A dance festival is coming to Toronto this month, bringing performances that reflect Canadian culture and a promise to speak to the audience with something beyond words.
The dance: made in canada / fait au canada Festival will be taking over Toronto between Aug. 14–17 and Aug. 21–24 with performances by some of Canada’s most talented and unique artists from all cultural backgrounds.
Have you ever felt like a play or presentation reflected exactly what you are feeling in real life? That is because art can be a reflection of real life, showcasing emotions that often can’t be conveyed in words.
In times when people are facing challenges and struggles, many turn to the arts for inspiration, connection and feelings of hope, clarity, or simply a moment to relax and enjoy.
And the festival is promising to deliver just that, with artists who celebrate Canadian culture and respond to the world around them with imagination, courage and honesty.
“It connects people together. It’s a mirror to what’s happening in the world. It also showcases who lives here in Canada, because we are dance made in Canada. It showcases the artists and the people who are actually working and living in not just the city, but in the country,” dance: made in canada Artistic Director and Co-Festival Director, Yvonne Ng, told Now Toronto.
This unique biennial festival debuted in 2001, having presented a cross-section of over 300 dance makers in the country. In the last festival, which merged live and online audiences, the event reached more than 3,500 people with its art.
This year, Ng says attendees can expect to see something that will touch their hearts, including urban dance, kathak, ballroom, house, theatre, tap dancing, and more.
“They seriously are all unique, special. There’s so much to offer. I don’t love one more than the other, because they all speak to different aesthetics, and they come from different places and are inspired from different sorts of sources.”
Although this will be the 8th edition of the festival, the director says this year will be the first time it will be running a full-length program, the new Haute Couture with choreographer Marie Lambin-Gagnon’s Still Life.
In this new program, which is a collaboration with SummerWorks and Citadel + Compagnie, it invites the audience to slow down and pay close attention to their bodies and the images and stories they carry. The presentations will run from Aug. 14–17, with a special post-show chat on Aug. 15.
In addition to Haute Couture, the event also hosts other programs curated by different dance professionals, including The Wolfe Series, The Morrison Series, and The Lecavalier Series, each which have a different story to share.
“Even though the framework is the same, the content is always so different, [with] artists from different parts of the country,” Ng said.
Among incredible mainstage performances, the festival also offers programming that allows audiences to engage with the arts through dance and movement through different installations, film screenings, workshops, talks, and more.
The festival will take place at The Citadel: Ross Centre for the Arts between Aug. 14–17, and at the Betty Oliphant Theatre between Aug. 21–24, with varied show times.
To check out a full schedule of events and learn more about the presentations, as well as to purchase tickets, visit this link.
