38 days until Dance Ontario’s DanceWeekend’20. Our countdown continues with George Brown Dance!
Connect with George Brown Dance:
Facebook: @georgebrowndance
Instagram: @gb_dance
Can you tell us little bit about your company/collective/school?
George Brown Dance is a partnership between Canada’s Ballet Jörgen and George Brown College. The George Brown College Dance programs offer exceptional professional technical training in the heart of downtown Toronto. The unique leadership of Canada’s Ballet Jörgen’s expert instructors graduates students with the skills, confidence and connections necessary for employment in a wide range of dance performance settings. Students and faculty have built a strong community that offers continuous support and encouragement at school and beyond.
What are showing at DanceWeekend’20?
George Brown Dance will be showing two works: intersection by GBD Associate Director Derek Sangster and Gen Z by Irma Villafuerte
Who are the performers/collaborators in this piece(s)?
Performers consists of both current GBD students as well as recent Alumni.
Can you talk about your creative process? What inspires you?
Both these works first premiered at UNLEASHED 2019 at the Betty Oliphant Theatre in April 2019.
intersection – Is based on recent time spent in Berlin. I explored the city for a few days, ending up at the East Side Gallery. Along with my own personal historical fascination, the pulse of the city transported me back to the sense of NYC in the early 90s. The idea of the intersection of people, time and events in my own life resurfaced as the old divided Berlin gave way to the developing city it has evolved into and continues to become. It was beautiful yet heartbreaking, inspirational yet respectful of its past, and it forced me to see things with both eyes wide open for the first time in a very long time.
Gen Z – This work is inspired by the dancers and my recent research on generational memories. Memories we hold that we can’t recall, fond memories we hold to obscure the bad, and the desire to connect to the ancestors we don’t know.
Please share your experience performing in a previous DanceWeekend and/or tell us what you are looking forward to at DanceWeekend’20?
Performing at Dance Ontario is always a highlight of our academic year at GBD. It is a time to reconnect with recent alumni, to remount and create new works and to have the opportunity to share.
Do you have any up-coming performances/events you would like to share?
IN HAUS – Dec 12 & 13 5pm GBD studios @ GBC Casa Loma Campus 160 Kendal Ave.
UNLEASHED 2020 – April 3 & 4, 2020 Betty Oliphant Theatre