Monday, May 31, 2010

Bad news from the Art Gallery of Ontario

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According to this press release (the original here), and this breathless website, there will be ballet in the museum this summer. Ugh.

Why can't they just leave well enough alone? If something is significant enough to be shown in a museum, why can't they just show it? Why do they now need to add extra stuff? If the painting sucks, now amount of ballet (or music, or theater) is going to make it good. On the other hand if the painting is good, then the ballet (or music, or theater) is just going to take away from it by causing people not to be able to focus their full attention on it.

Dance Dance Revolution for the Navy

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An interesting method on how to get new recruits in shape.

Dame Margot Fonteyn tried to overthhrow the Panamanian Governement

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Prima Ballerina and spies, Wicked Cool!!

Friday, May 28, 2010

Nice Juxtaposition Judith Mackrell & Catherine Viau

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One English, one French. One focusing on one topic, one attempting to look at the bigger picture. But both commenting on the changing world of dance.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Movement Museum Episode 63: Stu McIntyre, Imbroglio, Mihaela Coman

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Our show from May 27, 2010
(Download: MP3 74MB, Flac 331MB, Ogg Vorbis 46MB or Stream)

Movement Museum a radio show broadcast Thursdays at 14h on CKUT 90.3 FM in Montreal, co-hosts Chris 'Zeke' Hand, Allison Elizabeth Burns and Bettina Forget talk about dance in Montreal. In this show we talk with Stu McIntyre of Imbroglio about creating and performing dance for the street vs. for the stage and Imbroglio's upcoming productions of Cheyen and Oppo for the Montreal Fringe Festival, and Mihaela Coman of dancethisweek.com and mihaelaonline.com about Belly Dancing and Social Networking.

The theme song is the Raimundos' version of Do You Want to Dance, the dance poem of the week is Pannyra of the Golden Heel by Albert Samain, translated by James Elroy Flecker, and the music played during the show is Jacky Terrasson's Push.

Listen


Allison Elizabeth Burns, Bettina Forget and Chris 'Zeke' Hand

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

La Prière, Liens et lieux III, danse contemporaine marginale au Théâtre du Gesù

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The American Tap Dance Day vs. The Japanese Tap Dance Day

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Yesterday was American Tap Dance Day, back in April the Japanese celebrated Tap Dance Day over an entire weekend in April. In the United States it is celebrated on Bill “Bojangles” Robinson's birthday. I do not know the significance of the dates for the Japanese celebration.

I think we should nominate August 25 as The Canadian Tap Dance Day.

On Becoming a Dance Critic

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I didn't plan to be a critic. Even though I'd spent years hanging around dance studios, learning everything from ballet to contemporary to tai chi, I was set on a career in academia; my subject was English literature, not dance. So when a string of circumstances led me to write my first dance reviews, my models weren't professional critics. Most of the writers I knew and loved best were novelists: Henry James, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce and John Updike.

None of them could offer guidance when it came to describing a perfect pirouette, but they were ideal masters to learn from. Two marks of a great novelist are the ability to observe human behaviour and the ability to judge the exact words that make those observations ring true. Both skills are also essential for dance critics, who have to capture the combination of movement, music, design and human personality that make a work unique.

When I started reading dance reviews, the first writers I went to were American. There was a practical reason: Edwin Denby, Arlene Croce and Deborah Jowitt had collections of their reviews published in book form and, pre-internet, it was much harder to study the British newspaper critics.

But there was also something inspirational about the best of the American writing. It had a novelist's sharpness of language and gaze, and almost never resorted to cliche. I remember reading the Denby collection in one sitting and marveling at his exactness. Take, for instance, this description of the ballerina in Balanchine's Concerto Barocco, as she is lowered slowly to the floor at the climax of a pas de deux: "She rests her foot on a single sharp point and pauses. It is the effect . . . of a deliberate and powerful plunge into a wound." In this unsettling image, Denby managed to concentrate everything he saw and felt. In the daily routine of being a critic – rushing to meet a deadline, wondering how to cram it all into 400 words – it's good to remember how high the critical bar has been set.
- Judith Mackrell
From this article in The Guardian.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Zab Maboungou getting good press all over the place

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First there was Bettina Forget's review. Then I came across this article in the New York Times. Then I read this interview (where I learned that Zab Maboungou is a Y-chromosome challenged person).

I think we might have to try to get her to come on the air for an interview.

A slight scheduling conflict

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I just discovered that Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival is happening in between June 3 and 6 this year. There are a bunch of Montreal dancers going down there; The Choreographers, Laurel Koop, Floating Seed and Virtuo Danse. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it because of this, this and this.

James Kudelka in Czech and English

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James Kudelka gets interviewed in Czech (and they also translate it into English for folk like me).

Luc Vanier, ex-Montreal dancer doing good elsewhere

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Next month in Milwaukee they are going to be performing something called Divas, Dudes and Dancers. But what caught my eye was the line, "Originally from Montreal."

So I dug a little deeper and came up with these bits of information; he currently teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he used to dance with the Ohio Ballet, and might have been one of the victims of the controversy that surrounded them ten years ago. Now it appears that he does stuff with Your Mother Dances.

I wonder if he ever makes it back home?

Monday, May 24, 2010

The Duck Wife on Kickstarter

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As of this writing The Duck Wife had raised more than 80% of their goal on Kickstarter. For those of you that don't know, one of the co-hosts of Movement Museum, Allison Elizabeth Burns is heavily involved in The Duck Wife.

If you have some excess cash, give it to them, and help them get to Edmonton.

Catherine Viau got annoyed things changed

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On Friday, Catherine Viau wrote on her blog about how O Vertigo 'forgot' to credit their dancers, and then went out of her way to name them and link to their bios. On Sunday at about noon, Robert Meilleur commented that according to him things had been fixed. Wikced Cool!

Danse Lucile Danse!!!

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A very nice gif from kick-ass cartoonist, Julie Delporte. (If you click on it, it should move...)

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Movement Museum Episode 62: Clothilde Cardinal, Pierre Des Marais, Danse-Danse

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Our show from May 20, 2010
(Download: MP3 79MB, Flac 627MB, Ogg Vorbis 50MB or Stream)

Movement Museum a radio show broadcast Thursdays at 14h on CKUT 90.3 FM in Montreal, co-hosts Chris 'Zeke' Hand, Allison Elizabeth Burns and Bettina Forget talk about dance in Montreal. In this show we talk with the Clothilde Cardinal and Pierre Des Marais the co-directors of Danse-Danse about their 2010/2011 season and their fund-raising campaign.

The theme song is Sonny & Cher's version of Do You Want to Dance, the dance poem of the week is Isadora Duncan by Carl Sandburg, and the music played during the show is from The Arboreal Quartet.

Listen


Allison Elizabeth Burns, Bettina Forget and Chris 'Zeke' Hand

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Nico Archambault, Naomi Stikeman, Marie-Ève Quilicot

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A very nice article from Saturday's Le Devoir by Catherine Lalonde on the incredible variety of professional dancers and dancing opportunities in Quebec and what Nico Archambault, Naomi Stikeman, and Marie-Ève Quilicot think about the situation.

Catching up with Blueprint Dance

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While we don't give a lot of coverage to the various 'reality' dance shows (not watching TV might have a little to do with it) we don't completely ignore them either. Blueprint deserves some serious props. I'm just flabbergasted that they come from the West Island!

Toronto's National Ballet School celebrates International Dance Day

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Apparently it is a law in Toronto that if you go to the mall you absolutely must bring your video camera with you. Back at the end of April, the National Ballet School over there decided that they were going to organize something they call a Flash Mob (I would strongly disagree with their definition, but I digress) to do a dance in public at the Eaton Centre in order to raise public awareness about International Dance Day. Cool enough, if not terribly original, but what elevates this particular event, is that if you go trolling for it on YouTube, there are nine (9) completely different videos of the same thing. Talk about gaining a different perspective!!

The Official We Want this to be Viral Video done by the National Ballet School


chyrells' video of the rehearsal


SimTripps Video


Evvve91's Video


yadosoara's video


awaismonkey's video


HumanArchive's Video


aliciajones1569's video


mailme408's video


And I might have missed a couple as well, but there is only so much Feist I can take in one day.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

OK, we're a tad slow. Swinging makes it into L'actualité, two weeks ago

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A short article by Ulysse Bergeron, but what makes it extremely useful is the guide to schools, clubs and etc.

Occasionally we reprint a press release, but very very rarely

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But books on the history of ballet here in Canada need all the marketing help they can get... So if you have the time to spare to read 300 pages, Norma Sue Fisher-Stitt has written The Ballet Class: A History of Canada’s National Ballet School 1959 – 2009. Read the press release here.

Myriam Allard first to Vancouver and then to Mexico

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When we last caught up with Myriam Allard she was performing El12. Now it appears she performed in "Mis Hermanas" Thicker Than Water: My Sisters and I in Vancouver last week in preparation for performing it in a tour of Mexico later in the year.

Monday, May 17, 2010

RSVP Report, RSVP Report, RSVP Report, RSVP Report, RSVP Report, RSVP Report, RSVP Report, RSVP Report, RSVP Report, RSVP Report, RSVP Report, RSVP Report, RSVP Report, RSVP Report, RSVP Report, RSVP Report.

Entr'acte, Marie Chouinard

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Yesterday Marie Chouinard's bODY_rEMIX/ gOLDBERG_vARIATIONS got reviewed in London's Guardian. Some of the better lines: "The result resembles a swingers' party in a surgical appliance store, hosted by a DJ with late-stage Parkinson's disease." And "part proxy-exhibitionism."

Entr'acte, Dave St-Pierre

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Looks like I'm going to have to catch the re-run. Dave St-Pierre was on Tout le monde en parle last Friday, and I missed it.

Entr'acte, Margie Gillis (again)

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And she was on Christiane Charette back on the 5th of May. Click here to hear it.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Entr'acte, Margie Gillis

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Over at Suites Culturelles, they give a fairly detailed description of Thread.

Entr'acte, Mihaela Coman

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Il fait beau dans le Metro... although to be completely honest, Mihaela Coman dances anywhere, not only the metro.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Movement Museum Episode 61: Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Toronto Dance Theatre, « WE ARE ROBOTS », Margie Gillis

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Our show from May 13, 2010
(Download: MP3 75MB, Flac 311MB, Ogg Vorbis 47MB or Stream)

Movement Museum a radio show broadcast Thursdays at 14h on CKUT 90.3 FM in Montreal, co-hosts Chris 'Zeke' Hand, Allison Elizabeth Burns and Bettina Forget talk about dance in Montreal. In this show we review Les Grands Ballets Canadiens' Minus One, Toronto Dance Theatre's Dis/(sol/ve)r, « WE ARE ROBOTS » and Margie Gillis' Filature / Thread.

The theme song is Attaque 77's version of Do You Want to Dance, the dance poem of the week is Tarantella by D.H. Lawrence, and the music played during the show is from Geordie McDonald's Time/After Time.

Listen


Allison Elizabeth Burns, Bettina Forget and Chris 'Zeke' Hand

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Entr'acte, Canadian Dancers at Expo 2010 in Shanghai

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In case you were interested, the Canadian Dancers at Expo 2010 in Shanghai. Red Sky from Toronto, Move the company from Vancouver, and Damelahamid from West Vancouver.

Entr'acte, Canadian Heritage Funding of $87,000 per year for two years

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I came across this press release touting how generous James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages was. In a nutshell he's giving $87,000 per year for the next two years to New Dance Horizons in Regina.

Remind me if I am ever find myself in a tight situation to hit him up first.

Entr'acte, Alouette Cheerleader: Valérie Bisaillon

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Football season must be starting soon, Valérie Bisaillon one of the Alouette Cheerleaders gets profiled in L'Avenir de l'Est.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Entr'acte, Mao's Last Dancer

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The Mark adds to the hype for Mao's Last Dancer.

Entr'acte, Les 7 Doigts De La Main

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Les 7 Doigts De La Main made it into last weekend's Guardian as a Dance Pick of the Week.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Movement Museum Episode 60: Margie Gillis

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Our show from May 6, 2010
Download: MP3 78MB, Flac 615MB, Ogg Vorbis 45MB or Stream)

Movement Museum a radio show broadcast Thursdays at 14h on CKUT 90.3 FM in Montreal, co-hosts Chris 'Zeke' Hand, Allison Elizabeth Burns and Bettina Forget talk about dance in Montreal. In this show we talk with Margie Gillis about her latest performance Filatures / Thread.

The theme song is the Kim Carnes' version of Do You Want to Dance, the dance poem of the week is The Window by Leonard Cohen, and the music played during the show is from The Arboreal Quartet.

Listen


Allison Elizabeth Burns, Bettina Forget and Chris 'Zeke' Hand

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Entr'acte, Rashaad Newsome

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"FIVE" live at the Whitney Museum of American Art March 19th 2010 from RASHAAD NEWSOME on Vimeo.


(via) More about Rashaad Newsome is available here and here.

Entr'acte, OFF.T.A Preview

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Read all about the upcoming OFF.T.A here.