"This young powerhouse of a company performed two works that showcased the sheer talents of these dancers and the creative innovation of the company."

Stage Review

Vancouver International Dance Festival 2012

Show: Resin and Scheherazade

Company: Alonzo King LINES Ballet

Choreography: Alonzo King

Music: Traditional Sephardic music, and Zakir Hussain after Rimsky-Korsakov

Dancers: Victor Mateos Arellano, David Harvey, Courtney Ashley Henry, Ashley Jackson, Yujin Kim, Paul Knobloch, Michael Montgomery, Caroline Rocher, Zachary Tang, Meredith Webster, Keelan Whitmore, Kara Wilkes, Richardo Zayas

Venue: The Centre for Performing Arts

Run: March 2-3  

Reviewed by: Tessa Perkins

After a very popular performance in the 2008 the Vancouver International Dance Festival has brought this San Francisco company back to Vancouver for another show full of bold, striking choreography. Founded in 1982, Alonzo King’s company has a focus on infusing classical ballet with diverse and deeply rooted cultural traditions, and they often collaborate with composers, musicians, and visual artists. 

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Stage Review

Production: LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT

Author: Eugene O’Neill

Company: Soulpepper

Director: Diana Leblanc

Principal Actors: Joseph Ziegler, nancy Pal, Evan Buliung, Gregory Prest

Venue: Young Centre for the Performing Arts

Location: 55 Mill St. Toronto, Ontario.

Run: February 23 to March 31, 2013

Reviewed by James Karas

The journey that Eugene O’Neill presents in Long Day’s Journey Into Night is indeed long and the night when it arrives is very dark. He wrote this autobiographical play in 1941 and asked that it not be produced until 25 years after his death but his wife allowed it to be staged in 1956, three years after he died in 1953.

Long Day’s Journey is a landmark play of the American theatre. It tells the story of the dysfunctional Tyrone family where booze, drugs, tightfistedness, sibling rivalry and illness provide for very potent drama. James Tyrone (Joseph Ziegler) is a talented actor at the end of his career who wasted his gifts on a single, second rate play that he acted in for the money. He knows what poverty is and perhaps as a result he is almost pathologically miserly.

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Stage Review

Production: TAPTOO!

Authors: John Beckwith (music), James Reany (libretto)     

Company: Toronto Operetta Theatre

Production: Guillermo Silva-Marin

Principal Singers: Robert Longo, Todd Delaney, Michael Barrett, Allison Angelo, Eugenia Dermentzis

Venue: Jane Mallett Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts

Location: Toronto, Ont.

Dates: February 24, 25 and 26, 2012

Reviewed by James Karas

Toronto Operetta Theatre is nothing if not ambitious. Its name may suggest productions of safe, light operettas from the 19^th and early 20^th centuries to amuse old men who wear suspenders and ladies who wear hats. Nonsense. For TOT and its General Director Guillermo Silva-Marin operetta is alive and well with neglected works to be discovered and new ones created.

This year TOT has gone a big step further in producing a Canadian musical, on a Canadian theme, in its premiere professional performance and commemorating the bicentenary of The War of 1812.

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"The presentation of the Lola Award, and a heartfelt speech from Lola’s husband, Tony Giacinti, set the tone for a night of great experimental dance pieces"

Stage Review

Show: The Lola Projects: In memory of Lola MacLaughlin

Choreographers/Dancers: Anne Cooper, Iris Wing-Chi Lau, Robert Halley, Treena Stubel

Mentor: Joe Laughlin

Venue: The Dance Centre

When: March 1 2012

Reviewed by: Tessa Perkins

In honour of the late Vancouver dance artist Lola MacLaughlin, this collaboration between The Dance Centre in Vancouver and Dance Victoria, along with artists from both cities, celebrated the presentation of the first ever Lola Award. This $10,000 award is designed to encourage and assist mid-career and senior choreographers who exemplify Lola’s thoughtful, experimental, interdisciplinary, and inventive spirit, and it will be given every second year.

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