Rare Flavours
Posted by Paul Caskey on March 15, 2011Depending where you live, you will have more or less access to performance opportunities born of spices not indigenous to your locale. Forgive the spice commentary – I’m making a dal as I write this – but the analogy is not so far off. After all, how much cultural trading has taken place along the spice route? OK, maybe I’m just hungry… but one thing is for certain: I am definitely turned on by cultural differences found in food and art! That’s why I am so excited about this weekend’s show at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium. Vancouver-based Wen Wei Wang became an instant favourite a few years ago when he and his company performed Unbound. His highly anticipated return, with the Beijing Modern Dance Company, brings a whole new flavour to the Halifax dance scene, one that we are not likely to have again for a number of years! Wen Wei’s latest work, Under the Skin, co-signed by BMDC choreographer Gao Yanjinzi, with dancers from each of their companies performing alongside each other, will be flavourful indeed!
Play Time!
Posted by Paul Caskey on February 16, 2011Paul-André Fortier and company arrived in Halifax last night and are set to transport their Cabane to three different performance sites in Halifax. While using three locations triples the work for Live Art and Fortier’s crew, it also becomes a bit of a game for audience members… each new location provides a unique perspective through which to watch the fun unfold and stimulates specific reactions to the environment. Fortier appears as a the straight man to Rober Racine’s comic. Not that this is a comic duo, but it does suggest a little Beckett here and there, with their sense of play and deliberate mocking of each other. There’s a great interview with Paul-André in yesterday’s Chronicle Herald, check it out here! I also just read a great preview in The Coast. Both provide excellent background on the motivation behind the creation of this work.
Fortier & Racine – Delightful Duo
Posted by Paul Caskey on January 28, 2011As the Canada Games get set to kick off in Halifax, Live Art Dance is leading the charge for the cultural component. No, I’m not talking about the National Artist Program that is affiliated with the games, but Cabane, a site-specific performance installation performed by the totally delightful duo of Paul-André Fortier and Rober Racine. Their quixotic relationship evolves throughout the 50 minute work (anchored in, on, and around a portable shack) and provides each with their moments to shine. Fortier is as elegant and energetic as ever (which is thoroughly impressive given he surpassed 60 years of age a few years ago), and Racine is quite simply mesmerizing. They have a wonderful Straight Man/Funny Guy/Potso & Lucky thing going on… as if they’ve forgotten about waiting (for Godot, or anyone else) and are captivated with living life as one moment of creation after another. Inspired by ideas of shelter, Cabane was created to be performed in site-specific locations… and Live Art Dance chose to push the idea a little further: each of the three performances in Halifax will be performed in a different location! Talk about micro/macro organisation!! For a (sur)real good time come join us Feb 17-19!
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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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Contact Live Art Dance
PO Box 282, Hfx Central, Halifax
Nova Scotia, Canada, B3J 2N7
(902) 420-0003
info@liveartdance.ca
