BC dance
North Vancouver: Fancy footwork festival taps into dance form’s growing popularity, International tap dance artists shuffle into Vancouver
Tap dancers who have performed with Gregory Hines, in a Spike Lee movie and on So You Think You Can Dance will tap their heels and toes to dizzying syncopated rhythms at the 2010 Vancouver International Tap Dance Festival, Sept. 3 to 5. Sas Selfjord, executive director of the Vancouver Tap Dance Society, which presents [...]
New company opens with Dali, Vancouver City Dance Theatre’s first production is based on surrealist artist’s life
A new professional dance company plans to open its inaugural season in September with four shows of an original production based on the life of surrealist artist Salvador Dali. Called Vancouver City Dance Theatre, the new company is under the artistic direction of Roberta Baseggio. The company’s initial production of The Dali Universe will feature [...]
Dancer Ziyian Kwan and others dance their frustration over B.C.’s arts cuts
A veteran Vancouver dancer and her colleagues are taking their frustration over B.C. arts cuts to the streets. Ziyian Kwan is dubbing her protests “what i am dancing sundays”. She’s organizing impromptu dance/rally/busking sessions in front of the Gene Cafe at Main and Kingsway. Her next dance-protest is this Sunday (August 15) from 4 to [...]
Vancouver: Festival dances outside the box, Dancing on the Edge takes performances outdoors and into non-traditional spaces
The explosive urban dancing of Amber Funk Barton and Shay Kuebler returns to the Firehall Arts Centre as part of the opening of the 22nd instalment of the Dancing on the Edge Festival. Fresh from performances at the Canada Dance Festival in Ottawa, Barton and Kuebler bring Status Quo back to Vancouver for DoTE this [...]
National Ballet of Canada dancer Chan Han Goh to direct Vancouver’s Goh Ballet Academy
National Ballet of Canada dancer Chan Han Goh is leaving the stage to return to Vancouver this September to become director of the Goh Ballet Academy and Goh Ballet Youth Company. Goh, who has danced the leads in everything from Swan Lake to Sleeping Beauty, began her own ballet training at the academy as a [...]
Ballet BC dancers take to the small stage: Legion on the Drive will be awash in beer and ballet for three nights
For Ballet BC dancers, the stage doesn’t get much smaller than at Dances for a Small Stage. Usually, Ballet BC dancers perform on the Queen Elizabeth Theatre’s massive stage, which measures 12.8 metres by 9.1 metres (42 feet by 30 feet). At the Legion on the Drive, the stage is much, much smaller. Compared with [...]
Victoria: Fundraiser showcases city’s vibrant dance community
If you are curious about the rich diversity of dance being choreographed and performed in this city, Metro Studio is the place to be tomorrow or Saturday night when the second annual Light on Our Feet dance cabaret hits the stage. The event will showcase the talent and variety of Victoria’s dance community — 33 [...]
Prince Rupert: BC Annual gets underway Sunday
The B.C. Annual Dance Competition will be held in Prince Rupert from May 2 until May 8, with the City of Prince Rupert and several local businesses donating approximately $55,000 to the event. This year there will be two adjudicators at the B.C. Annual Dance Competition. One of the adjudicators will be Everett Smith who [...]
Ballet BC announces its 2010-2011 season
Eight world premieres, a new Nutcracker by Alberta Ballet and the presentation of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre are among the highlights of Ballet BC’s 2010-11 season. The company’s 25th anniversary season will be the first programmed by the company’s new artistic director Emily Molnar. Although Molnar will be including one of her works on [...]
Joyce Rosario heads to New Works
New Performance Works Society (New Works) has announced the appointment of Joyce Rosario as the organization’s Executive Director, effective May 17, 2010. “Having first encountered Joyce when she was a teen from East Van involved with the Turning Point project – an early project of New Works – I remember her tremendous energy” said the [...]
Ballet BC reborn
Dressed all in black and dark grey, her auburn hair folded up hastily in a big clip, Emily Molnar is guiding Ballet BC through its next steps. At 5-foot-11, the company’s artistic director is the tallest person in the studio, where she is overseeing a rehearsal of Crystal Pite’s Short works: 24. The edgy piece [...]
Rejuvenated Ballet keeps Molnar on her toes: Company’s new artistic director talks Solid Gold, Wham, Spandau Ballet
To borrow a line from fleet-footed rapper LL Cool J, don’t call it a comeback. The return of Ballet B.C. is more like a rejuvenation–part microdermabrasion, part hot stone massage–says Emily Molnar. Ballet B.C.’s interim artistic director since July, Molnar helped steer the cash-strapped company through a particularly precarious transition period filled with budget concerns, [...]
Ballet British Columbia makes Emily Molnar permanent artistic director
Ballet B.C. has announced it’s just signed a contract to make Emily Molnar its long-term artistic director. Molnar stepped into the position temporarily in July 2009, following the departure of John Alleyne and on the heels of a financial crisis at the company. Executive director Jay Rankin said her permanent hiring is one of the [...]
Surrey: ‘On the MOVE’ free workshop part of festival
Valuable info for dancers who want to go pro can be had at a free workshop held during the Surrey Festival of Dance. The “On the MOVE” workshop on April 3 is a day-long session of “professional development and personal growth” aimed at dancers age 16 and over, parents and dance teachers. An organizer of [...]
International Dance Festival puts Vancouver on the map: Thigh-slapping New Zealanders, dancing mountain climbers descend on city
The men of Black Grace slap their thighs, thump their chests and grunt. And spectators apparently love it. “Black Grace has this reputation for getting audiences all around the world on their feet,” said Jay Hirabayashi, executive director of Kokoro Dance and the Vancouver International Dance Festival. “They were recently in Hawaii and Honolulu named [...]
