>>PREVIEW
FLUID Movement Arts Festival
Runs until October 21
Check listings for venues and times
"Fluid is flexible, friendly, necessary, nourishing and can take many different forms. Just like the FLUID Movement Arts Festival."
These are the words of Nicole Mion, Springboard Dance’s artistic director, and curator and spearhead for Calgary’s new FLUID Movement Arts Festival.
"I travel to many festivals with my own work and see terrific performances that I would love to see here in Calgary," says Mion, whose work includes direction and choreography for dance, theatre and film companies.
"So why not make this a reality? The performances in this year's FLUID Festival feature new movements in contemporary dance from across the country, as well as terrific established and emerging artists from Calgary."
Described as a "concentrated dose of contemporary dance from some of Canada’s most innovative dance makers," FLUID promises to showcase a variety of dancers and choreographers. Performing artists this past week have included Austria’s CMedinaDance and Toronto’s Andrea Nann and her Dreamwalker Dance Company (both had dance works based on literary texts, from Argentinean author Jorge Luis Borges and Canada’s Michael Ondaatje, respectively).
This Thursday includes a performance by Vancouver’s MovEnt, and Friday and Saturday display the work of Montréal’s George Stamos. Thursday night at the Big Secret Theatre also includes a show called E Merge, an evening of works by emerging Calgary dance artists. The choreographers featured include Naomi Brand, Gennifer Meldrum, Erin Sander, Elissa Houk, the Flamenco-based Rosanna Terracciano and Jennifer Mahood.
MovEnt is presenting a piece called SURGE – Rock the Grid! Blow a fuse! choreographed by Vancouver’s Day Helesic.
"The choreographer and some of the dancers have worked with The Holy Body Tattoo and have a school of thought that is similar," Mion notes. This particular school of thought includes the notion of finding beauty within physical exhaustion and discovering the costs and rewards of power within its various incarnations.
Montréal’s George Stamos is presenting his works Schatje (which translates to "sweetie" in Dutch), Reservoir and croque-monsieur.
"Stamos used to be a go-go dancer in Europe and New York," Mion says. "He uses a lot of video, guys spinning music live, as well as a fascination with pop culture, mixed in with a twisted sense of humour."
This humour brings us into different worlds, where high heels and hand puppets meet wrestling masks, gender identities are challenged and mish-mashed, and dysfunctional cycles of shifting environments take place in a landscape of DJ beats and digital visuals.
Considering the works of these dance artists, Mion thinks the Calgary arts community is ripe for a dance festival.
"Calgary is a festival community," adds Mion, citing OYR’s High Performance Rodeo, WordFest and the Calgary Folk Fest to name a few precedents. "Why not a dance festival? I think that Calgary is now big enough and savvy enough to take this on. Festivals create energy and synergy for both audiences and artists," she says, adding FLUID is the result of a lot of research and determining costs.
"It is also an efficient way to double up on marketing, staff time and budgeting. It's a fiscally responsible model for presenting performance-based work."
Mion also considers the energy produced from a festival and the impact it has on the audience.
"I like the idea of creating an energy and appreciation for physical-based art practices," Mion concludes. "This could include hard-core traditional dance – think unitards and ballet shoes – or other physical contemporary practices. Just as contemporary dance, theatre and film are influenced from each other, so too can a festival celebrate this synergy. This is my aim for the FLUID Festival."
The FLUID Movement Arts Festival runs until October 21 at various locations. For information on tickets and a comprehensive schedule, visit www.fluidartsfestival.com. |
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