Pigs and Smart
Posted by Paul Caskey on June 14, 2012(My night #3 at the Canada Dance Festival) OK, so I’m a pig. Thanks George (Stamos) for helping reveal my inner reality! It’s not like I was consciously hiding it, but yesterday’s activities (too much sitting in closed rooms with easy access to platters upon platter of sugary concoctions) ushered me to that single moment where my hand unthinkingly reached forth and snatched a pink, butter cream laden cupcake from its silver serving tray and unceremoniously stuffed it into my mouth. But how could I resist? There was George talking about how cupcakes and burgers were the new rage, and voila! his beaming face in front of mine tempting me to the dark side with his sugary offerings. In all fairness, I wasn’t the only one; in fact there was a whole room full of people awaiting the tray’s arrival so that they too could fulfill their desire (for cupcake). Why, Sara Coffin even asked for another, though she claimed it was because her first was vanilla and she ardently wished for chocolate. And so unfolds Stamos’ LikLik Pik, a playful look at the animal power of the human body and features the delightful onstage pairing of Stamos and Dany … Continue reading
Home for Dance
Posted by Paul Caskey on January 21, 2011There are two dance events going on in Halifax this week that merit big attention: on Wednesday evening, Jacinte Armstrong unveiled her latest work (Falling off the Page) at the Bus Stop Theatre, and on Thursday, George Stamos premiered his latest work, Troglodyte Plastique, created for Montréal Danse, at the Sir James Dunn Theatre. Both works remind me what I love so much about dance, that being its ability to stimulate the imagination on very personal levels. Both works are gorgeously danced (Suzanne Chui and Armstrong in the former, and Elinor Fueter, Rachel Harris, and Stamos, joined onstage by musician/composer Jackie Gallant, in the latter), and both take the audience on dreamy, physically charged rides into the abstract. Time figures prominently in both works. While Stamos grapples with themes of evolution (in a broad stroke kind of way, ie. how HAVE our primal instincts developed over the years) and loss, Armstrong reminds us that dance happens in fleeting moments, that once it stops the only residue left behind is what we carry in our memories. I want to see both shows again… I want to relive those dreamy landscapes before they’re gone for good. Both shows run until Saturday night … Continue reading
Going neandertal
Posted by Paul Caskey on January 7, 2011The stage is set for George Stamos’ return to Halifax and I for one am really excited to see where his latest work is taking him. In the close to 15 years that I’ve been following this wonderfully talented artist’s choreographic evolution, movement invention has always been one of the most exciting facets of his work. While this may sound strange – dance IS movement after all – the point is that this invention happens at different levels… and George goes deep! Where some choreographers can blaze off enchaînments (in my dancing days I was one of many to experience Grant Strate’s seemingly effortless streams of free flow step creation), others find inspiration going inside the steps, delving into the impulses that ultimately define an individual choreographer’s signature. While movement invention is not the only factor that contributes to defining a signature style, it is certainly a strong suit for Stamos. George’s movement research usual reveals an organic nature combined with a curiosity about pop culture and our increasingly mediated world. His work is not so interested in lines as it is about presence, and the revealing of innate human emotions and states of being. Interesting then that his new … Continue reading
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The new fAce(s) of Dance in Hfx
Posted by Paul Caskey on May 21, 2013Dance as an art form is so ephemeral, coming to life for the specific duration of a given performance and then disappearing into memory. Sure, it's true that all live performance is like this, IE. exi... [read more]
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