Critics' Picks

Family-friendly fare meets a barrage of bold new work this spring, the latter thanks to all the funding that’s pouring in for the run-up to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Arts Festival. Those who prefer the tried and true can count on The Sleeping Beauty and Peter Pan, while the more daring can indulge in everything from a hip-hop take on classical music to an avant-garde evening of sex toys, crutches, and harnesses.

DANCE ALL-STARS
(February 28, March 1 and 2 at the Norman Rothstein Theatre) The Chutzpah! Festival once again offers one of the season’s most cutting-edge dance programs. Here you get three hot new acts for the price of one: a visit from New York’s Aszure & Artists; a duet by the theatrical Amber Funk Barton and Ballet B.C.’s James Gnam, with accompaniment by urban-boho singer-songwriter Mark Berube; and big-name local choreographer Serge Bennathan’s solo for our own Susan Elliott. The Draw: The modern, multimedia Big Apple company, whose Aszure Barton regularly tours with Mikhail Baryshnikov, is the obvious choice here. But Vancouver dance fans will want the chance to see long-time local star Elliott’s new piece before she takes off to live in New York. Target Audience: Those who believe good things come in threes.

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY
(February 28 to March 1 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre) This is classic story ballet, as the Royal Winnipeg Ballet presents Marius Petipa’s original rendition of the fairy tale, set to Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky’s twinkling music. The Draw: Feast your eyes on the lavish, Mariinsky Theatre–worthy costumes and a truly enchanting enchanted kingdom. Did we mention the evil fairy? Target Audience: Nutcracker nuts who can’t wait till December for their next ballet fix.

VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL DANCE FESTIVAL
(March 4 to 29 at the Roundhouse Community Centre and other venues) The sprawling eighth annual fest, produced by Kokoro Dance’s Barbara Bourget and Jay Hirabayashi, continues to defy categorization, with a monthlong array that spans genres from new-style flamenco to surreal butoh-inspired movement. (See our festival roundup on page 57.) The Draw: In a city that sees too few touring companies, here’s a rare chance to see Japan’s Taketeru Kudo, and France’s Fabrice Ramalingom and Compagnie Aurélia—Rita Cioffi. Yes, in these parts, even Toronto Dance Theatre seems an exotic treat. Target Audience: Anyone who’s been wondering what’s happening over the mountains and across the sea.

ELASTIC PERSPECTIVE
(April 15 to 19 at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre) Victor Quijada and his Rubberbandance Group blend their adrenaline-pumped mix of break dance, hip-hop, and ballet into a suite of pieces. The Philadelphia Enquirer called the show an “utter crowd-pleaser”. The Draw: Where else will you be able to see a hip-hop spin on Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet? Target Audience: Club kids who have a thing for men in tights; balletomanes who have a thing for B-boys.

PETER PAN
(April 17 to 19 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre) It says something about our coolly contemporary local ballet company, and its audience, that staging its first family-friendly story ballet is something revolutionary. In this show, the troupe will test the waters of the parents-and-kids market with choreographer Septime Webre’s technical challenges, not to mention the bumbling pirates and footloose crocodiles. The Draw: Watching our own dancers get airborne with some of Webre’s high-wire antics. Target Audience: Doting moms and dads who usually only take their children to see visiting troupes like the Royal Winnipeg or the National.

BODY_REMIX/GOLDBERG_VARIATIONS
(May 2 and 3 at the Vancouver Playhouse) Ultracool Montreal troupe Compagnie Marie Chouinard uses crutches, harnesses, parallel bars, and even sex toys as props in a new work set to Glenn Gould’s version of Johann Sebastian Bach’s masterpiece. In this prefest Dancing on the Edge presentation, performers twist and contort in pleasure and pain. The Draw: Chouinard is at the height of her formidable creative powers, and her latest mind-blower promises to get everyone all hot and bothered. Target Audience: Those who are anything but repelled by the words Warning: nudity.

bANGER: THE POWER HOUR
(June 11 to 14 at the Firehall Arts Centre) If you haven’t seen Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg’s ode to the unsung rocker dudes of our collective past, here’s a chance to hoist your devil horns. The Draw: Watching the comedically gifted dance artist transform from a slip-clad vixen into a male metalhead, utterly nailing his maniacal air-guitaring, hair-flipping, and ape-walking. Target Audience: Fans of FUBAR and anyone who’s suffered through the sadistic sociological experiment called high school.

DANCING ON THE EDGE
(July 3 to 12 at various venues) The Edge-iest dance fest in the city is pulling out all the stops for its 20th anniversary: in a project called Ten for Twenty, funded by the new Arts Partners in Creative Development Program, it’s commissioning 10 choreographers long associated with the event to craft brand-new works. Look for veterans like Lola Dance, Kokoro Dance, and Serge Bennathan alongside newer names like Amber Funk Barton and the Tomorrow Collective. The Draw: This is a one-stop chance to survey some of the biggest names on the Vancouver dance front. Target Audience: Long-time Edge fans wanting to relive the past; dance neophytes looking to sample the local scene.