With her love of theatre, dance and writing, Ashima Suri jumped on the opportunity to write for Mooney On Theatre. Ashima is an award-winning established dance artist with her own dance theatre company called Limitless Productions. In her own work, she uses art as a tool for social change. As a reviewer, she seeks out shows that speak to the diversity in the community. She loves to watch innovative shows that break the norms and challenge the audiences.
Emily, played by Jacqueline Byers, sits in front of the projection screen watching dancers stretch, jump and turn. The dance sequence on the screen grabs all her attention. Nothing else seems to matter. As an audience member walking into the Randolph Theatre, this image of Emily in the front of the screen is the first thing I see. Intrigued by what will happen next, I sit down comfortably to watch Here presented by Fulcrum Theatre as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival.
Video on a projection screen, some good lyrical dancing and a little suspense is a great way to start a show and get the audience’s attention right away. The story is centered on the character of Emily (who incidentally really resembles the actress, Keira Knightley). Emily is a small town Sudbury girl who dreams of being a dancer when suddenly an accident changes her fate forever. When she finds out she can’t dance, Emily is forced to face reality and start again.
No Permanent Answers consist of two unique contemporary dance performances choreographed by Angela Blumberg and Tracey Norman. This Toronto Fringe Festival dance production boasts some of the finest contemporary dancers in Toronto. The strength and maturity of the dancers was apparent as they danced their hearts out on the Randolph Theatre stage.
Having been previously trained in the Indian classical dance form, Bharatanatyam, I was intrigued to see Paromita Kar dance to a similar dance form called Odissi. Dressed in a beautiful traditional attire, Paromita graced the Theatre Passé Muraille stage with delicate hand gestures and strong foot work.
The most interesting part of Corpus Matris was Paromita’s expressions! Have you ever seen someone make funny faces to a baby? Where the eyes seem to expand and the mouth takes on a whole new shape. Similarly, in laughter yoga, facial muscles are used to create a variety of different expressions. And that is exactly what Paromita did in her performance. From showing us her big bold eyes, to showing her passionate rage, it was entertaining to watch this classically trained dancer.
Steven Gallagher in Stealing Sam had me laughing, crying and on my feet clapping loudly by the end of the show. Whatever he was selling throughout his stellar performance, I bought into it. If you are looking for a Toronto Fringe show that tells a compelling honest story then Stealing Sam at the Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse is a show you don’t want to miss!
Now what would you expect if you see an average-looking middle-aged man dragging his medium-sized suitcase with him as he walked on to the stage? That maybe you are about to see a show of a typical business-like man who is possibly leaving town? Or maybe that he has a dead body inside his big suitcase and that body happens to be Sam? Neither of which is true. What you see is not always what you get. And that really is the underlying premise of the whole story.
Six athletic ladies move gracefully across the stage in a mixture of contemporary dance routines for the opening of the Fringe show, Piece of Mind, at the Robert Gill Theatre.
Being an avid fan of dance, I was especially excited to see the show. It was non-stop movement as my eyes moved from one dancer to the next.
