Dancing is dangerous when fluids are involved — someone could slip and bump their head! The Fluid Movement Arts Festival opens October 15
DETAILS
Vertigo Theatre
Monday, October 15 - Saturday, October 20
More in: Special Events
Tired of the same old Calgary scene? Starting this Monday, Springboard Dance is giving everyone an opportunity to break out of their ruts and try something totally new. The second annual Fluid Movement Arts Festival will take over several venues around the city next week, providing a chance to watch, play and marvel at what is going on in contemporary performance both in Canada and around the world. The festival focuses on overcoming stereotypes of performance genres and showcases the fluidity between dance, film, spoken word and more. This year’s festival has been curated by the artistic director of Springboard Dance, Nicole Mion, who has secured a fantastic lineup. There is much to see and do, but to get your creative juices flowing, here is just a snippet of what is to come.
The festival starts on Monday evening at the Vertigo Studio Theatre with Morganics, an Australian spoken word artist, and Jojo Zolina, a hip hop dance artist from Vancouver. These two artists will come together to present a collision of physical and verbal gymnastics with contrasting perspectives on street culture.
Margie Gillis makes a much-anticipated return to Calgary with her performance, Voyages into the Interior Landscape. Originally from Montreal, Gillis has had a successful solo performance career for more than 30 years and shows no signs of slowing down yet. This show has been five years in the making and combines the dancer’s magnetic stage presence with her exceptional skill.
Some may remember Vancouver’s Tara Cheyenne’s show Banger from last year’s High Performance Rodeo. This year she brings her theatrical creation Nick & Juanita: livin’ in my dreams to the Vertigo Playhouse Theatre. Cheyenne has danced and choreographed her way around the world and back. This particular tale is one of love and humanity in a talk show world. It will tour Canada next year.
Celebrating its 10th birthday, Winnipeg’s TRIP dance company will mesmerize Calgary audiences with its new performance, Herding Instinct. This is the artistic director of the company, Karen Kuzak. Humanity’s struggle to find a place in this world is mirrored in the act of border collies herding sheep in this instinctual, organic dance.
Several aspects of the festival are intimate and interactive as well. An international collection of performing artists will gather at the Auburn Saloon for some Physical Therapy. The stage will be small, the drinks will be strong and the movements will be spontaneous as the group creates and intersects differing genres of physical art. Later that week, Calgary has the opportunity to witness a contemporary performance showcase through E Merge. This will be a celebration of new ideas that are budding in the worlds of dance, theatre, video and performance art.
Undoubtedly, this collection of shows will leave Calgarians eager and inspired but, thankfully, Fluid Movement Arts Festival has planned for this as well. Throughout the week, performers from the shows will be hosting a variety of workshops centred on the psychology and physicality of performance. From hip hop to dance theatre, experts like Gillis and Madeleine Hallé from the Cirque de Soleil will have plenty of advice for those wanting to don their dancing or “artistic movement” shoes.
Log onto Fluid Movement Arts Festival’s website, www.fluidartsfestival.com, for a full schedule and tickets to all the shows and workshops.
