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Footnotes Danc e Vic toria’s subs criber-only newsletter

ISSUE • WINTER • RUBBERBANDance Group + Joe Laughlin + Ballet Victoria + Pacific Northwest Ballet + more

SEASON SPONSOR

FOOTNOTES SPONSOR

Videos,

photos +

more info

on the web

Joe Laughlin + Ballet Victoria25 Years of Dance February 6 + 7 • Wed + Thr • 7:30 pmMcPherson Playhouse

Running time (including intermission): 2 hours

Pacific Northwest BalletBalanchine, Robbins, WheeldonFebruary 22 + 23 • Fri + Sat • 7:30 pmRoyal Theatre

Running time with intermission about 1 hour 45 minutes

RUBBERBANDance GroupGravity of CenterFebruary 1 + 2 • Fri + Sat • 7:30 pmMcPherson Playhouse

Running time (no intermission) 75 minutes

YAM Magazine Dance Days FestivalFebruary 1 through 10

PRESENTING SPONSOR

Footnotes • Issue • Winter

In Gravity of Center, choreographer Victor Quijada continues to push theedges of dance to create a unique vocabulary that is not hip hop, but owes a lot to hiphop. It’s certainly not classical ballet, but there is something in the construction of his

work that mimics the formalism of the genre. It’s contemporary work, but the partnering andgroup work is chunky or blocky: there is no attempt to disguise the effort in a lift, thus the lyri-cism we often connect with contemporary dance is not present.

When Quijada and his co-artistic director/dancer Anne Plamondon bring a new dancer intothe company, they work to strip that dancer’s predisposition or training to dance a certain way.They reduce movement to a few very simple gestures or postures. They also experiment withways to hold weight and counterbalance. As they build the movement for a new piece, they layerthe story or narrative into the movement, exploring relationships so that what we see comesfrom somewhere deep inside each of the performers. It is motivated movement.

In Center, Quijada’s five dancers are a family, a tribe or representative of a whole people.Each is the centre of their own world but they orbit around one another. Quijada says, “Interde-pendence is obvious and struggles are inevitable.”

What emerges is a work that reaches across generations: the movement style is current andunique. Quijada is a thinker and therefore not shy of exploring the big ideas. In Center he doeswhat all good choreographers should do, he illuminates those ideas with movement. He givesphysical expression to human emotion and the emotion springs from the world he creates andthe way as individuals we strive to protect what we have, only sometimes considering the wel-fare of the group. FN

RubberbandanceStretching Definitions

Known primarily for the mid-to-large scaleclassical and contemporary dance it bringsto Victoria each season, Dance Victoria alsoplays a significant role in the developmentof the local and national dance milieu.Dance Victoria Studios is a 12,000 squarefoot facility in the Quadra/Hillsideneighbourhood replete with fully outfitteddance studios and a performance lab, ahub of dance activity for the region. DanceVictoria’s annual Chrystal Dance Prize(16,000 in 2013) is one of the largestawards for dance in Canada. VisitDanceVictoria.com

Dance Victoria is governed by a Board of Directors that includes:

President Colleen Gibson

Vice President Dr. Jennifer Charlesworth

Secretary Jane Tice

Treasurer Gail Maier

Directors Carlos MacDonaldHelen McAllisterJean McRaeChris WilsonRod Windjack

Staff:

Producer Stephen White

Associate Elise WrenProducer

Production/ Jason DuboisBusiness Manager

Tours Bill HamarCoordinator

Dance Victoria Studios:Suite – Quadra StreetVictoria, BC VT E--DanceVictoria.com

Footnotes is written by Stephen White(unless otherwise noted) and proofed byAnne Moon.

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DanceVictoria.com •

Ten Days of Free Dance Classes.Hard to Walk Away From!

YAM Magazine’s Dance Days festival is back, February 1through 10, with free dance classes and workshops all overtown! Some things to look forward to this year include a

showing of a brand-new work in progress by local dancers andsingers Lynda Raino, Cathy Fern Lewis and Denise Lieutaghi calledThree Good Women (Monday, February 4, Noon at Dance VictoriaStudios: FREE). This informal showing includes an open discussionwith the artists afterwards.

Dance Victoria is very excited to offer a Master Class with RUBBERBANDance’s Artistic Director on Saturday, February 2, from 1:15pm – 2:45 pm (Dance Victoria Studios). The class is open to dancersaged 15+ with some experience. The 90 minute class costs $25 but youcan buy the class + a ticket to the evening performance of RUBBERBANDance for the all-in price of $50.

There are more than 70 Dance Days events packed into the tendays of the festival. For more information, pick up our program at anySerious Coffee location on southern Vancouver Island or go toDanceVictoria.com. When you visit our website sign up to be notifiedof new classes, schedule changes and exclusive special offers.

Dance Days is presented by YAM Magazine!

Dance Days Super Pass: New!Dance Victoria is introducing a new, limited number of Dance Dayssuper passes that provide you with admissions to RUBBERBANDance Group (Feb. 1 or 2), Joe Laughlin + Ballet Victoria (Feb. 6 or7) and BOUNCE! A Dance Cabaret (Feb. 9) for $78: a savings of morethan $20.

Dance Those ChatsBy now, most of you are in the habit of arriving at the theatre 45minutes before the curtain to enjoy a pre-show chat with amember of the dance company you’ll see that evening. DuringDance Days we decided to switch it up a little and shine a lighton some of the amazing young talent we have right here in thecity.

For both RUBBERBANDance Group and Joe Laughlin we areinstalling a dance floor in the upstairs lobby at the McPhersonPlayhouse and we’ve invited some of Victoria’s local studios toperform short works 45 minutes before the main attraction.

RUBBERBANDance:February 1: Dansko (Hip Hop)February 2: Boston Dance Collective (Hip Hop)

Joe Laughlin + Ballet Victoria:February 6: Victoria Academy of BalletFebruary 7: Victoria School of Contemporary Dance

All the pre-show lobby performances are free to ticket holders.Go to DanceVictoria.com for more information about theseperformances.

PRINTING

Business CardsRack Cards & Post CardsNewsletters & CalendarsCorporate EnvelopesPhoto BooksBrochures & Flyers

#120-1047 Langford Parkway 250-590-1801 fastracmail.com

Chrystal Dance Prize Applications for Dance Victoria’s Chrystal Dance Prize arenow available at DanceVictoria.com. In 2013, Dance Victoria

will award 16,000 to an emerging and/or mid-career danceartist(s) studying or developing a new work outside Canada. TheChrystal Dance Prize is growing to be one of Canada’s largestannual dance awards. The 2012 winner, Vancouver dance artistDaelik will be working with French choreographer FabriceRamalingom to develop a new solo work. Daelik and Ramalingomwill be in residence at Dance Victoria Studios for two weeks thisApril.

If you know a young dancer who has been accepted to a schooloutside Canada or have a friend who is planning to work with aninternational artist, tell them about the Chrystal Dance Prize.

February 1 – 10, 2013

Ten Days of Dance Performances, Workshops, Demos and Free Classes.

Hard to Walk Away From.

February 1 – 10, 2013

Ten Days of Dance Performances, Workshops, Demos and Free Classes.

Hard to Walk Away From.

S E A S O N S P O N S O R

DA N C E DAYS

S P O N S O RS P O N S O R S A N D S U P P O R T E R S

Your source for all the

latest news about

dance in Victoria

10 days of FREE dance classes. All kinds of styles. All over Victoria.February 1 through 10

Pick up your free schedule here

+free events

Footnotes • Issue • Winter

Of Breaks and BallerinasBy Stephen White

Nothing like a broken leg togive you a full appreciationfor movement: any move-

ment really. On a rainy Tuesdaymorning in November, just daysbefore the opening of our season, Iskidded on my bicycle to avoid a carthat suddenly stopped in front of me.I came crashing down on the road,the bike on top of me (undamaged,thankfully), but for me the result wasa fractured tibia. The doctor sen-tenced me to six weeks on crutches

resulting in a total loss of independence and a whole new way ofmoving. I must say that my colleagues here at Dance Victoria camethrough with flying colours — picking up all sorts of tasks that wouldhave gone undone because of my condition. Me, I was left alone withmy head and a heart full of envy whenever I saw a jogger or cyclist —

anyone who could walk, really. I marveled at how easy it all looked.The break forced me to slow down. Think a little and read more.

One of the books I was happy to have picked up is Deirdre Kelly’s Bal-lerina: Sex, Scandal and Suffering Behind the Symbol of Perfection(, Greystone Books). Kelly is a respected Canadian dance writer,having spent sixteen years as the Globe and Mail’s staff dance critic.In this well-researched book, Kelly takes us back to the beginning ofballet in the th century French court and introduces us to a numberof ballerinas through history who had a significant impact on thedevelopment of the art form. The book also pulls back the curtain onthe ballerina’s profession, revealing the darker side of the ballerina’slife — the life and death challenges (truly), the backstage trade in sex-ual favours for position and much more. One critic claims thatreading Ballerina “…You will never look at a ballet productionthrough the same eyes again.” (Portland Book Review). I highly rec-ommend it.

As for the leg, I was hobbling around free of crutches by Christ-mas, and by the time you are reading this I’ll be back on my bike. FN

Dance Seen

Twenty-Five Years of DanceI have admired Joe Laughlin for many years. A true crafts-man, he comes alive when he is in a studio with a group ofdancers creating new work. You can feel his excitement. In

many ways Laughlin has been fortunate. Few individual choreogra-phers in Canada are funded the way he is; support from all threelevels of government for his company’s operations. It is a testamentto the respect that he has from his peers across the country becausepeer committees organized by the funding agencies recommendwhich companies receive support. Laughlin also has won severalprestigious choreographic prizes over several years.

His is a quiet success. Laughlin has never been the flavour of theyear or the hot item. Instead, he has chosen to live a full, balanced lifeand what makes his work very special is that he has brought thesometimes deeply personal experiences he’s had in the real worldoutside the studio into his work. This gives his dances a veracity orauthenticity.

In addition to the new choreography he produces every couple ofyears Laughlin has worked with the Johannesburg (RSA) group MoveInto Dance Mophatong. It was after this experience that he devel-oped his own community dance process called Move It! Todayannual Move It! workshops in Vancouver invite non-dancers into aweek-long process to create a dance that culminates in performance.The impact on participants and viewers over several years has oftenbeen profound and life-changing.

In Victoria we are seeing three of Laughlin’s works from differentperiods in his life plus, only in Victoria, the world premiere of workcreated especially for Ballet Victoria. The pas de deux that Laughlinhas choreographed for Ballet Victoria’s principal dancer AndreaBayne and Artistic Director Paul Destrooper is worth the price ofadmission alone. It’s poignant and beautiful.

We’re proud to pay tribute to Joe Laughlin with this presentationand honour his contribution to dance in Canada. FN

Joe Laughlin: 25 years of Dance is sponsored by Jawl & Bundon Barristers andSolcitors

Joe Laughlin

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DanceVictoria.com •

Ballet’s Hit Parade ProgramIt’s unlikely that we’ll ever again have a program like theone Seattle’s Pacific Northwest Ballet is bringing to theRoyal Theatre on February 22 and 23. For the balletomane

it’s like waking up in a candy shop, or drifting off to ballet heaven.The evening includes two master-works by the undisputed genius

choreographer of the 20th century, George Balanchine, both set toIgor Stravinsky scores. Apollo from the late 1920s introduced neo-classical ballet to the world. Balanchine always referred to it as hisseminal work, the first piece in which he realized he didn’t have tothrow everything he could think of into the movement. It was better toplay with less, leave some things out. In the 1950s, Stravinsky handedhim a tougher challenge with the score for Agon. Contemporary evenby today’s standards, Balanchine reflected the composition’s twelve-tone structure (dodecaphony) by using twelve dancers, four men andeight women. One of Balanchine’s non-narrative abstract ballets,Agon incorporates his trademark quick movements, riveting, undu-lating stage patterns and unique partnering.

Also on the program is Jerome Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun, anatmospheric pas de deux using Debussy’s famous score. Set in a balletstudio, the dance has an ethereal quality, like a moment suspended.Robbins, best known for his Broadway choreography (West Side Story,Fiddler on the Roof), makes the fourth wall — that imaginary wall thatseparates the audience from the dancers — a mirror one finds in adance studio. A young man and a woman, dance together all the whileconscious of their reflections. Some dance writers have pointed to thenarcissistic, self-conscious nature of young love that emerges in thisdance. For me there is a quality of this but also a sadness (probablyunderlined by the music) in the unresolved ending, like a love thatdoesn’t bloom. This melancholy quality is very powerful indeed.

Finally, the company offers a version of the wunderkind British

choreographer Christopher Wheeldon’s now famous After the Rainpas de deux. The story goes that Wheeldon worked with the dancers inthe studio and completed the movement in just three days beforeadding the music. When the music was played, Wheeldon, thedancers and the few people in the studio at the time were knockedover by the emotional punch the piece had and how it all workedtogether. Serendipitous!

It takes a very special company to dance this level of repertoire.Pacific Northwest Ballet’s reputation as one of the finest in NorthAmerica continues to grow under the exciting leadership of PeterBoal. This is going to be such a great night of dance, you may want tocome twice! FN

Pacific Northwest Ballet

Welcome Rod WindjackNew Board member RodWindjack is a registeredarchitect and Partner at CEIArchitecture where he managesthe Victoria studio and leads thefirm’s K-12 Education sector. Rodwas born in Saskatchewan,completed graduate school inWinnipeg, and moved toVictoria with his wife and twochildren in 1990 following a

seven year stint in Bermuda. Twenty-two years later there is nodoubt that Victoria is home! Rod’s interests include travel, thevisual arts, architecture, music, literature and the performingarts. Rod has a deep appreciation of the choreography, physical,mental and artistic abilities exhibited in dance, and is proud tobe a member of the Dance Victoria team.

Staff in the National Arena Dance Victoria’s Production/Business Manager, Jason Dubois was recently appointed tothe National Council of the Canadian Dance Assembly. Jason already serves on the boards of Vancouver’s Alliance for Arts and Culture,the Vancouver-based dance company, Out Innerspace, and is Treasurer of the Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists (BC Chapter). DanceVictoria Producer, Stephen White, serves on the board for Victoria’s ProART Alliance and was recently re-elected to the board ofCanDance Network, the national association of dance presenters. This is White’s second term at CanDance. He is a Past-President.

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A Nutcracker Kid’s Thank YouBy Elise Wren, Associate Producer

As regular theatre patrons,it’s sometimes easy to takefor granted the magic of

live theatre. Imagine your first timeseeing the Nutcracker — I can’t evenremember my first theatre experi-ence because I feel like I’ve alwaysbeen a theatre-goer. Now imagine achild getting the opportunity to seenot just their first ballet, but getting

to meet the dancers on a backstage tour after the show.

Through your support of the Nutcracker Kids program, Dance Vic-toria was able to provide 95 tickets to Big Brothers Big Sisters and theJames Bay Community School.

I thought I’d pass along somefeedback from Sarah Stewartfrom Big Brothers Big Sisters:

“We had a match (Big Sister andLittle Sister) who attended theperformance for the second yearnow.  She said that it’s becomesuch a special part of their matchand that this year it really felt like they have their “own holiday tradi-tion together” — which is a true representation of our goal here at BigBrothers Big Sisters. Your organization and generous donors haveprovided our matches with something so special that they’re able toshare together. It is a gift that helps strengthen their bond and con-tribute to a life-changing relationship.”

A heartfelt Thank You from all of us here at Dance Victoria, for con-tributing to this very special program and enriching the lives ofchildren right here in in our community.

Footnotes • Issue • Winter

In November I received this email from Tessa Charlesworth, a formerstudent of Pacific Dance Centre, who won a prestigious scholarshipand this fall began her studies in architecture and dance at New York’sColumbia University,

Hello and hugs from the big apple!I heard, from my dance friends, that the Dance Victoria

season kicked off well with a stellar performance of BJM. Infact, my mom loved it so much that she got me tickets to see themhere in the city (New York)!

I, myself, have been having quite the adventure in New York City. Ihave managed to balance an incredible school load (with very inter-esting courses ranging from Literature to Architecture) with a goodamount of city-exploring, symposium-attending, and, of course,dancing. Though the ballet here is not quite up to the Maureen East-ick [Victoria’s Pacific Dance Centre] standards, and the class is quitelarge, it is enough to keep me technically proficient and happy. How-ever, I have been completely blown away and wholly impressed bythe modern training. I am working with Jodi Melnick, an independ-ent dance artist with a new style that I am finding both challengingand enjoyable. If I had to describe it I would say it is a hybrid betweenCrystal Pite’s isolated details and Marie Chouinard’s idiosyncracies,coupled with a healthy dose of high legs and jumps. Jodi is really awonderful woman, mentor and teacher, and I am constantly inspiredby her dancing (I saw her perform in Fall for Dance in Septembernext to Nederlands Dance Theatre and Balletboyz… wow!). I havealso been able to fit in some performing, and am working with twochoreographers in a contemporary-ballet piece and a contempo-rary-modern piece. Though I haven’t been able to exercise mychoreographic brain this semester, I have already applied to choreo-graph for the performing group next semester, and look forward toworking on a modern-pointe piece.

It has been a blessing to be able to pursue all of my interests here.

Not only am I dancing and studying, but am also involved in clubs oncampus in everything from International and Sustainable Develop-ment, to culinary arts and photography. Additionally, I am in theColumbia Undergraduate Scholars Program (CUSP), which is a groupof students chosen on application for academic and extracurricularpromise. Through CUSP I not only get my tuition covered (which,believe me, is absolutely wonderful in and of itself), but I also get toattend an amazing speakers-series, and get paired with a Graduate-Student-Mentor. The mission of CUSP is to provide us with the crucialnetworking and exposure opportunities to enter into our fields ofinterest. One of the projects for this semester of CUSP is a site visit andinterview of someone in a field of interest, which, for me, meansDance or Architecture. When I was thinking of dance artists that I aminspired by in the city I immediately thought of Josh Beamish, a fel-low west-coaster who braved the big apple. I was hoping that youmight be able to connect me with Josh so that I can conduct my sitevisit and interview, and, in so doing, learn more about his paththrough the dance world. FN

Post Script: I was able to connect Tessa with Josh. From an email Ireceived a few days later, Tessa told me they had lunch in NY and thatshe was very excited to be taking a workshop with Josh at some pointin January.

Letter from New York

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DanceVictoria.com •

In the next few weeks you will be receiving a request fromDance Victoria to contribute to our annual donor campaign.In recent years, as the government has moved away from

supporting the arts, the private sector (people like you) has becomeincreasingly important to our annual operations. Despite the chal-lenges businesses and non-profit organizations have been facing inthese uncertain economic times, Dance Victoria has been expandingprograms, renovating its dance-dedicated venue and working withthe Board of Directors to build a sustainable business model, all sothat we can continue to be a vital part of this community. Today:

• More than 2,500 dance students, young and old, come through ourdoors at Dance Victoria Studios each month

• 70 local dance and fitness instructors and 12 different dancestudios make their livelihood from the classes and workshops theyoffer at Dance Victoria Studios

• Our various support programs for creative endeavour haveassisted in the development of more than 30 new dance works thatthen toured across Canada, the U.S., Europe, Australia and Asia,garnering significant awards.

• Since 1997, Dance Victoria has presented almost 90 differentproductions to a total audience of more than 150,000

We’re proud of what we have achieved. We are also thrilled to havecreated a dance dedicated space that has the potential to affect dance-making in this country. We’re just at the beginning of our objective tomake Dance Victoria a hub for dance creativity that is the pride of thecountry. I hope you’ll join us as we move forward.

Annual Donor Campaign

/ season

Revenues% Earned Revenue

(Box Office, Studio Rentals, Advertising Sales etc.)

% Private Sector (Donors, Sponsors, Foundations)

% Public Sector (Government Grants)

Expenses% Artist Fees% Production (Theatre Rent, Crew Hours)

% Dance Victoria Studios (Rent/Maintenance)

% Administration % Other

Dance Victoria receives support from the CRD Arts Development Office, BC Arts Council, BC Gaming, Department of Canadian Heritage,Canada Council for the Arts, Vancouver Foundation, Enterprising Non-Profits and The Victoria Foundation. The Dance Victoria EndowmentFund and the Chrystal Dance Prize Fund are held at The Victoria Foundation.

Donor Pledge FormYes! I would like to support Dance Victoria.

Please accept my donation of:o $100o surprise us $_______

In house programs, please recognize my/our name as:

N A M E / O R G A N I Z A T I O N

Your gift can be made by:o cheque or money order (payable to Dance Victoria Society)o credit card via our secure site

(www.DanceVictoria.com/supportus/donate)

Please send my charitable receipt to:

N A M E / O R G A N I Z A T I O N

A D D R E S S

C I T Y P R O V I N C E P O S T A L C O D E

E M A I L

P H O N E

Please mail to: Dance Victoria111-2750 Quadra StreetVictoria, BC V8T 4E8Charitable Registration # 87377 5522 RR0001

Want more information or if you’re interested indirecting your donation to a program or project, call Stephen White or Elise Wren at 250-595-1829.

On behalf of the

dance community,

thank you!

Footnotes • Issue • Winter

Next Dance Victoria Subscribers can purchase additional tickets to any show at any time during the year at 20 off regular prices.Just call the McPherson Box Office at 250-386-6121 and tell them you want the Friend of Subscriber price.

BLACK GRACEMarch + • : PM • Royal TheatreMixed RepertoireMixing traditional Maori and Samoan ritual dance with contemporary movement, New Zealand’s leadingcontemporary dance company has toured the world thrilling audiences and garnering critical accolades.

“…exceptional choreography; a thrilling bond between ceremonial Maori and Samoan dances and an athletic form ofmodern dance.” – Main-Post, Schweinfurt, Germany

ROUGH CUTS Late April (Check DanceVictoria.com for details) • Dance Victoria StudiosBe among the first to see new work developed at Dance Victoria studios by Vancouver dance artistDaelik and French choreographer Fabrice Ramilingom. Daelik is the winner of Dance Victoria’s 2012Chrystal Dance Prize, which is supporting this project with a 10,000 cash award and a two-weekresidency in Victoria. Ramlingom is a highly respected choreographer and a major force in France’scontemporary dance scene. He is an associate artist with Montpellier Danse.

SILVERCITY DANCE FILMSSilverCity Victoria Cinemas (Tillicum Mall) • Tillicum Road

Nederlands Dance Theatre (Contemporary) • Move to MoveFebruary • Sunday • : PM

Royal Ballet • Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland March • Thursday • : PM

Bolshoi Ballet • The Rite of SpringMarch • Sunday • : PM

Dance Victoria Travel Raffle is Back• First Prize: nights in New York — Includes airfare, accommodation, event tickets, breakfasts and tours.

• Second Prize: Vancouver getaway for two — Fly Helijet to Vancouver, tickets to a Dance House presentation and overnight at theRosedale on Robson.

• Third Prize: Seattle weekend — Clipper to Seattle, two nights at Fairmont Olympic plus tickets to Pacific Northwest Ballet.

Tickets 10 each or Book of 5 for 40. On sale at Dance Victoria presentations beginning February 1 or phone 250-595-1829.BC Gaming License Event 50332 | Know your limit. Play within it.