1. BENJAMIN KAMINO AND WILLIAM YONG
dance: Made in Canada/fait au Canada, August 14 to 17
Kamino’s nudity. desire. and Yong’s Steer were rigorous, virtuosic solos looking in completely different directions, Kamino’s back to the primal origins of movement expression and Yong’s toward a digitalized post-human future. Stunning.
2. WITH A TRACE
firstthingsfirst production/Danceworks/NextSteps, September 19 to 21
Kate Holden made Peggy Baker’s solo Brahms Waltzes her own, Kate Franklin burned up the stage in Valerie Calam’s Gotta Go Church, and Holden and Marc Boivin performed Mélanie Demers’s would with scary intensity and strength.
3. BRUSSELS/TORONTO PROJECT
Toronto Dance Theatre, April 18 to 27
TDT’s artistic director Christopher House keeps company members challenged and energized by inviting guest choreographers from all over. In the double bill of The Gyres by Etienne Guilloteau and Pond Skaters by Thomas Hauert, they were effervescent, funny and fresh.
4. BEING AND NOTHINGNESS (PART 1)
from Innovation, National Ballet of Canada, November 23 to 28
In an otherwise boring program, Guillaume Côté’s solo for Greta Hodgkinson was a perfect storm of timing, staging, choreography, music and performance.
5. HOMOBLABLATUS
La Otra Orilla/DanceWorks/NextSteps, February 15 to 16
The only full-length work on this list. Montreal’s Myriam Allard and Hedi Graja and company gave traditional flamenco a radical yet respectful re-think for theatrical consumption.
Shows that put me in a bad mood
WHAT WE ARE SAYING
Memo to Ame Henderson and Public Recordings: Toronto performance and theatre artists have been doing collective relational experimentation for years to greater effect and with less clubbishness.
THE LIGHT BETWEEN
Margie Gillis, we love you, but this new age-y three-hander was ill-conceived and squirm-inducing.
A DANCE TRIBUTE TO THE ART OF FOOTBALL
Don’t take on the beautiful game as a subject if you can’t deliver something more profound than this so-called “crowd-pleaser.” This soccer mom remains highly offended.
Dubious trends
I’m all for nudity in dance. While none of it seemed especially gratuitous, there was a lot on Toronto stages this season. Bravery brownie points to Sasha Ivanochko and Brendan Wyatt for the thoroughly researched but difficult, mostly naked duet Speak, Love.
stage@nowtoronto.com
