From Tinge and Tone
DETAILS
Max Bell Theatre
Eric Harvie Theatre
Thursday, June 5 - Saturday, June 14 Wednesday, June 18 - Wednesday, June 18
More in: Dance
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The dance artists at Decidedly Jazz Danceworks (DJD) give their floors names. “Ginger,” a stained tap floor that’s perfect for hoofing, hasn’t been dusted off in some time. This is because the company hasn’t done tap in a major production for some time either, which makes its season finale, Tinge and Tone, unique in respect to other jazz shows.
“It has some things we haven’t done in awhile,” says Sarisa Figueroa, a longtime DJD company member, and artistic director of Tinge and Tone. Figueroa says Tinge is a jazz show with live music and varied choreographic voices, including tap dance and original music and direction by Rubim de Toledo (who also composed music for DJD’s 2006 production In Charcoal and Crimson).
Thematically, Figueroa faced the challenge of unifying a production that includes choreography by DJD artistic associates Kimberley Cooper and Jamie Freeman Cormack as well as DJD co-founders Michèle Moss and Hannah Stilwell. The show also features a range of dance styles that includes Brazilian, samba, tap, lindy hop and swing dancing.
Figueroa’s obsession with tracing her ancestry and thumbing through old photo albums helped her find a thematic thread that informs the look of the show. “I’ve always looked at my mom’s old photo albums,” says Figueroa. “She has many portraits that were taken in black-and-white and then tinged afterwards. I’ve always loved that look, because there’s something about the colours that they use in those tinges you can’t find anymore — they’re both subtle and rich at the same time. I thought that would be an interesting look for a show, because the challenge that arises with overseeing a show not choreographed by yourself is that you have to have a way of accommodating all the choreographic voices, and [make it] a seamless journey for an entire evening. I thought this might be a good way of tying things together visually for the audience.”
The show starts esthetically as a black-and-white photograph with grey tones, and then visits a spectrum of different coloured tinges throughout the evening. Two dance solos are also based on two recognizable figures in jazz culture, one famous for wearing gardenias in her photographs. “Visually, I think it’s going to be a beautiful show,” says Figueroa.
As a seasoned choreographer, company member and dancer, Kimberley Cooper faced a unique challenge for Tinge and Tone as well: creating her first tap piece. “It’s great. We haven’t tapped for awhile, so it’s a huge challenge to put on those tap shoes again. It’s not really like riding a bike,” says Cooper.
For dancer Catherine Hayward, the challenge in Tinge and Tone was adapting to a diverse range of choreography. “You kind of change your hat when you switch to the next piece, and that is something that is really great about this show,” she says. “It’s exciting that you do a one-minute piece, and then you’re suddenly in a character piece, and the changes happen so quickly. But it’s good, because, as a dancer, it’s great to switch from one thing to the next.”
