On a dreary Thursday night in February, I went to see two wonderful women bare their souls through dance at the Pia Bouman School’s Scotiabank Theatre, and I’m so glad that I did. I am often apprehensive of the immersive quality of dance in solo shows – not to say many dancers aren’t wonderful and […]
Two more pieces had their opening at Progress Festival on Valentine’s Day. While they couldn’t be more different, they did share something in common. Dis Merci When it comes to creating healthy inclusive communities, let face it, sometimes even our best intentions give way to tension and friction amongst neighbours. Sometimes we even end up […]
Jonno Another topical Next Stage piece, Jonno, offers a fictional account of a powerful, well-known radio host sexually assault women in Toronto. Most Canadians will recongnize the play as a thinly veiled fictional reworking of Jian Ghomeshi’s ‘alleged’ of sexual assault and hassment. In the first few moments, actor Jason Deline, playing the title character, starts his […]
The best word I can think of to describe The 7 Fingers’ new show triptyque is magical. I know, I know, cheesy. But when a show can really make me feel, bring me into a zone where the rest of the audience fades away… I mean, that’s magic. The 7 Fingers return to Toronto for the 30th […]
Red Sky Performance’s Backbone, playing at Canadian Stage from Nov 2 to 12, is the first production of a two year residency at Canadian Stage—to be followed up in 2018 by Trace. This multi-year residency is the first of its kind given to a dance company by Canadian Stage, and it seems most appropriate that […]
The fourteenth season of ProArteDanza, on November 1-4 at Fleck Dance Theatre, Harbourfront Centre, offered 3 World Premieres by choreographers Kevin O’Day and Matjash Mrozewski. This season’s offerings are resonate and current, boldly combining dance, text, and theatre with a self-assured confidence that is authentically relatable. Future Perfect Continuous Inspired by Naomi Klein’s book This […]
The 2017 Dance: made in / fait au Canada Festival was a four day biennial repertory celebration of Canadian dance, presenting a cross-section of contemporary dance makers from across the country. This year’s event featured three curated main stage series of three works each, an art installation series that included digital and virtual reality projects, […]
Read All Our SummerWorks Reviews HERE Icône Pop (A) The scene for Icône Pop is set as the audience walks into the blackbox theatre at The Theatre Centre with singer Mykalle Bielinski crooning in the most beautiful ghostly way, and with dancer Mélanie Demers silhouetted in the doors of the studio thrown open onto Queen West, […]
Read All Our SummerWorks Reviews HERE Pearle Harbour’s Chautaqua (A+) [Ed. Note: A+ is the highest grade we give but, just for the record, MM’s official submission was “A+++++++”] This is everything I want to see, want to hear, want to be. Pearle Harbour’s stage presence is strong enough to cause you to fall in love, […]
Read All Our SummerWorks Reviews HERE August, Augusta (A) Created, choreographed, and directed by Jocelyn Mah, and winner of The Winchester Prize, this piece depicts two musicians and a trio of female dancers. The first dancer comes out dressed as a man, dancing not unlike how I recall male characters dancing in old Warner Brothers […]
Read All Our SummerWorks Reviews HERE White Man’s Indian (A) This is a story that needs to be told and should be told but is not for the faint of heart. Writer Darla Contois explores identity on multiple fronts, the first being the lack of recorded history for Canadian First Nations which causes Eva, the […]
Be sure to check out our Full List of Fringe Reviews Picaza (A) Dark and brooding, Picaza is a new creation by The Inamorata Dance Collective, bringing together contemporary and flamenco dance. Their performance was stunning with one dance that is imprinted in my mind. Using a long white piece of translucent fabric, the entire […]
Be sure to check out our Full List of Fringe Reviews WILD/WALLED (A-) This dance piece created by Tracey Norman, Alison Daley, and the Half Second Echo company is a pure delight. The show explores the walls we throw up both in society and in our relationships, and the resulting conflicts, emotions, and expressions. The […]
Be sure to check out our Full List of Fringe Reviews Lysistrata (A-) I’m not much for crowds, so when Fringe starts I’m always a little anxious about all the bustle. But Lysistrata is exactly the right thing to seduce you into the spirit of the festival. The site – Painted Lady at Dundas and […]
Meeting by Antony Hamilton and Alisdair Macindoe Sharing the space with 64 custom designed (Macindoe)…
Before we announce the winners of the 2016 MyTheatre Awards, we’re proud to present our annual Nominee Interview Series. Yvonne Ng is a Toronto-based dancer and choreographer interested in how we find and give purpose throughout our lives. Nominated for Outstanding Solo Performance for her compelling and visually evocative tiger princess dance projects piece In Search of the […]
Toronto Fringe’s winter mini-fest Next Stage is in a tricky spot. It plays host to the first productions of every year in Toronto theatre; the audience full of hope and anticipation and ready to have the bar set for the year to come. Curated and titled as it is, it’s not hard to expect something […]
“Enter the space with brilliance, seeing every molecule floating…” so starts the beginning of each of three poems, written by Yvonne Ng to her dancers, providing each a score and map with which to develop a solo in their own movement voice. The three solos were then superimposed onto each other, encouraging the dancers into […]
Bill Coleman and Gordon Monahan’s collaboratively conceived and performed Dollhouse played out like a Rube Goldberg machine, albeit one that wrought destruction on both the man and the set within minutes of the shows start time. The elaborately complex set which lay bare the accoutrements of the highly technical show, as well as Monahan’s interaction […]
For those in the contemporary circus scene, The 7 Fingers company (or Les 7 Doigts de le Main) hardly needs introduction. This modern Montreal-based company never lets an audience down, and has continued this trend with Mirvish onstage in Toronto. The incredibly personal and thoughtful Cuisine & Confessions thrills from the beginning, with a cheeky […]
What it’s Like is the first production on The Theatre Centre’s eight work Dance Card—an initiative bringing a wealth of contemporary dance to The Theatre Centre’s stage during their 2016/2017 season. What it’s Like is a co-production between The Theatre Centre and choreographer Heidi Strauss. The work was created in residency at The Theatre Centre, […]
Be sure to check out our Full List of Fringe Reviews Weird: The Witches of Macbeth (A) Absolutely exquisite and mind blowing in its execution, Weird is the story of Macbeth as told from the perspective of the three witches. This play is a visual treat, with the three actresses performing arial stunts throughout the […]
Be sure to check out our Full List of Fringe Reviews Bright Lights (A+) I’ve gone back and forth on what to say about this show for days now. I feel that all the review-style praise that there is to be heaped has already been heaped on this sold-out gem by recent Dora winner Kat […]
Be sure to check out our Full List of Fringe Reviews Falling Awake (A+) Falling Awake is the type of zany show you want to see early in the festival, so that you can have it in your back pocket for when you’re asked for a recommendation. The performers are delightfully charismatic and their show […]
Be sure to check out our Full List of Fringe Reviews (Un)Boxed (A) (Un)Boxed is a series of dance pieces exploring the themes of conformity, isolation and exclusion. These pieces are linked with an Alice Through The Looking Glass-type character who interacts and observes the dances and gives the show a dystopian quality. We visit […]
What we learn of the Romani is limited but what is limited in the LIFT Festival’s Open For Everything is probed deeply in dance rather than storytelling, a bracing experience when done well. Constanza Macras’ dance company has made a piece that celebrates and explains the ‘last nomadic tribe in Europe’, the Romani. While light […]