Dancemakers Double Bill #2 September 29, 2010

“…[Dancemakers is] audacious in artistic ambition…” – Michael Crabb, National Post

Dancemakers Double Bill #2 features works by Michael Trent and k.g. Guttman

TORONTO, ON … When meeting another person, a work of art or a prime-time TV dance competition – what do you love? What do you hate? What do you show? What do you hide? Can you calibrate your reactions, moving between judgment and pleasure? Between hiding and showing? How many steps are there in between?
These are the questions posed in the first offering of Dancemakers 2010/2011 season - Double Bill #2. Artistic Director Michael Trent, Montreal choreographer k.g. Guttman and the remarkable Dancemakers company revel in and get in the face of the pleasures and exposures of dance – the doing and the watching. Drawing material from YouTube, prime-time TV dance competitions, social dancing and their personal and idiosyncratic styles, their choreographies push and pull at our sensibilities of exposure, spectacle, pleasure and intellectual history, contrasting diverse elements on the contemporary stage.
The evening is composed of two works –Trent’s Show and Guttman’s So You Think the Spectacle Does Not Love You. Double Bill #2 is part of Harbourfront Centre’s NextSteps series from September 29 – October 2, 2010.

Dancemakers’ Double Bill series shakes up the tradition of the mixed repertoire program to provide a platform for a collaborative conversation between Trent and the invited artist. Together they propose directions, questions and obsessions to work on, providing audiences with specific, personal and yet related responses. Sharing approaches, methodologies, inspiration and even rehearsal time, the Double Bill choreographers alter and deepen the questions of influence and comparison inherent in any shared evening. The Double Bill Trilogy results from Dancemakers Artistic Director Trent’s curiosity to meet new people and create performances that are contemporary, cross-disciplinary and collaborative.

Double Bill #1, the critically acclaimed 2008 inaugural project, was created by Trent and Toronto-based choreographer Ame Henderson.

Details:
Double Bill # 2 – Show and So You Think the Spectacle Does Not Love You
Length of performance - 60 minutes

Choreographers: Michael Trent and k.g. Guttman
Performed and Created by: Rob Abubo, Lori Duncan, Kate Hilliard, Kate Holden, Steeve Paquet
Musician: Nick Murray
Composer: Reena Katz
Costume Designer: Tanya White
Lighting and Set Designer: Trevor Schwellnus
Assistant Lighting and Set Designer: Margaret Krawecka
Associate Director: Bonnie Kim
Dramaturge: Jacob Zimmer
Stage Manager: Sharon DiGenova

Double Bill #2 is co-produced by Dancemakers and the Canada Dance Festival.

Dancemakers gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Creative Trust and the Metcalf Foundation.

Where: Harbourfront Centre’s NextSteps series, Enwave Theatre, Harbourfront Centre, 237 Queens Quay West, Toronto, ON.
When: September 29, 30, October 1 & 2 at 8 p.m. and October 2 at 3 p.m.
Tickets: Single tickets $38 - $22, Package prices $32 - $20. Tickets are available in person at the Harbourfront Centre box office located at 235 Queens Quay West, by phone at 416-973-4000 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              416-973-4000      end_of_the_skype_highlighting or online at www.harbourfrontcentre.com
About Dancemakers:
Driven by the vision of Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer Michael Trent, Dancemakers draws on the diverse talents and individual strengths of its artists to create contemporary dance works that provoke and entertain. At its core is the desire to promote new works rooted in contemporary aesthetics, cross-disciplinary dialogues and collaborative engagement.

For almost four decades Dancemakers has been on the leading edge of dance in Canada and in 2002 established its current home in the Distillery Historic District. At the Distillery, Dancemakers built a state-of-the-art 98-seat performance venue and a second rehearsal studio named after the late composer Michael J. Baker.

Along with making bold contemporary dances, the organization promotes and encourages contemporary practice through ongoing professional development events and activities including daily dance classes, master classes, residencies and choreographic labs; Youth Outreach activities; and the biennial Dancemakers Presents series, which showcases national and international artists.

In its new home, Dancemakers founded The Centre for Creation, a place where creativity and creative exchange are fostered and nurtured, where dynamic encounters between artists and public enrich and develop contemporary dance.

Next up in Dancemakers 2010/2011 season:
April 5 – 17, 2011 Home Season Project 3/2/1 at Dancemakers Centre for
Creation, The Distillery Historic District, 55 Mill Street, The Cannery, Bldg. 58, Suite 313. Call/Click: 416.367.1800 or info@dancemakers.org; dancemakers.org
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For further media information and artist interviews please contact
Kim Blackwell at 416-346-4709 or blackwellcommunications@gmail.com