From July 17-21, York University celebrates the cultural and artistic vitality of dance during the World Dance Alliance Global Assembly 2006, hosted by the Department of Dance. The event includes two dynamic performance series featuring midday and evening concerts open to the public, showcasing local, national and international dance artists.
Produced and organized by Mary Jane Warner (left), Chair of York’s Dance Department, the World Dance Alliance Global Assembly is being held in Canada for the first time. It will draw together more than 300 dance artists, scholars and students from 25 countries to discuss, lecture and perform around the theme Dance/Diversity/Dialogue: Bridging Communities and Cultures.
The performances showcase a wide range of ritualistic, traditional and contemporary dance forms. Open-ended, open-minded, conversational and engaging, the dance vignettes are shaped around solo, pairs and group presentations, accented by sumptuous costumes, and offering viewers a diverse and entertaining dance experience.
The midday series starts Monday, July 17, at 1pm, with Calgary ’s Bird Soul Productions , who will give a vertical dance presentation with performers rappelling down the side of the Accolade East Building .
Right: Performers from Contempodanza of Mexico
The evening series launches with an 8pm concert spotlighting, featuring Conny Janssen Danst (Netherlands), Dance Forum Taipei (Taiwan), Hiromoto Ida (Canada) and Karen Jamieson Dance Company with Byron Chief-Moon (Canada).
On Tuesday, July 18, at 12:30pm, the series showcases an all-Canadian cast with Norma Araiza , DansEncorps, Gael Force Dancers, Ida Meftahi and Spirit Synott . The 8pm performance features Eryn Dace Trudell Dance Projects (Canada), Kaha:wi Dance Theatre (Canada), Academia Nazionale di Danza & Scenamobile (Italy), Troy Emery Twigg (Canada) and Mi Young Kim Korean Dance Company (Canada).
The Canadian Children’s Dance Theatre , InDance , Motus O and NGOMA Dance take to the stage Wednesday, July 19, at 1pm, Danza Concierto (Colombia), Sashar Zarif Dance Theatre (Canada), Surdance Ensemble (Argentina) and Taipei Dance Circle (Taiwan) will entertain the audience at 8pm.
The featured artists on Thursday, July 20, at 12:30pm, are Susan Cash & Company Dance (Canada), Danza Abend (Costa Rica), Elena Quah (Canada), Little Pear Garden Collective (Canada), Menaka Thakkar (Canada) and Zihao Li (Canada). The performance at 8pm showcases Debra Brown & Dancers (Canada), African Dance Ensemble (Canada), Contempodanza (Mexico), Dance Art Hong Kong (China), Dance Theatre Group Interact (Cyprus) and Terrill Maguire (Canada).
Left: These sophisticated aerials are performed by dancers from Taiwan's Dance Forum Taipei
The closing performance on Friday, July 21, at 2:30pm will be a special outdoor dance presentation by local youth, directed by Toronto’s Kaeja d’Dance on the Common.
The midday series is free and takes place in various locations throughout the Accolade East Building and the Common. The evening performances, which are $28 ($23 for students and members of the Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists), take place in the Sandra Faire and Ivan Fecan Theatre, Accolade East, on York's Keele campus.
Click here for a complete program and artists’ bios. For tickets, call the box office at 416-736-5888.
This article was submitted to YFile by Mary-Lou Schagena in the Faculty of Fine Arts.