A celebration of dance and theatre from Japan at Canadian Stage in Toronto
I tend to be quite skeptical about dance shows. For the most part I seem to either love them or hate them so in general I just try and stay away from them. However, Haptic and Holistic Strata I couldn’t resist. After seeing Political Mother also presented by Canadian Stage, I had a pretty good feeling about the dance pieces in the Spotlight Japan festival.
I watched two shows performed by dancer and choreographer Hiroaki Umeda. The first one, Haptic is a piece that is set to music that I can only describe as “noise”. As soon as the lights went out there was the sound of static in the air. The music gradually built to a piercing electronic frenzy and the dancing matched it perfectly.
Spent, playing at Toronto’s Young Centre for the Performing Arts is a theatrical look at the 2008 market crash through a comedic lens
I spent a rainy Valentine’s Day in the Distillery district eating mussels and oysters and watching a theatre show. The show was planned, everything else just seem to fit in nicely around it. My husband and I watched Spent at the Young Centre. A show I had wanted to watch since it first opened in 2010. And it was definitely worth the wait!
In the last couple of years Spent has been performed all over the world by Ravi Jain and Adam Paolozza. Two absolutely hilarious guys who play over 20 characters and put on at least a dozen different convincing accents. The show looks at the economic market crash of 2008 through a comedic lens. It’s subject matter that unfortunately most of us can relate to.
Fifty years ago an adventure in theatre began. Ed Mirvish purchased the beautiful Royal Alexandra Theatre on King Street West. Nestled in the middle of a disused industrial area, the theatre, like the neighbourhood, had been neglected for years. Mirvish restored and renovated the theatre, and revitalized the area. Today the neighbourhood is unrecognizable. Similarly, Mirvish launched a new era in Toronto theatre, ushering in a local commercial segment, which helped to grow the talent pool and the industry to one of the largest and best in the world. Continue reading Announcement: The Mirvish 2013-2014 Season – 14 Shows including LES MISÉRABLES, Disney’s ALADDIN, ONCE and Disney’s THE LION KING→
The National Ballet of Canada delivers the perfect Christmas show in the Nutcracker at Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre
When I was five my mom enrolled me in a ballet class, which other than being excited about wearing a pink tutu, was definitely not my thing. In an attempt to somehow infect her love of the art form into me, I was dragged to see a performance during which I was extremely bored and shushed the entire time. I was not impressed. Since then I have never really been keen on attending the ballet but when an opportunity to watch the The National Ballet of Canada‘s Nutcracker came up I somehow couldn’t pass it up.
And I’m so glad I didn’t. The almost 30 year old me had a very different take on the ballet. I really enjoyed it and seeing so many kids in the audience really getting into the show and then being shushed by their parents made me chuckle to myself. Continue reading Review: The Nutcracker (National Ballet of Canada)→
I tend to be quite skeptical about dance shows. For the most part I seem to either love them or hate them so in general I just try and stay away from them. However, Haptic and Holistic Strata I couldn’t resist. After seeing Political Mother also presented by Canadian Stage, I had a pretty good feeling about the dance pieces in the Spotlight Japan festival.
