Calendar :: Dance

About Ailey II - A Celebration of American Dance

Ailey II is an exceptional company that merges the spirit and energy of the best young dance talent with the passion and creative vision of today's most outstanding emerging choreographers. Back by popular demand, Ailey II returns this season to perform its latest work — A Celebration of American Dance — that features ballet set to some of the most dynamic and poignant examples of American music, including songs of Betty Carter and Philip Glass, plus traditional spirituals, gospel, and blues.

Talk back: Join us immediately following the performance for a discussion on stage with the dancers.

Visit Ailey II online and on Facebook.

"There is apparently not much, as far as dance technique goes, that the youthful members of Ailey II cannot do." — The New York Times

"Performance Sponsor - Margaret Farr, Maureen Farr-Eagan & Bob Hotrum

About Rubberbandance - Loan Sharking

Montreal based choreographer and dancer Victor Quijada, founded RUBBERBANDance Group (RBDG) to bring world class dancers from contemporary dance and breakdance backgrounds to create a new concept of dance: a contemporary style that would blend the spontaneity and exuberance of hip hop with the refinement of classical and modern dance. This groundbreaking company will perform Loan Sharking, a work based on the idea of retrieving and appropriating these choreographies for a new repertory program of collected works set to music by Stravinsky, Vivaldi, Dave Brubek and DJ Lil Jaz. It presents a view of the multiple lyrical and physical possibilities of the company's choreographic research, breaking the established conventions of hip hop.

Talk back: Join us immediately following the performance for a discussion on stage with the dancers.

Visit Rubberbandance online and on Twitter.

About Wayne McGregor - Random Dance

Wayne McGregor is a multi award-winning British choreographer, renowned for his physically testing choreography and ground-breaking collaborations across dance, film, music, visual art, technology and science. In addition to his position as the Artistic Director of Wayne McGregor — Random Dance, Mr. McGregor is also Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet and a frequent creator of new work for
La Scala, Paris Opera Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, and New York City Ballet, as well as movement director for the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Wayne McGregor — Random Dance is known for its radical approach to new technology — incorporating animation, digital film, 3D architecture, electronic sound and virtual dancers into the live choreography. An hour-long breathtaking trip through a soundscape created by Coldplay and Massive Attack collaborator Jon Hopkins, and award-winning composer Joby Talbot (The Divine Comedy), Entity is a staggering blend of bodies, lights, technology and film that mark McGregor at the cutting edge of contemporary culture.

Talk back: Join us immediately following the performance for a discussion on stage with the dancers.

Visit Wayne McGregor / Random Dance online and on Facebook.

"He's doing some of the most exciting work in ballet on the planet." — The New York Times

About Kidd Pivot - Lost Action

Crystal Pite, recently named resident choreographer of the Nederlands Dans Theater, brings her much-acclaimed Vancouver-based company Kidd Pivot to Kingston to perform "Lost Action," Pite's most recent work. "Lost Action" features brilliant dancing by a 7-member troupe (including Pite herself) to an original soundscape.

Dancers sculpt space in real time, working inside a form that is constantly in a state of vanishing. In "Lost Action" the artists embody both the dance and its disappearance; the inevitable dissolution of their work and their bodies made poignantly apparent. Fuelled by the outstanding abilities of these world-class performers, "Lost Action" begins as an analysis of the articulated and amazing body, and unfolds to reveal the human element at the centre of the work: the ephemeral body moved by the potent heart.

Talk Back: Join us immediately following the performance for a discussion on stage with the dancers.

"... nothing that I witnessed during the recent Winter Olympics came anywhere close to "Lost Action" in terms of surprise, ambition, or sheer athletic appeal…. once you've seen this troupe move, you might never watch hockey again. Beauty and precision were ever-present-and hope, as well.” — Alexander Varty, Straight.com

About Paul Taylor Dance Company

Laura Shapiro once wrote in Newsweek, “Short course in modern dance: in the beginning there was Martha Graham, who changed the face of an art form and discovered a new world. Then there was Merce Cunningham, who stripped away the externals and showed us the heart of movement. And then there was Paul Taylor, who let the sun shine in.” One of the pioneers of American dance, Paul Taylor's company will make their Kingston debut. Arden Court, a crowd-pleaser set to music by Baroque composer William Boyce, and Dust, another PTDC classic that was premiered in 1977 will be featured. The program will conclude with Black Tuesday, a work first performed with American Ballet Theatre in 2001 that explores humour in the face of adversity in the Great Depression.

Visit Paul Taylor Dance Company online and on Facebook.

“Paul Taylor is without question the greatest living American choreographer. Taylor's emphasis on emotion within actual movement, the rhythmic vitality of his accents, his all-American youthfulness and optimism, all have set standards for American dance." — San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle