Get Ready for the 2012 Vancouver International Dance Festival

Written by: Tessa Perkins

The 2012 Vancouver International Dance Festival, running from March 2^nd to 11^th, contrasts the vastly different genres of ballet and butoh and features performances from five butoh companies and one ballet company.

San Francisco’s Alonzo King LINES Ballet came to Vancouver for the 2008 festival, and they are back this year after a very popular show. Known for their non-stop energy and bold, beautiful movement set to everything from tabla music to baroque, I am looking forward to seeing this visionary contemporary ballet company in action.

Ground Zero Theatre and Hit & Myth

Present

RACE

by David Mamet

Calgary, AB – Ground Zero Theatre (GZT) and Hit & Myth (H&M) present RACE by David Mamet at The Studio at Vertigo Theatre Centre (115-9^th Avenue SE, Base of the Calgary Tower), March 2-17. Advance tickets are on sale now, available through the Vertigo Theatre Centre Box Office at 403-221-3708 or online at gzt.ca

Multiple award-winning playwright/director David Mamet tackles America's most controversial topic in a provocative tale of sex, guilt and bold accusations. Two lawyers – one black, one white - and the firm’s young associate scramble to decide if they want to represent a wealthy white man accused of assaulting a black woman. RACE lures the audience into an enthralling web where “the dialogue is tasty, the confrontations spiky, and the observations more than occasionally biting” (Variety). Race may be the central theme, but the issues are more than skin deep as the debate delves into questions of sex, gender, and class.

“Mamet has deliberately created ambiguity at every turn in RACE, so it is impossible to know for sure who is telling the truth, and who is lying,” states Kevin McKendrick, the play’s director. “This stems from his burning desire to avoid giving us a neat, little drama about law and order, so that the ideas and incendiary language in the text will provoke argument about race. The more heated the discussion the better. The audience will be the judge and jury.”

RACE by David Mamet features Joel Cochrane (Charles Strickland), Ryan Luhning (Jack Lawson), Andrew Moodie (Henry Brown) and Monice Peter (Susan). The cast is directed by Kevin McKendrick, set & lighting design Nick Blais, costume design Deitra Kalyn, sound design Ian Kelly, Emma Brager, stage manager and assistant stage manager Brooklyn Ritchie.

RACE by David Mamet produced by Ground Zero Theatre (GZT) and Hit & Myth (H&M) plays March 2-17, Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8:00pm at The Studio at Vertigo Theatre Centre. Tickets are $30* for adults, $18* for students/seniors and $15* for Live Rush tickets (one hour prior to curtain, based on availability - register and details at liverushcalgary.ca). Pay What You Can (PWYC) preview performances run March 2, 3 & 6 at 8:00pm. Advance tickets for all performances are on sale now, available at the Vertigo Theatre Centre Box Office at 403-221-3708 or online at gzt.ca.

Audience Advisory: Extreme profanity and adult situations. Recommended for mature audiences.

*Tickets are plus Service Charges and GST

The National Ballet of Cuba Brings their Stunning Don Quixote to Vancouver

Written by: Tessa Perkins

Bringing their signature ballet to Vancouver for the very first time, Alicia Alonso’s National Ballet of Cuba will impress audiences with their unique blend of traditional Russian technique and Latin passion. I recently spoke with Brent Belsher, the producer of the show, to learn more about how this show came to life.

Brent became involved in the show last summer when his friend and business partner, David Y. H. Lui, told him that he had always wanted to bring the National Ballet of Cuba to Vancouver. They are the only great international ballet company that has never toured here, and David felt that his career of producing dance shows was not complete until he had brought them here. While working on bringing the show to Vancouver, David passed away in September. The show is now dedicated to his memory, and Brent is hoping that it will be successful enough to enable him to set up a fund in David’s name.

The artistic director of the company and former prima ballerina, Alicia Alonso, is now ninety-one years old, but still in great health. She is planning on being in Vancouver for the show, but there was some concern that she may not be quite up to the long flight. She is considered one of the greatest ballerinas of the twentieth century, and I hope that she will be able to make it here as Brent tells me they have some special activities planned for her such as Ballet BC dancers carrying her into the theatre and a baby blue Bentley for her to ride around town in.     

When Alicia Alonso and David met for the first time in Montreal last year, “Alicia fell in love with David,” says Brent, “she has toured all over, but has never been to western Canada. She is pumped up for it.” The seventy dancers that will accompany her are also very excited to be in Vancouver. The show will feature fifty dancers performing the technically challenging work, along with classical costumes and props such as a large wooden horse that have come all the way from Havana to Halifax on a ship, and then crossed the country on a train.

The Vancouver Opera Orchestra will also be performing live with the company, and I’m sure that this will be a once in a lifetime show not to be missed. This is the first international ballet company to visit Vancouver in a long time, and as this is their signature work that they have performed for audiences all over the world since 1948, I can’t wait to see it.    

We run down all our reviews from this year's PuSh Festival, in one convenient webpage.

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