DanceWorks Welcomes Daniel Leveille Danse in SOLITUDES SOLO This Weekend

DanceWorks, Toronto's longest running contemporary dance series, presents the critically acclaimed Daniel Léveillé Danse in the Toronto premiere of SOLITUDES SOLO, choreographed by the award-winning Daniel Léveillé, for two days only, tongiht, October 23 and tomorrow, October 24 as part of Harbourfront Centre's NextSteps at Harbourfront Centre Theatre (formerly Enwave Theatre).

Five performers explore what it means to be alone in this beautifully startling dance presentation that earned the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ) Award for the best choreographic work in the 2012-2013 season. Currently on a cross-Canada tour, it will be seen October 9-10 in Edmonton and October 28-31 in Vancouver.

The last time Daniel Léveillé Danse appeared in Toronto was when DanceWorks presented La pudeur des icebergs in 2008. When DanceWorks presented Amour, acide et noix in 2004, it earned Daniel Léveillé the Dora Award for Outstanding Choreography.

SOLITUDES SOLO leads us -- ever so painlessly -- to the difficult emotional states of our human condition. In this grouping of spare, elegant dances, performed to Bach's sonatas and partitas for solo violin, Léveillé examines the state of solitude with his five dancers consisting of four men and one woman: Mathieu Campeau, Esther Gaudette, Justin Gionet, Emmanuel Proulx and Simon Renaud.

Over the past 35 years, well-known Montréal choreographer and dance teacher Daniel Léveillé has created more than thirty works, making a huge contribution to the evolution of the Canadian contemporary dance scene. In 2001, Amour, acide et noixconfirmed his reputation on the international scene in a spectacular way. He then presented The Modesty of Icebergs (2004) and Twilight of the Oceans (2007), the two others works of his trilogy Anatomy of the imperfection.

With these works, he developed a style of repetitions and short movements in choreographies that helped to reveal the beauty of human beings in all their imperfections. He chose nudity as the only possible costume in order to avoid any possible dissimulation.

SOLITUDES SOLO (premiered at Agora de la Danse in 2012) marks the beginning of a new cycle of creation made of more fluid gestures and the return of a costume other than nudity - albeit minimal. SOLITUDES SOLO eloquently reaffirms that even with austerity, we can do and say a lot as we seek unity and beauty, knowing such heights can only be reached at the risk of breaking and falling. With this quasi-spiritual ideal, Daniel Léveillé reaches the heart of his art and as the Festival TransAmériques noted at its 2014 presentation there, SOLITUDES SOLO shows Léveillé at the height of his powers with "a choreography that is as finely chiselled as a diamond necklace."

More information and a short video clip is available at www.danielleveilledanse.org/en/productions/solitudes-solo-0.

DanceWorks began as a collective of independent dance artists in 1977 and has grown to become Toronto's leading presenter of independent dance. DanceWorks is the administrator of the CanDance Network and Dance Ontario Association. For more, go to www.danceworks.ca or visit danceworksblog.wordpress.com.

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