Inside Vancouver

Six performances to see at this year’s Dancing on the Edge Festival

by Shawn Conner in Events on June 18, 2019

Isabelle Kirouac & Nayana Fielkov: Habitats. Photo: Willoughby Arevalo.

Dance productions from Canada, Brazil, and Korea are part of this year’s Dancing on the Edge Festival (July 4 -13).

Canada’s longest-running festival of contemporary dance, DOTE delivers high calibre, challenging and innovative work. World premieres, North American and Western Canadian debuts, and works-in-progress are among the over thirty performances taking place at this year’s 10-day event. Performances take place at various Vancouver venues, including DOTE’s home, the Firehall Arts Centre.

Check out some highlights below.

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Six performances to see at this year’s Dancing on the Edge Festival

Duck defender dances her truth in Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster at this year’s PuSh Festival

by Shawn Conner in Events on January 11, 2018

Nicola Gunn tells the story of a woman, a man and a duck in Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster at the 2018 PuSh Festival. Sarah Walker photo.

One of the most talked-about presentations coming to this year’s PuSh Festival is Nicola Gunn’s Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster. In the Dance Centre co-presentation, the Melbourne-based performance artist dramatizes, through words and movement, a confrontation she had in a foreign country: upon seeing a man throw rocks at a duck protecting her eggs, Gunn intervened.

Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster runs Jan 17-19 at Scotiabank Dance Centre (677 Davie Street). The PuSh Festival itself runs Jan 16-Feb 4. For more info and festival highlighs, check out our PuSh Festival 2018 preview post. Visit ticketstonight.com for tickets ($36).

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Duck defender dances her truth in Piece for Person and Ghetto Blaster at this year’s PuSh Festival

Acclaimed one-woman coming-of-age story coming to this year’s Monsoon Arts Festival

by Shawn Conner in Uncategorized on July 25, 2017

Nadia Manzoor stars in the one-woman play Burq Off!

Now in its second year, the Monsoon Arts Festival runs from Aug. 6-13 in Vancouver and Surrey. A presentation of the South Asian Arts Society, the festival is bringing to town a critically-acclaimed one-woman play from New York and an Indian classical dance drama performed in Hindi.

See below for more details.

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Acclaimed one-woman coming-of-age story coming to this year’s Monsoon Arts Festival

Unforgettable dance performances coming with Dancing On the Edge fest!

by Shawn Conner in Uncategorized on June 29, 2016

Frédérick Gravel and Étienne Lepage THUS SPOKE_Stéphane Najman_avec Anne Thériault

Frédérick Gravel and Étienne Lepage’s THUS SPOKE is among the works presented at this year’s Dancing On the Edge festival.

Frederick Gravel created a buzz in Vancouver in 2014, with his show Usually Beauty Fails at the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival. In July, the Montreal choreographer brings a new piece to town as part of the 28th Annual Dancing on the Edge festival (July 7-16 at various venues).

Gravel’s Thus Spoke…, which premiered in 2013, blends monologues with movement, concert-style lighting and the acid-rock stylings of Jim Hendrix (watch a preview here). Described by the choreographer as “philosophical, with a rock ‘n’ roll vibe,” Thus Spoke… is among the highlights of the festival, which presents both full-scale productions and works-in-progress that push the boundary between performance and contemporary dance. Here are a few more.

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Unforgettable dance performances coming with Dancing On the Edge fest!