Margie Gillis Dance Foundation Launches 40th Anniversary Canadian Tour of THE LIGHT BETWEEN Today

The 2013-2014 season marks the 40th anniversary of the performance career of the internationally celebrated Canadian dance artist Margie Gillis. In celebration, Montreal's Margie Gillis Dance Foundation launches a cross-Canada tour marking the illustrious four-decade career of the iconic dancer and choreographer, one of the country's most honoured artists.

The Light Between, comprised of a series of haunting solos, duets and trios that ponder the fundamental nature of being, humanly as well as artistically, is choreographed by the legendary Margie Gillis with collaborators Holly Bright, Marc Daigle and Paola Styron - and performed by Gillis, Daigle and Styron. This powerful new work that debuted earlier this year sees its Ontario premiere in two cities: London's Grand Theatre tonight, November 9 and Toronto's Fleck Dance Theatre as part of Harbourfront Centre's NextSteps on Tuesday, November 12 and Wednesday November 13 at 8pm.

In The Light Between, Gillis and her collaborators reveal a strangely familiar and radiant world: a blissful - sometimes turbulent - state of transition and transformation stretching through time, where the visible and invisible meet. This rich and captivating piece blends sculptural and pictorial elements evocative of the dancer's body into the choreographic language to highlight the vulnerability that all artistic research requires. Evolving within renowned painter-sculptor Randal Newman's unforgettable set, composed of arms reaching into space, the piece addresses several themes, including travel, conscience, sensation, knowledge, change, joy and pain.

Shortly before becoming a member of the Order of Canada a quarter century ago, Margie Gillis met Randal Newman for the first time, and the seeds of The Light Between were sown. Their hope was to blend sculptural and pictorial elements that evoke the dancer's body into the choreography. The project evolved over time, and ideas sketched out by Newman found expression in collaborations between Gillis and Styron (Nothing Clings to You, A Stone's Poem), Bright (On the Hem of the Northern Coastal Cloud) and Daigle (Portal). This long maturing work was finally realized as Gillis and Newman reunited to create The Light Between, a work that brims with luminosity and lightness, and strives to expose the hope found in human vulnerability.

Margie Gillis first danced professionally in 1973. She has earned critical acclaim for her performances around the world. A passionate and tireless creator, she has worked with some of the greatest dancers, choreographers and artists of her time. Gillis established the Margie Gillis Dance Foundation in 1981. Conscious of sharing and assuring continuity in her art, Gillis has taught in various institutions, notably Juilliard School and Stella Adler Studio of New York and Hollyhock, B.C. Gillis has been a Member of the Order of Canada since 1988 and of the Order of Québec since 2009. The Canadian and Quebec governments have each given her the honorary title of Cultural Ambassador. In recognition of her exceptional contribution to national culture, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec awarded her their Career Award in 2001. During the 2008-2009 season that marked the 35th anniversary of her career, the Canada Council for the Arts awarded Gillis the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts, and the famous Stella Adler Studio of New York presented her with their very first MAD Spirit Award for Exceptional Humanitarian Actions by an Artist. In May 2011, Gillis received the Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award from the Governor General's Performing Arts Award Foundation. In July 2013, she was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Holly Bright is a performer, choreographer, teacher and adjudicator at contemporary dance festivals, and is Artistic Director of the Crimson Coast Dance Society of Nanaimo, B.C. Marc Daigle was a member of the Groupe Place Royale, under the artistic direction of Peter Boneham and Michael Montanaro, dancing for a number of choreographers before settling in Montreal to work with Jean-Pierre Perreault, Carbone 14, Écran Humain, Tom Stroud and Gillis. Paola Styron is a performer, choreographer, collaborator and director who has worked with Martha Clarke and Heidi Latksy Dance, and was Associate Artistic Director of Faustwork Mask Theater.

The Margie Gillis Dance Foundation:

"Bless the continual stutter of the word being made into flesh." - Leonard Cohen

At the time of its genesis in 1981, the Margie Gillis Dance Foundation chose this phrase as its motto to define the guiding principles that fuel the practice of Margie Gillis' art. Gillis' creative endeavours are entirely dedicated to the observation of the human soul; whether they materialize in solo dances as in the largest part of her repertoire, or in group works that she has created. Her approach to dance - from the inside out - has become something of a trademark and has allowed her to develop a style very much her own.

Margie Gillis's unique and masterful interpretation of the different facets of the human soul has won her loyal audiences around the globe. Unwaveringly, her artistic vision continues to develop through creation, performance, experimentation, teaching, writing and mentoring. Over the past 40 years, Gillis has created an impressive working repertoire as a soloist and a collaborator. Her works number in the hundreds and include solos, duets, small and large group works for the stage, as well as works in film and television. A profound and passionate artist, she has worked with many of the great dancers of her time.

The 40th anniversary celebration tour continues as below:

Bulletins From ImmortalityŠ freeing Emily Dickinson

- Avant-premiere October 19: ArtSpring, Salt Spring Island, B.C.

- World premiere October 23-26: The Cultch (Vancouver East Cultural Centre), Vancouver, B.C.

The Light Between

- London premiere November 9: The Grand Theatre, London, ON.

- Toronto premiere November 12-13: Harbourfront Centre's Fleck Dance Theatre, Toronto, ON.

Also, this season she performs:

Cavatinas and Counterpoints, a new show inspired by the artist salons of the early 20th century, created by Gillis, dancer and choreographer Tedd Robinson and pianist Jean Desmarais and performed by Margie Gillis, Tedd Robinson and pianist Jeanie Chung.

- March 14, 2014: L'Anglicane de Lévis, Lévis, QC.

- March 21, 2014: Mont-Tremblant, QC.

AND

Florilège, a retrospective program specially created for her 40th anniversary that will constitute some of Gillis' most significant works.

- World Premiere February 25-March 1, 2014: Agora de la danse de Montréal. Montréal, QC.

- Performance March 7, 2014: Centre culturel de Beloeil, Beloeil, QC.

Margie Gillis Dance Foundation presents the Toronto premiere of The Light Between. Choreography by Margie Gillis with Holly Bright, Marc Daigle, Paola Styron. Dancers: Margie Gillis, Marc Daigle, Paola Styron. Set Designer: Randal Newman. Lighting Designer and Technical Director: Pierre Lavoie. Costume Designer: Anne Dixon. Composer and Sound Designer: Larsen Lupin. Creative Assistant and Collaborator: Catherine Bourgeois

LONDON - Saturday, November 9, 8PM at The Grand Theatre's Mainstage Theatre, 471 Richmond St., London, ON. Tickets: $35. Grand Theatre Box Office: 519-672-8800 or toll free at 1-800-265-1593 or online at www.grandtheatre.com/index.php/mainstage-theatre/events/margie-gillis/.

TORONTO - Tuesday, November 12 to Wednesday, November 13, 2013, 8PM at Harbourfront Centre's Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay West, Toronto, ON. Tickets: $25-$35. Harbourfront Centre Box Office: 416-973-4000 or online at www.harbourfrontcentre.com/nextsteps/margie-gillis-dance-foundation.

Pictured: Margie Gillis in The Light Between. Photo Credit: Michael Slobodian.

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