DanceWorks presents Compagnie Flak in the Toronto premiere of Villanelle and S April 19, 2013

DanceWorks presents Compagnie Flak in the Toronto premiere of
Villanelle and S
part of Harbourfront Centre’s NextSteps
Choreographed by José Navas

DanceWorks, Toronto’s longest-running contemporary dance series, proudly presents the Toronto premiere of Villanelle and S, from Montreal’s renowned Compagnie Flak, choreographed by Artistic Director José Navas. This acclaimed double bill runs two nights only – Friday, April 19 and Saturday, April 20 – at Fleck Dance Theatre, part of Harbourfront Centre’s NextSteps.

Villanelle (2009) is a short, meditative solo that opens the evening, performed by Alexandre Jolicoeur to Antonio Vivaldi’s Cum dederit delectis suis Somnum: Andante. Navas revisits the fixed verse form of a villanelle, a poem with a distinctive pattern of rhyme and repetition, after being inspired by Dylan Thomas’ “Do not go gentle into that good night.” S (2008), performed by eight dancers, evokes human nature through the expression of pure movement. Navas structures S like a musical score and likens the dancers to instruments crafted by Stradivarius, satisfying the highest technical demands and making the most formal movement personal and dramatic. An abstract and organic work with the precision and energy of calligraphy, the piece inhabits the music of Erik Satie (Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes).

“S, a delicious show that evokes human nature with great restraint and infinite grace.” Les Soirées de Paris, 2011
“The work is elegant, intuitive and pure, and the dancers’ emotion so transcendent that it makes the show almost a spiritual experience.” Voir, Quebec, 2011
“The highlight of the CODA festival was ‘S’ by Canadian José Navas. One would be obliged to search far and wide to find a more sacred and fascinating production.” Aftenposten, Oslo, 2009
“A masterful and geometrical fineness, of the utmost delicacy.” La Presse, Montreal, 2009

DanceWorks presents Compagnie Flak in Villanelle and S
part of Harbourfront Centre’s NextSteps
Choreographer: José Navas
Dancers: Sarah Fregeau, Alexandre Jolicoeur, Cori Kresge, Benjamin Landsberg,
Waldean Nelson, Erin Poole, Lauren Semeschuk, Jeff Wolfe
Lighting: Marc Parent
Costumes: José Navas/Compagnie Flak
Friday, April 19 to Saturday, April 20, 2013, 8PM
Harbourfront Centre’s Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay West, Toronto, ON M5J 1A7
Tickets: $19.50-$34 (including applicable taxes & services charges)
Harbourfront Centre Box Office: 416-973-4000 OR online at www.danceworks.ca
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