Dances for a Small Stage^®

National Arts Centre - Fourth Stage

Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 9:30PM

Friday, May 1, 2009 at 9:30PM

Mix fabulous contemporary dance, an intimate cabaret space and a ridiculously small stage, and find yourself at Dances for a Small Stage®: Ottawa. MovEnt’s Day Helesic and Julie-anne Saroyan bring their hot Vancouver series to BC Scene, opening the doors on a fresh, up-close-and-personal view of West Coast dance. Eight visionary choreographers bring their unique interpretations to the “small stage.”

Artistic Director of Co. Vision Selective as well as Co-Artistic Director of celebrated company The Holy Body Tattoo, Noam Gagnon creates and performs Unfold me, a choreography of passion and vulnerability.

Co-Artistic Producer and principal choreographer of MovEnt, Day Helesic’s Before I Sleep discovers a woman whose fear keeps her from rest.

Artistic Director of the response, Amber Funk Barton delivers a solo which fearlessly fuses hip hop, ballet and contemporary dance.

Shay Kuebler, the hyperkinetic 23-year old who burst onto Vancouver’s dance scene three years ago, dances with energy so infectious that audiences want to leap right out of their seats and join him.

Alvin Erasga Tolentino of Co. Erasga is renowned for his dynamic, hybrid performance works exploring Asian culture and contemporary western issues of identity.

Cori Caulfield of Coriograph Theatre, with her trademark precision movement and statuesque form, creates and performs Aureole, a new choreography.

Chengxin Wei, Co-Artistic Director of Moving Dragon, creates and performs a new choreography exploring Asian traditions and western contemporary movement.

Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg of Tara Cheyenne Performance, well known for her hilarious, character-driven dance theatre works, presents the fantastically outrageous Melissa: your new youth leader.

Chengxin Wei is the recipient of the 2009 David Leighton Arts Fellowship