Divergent Dances for Windows and Walls
BE DAZZLED BY THE DEFT MOVES OF THE ANANDAM DANCETHEATRE
Story by Rebecca Poyton-Murray
If you’re currently busy filling up your summer event schedule, a unique exhibit to add to the list is Anandam Dancetheatre’s latest choreographic project with the Bata Shoe Museum. Using the museum’s interior and exterior architecture, and led by Artistic Director Brandy Leary, the dance troupe combines dance and aerial arts in their new show. “Divergent Dances for Windows and Walls” is the second of three installments in The Precipice Project, a multi-year collaboration with the Museum.
Leary found she was continuously being asked if she ever fell while using aerial dance ropes, so she decided to turn this question into her latest art form. “I suddenly realized last year that this was a genuine question from people; so I decided to explore the idea of falling and how we, the dancers, can take care of each other and collaborate together with this idea.”
Using the walls, stairs and doors of the museum, the dancers manipulate their bodies to the building’s features and also to each other (sometimes in pairs or threes) in order to show how humans can interact with both architecture and one another. The audience is simultaneously invited to take a journey through the Museum with the dancers, and have an opportunity to see freestyle movements, even becoming active participants. “We ask to help with carrying or lifting to create direct interaction. We did start off with a set choreography, with moves such as rolling down stairs, however we switch it up as we go.”
Set to stirring instrumental music, this presentation is sure to take you on a creative journey full of curiosity and inspiration.
Divergent Dances for Windows and Walls
Preview: July 24th
Performances: July 25th, 26th, 27th and 28th
Bata Shoe Museum
327 Bloor Street West, Toronto
