles are waged, both
ephemeral and extreme. In a mad, unclassifiable dance,
the two characters allow glimpses into their ideals and
disillusionments. Daring and intense, this show will
enthral you with its fierce physicality.
With a career replete with awards and distinctions,
Lecavalier continues to deepen her search for pure
expression in dance, a quest for the absolute.
When two antiheroes are locked in a battle that doesn’t make any sense, who wins?
This fight is a strange scuffle of confrontation, avoidance and surrender. h
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Battleground is a co-production with Fou Glorieux; tanzhaus nrw, Düsseldorf; HELLERAU— European Centre
for the Arts, Dresden; le CENTQUATRE, Paris; Festival TransAmériques, Montreal; Usine C, Montreal.
Louise Lecavalier is an associate international artist of the CENTQUATRE, Paris.
Supported by
“Dancing is a wild,
raw ceremony,
the truest and the
most concrete.”
– Louise Lecavalier
CUT THE SKYMARRUGEKU | AUSTR ALIA
CANADIAN PREMIERENovember 23–24, 2018 | 7:30pm | 65 minutes
Fleck Dance Theatre
Artists from Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia come
together in a meditation on Indigeneity and humanity’s
frailty in the face of our own actions. In a burnt landscape,
climate change refugees revisit conflict with mining
companies, the destruction of fauna, and the relegation
of the marginalized. Breath-taking and electric, this show
will give you hope for our planet and a deeper connection
with humankind.
This multi-disciplinary work from Australia’s Marrugeku
is based on the poems written and spoken by Edwin Lee
Mulligan. It includes Indigenous songs by the cast as well as
original songs and covers of Nick Cave, sung live by Ngaiire.
Warning: Climate change is just getting warmed up.
Rachael Swain | DirectorDalisa Pigram & Serge Aimé Coulibaly | ChoreographersEric Avery, Josh Mu (role performed by Joshua Thomson), Edwin Lee Mulligan, Dalisa Pigram, Ngaire Pigram,Miranda Wheen | Co-Creators, Performers
Marrugeku is supported by the Australia Council for the Arts and the Western Australian Government through the
Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries. Cut The Sky has been commissioned by Theater im
Pfalzbau Ludwigshafen (Germany); Carriageworks (Australia); Koninklijke Vlaamse Schouwburg — KVS (Belgium);
Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg (Luxembourg); Centre Culturel Tjibaou Nouméa (New Caledonia).
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“We wanted to open ways
of thinking to allow
Indigenous knowledge to
come forward.”
– Rachael Swain & Dalisa Pigram
Miranda Wheen | Photo:Jon Green
POST NO BILLSKIT T JOHNSON X-ACT | DENMARK
TORONTO PREMIEREFebruary 8–9, 2019 | 7:30pm | 50 minutes
Harbourfront Centre Theatre
When times are tough, you have to either adapt or die.
Systemic crisis has become chronic. We can no longer
afford to mistake expansion for development. Post No Bills
edges its way into the space where composure is
irrevocably lost. We have to scrap the fiction of reality.
It is at this point we meet the broken and disillusioned
human with empty hands. Precise and controlled, Johnson’s
performance will ask you to go back to square one
and reinvent the beginning.
Choreographed and performed by the mesmerizing
Kitt Johnson, this Arte Povera work refines her
minimal physical expression into an existential art
of transformation.
A solo exploration of the transformative power of crisis hailing from one of Denmark’s
most provocative choreographers.
Supported by the Danish Arts Council, Wilhelm Hansen Fonden, Knud Højgaards Fond, Augustinus Fonden,
Overretssagfører L. Zeuthens Mindelegat, Københavns Kommunes Scenekunstudvalg.
Kitt Johnson | Choreographer, Performer
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“When you reach for
the impossible, you stretch
the borders of the possible.”
– Kitt Johnson Kitt Johnson | Photo: Per Morten Abrahamsen
ANIMAL TRISTEMAYDAY | QUEBEC
TORONTO PREMIEREApril 11, 2019 | 12:30pm | 60 minutes
April 12–13, 2019 | 7:30pm | 60 minutes
Harbourfront Centre Theatre
Animal Triste is a study of the nature and posture of
humanity — poor and perishable one day, free and
triumphant the next. Though human beings know that
life is finite, they deny their mortality. They conquer,
dominate, oppress. And procreate. Visceral and highly
charged, Animal Triste will ask you to investigate how
our instincts actually drive our relationships, despite
our blinding delusions.
MAYDAY choreographer and artistic director Mélanie
Demers uses the stage as a platform to examine the
role of the artist, exposing the dark corners of the
human condition.
While humans like to think they are at the centre of the universe, nothing could be further
from the truth. In the great march of time, they are simply just sad little animals.
“We humans draw from
the vast history of the world to
highlight our own little stories.
From the evolution of species
to the fall of civilizations,
we push forward. ”
– Mélanie Demers
Animal Triste is a co-production with Canada Dance Festival. MAYDAY is an associate company at the
Agora de la danse, in artistic collaboration with the Centro per la Scena Contemporanea/Operaestate Festival.
Mélanie Demers | ChoreographerMarc Boivin, James Gnam, Brianna Lombardo,Riley Sims | Performers h
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Brianna Lombardo & Riley Sims | Photo: Mathieu Doyon
LOT XADELHEID | ONTARIO
WORLD PREMIEREMay 29 – June 2, 2019 | 8pm | 90 minutes
Harbourfront Centre Theatre & East Campus
This site-specific piece holds a magnifying glass to the
very land we are standing on and the people we stand
with. Explore and challenge questions of ownership,
intimacy and sharing, while the performers move
with you through physical and virtual spaces. Your
perspective will shift as you choose where you want
to be. Move beyond the confines of the theatre to
experience an amplified awareness of our urban space.
adelheid makes work that speaks to the “realness”
of where we are and who we are — how we are affected
by the world around us. Their work focuses on human
contact, interaction and communication. adelheid formed
in 2008 and has since toured across the country.
Free your imagination and body. Enter new territory.
Supported by Harbourfront Centre’s Performing Arts Residency Program
and the Canada Council for the Arts New Chapter Program.
Heidi Strauss | ChoreographerAlana Elmer, Anna Finkel, Luke Garwood, Lukas Malkowski, Sahara Morimoto, Brian Solomon, Naishi Wang | Performers, Collaborators Co-Presented by DanceWorks
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“I’m interested in the study
of people: our behaviours
how we connect, and the
spaces we inhabit.”
– Heidi Strauss
Anna Finkel & Sahara Morimoto | Photo: Jeremy Mimnagh
a uniquely curated fundraising gala dinner,
celebrating harbourfront centre’sartists-in-residence
programs.
To purchase tables/seats, please contact
the development off ice at 416 952 4746
harbourfront centre235 queens quay w
toronto
tuesdaynovember 20, 2018
toronto
tables (10 guests)$10,000
—individual tickets
$1000
cocktail attire
Harbourfront Centre wishes to thank the government
funders, corporate partners and individual supporters
for their continued generosity.
As well, Harbourfront Centre Patrons Circle members
play a vital role in the year-round presentation of
contemporary artistic practice on all Harbourfront Centre
stages. These valued members directly invest in
artists and the development of their work through the
acclaimed Performing Arts Residency Program.
For details on how to join the Patrons Circle, please
contact the Development Office at 416 952 4746 or
charitable registration number 10746 6575 RR0003
THANK YOU
adelheid’s LOT X | Photo: Jeremy Mimnagh
BUY YOUR TICKETS TODAY
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Marrugeku’s Cut the Sky | Photo: Jon Green
416 973 4000
h a r bour frontc entr e.com
235 qu eens quay w e st
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t ick ets $45 | $35
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$20
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20% off
*a rts wor k er s (c a ll box offic e)
sen ior s (65+)
15% off
20% off
25% off
GET MORE DANCE FOR LESSSave when you buy tickets to:
a n y 3 produc t ions
a n y 4 produc t ions
a ll 5 produc t ions
grou ps 10+
Prices do not include service charges.
*Valid ID required at Box Office at the time of pick-up. For CULTUREBREAK, use code CULTURETORQ.
*c u lt u r ebr ea k (u n der 30 or st u den t)
HOW TO BUY
GETTING HERE
Head south on York Street
from Union Station to Queens
Quay and west one block.
Drive to the foot of Lower
Simcoe Street and into our
underground parking facility.
Parking is also available at
Rees Street.
the
power plant
entrance
harbourfront
centre
main building
natrel pond
lower simcoe st
queens quay w
york st
Harbourfront Centre is
committed to being a
welcoming and accessible
destination for all of our
visitors. For more information
on assistive devices, support
people and other services, visit
harbourfrontcentre.com/accessibility.
Take the 509 or 510 streetcar
from Union Station.
Use the Martin Goodman
Trail along the water or the
bike lanes along Lower
Simcoe Street.
B Y F O O T B Y C A R COMM I TM E N T TO ACCESSIBILIT Y
B Y T T C
B Y B I K E
queen’s quay
terminal
fleck
dance theatre
(3rd floor)
harbourfront
centre
theatre
Harbourfront Centre has more to offer!
Wander through the Craft & Design Studios to
witness, understand and experience art in the making
at this unique Canadian Artist-in-Residency
incubator and training centre.
Visit the Harbourfront Centre Shop for Canadian-made
high-design objects, collectible jewelry, including a
curated selection of limited-edition artworks —it’s the
perfect place to get that last-minute gift.
Enjoy the many displays and exhibits, including those at
The Power Plant, Canada’s leading public gallery devoted
exclusively to contemporary visual arts.
Stop by Boxcar Social before or after a performance.
The area’s top-notch eatery has you covered with high
quality coffee, a full food menu, craft beverages and
offers endless views of Lake Ontario.
PLAN YOUR VISIT
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235 Queens Quay West
Toronto, Ontario | M5J 2G8 | Canada
416 973 4000 | harbourfrontcentre.com
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