Older & Reckless, MOonhORsE Dance Theatre's celebrated series, concludes its 2012/13 season with OLD & YOUNG AND RECKLESS TOGETHER featuring six dance artists from across Canada in works by choreographers James Kudelka, Julia Sasso, Karen Kaeja andEmily Gualtieri. For the first time, Older & Reckless invites guest curator Michael Caldwell to program this special series of inter-generational works. Edition #29 of Older and Reckless runs tonight, May 16 to 18 at the Dancemakers Centre for Creation.
Toronto dance doyenne Susan Macpherson remounts a solo work by the internationally renowned choreographer James Kudelka on emerging dance artist Jarrett Siddall (Toronto Dance Theatre). An acclaimed solo performer, Macpherson commissioned Kudelka to create a solo for her in 1981, and Intimate Letter is the result - a well-crafted and tightly woven piece of choreography that is physically demanding and emotionally charged.
Guest curator Michael Caldwell has commissioned a new intergenerational duet, choreographed by Julia Sasso and performed by mid-career artistDanielle Baskerville (Dancetheatre David Earle) and emerging artist Amelia Ehrhardt. This work brings together three women, at very different stages in their careers. As Caldwell explains, "It is thrilling to experience the artistry of these three women in this dynamic new duet. With her breadth of experience, Julia Sasso is a superb choreographer that has a knack for building intimate human relationships, while Danielle and Amelia each bring a unique, yet commanding sensibility to their performances."
Montreal dance icon Ginelle Chagnon performs in a new solo work by emerging choreographer Emily Gualtieri. The work is an introspective journey into the heart of the human condition, encompassing all at once a search for purpose, a sense of curiosity, and the inescapability of isolation. In Gualtieri's words, "It will question and challenge the traditional modes of creation" with "a high level of physicality and abstraction."
Rounding out the program is the fierce Jasmyn Fyffe in uncover, a remounted solo from choreographer Karen Kaeja, co-artistic director of Kaeja d'Dance. "The solo uncover was choreographed by Karen Kaeja for Fyffe, who performs it, and it's the gem in this show." (
Kathleen Smith, The Dance Current)
And the public doesn't need to just stand on the sidelines - they can sign up for an introductory Indian folk dance workshop with Malati Rajagopalan, 5:30pm on Saturday, May 18 ($10). And they are invited to join in a gentle and rejuvenating audience warm-up prior to each performance; and to stay for an after-party and a chance to talk one-on-one with the artists.
About the Artists:
James Kudelka is one of the world's leading ballet choreographers. He was born in Newmarket, Ontario, and began to choreograph while still a student at the National Ballet School in Toronto. From 1972 until 1981, he was a dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, although he continued to hone his choreographic skills. Kudelka left Toronto to join Les Grands Ballets Canadiens as a principal dancer and the company's resident choreographer. He returned to the National Ballet of Canada in the early 1990s as artist-in-residence. In 1996, he was appointed the company's artistic director. Kudelka is particularly known for his works In Paradisum (1983), which he created for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, and Fifteen Heterosexual Duets (1991),commissioned by Toronto Dance Theatre. In spring 2005, Kudelka announced his resignation as artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada and was immediately named the company's resident choreographer. He is the current artist-in-residence at Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie in Toronto. In 2005, Kudelka was appointed Officer of The Order of Canada.
Recognized as 'one of the foremost dance artists in the country' (The Dance Current), Julia Sasso is an established choreographer, performer, master teacher and artistic director of Julia Sasso Dances. Sasso choreographs extensively for the concert stage as well as for feature film, theatre and television. Her choreography has been commissioned and presented throughout Canada, in the United States and abroad by Harbourfront Centre, the Canada Dance Festival, the Stratford Festival, Toronto Dance Theatre and Dancemakers, among others. She performed internationally with Dancemakers for sixteen seasons and continues to create and perform independently. Highly regarded as a teacher of many contemporary dance techniques, Sasso teaches at distinguished learning centres worldwide. She is a faculty member of The School of Toronto Dance Theatre's Professional Training Program and York University's Department of Dance. She most recently premiered her newest choreography, SLoE, at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto in late September 2012.
Karen Kaeja is co-artistic director of Kaeja d'Dance with life partner Allen Kaeja. "One of Toronto's top impovisers" (Toronto Life), Karen has conceived performance events for Toronto's Distillery Jazz Festival, Nuit Blanche 2007 at the Casa Loma Stables which was the "#1 Greatest Hit of Nuit Blanche" and "left visitors spellbound, and haunted" (Toronto Star), Nuit Blanche 2008 and Porch View Dances (named "Best Site-Specific Work" of 2012 by the Globe and Mail), and she co-founded/directed the Festival of Interactive Physics. She has been commissioned as an artist who "paints portraits with moving bodies" (Toronto Star) for dancers in Sweden, India, and Canada. Distinguished in NOW Magazine's top ten dance artists as a "champion of contact dance," she has been on faculty at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre and has taught at many universities throughout North America. Creating for and mentoring professionals, general public and diverse communities, she is noted as "one of the country's best dance artists" (NOW Magazine). In 2012, she was the first artist-in-residence for the Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival.
Emily Gualtieri underwent a rigorous and extensive training at The National Ballet School of Canada before rebelling against the confined structures of the classical ballet world. An underlying interest in creation, choreography and diverse movement practices led her to enroll in Concordia University's Contemporary Dance Department. After having obtained her BFA, Emily self-produced two shows at Studio 303 in Montreal with guest artist Susanna Hood. In 2009, she presented her third work, It's About Time, as well as a solo work on long-time collaborator David Albert-Toth at the Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival. In 2010, Emily and David were awarded a creation grant from CALQ for emerging artists to create The Calculated Risk Project, which was presented in 2011 in Montreal and at the Judson Church Movement Research Series in New York City. Emily and David choreographed the solo La chute, which toured Québec in 2010/11 and was most recently presented as a part of the OFF.T.A.'s Nous sommes ici.
Older & Reckless, an informal performance series, features work from OLDER artists who continue to grow more RECKLESS as time goes by. Older & Reckless provides an opportunity for seasoned dance artists to perform short works and a chance for the audience to see some of Canada's most celebrated senior choreographers/performers.
Conceived by
Claudia Moore, artistic director of MOonhORsE Dance Theatre, Older & Reckless is "an intimate exchange for both the performer and the observer; exciting, terrifying, and lots of fun. The performances are followed by a party with music, refreshments, and a chance to talk with the artists about work, process, and whatever else comes up!"
Older & Reckless - Edition #29 - OLD & YOUNG AND RECKLESS TOGETHER runs May 16-18, 2013. Performances begin at 8:00pm at the Dancemakers Centre for Creation in the Distillery Historic District, 9 Trinity Street, Studio 313. Tickets $25/$22 CADA, students and seniors. For tickets to OLD & YOUNG AND RECKLESS TOGETHER, call 416-504-6429 ext. 30 or visit
http://www.moonhorsedance.com/older_and_reckless_buy_tickets.html.
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