Yvonne Ng, Janelle Rainville, Jeff Morris & More Present Artists from Across Canada 8/13-16

Festival Artistic Director Yvonne Ng, Co-Festival Directors, Janelle Rainville & Jeff Morris, alongside guest curators Tedd Robinson and Debashis Sinha, are pleased to announce the programming for the dance: made in canada / fait au canada (d:mic/fac) Festival, running August 13-16, 2015. Over two dozen artists will be seen at the Betty Oliphant Theatre in Toronto in three different programs: Mainstage, What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) and Arts Encounters.

The d:mic/fac MainStage Series consists of three different series totalling seven unique Canadian dance works by an exceptional list of contemporary artists:

Robinson Series

• Fila 13 / Lina Cruz (Montreal) performs Waiting for a Sleepless Night (WORLD PREMIERE), choreographed by Cruz. On an imaginary terrain, two "buddies" wander into the heightened sensitivity of a sleepless night.
• Wants & Needs Danse / Andrew Tay (Montreal) performs You can't buy it (WORLD PREMIERE), a solo which questions modern society's connection to spirituality using the body, elements of ritual and the relationship between the performer and spectator.

"In curating this evening, I chose Cruz's work for its physicality and intimacy," says Robinson. "I chose Tay's work because I found it to be intriguing and curious in concept. Together, I feel that we will see into the inquisitive minds of these two creators. One leans toward the physical, and the other leans toward performance. I like to think that there is room for both on the stage."

Sinha Series

• Ryan Cunningham / Troy Emery Twigg (Calgary) bring They Shoot Buffalo, Don't They? (TORONTO PREMIERE). This is a contemporary piece for three dancers that uses mask reminiscent of traditional dances and ceremonies. The physical narrative is expressed through the perspective of the wild Buffalo; the masks, choreography and performance embody the evolution of the wild Buffalo in North America.
• Jacob Niedzwiecki (Toronto) choreographs A Review of Criticality Accidents (WORLD PREMIERE), a literary adaptation from an unlikely source: a landmark 2001 review of every 'process' nuclear accident in both the Russian and American nuclear programs. Niedzwiecki's piece explores the report's stories and the dangerous science behind them, with a gifted cast of five (or four?) interpreters.

Says Sinha: "Dance has been most exciting to me when it comes out of something that is part of our collective unconscious - the experience of nature, perhaps, or of relationships, or how we place our human lives in a universe so much more vast than we are. In this program, I choose two pieces that are driven by these currents, albeit in very different ways."

Morrison/Ng Series

• Kate Hilliard (Toronto) choreographs and performs the duet Jane and Sam with Robert Abubo (WORLD PREMIERE). The piece questions mortality and the unknown suspense that death creates.
• Forcier Stage Works/Marie France Forcier (Toronto) performs her solo Little Guidebook for Using your Suffering Wisely (WORLD PREMIERE), an ironic journey through Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. A character embarks on a self-help audiobook journey, guided by a narrator.
• Throwdown Collective (Toronto) performs Various Concert (working title) (WORLD PREMIERE). The piece explores the dynamic form of the trio as a choreographic structure relating to the themes of perspective and time.

"What pulled these works together for me is that each choreographer is a performer within their own works," says Ng. "This gives each piece immediacy, intimacy and a touch of irrationality that is compelling. When the choreographer and dancer are one and the same, the choreographic process is intuitive, and more akin to biological growth than architectural design. This gives the audience a glimpse of the interior self."

Lottery-drawn Late Night Series

• What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG): d:mic/fac will feature Alysa Pires, Benjamin Lansberg, Parts & Labour (Montreal), Lousie Moyes (St. John's), Susie Burpee (Toronto) and others as part of its late-night programme.

Arts Encounters Series

• Additional programming will animate the festival venue from August 13-16. Featured artists will create an array of interdisciplinary work that responds to the festival's MainStage programming. Artists include: Andréa de Keijzer (Montreal) who is paired with Marie France Forcier, Brianna Lombardo (Montreal) who is paired with Andrew Tay, Brandy Leary (Toronto) and Sara Porter (Toronto). Dance films will also be featured throughout the festival.

Additional programming, schedule and ticketing information will be available May 1, 2015.

Festival Curators

Tedd Robinson is the Artistic Director of 10 Gates Dancing, an award-winning choreographer and, most recently, the 2014 recipient of the Walter Carsen Prize. In recent years, his works have involved collaborations with Margie Gillis, Louise Lecavalier, Ame Henderson and his regular collaborator, Charles Quevillon. Until 2012, Robinson created new work and presented dance and music in his barn in the Pontiac region of Québec. He now co-directs Centre Q: a centre for questioning in Quyon, Québec. His work is influenced by his six years as a monk (Hakukaze Soto Zen) in Ottawa. Robinson is a National Arts Centre Associate Dance Artist. www.tengatesdancing.ca

Driven by a deep commitment to the primacy of sound in creative expression, Debashis Sinha has realized projects in radiophonic art, electroacoustic music, sound art, audiovisual performance, theatre, dance and music across Canada and internationally. Selected sound design and composition credits include numerous works for Peggy Baker Dance Projects and productions with Young People's Theatre, Project Humanity, The Theatre Centre, Nightwood Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille (Crash - Dora Award), inDance, Tribal Crackling Wind, Volcano Theatre, Pleiades Theatre, MTC Warehouse and Necessary Angel. His live sound practice on the concert stage has led to appearances at MUTEK, the Guelph Jazz Festival, the Banff Centre, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, The Music Gallery and other venues. http://debsinha.com

Yvonne Ng is a dancer, choreographer, presenter, arts educator, founder and artistic director of princess productions (since 1996): tiger princess dance projects and dance: made in canada/fait au canada Festival. Ng is a certified Open Source Forms (Stephanie Skura/U.S.A.), C-I Training™ and Ashtanga Yoga teacher. She is a recipient of the Soulpepper Community Arts Award, K.M. Hunter Artist Award, the New Pioneers Arts Award, Chalmers Arts Fellowship and a Dora Award for Outstanding Performance (Ensemble). In 2007, she received the Ontario Premier's Award for Excellence in the Arts - New Talent Award. Yvonne Ng is also the Artistic Director of Series 8:08 (since 1994). www.princessproductions.ca

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