35 days until DanceWeekend 25th Anniversary Edition!
Catch a performance by Canadian Comtemporary Dance Theatre on Sunday January 21 at 2pm at DanceWeekend 25th Anniversary Edition!
Read on to find out more about them!
- Can you tell us a little bit about your company/collective/school?
Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre is a repertory company of exceptional young artists founded in 1980 by Artistic Director Deborah Lundmark and Managing Director Michael deConinck Smith. Today the Company tailors programs for a diversity of audiences and venues, selecting repertoire from more than one hundred international commissions. Presentation highlights include appearances at Toronto’s Princess of Wales and Royal Alexandra Theatres and five invitations to the Canada Dance Festival in Ottawa. As a pioneering dance touring company, CCDT has introduced 300,000 young people to dance through its Ontario Arts Access program and undertaken extensive national tours spanning Vancouver to Quebec City. Farther afield, the Company has performed in Singapore, Malaysia, China and Scotland. Culminating a three-decade relationship with the José Limón Dance Company, CCDT performed to standing ovations at New York City’s storied Joyce Theater as part of its sister company’s historic 70th anniversary International Dance Festival.
- What will you be showing at DanceWeekend?
We will be showing a recent premiere, Unhush by Apolonia Velasquez from our December WinterSong – dances for a sacred season program.
- Can you talk about your creative process? What inspires you?
In Unhush choreographer Apolonia Velasquez was inspired by the program’s winter solstice theme to explore the contemporary side of understanding the solstice, in that we now realize that the sun’s fall toward seemingly endless night will not last forever. With this knowledge, we no longer fearfully wonder if the sun will resurface. Waiting for the returning light, we pause before diving back into the golden sea for our second chance. Equally inspired by her cast of CCDT dancers and original music by renowned Toronto-based electric violinist Dr. Draw, Velasquez drew from her street dance background to create a rhythmic and powerful work of exacting precision, intricacy, and athleticism.
- Do you have any other up-coming performances/events you would like to share?
CCDT will be in London at the Palace Theatre March 21-23, Kitchener at the Registry and Eastwood Arts School Theatres April 25-28, and at Fleck Dance Theatre May 22-27.
- What is one thing you love most about your dance community?
We love the generosity of spirit shared by our peers.
- What does performing at the 25th Annual DanceWeekend mean to you?
25 years of presenting dance is a clear statement – We are here to stay! – by a key player in the Toronto dance scene. We are honoured to be part of the celebration.
- What is one surprising/interesting fact about your company/collective/school?
A surprizing fact about CCDT is that even after 37 years, with all the myriad distractions of modern life, twelve extraordinary young artists show up every fall and passionately throw themselves into the art of dance.
Photo by: David Hou