Canadian Dance Icons Peter Bingham and Denise Fujiwara Headline International Line-Up at MOonhORsE Dance Theatre

Older & Reckless, MOonhORsE Dance Theatre's celebrated series curated by Artistic Director Claudia Moore, continues its 2012/13 season with 2 SOLOS | A DUET | AN ENSEMBLE featuring ten dance artists from around the globe in works by Canadian choreographers Peter Bingham, Denise Fujiwara, Peter Chin and Nancy Latoszewski (Greyeyes). Edition #28 of Older and Reckless runs March 8 to 10 at Dancemakers Centre for Creation.

Vancouver contact improvisation master Peter Bingham presents Romantic Old Horses, a stunning duet for Daelik (Vancouver) and Kostas Gerardos (Greece). An intimate and powerful encounter between two men, the duet draws upon the extensive history of Contact Dance and Improvisation that underlies the careers of both Daelik and Kostas. The dance shifts between playful and highly physical to thoughtful and imagistic. Danced to the music of Robert Schumann, the duet reflects a long, deep friendship between two men.

Additionally, at 10am on Saturday March 9, Daelik and Kostas will conduct a workshop/master class entitled Back to the Future (exploring the back space). It is a contact improvisation class with specific focus on the "back space" as an area for discovery and motivation, aimed at professional dancers and dance students in their final year of training.

Choreographer Denise Fujiwara brings an excerpt of Eunoia to the stage. This compelling dance work is based on the 2002 Griffin Prize-winning work of the same name by poet Christian Bök. In the poem, the author imposed upon himself the severe constraint of working with only one vowel in each chapter. In the dance, Fujiwara uses the poem as text (spoken live and in multi-media projections) as a basis for the musical score, multimedia expressions and the movement invention. Like the poem, the dance work is rigorous, witty, unpredictable and frequently droll. Eunoia features six acclaimed dance artists: Sylvie Bouchard, Claudia Moore, Lucy Rupert, Miko Sobreira, Rebecca Hope Terry and Gerry Trentham, with a stellar creation team that includes composer Phil Strong and media designer Justin Stephenson.

Rounding out the program is the incomparable Peter Chin, artistic director of Tribal Crackling Wind, in a brand new solo work, con/Tempo/rare; and Nancy Latoszewski (Greyeyes), co-artistic director of Signal Theatre, performing her solo, Carriage.

And the public doesn't need to just stand on the sidelines - they can sign up for an introductory hip-hop workshop for adults with Apolonia Velasquez and Ofilio Sinbadinho (both of Gadfly), 5:30pm on Saturday, March 9 ($10). And they are invited to join in a gentle and rejuvenating audience warm-up prior to each performance; and to stay for an after-party and a chance to talk one-on-one with the artists.

Peter Bingham was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on May 31, 1951. Raised in an air force family, he lived in many towns and cities across Canada before returning to make Vancouver his home. While studying at Simon Fraser University, Bingham discovered dance with Linda Rubin, his first teacher. She introduced him to improvisation and modern dance techniques. In 1976, American dance artists Nancy Stark Smith and Steve Paxton, two of the leading proponents of Contact, visited and taught in Vancouver. Bingham studied with both Paxton and Stark-Smith, becoming a good friend of these artists and a committed practitioner of Contact. In 1977, Bingham co-founded Fulcrum with Andrew Harwood and Helen Clarke. In 1982, Bingham joined seven independent dance artists to form the dance collective, EDAM. As one of the Company's directors, Bingham performed in numerous improvisations and created many choreographed works. In 1989, Bingham became EDAM's sole Artistic Director. Since then, he has implemented the Company's ongoing program of choreographed productions, improvisational projects, workshops, classes and residencies.

Denise Fujiwara began her interesting career in childhood, as a gymnast, when she competed internationally for the Canadian Rhythmic Gymnastics team. Upon completing an Honours B.F.A. in Dance at York University, she became one of the founders of T.I.D.E. (Toronto Independent Dance Enterprise). Here she was instrumental in the creation of a diverse body of work for the now-defunct but still notorious company that danced across Canada for 10 years. In 1991 she formed her own company, Fujiwara Dance Inventions, to house the development of her solo projects.

To date her six solo dance concerts have garnered praise across Canada and have toured to festivals in the United States, South America, Europe and Asia. She has had remarkable mentors including Tokyo Butoh master Natsu Nakajima, Montreal dance pedagogue Elizabeth Langley, the now-disbanded Mangrove Dance Collective of San Francisco, the American theatre director Anne Bogart, and the late great Canadian choreographer Judy Jarvis. In 1997, she co-founded the CanAsian International Dance Festival where she is the Artistic Director. Her work with CanAsian promotes the work and development of dance artists from across Canada and beyond. www.fujiwaradance.com

Peter Chin is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist born in Kingston, Jamaica and based in Toronto. He is active as a musician/composer, dancer/choreographer, performance artist, designer and director. He creates works that potentially engage all of these disciplines, inspired by the Asian paradigm of "Total Theatre".

With mixed Chinese, Black and Irish ancestry, Chin is a true multicultural soul and his rich heritage has been played out through the company's repertoire, giving it a genuine international and global character. Within these creations, performers and creators are directly involved in the meaning of the work, aspiring to the proverbial merging of art and life. Transformation through real ritual, as opposed to a mere representation of ritual is the desire. Peter was Now Magazine's Best of Toronto dancer / choreographer / designer in 2008. He won the 2006 Murriel Sherrin Award for International Achievement in Dance at the Toronto Mayor's Arts Award and is a co-winner of the 2005 inaugural Interdisciplinary KM Hunter Award. Peter has received four Dora Mavor Moore Awards. He founded his company, Tribal Crackling Wind, in 1999. www.tribalcracklingwind.ca

Nancy Latoszewski (Greyeyes) began her dance training in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. She continued her training at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet with Marcia Dale Weary, with Francesca Corkle at the Joffrey Ballet and in New York City with Maggie Black, Simon Dow and David Howard. In 1987, Nancy was awarded Special Recognition for Artistic Achievement at the prestigious New York International Ballet Competition, the only North American dancer to win an award that year. Nancy appeared as a principal dancer with the Alberta Ballet, as a principal dancer with The Cleveland/ San Jose Ballet and as a featured soloist in the company of Eliot Feld in New York City. Nancy is the co-artistic director of Signal Theatre and graduated from York University in June 2012 with a Master of Fine Arts in choreography. She is currently training to become a certified gyrotonics instructor.

Older & Reckless, an informal performance series, features work from OLDER artists who continue to grow more RECKLESS as time goes by. Older & Reckless provides an opportunity for seasoned dance artists to perform short works and a chance for the audience to see some of Canada's most celebrated senior choreographers.

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