(Re)Tracing Fred February 24, 2009

'Dance daredevil' Darcy Callison’s new work (Re)Tracing Fred looks to Hollywood as a hotbed for men expressing their masculinity in movement. From screen stars Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly to Elvis Presley, John Travolta and Jon Heder’s Napoleon Dynamite, (Re)Tracing Fred reinterprets Hollywood film’s choreography for males, exploring the ever-present assumption (and necessity) that there is something inherently masculine within the danced languages that Hollywood constructs for men.

This ‘mash-up’ takes iconic dance phrases we all know and love, and re-imagines them in extraordinary ways with original choreography, both live and in video projection.

(Re)Tracing Fred will be performed by Callison’s company, Da Collision. Callison has brought together an ensemble of seven outstanding professional dancers for this production: Johanna Bergfeldt, Michael Caldwell, Jennifer Dahl, Louis Laberge-Côté, Ryan Lee, Shawn Newman and Jessica Runge. Callison and Ines Buchli co-direct the show, which features original music by John Lang, costumes by Barb Starr and lighting by Elizabeth Asselstine.

In the weeks leading up to the production, Callison, who directs York University’s MFA program in dance, will bring his company into the Dance Department as artists-in-residence, opening their rehearsal and production process to students.