![]() ![]() Arm extensions were left purposely incomplete, Albert-Toth’s limbs rebounding back and forth before a crisp line could be made. Those decisions weighed heavy, and it showed in the dancer’s movements. The French title of the piece from Montréal-based company Parts+Labout_Danse translates to “At arm's length”, a theme that resurfaced as Albert-Toth struggled with the burden of constant consumerist choices. The piece was a cleverly structured reflection on how capitalism consumes our daily lives, and it was impossible to look away. That dangling of the carrot, so to speak, was what the piece, co-choreographed and directed by Emily Gualtieri, embodied most strongly. He expressed a craving so fervent, witnesses were sure to keep thinking about the brand-and Albert-Toth-long after they’d left the theatre. Life is messy, hard, unpredictable, and absurdly funny right now-and all of that, in its weird complexity, played out perfectly in these two pieces in ways that were hard to put into words but felt endlessly familiar.Įlsewhere at the fest, things were equally inventive in À bout de bras, in which soloist David Albert-Toth shared his “erotic desire” to gulp down a tantalizing can of Coca-Cola. (Here the Baroque strains, under sound designer Sammy Chien, fractured and devolved into electronic music even more.) ![]() There was struggle in this eclectic piece, more laughter and crying, and a general relatable sense that we are all fighting to rebuild-and sometimes losing it in the process. Elsewhere, Fletcher made a fun riff on body building, taking dumbbell curls to absurd extremes. Or it meant Adrian De Leeuw crawled along the floor, his long legs collapsing under his weight. That meant Matthew Wyllie might pull off breakdance floor work or sit behind a drum kit in his neon green wig, knee socks, and sunglasses. ![]() But he did this in the most edgily playful ways, working collaboratively to highlight each dancer’s skills and quirks. The accomplished Vancouver choreographer seemed to be exploring the idea of rebuilding one’s identity, relationships, and emotions after catastrophe or shutdown-say, after a pandemic. Wen Wei Wang refracted a lot of the same ideas in wild new ways in RE I BUILD I US. It was a fascinating distillation of human experience. And then the entire, dreamlike world transformed again, from refined Baroque to club beats that suggested the rave in the evening’s title. Another elaborate game of chase suddenly turned dark, the equally arresting Barr grabbed and pulled by her outstretched legs by the other dancers. At one point, the ever-expressive Fletcher’s maniacal laughter morphed into crying. Moods shifted unpredictably from light to dark. The dynamics between the group members were ever-shifting in the program notes, the Siena-based choreographer suggested she was trying to capture a kind of multitude of humanity-“not just a woman or just a man, I am at the same time many women and many men, many places, animals, cities, countries, families, memories, emotions, objects and people”. In Lettieri’s opening half, BEAT ARMONICO, the troupe moved to Baroque music, playing off its stylized rhythms, by turns mechanical, broken, and unhinged. And fortunately, that vibrancy came with conceptual depth.Īs the fest opener, Wen Wei Wang and Francesca Lettieri’s two-part Barocco Rave set the tone, replete with neon knickers and wigs, and playfully inventive dance.īoth the Canadian and the Italian choreographer made the most of their honed, fearless, and individually expressive quartet of Vancouver dancers: Ariana Barr, Alexis Fletcher, Adrian De Leeuw, and Matthew Wyllie. That’s why the playful bursts of colour-in terms of both costuming and vivid ideas-at Dancing on the Edge this weekend were so refreshing. ALL TOO OFTEN contemporary dance lives in the darkness, slices of light illuminating black-clad dancers on an otherwise shadowy stage. ![]()
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