DanceWorks to Present Vancouver's 605 Collective in New Animal for Two Nights Only, 11/15-16

DanceWorks, Toronto's longest-running contemporary dance series now in its 37th season, proudly presents the Toronto premiere of New Animal, a ferocious multi-media work created with and specifically for Vancouver's 605 Collective by acclaimed choreographer Dana Gingras that runs for 2 nights only - Friday, November 15 & Saturday, November 16 at Harbourfront Centre's Enwave Theatre.

New Animal exploits the supreme versatility of its five dancers: Lisa Gelley, Shay Kuebler, Josh Martin, Amber Funk Barton, David Raymond. Suffused with raw, unbridled energy, groove, playfulness and a hunger for movement, these supremely versatile performers reclaim their animal bodies as a means of becoming fully human. New Animal is set to an eclectic soundtrack assembled and manipulated by Roger Tellier-Craig, and features film elements by Dana Gingras and Yannick Grandmont with lighting designed by Robert Sondergaard.

In the past 20 years, Dana Gingras has established herself as a boundary-pushing choreographer and performer. She is the artistic director of Animals of Distinction (AOD), a multi-media Dance Company established in 2006, initially formed as a satellite organization for her independent work beneath the larger auspices of the wildly acclaimed, now defunct, Dance Company Holy Body Tattoo, which she also co-founded. As a dance artist, Dana Gingras is drawn to amplifying the sense of physical possibility, what bodies are capable of, and allowing that to become manifold and present in the most innovative fashion possible. http://animalsofdistinction.org

Says Gingras, "The initial exploration for New Animal started from instructional-based improvisations related to survival strategies, such as a bear or shark attack, earthquake and flood. A tactical language of survival started to emerge around these themes that triggered the engagement of the senses and awakened the instinctive body. As a choreographer I am always looking for the visceral immediacy that is released through a sense of imbalance and risk. This split second negotiation between gravity/anti-gravity brings forth a heightened sense of presence and optimizes the potential for athletic prowess that this group of dancers are capable of."

605 Collective is a Vancouver-based company dedicated to producing new dance work through a shared creative process. As part of a new generation of creators inspired by the exchange between urban and contemporary dance, 605 places emphasis on movement innovation to create physically demanding works derived from the human experience, valuing collaboration as a tool for new directions in dance. The company has now performed from coast to coast in 30 cities across Canada, as well in the U.S., most recently presented at the prestigious American Dance Festival (Durham, NC) and New York City Center's Fall for Dance Festival. 605's integration of different genres enables them to reach a broad spectrum of audiences in a wide variety of performance settings. http://www.605collective.com