Preview
EXPLOSIONS FESTIVAL 2003
Dancers’ Studio West
February 6 - 8, 13 - 15 and 20 - 22
Dancers’ Studio West Theatre
Now 21 years old, Dancer Studio West’s Explosions Festival is a showcase of Alberta’s most experimental choreography. Artistic director Michéle Moss, who kicks things off with her work Fear is the Horseman, may even return to the stage herself this time, if only for a fleeting moment.
"It’s a three-minute cameo I’m doing on a dare," says Moss. "A sort of preamble to the piece."
Fear of the Horseman was Moss’s first solo at Decidedly Jazz Danceworks when she directed there years ago, and it morphed into two simultaneous solos when it re-appeared in 2001’s all Fours, a collaboration between One Yellow Rabbit and Dancers’ Studio West. Now a one-woman piece with dancer Alanna K. Jones, the contemplative, short work highlights Moss’s command of jazz and mystical West African traditions.
"It was born of my West African and Diaspora studies in transgression dance," says Moss. "It’s a subconscious dance, bringing up images of fear. It initiated with my own fear of the creative process itself. You know, that paralysis associated with being judged or being a ‘success.’"
Held over three weekends, the Explosions Festival features work by creators of all calibers. Moss kicks off the first weekend with independent choreographers Laurie Montemurro and Erin O’Connor, and international choreographers Wojciech Mochniej and Melissa Monteros, who will each present shorts. The weekend’s main gusto is Nicole Mion’s 40-minute debut of Porcelain Tattoo, featuring dancer Stephen Thompson.
Moss is raising the bar on the festival’s programming this year by making more cuts and hiring more established artists. As she explains, it’s all a response to increasingly sophisticated demand.
"Up until now it was unbelievably broad," says Moss. "The novice is not represented now as much as the established and mid-stride artist, and that’s what happens when a community grows. Calgarians are growing, and the critical mass of independent artists is growing. The first-time novice may have to start looking at other venues."
In other words, Moss says, new audiences are actually starting to "get it" when they see a dance piece – or at least accept it when they don’t get it. Having already presented established Quebec artists Louise Bedard and Marie Chouinard last month, Moss maintains Calgary is ready for the same high-calibre dance esthetic.
"There’s more experimentation now," Moss observes. "Obviously, you can’t have a national scene full of Marie Chouinards, but there are so many ways that the community can go right now. And that’s what we want – diverse voices and experienced craftspeople, while young artists see people like Chouinard and identify with what speaks to them."
An instructor in both the community and the University of Calgary’s dance department, Moss is the ideal advocate for any explosion in Calgary dance.
"The nature of the work is such that even if you’re well established, you never know what the process will reveal and what little pearl, what little diamond in the rough, will emerge."
A forum is planned for International Dance Day to bring members of the public and the dance community together to address issues such as venue conflicts and strategies to strengthen Calgary’s dance scene.
The forum is being co-presented by the Alberta Dance Alliance and the University of Calgary and will take place February 14 at 4:30 p.m. at Dancers’ Studio West (2007 — 10 Ave. S.W.). For more information call 244-0950 or 1-888-422-8107.
Forum on the future of Calgary dance
Dancer’s Studio West is one of the hosts of an upcoming conference examining the state and future of dance in Calgary.
Planned for International Dance Day, the meeting will bring members of the public and the dance community together to address growth of dance in Calgary, issues like venue conflicts and strategies to strengthen Calgary’s dance scene.
The forum is being co-presented by the Alberta Dance Alliance and the University of Calgary and will take place February 14 at 4:30 p.m. at Dancers’ Studio West at 2007 — 10th Ave. S.W. More information is available by calling 244-0950 or 1-888-422-8107. |
