Syrian dancer and choreographer Hoor Malas is cloaked in a pink shawl, lying in near-darkness in a fetal-like position on the floor. Malas’s breaths echo through the performance space. Her arm extends weakly, yet with purpose, as she attempts to pull herself over to the singular illuminated light, beaming at[Read More…]
Tag: dance
‘Why We Dance’ is a masterclass on the science of movement
From McGillian to award-winning documentarian, Nathalie Bibeau’s career is the answer to a question many Arts students dread: “What are you going to do with an Arts degree?” Bibeau graduated from McGill in 1998 with a Joint Honours degree in history and sociology, before completing her Master’s degree the following[Read More…]
Dance in the time of COVID-19
McGill’s dance community is labouring under a lack of recognition and support in the COVID-19 era. After fully online Zoom practices during the 2020-2021 school year, McGill dance troupes continued to struggle with restrictions on their practices and performances throughout the Fall 2021 semester. Some members of the dance community,[Read More…]
Sensual dance show ‘Whip’ premiers at MAI
Whip is a nuanced dance performance that fuses touch, sound, space, light, and above all, the relation of one human to another. The production, which ran from Nov. 3 to 6, was co-produced by Montreal Arts Interculturels (MAI) and dancer Ralph Escamillan’s performance company FakeKnot, with Escamillan and Daria Mikhaylyuk[Read More…]
Festival TransAmériques 2021 reveals the human condition through performance
Founded in 1985 by Marie-Hélène Falcon and Jacques Vézina, the Festival TransAmériques (FTA) is an annual contemporary dance and theatre festival that brings artists from across the globe to Montreal to kick off the summer season. This year, dance and performance artists dusted off their costumes and laced up their[Read More…]
‘Approximately Close’ evokes the magic of in-person performances
On Nov. 19, Ballets Jazz Montreal dance company performed Approximately Close—Quand le temps n’est presque plus, choreographed by Ermanno Sbezzo. The performance allowed dancers to express themselves safely during a disappointing season. In the midst of the pandemic, online performances have struggled to recreate the magic of set designs, costuming,[Read More…]
Dance takes center stage at the MAC
On Jan. 11, the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (MAC) held a series of events as part of their current Françoise Sullivan retrospective, including a panel and a separate exhibition. Aptly titled the Dance and Visual Arts Study Day, the MAC invited a host of educators, artists, and theorists to share[Read More…]
Dance your heart out: McGill dance parties that cater to often un-included communities
Montreal’s party scene can be hard to navigate. For many McGill students, it often feels as though the only places to dance and have fun lie along a four-block strip of Saint-Laurent Boulevard. And while Tokyo and Apt. 200 have their merits, these spaces aren’t everyone’s cup of tea—nor are[Read More…]
McGill’s Alegria Contemporary Ballet Company puts on multimedia performance
To think of dance purely as footwork is to underestimate the scope of the expression. To dance is to move, and to move can be interpreted in a variety of ways. On Feb. 23, the Alegria Contemporary Ballet Company, the only one of its kind at McGill, presented MOVE, a[Read More…]
Aqua Khoria: A Symphony of Liquid Movement
The ocean swells and roaring waves engulf the misty surroundings. Amidst this stormy seascape, a dancer bursts into frantic movement. His fragmented gestures transform as the audience becomes submerged beneath the water, and mirrors the setting’s fluid aesthetic. With movement as the joint operator, Aqua Khoria poetically combines dance, music,[Read More…]
