3X3X3 unites!
Posted by Paul Caskey on April 25, 2013On Tuesday evening Elise and I welcomed the 3X3X3 dancers into our home for a little maritime hospitality! So sweet meeting everyone and learning a little about who they are and what inspires them in life and dance. This CanDance inspired/supported creation exchange project is really exciting and I’m so jazzed to work with Tangente in Montreal and La Rotonde in Quebec City. Creating opportunities for artists to meet and exchange ideas is dear to Live Art Dance’s heart, and I realised just how broad this exchange is while drinking wine with our guests. The seven people in the photo hail from Edmonton (Ashely), Regina (Lauren), Quebec (Brice & Maryse), New York (Dorian), and Halifax (Susanne & Jacinte). That’s a lot of origins and diverse geography! Art originates with ideas generated by people who bring their collective experience into the present. I am really looking forward to the present of 3X3X3 from 8-9:45pm, April 25-27 in the Sir James Dunn Theatre.
3X3X3 and Why I’m Lame
Posted by Paul Caskey on April 19, 2013How many times have I confessed to being the worst correspondent? Personally I’m having a hard time believing that my most recent post was in Sept ’12! How can I have failed to write about all the great shows and events that have occupied HRM’s cultural calendar these past 7+ months!!?? Forget about the learning curve of a new position, staff turnover, a nasty production schedule that had us launch the season with 3 shows in 3 weeks… All that is just work and we should be able to roll up our sleeves and push through it. What I recognise is a shift in my time management priorities: for the many past months my usual writing hours – evenings and weekends – have been devoted to house and home, meaning sitting in front of the computer has taken a back seat. What more needs be said: life is effervescent, and I’ve been enjoying (immensely!) watching my little ‘uns grow! I promise to stop promising to improve the regularity of my correspondence… We’ll just let it ride and see where it goes. So… It seems like our season is book-ended by “creation” events: we started with STIR, a really exciting creation … Continue reading
STIR things up!
Posted by Paul Caskey on September 4, 2012You never know what you’re going to find when you go digging. A few years ago I began filtering the dirt in my back yard to put in a garden… I dug up so much stuff: broken bottles (Minard’s linament anyone?), car parts, claw feet from a bathtub (the fourth must still be out there somewhere), rusty nails, and clunkers galore… Someone told me my neighbourhood had been filled in with the rubble from the Halifax Explosion, and seeing as how our house was built in 1917, I suspect they’re bang on. On the surface, everything was pretty (well, pretty overgrown is more accurate) and gave no indication whatsoever of what lay beneath the surface. Like in the photo below… this used to be a parking lot up until a few days ago. Who would have known beneath its dilapidated surface lay the residue of some former life? But there it is, a foundation upon which something, at some point in time, was built. I began thinking about what we see and what we don’t see when the back hoes first started unearthing these bricks and mortar. Perhaps because Live Art Dance is currently involved in a project that is … Continue reading
The Gift of Pearls
Posted by Paul Caskey on August 27, 2012Forget wood, tin, crystal and china. Forget about silver. Live Art Dance has been absolutely rockin’ it since our silver anniversary five years ago and we’re still tearing up the carpet now that we’ve hit Pearl (30). What a nice run we’ve been enjoying these past seasons: a bunch of world premieres (BJM Danse, SiNS Collective, Lisa Phinney, Mocean Dance, & George Stamos), La La La Human Steps’ and O Vertigo’s first visits to Atlantic Canada, increased subscriptions and single ticket sales, a generous new sponsors’ circle, and lots of new buzz about what we’re doing. That all this growth has taken place during a time of recession economic downturn is all the more exciting, but maybe it shouldn’t be: smart guy Andrew Terris quipped to me (in the not-so-distant past) that increased attendance at contemporary dance events during times of economic hardship has been documented. Who’d a thunkit? Well, now that we are thinking of it, why shouldn’t it be so? If a picture = 1000 words, dance is a 3D live moving beast of a communicator that can tap into our senses in ways well beyond the capabilities of static images and words. In a world full of … Continue reading
Wit’s End at The Bus Stop
Posted by Paul Caskey on June 29, 2012I was happy to take in the Wit’s End production Science In Action at the Bus Stop Theatre last night. Griffin McInnes wrote and directed this humourous two-hander and, with partner Liz Johnston, assembled a crack team of collaborators to create the environment within which the action takes place. A modern day love story set against a back drop of televisions, the show reminds me of why every city with an active theatre/dance/performance community needs a Bus Stop Theatre. While Science In Action could be called a low budget show it must be understood that such terms are relative. While that wall of TV’s probably didn’t cost a bundle – experience tells me Griffin’s pretty resourceful – Nick Bottomley’s video musings that inhabit their screens probably did. The point I want to make is that even those shows where half of everything is cobbled together for free and the performers agree to work for a slice of the door (not saying that’s the case here, just that it happens), there are still bills to pay. Combine that with the challenge of attracting an audience willing to lay some dough on the table and I really wonder at the patience and … 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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PO Box 282, Hfx Central, Halifax
Nova Scotia, Canada, B3J 2N7
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