Dance — Blog — Emily Trace

Fall for Dance North's 2020 Signature Program

In a season when performance venues are purchasing house plants to take the seats of their patrons, the impressive effort that Fall for Dance North put into digitally staging their 2020 Signature Program will be a welcome respite for dance lovers isolating at home. Their six world premieres—some broadcast live from the Fleck Dance Theatre and others prerecorded—are available on demand from now until the 18th, meaning you can stream and restream performances that would otherwise already be the stuff of memory. Embracing the ephemeral has always been a necessary element in dance appreciation, but audiences have a fresh opportunity to go back and experience these works throughout the festival. And the greatest benefit of their remote program? You can exclaim, gasp, sigh, and respond any way you like without disturbing other patrons in a darkened theatre.

Angel's Atlas by Crystal Pite + Chroma & Marguerite and Armand

The theatre’s energy changed as the orchestra went dark for the third and final part of the night’s mixed program, sizzling with an electricity that transcended your usual World Premiere static. Since her first piece for the National Ballet of Canada, Emergence, premiered in 2009, Crystal Pite has become globally renown and sought after.

'The 9th!' presented by ProArteDanza

“Even the worm was given desire” declares Friedrich Schiller’s soaring poem written for Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, the iconic climax of his 9th symphony and score of ProArteDanza’s The 9th!: a finely yet boldly crafted treatise on the defiant human spirit, by Roberto Campanella and Robert Glumbek.

Fall for Dance North presents: Program 2

Each of the pieces presented in Program 2 of “Toronto’s premier international dance festival” featured live music, something I hope Fall For Dance North will continue to prioritize as they move forward from their 5th year hosting dance companies from across the globe.

Hanna Kiel's Resonance

Resonance uses the irresistible beat of live musicians to chart the stages of a popular revolution as it unfurls, infects, and blends each individual with the blurred flow of the masses.

dance: made in canada Presents: Morrison Series

The world needs more of what dance: made in canada / fait au canada festival’s closing performance offered simply by incubating a safe environment for male artists to share deeply and openly. Curated by the festival director herself, each work features all-male dancers exploring the roles men can engage, transgress, and transcend with each other.

dance: made in canada presents 'Cruz Series'

Union, communion, and communication were frustrated and fulfilled by varying degrees in each of the pieces Lina Cruz chose for her series, with speech and the desire to speak lining much of the staged movement.

Pastries in Motion: The National Ballet Presents 'The Merry Widow'

A grandly chosen champagne-soaked farewell role for esteemed principal dancer Xiao Nan Yu, The Merry Widow is a rare piece that gives a company the chance to show off while managing to unite comedy and drama. This effervescent world of forgivable excess is studded with moments of sincere, rapturous yearning between the two leading couples.

Light Years Ahead: Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre's Stunning Showcase

With thrilling range and dancers that move as both wave and particle, Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre staged five enchanting works with an ensemble of promising young students. Featuring two world premieres and recent hits from five diverse choreographers, these works examine contemporary issues such as toxic masculinity and ancient preoccupations like achieving higher consciousness and communion with the unknown through live performance.

Giselle’s Restless Spirit: The Ballerina’s Hamlet

“While James is decidedly a land mammal, you’d have to visit the aquarium to see anything ripple through reality the way Lunkina does as a Wili…”

In its Original Russian: Kudelka’s Nutcracker Comes of Age

“Twenty winters on stage, The Nutcracker remains a beloved production that can still make an icy breeze feel like a thrilling, redemptive brush with a gentler world.”