VITAL FEW
iINFO BELOW FROM THE DANCEWORKS WEBSITE
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What begins as a six figured human sculpture set to the nostalgic strains of Caruso singing Bizet - shot through an elegant gramophone effect - explodes into an array of sight and sound ranging from sharp shadowy projections to tech-oriented aural effect that highlights the movement that a half dozen dancers execute beautifully and rigorously throughout a 65 minute tour de force.
The beauty of the projections battles a little and draws slight focus away from the onstage movement, and yet the simple yet complementary reflective mylar floor panels, and the casual costuming demand a fragmented back and forth attention for a thrilling evening of multi-disiciplinary dance theatre that evokes film, spectacle, athletic display - all rife with diverse influences from ballet to seemingly effortless gliding and gymnastic expertise as bodies flail and fly through a series of close knit group effort and individual expertise.
Structurally, the program moves seamlessly from the historic strains of an iconic opera singer into more contemporary musical modes and then back again - leaving the audience, in the final moments, with a thrilling and deftly executed sculptural creation assembled by the ensemble from the mylar floor they have been salling across all evening.
The men's costumes, although featuring their fine buxom presence, tend to bewilder a touch as the casual nature of their almost rugby'esque rehearsal duds might have been a little more akin to the neutral, less associative clothing the women were wearing. The gender balance is al little too cis-genderly sharp here, and given the company's pure innovation, and the eclectic presence of projections, music, and a startlingly playful sculptural finale through object and a summarizing mylar mountainscape - well, the men might have been clad in something a tad more tabula rasa and a little less track and field.
But there is never a dull moment as Company 605's newest creation moves them "into new physical territory to further explore the essence of unison and togetherness, the negotiation of group dynamics, and the preservation of self inside the collective consciousness."
BATEMAN REVIEWS
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The beauty of the projections battles a little and draws slight focus away from the onstage movement, and yet the simple yet complementary reflective mylar floor panels, and the casual costuming demand a fragmented back and forth attention for a thrilling evening of multi-disiciplinary dance theatre that evokes film, spectacle, athletic display - all rife with diverse influences from ballet to seemingly effortless gliding and gymnastic expertise as bodies flail and fly through a series of close knit group effort and individual expertise.
Structurally, the program moves seamlessly from the historic strains of an iconic opera singer into more contemporary musical modes and then back again - leaving the audience, in the final moments, with a thrilling and deftly executed sculptural creation assembled by the ensemble from the mylar floor they have been salling across all evening.
The men's costumes, although featuring their fine buxom presence, tend to bewilder a touch as the casual nature of their almost rugby'esque rehearsal duds might have been a little more akin to the neutral, less associative clothing the women were wearing. The gender balance is al little too cis-genderly sharp here, and given the company's pure innovation, and the eclectic presence of projections, music, and a startlingly playful sculptural finale through object and a summarizing mylar mountainscape - well, the men might have been clad in something a tad more tabula rasa and a little less track and field.
But there is never a dull moment as Company 605's newest creation moves them "into new physical territory to further explore the essence of unison and togetherness, the negotiation of group dynamics, and the preservation of self inside the collective consciousness."
BATEMAN REVIEWS
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“Wow. Just… Wow.... riveting—physically, sonically, and visually. By now, local dance audiences know Company 605 for its visceral embrace of hybrid forms, as displayed in productions that have encompassed ballet, contact improv, hip-hop, and jazz dance styles along with elements of gymnastics and martial arts. Speed and precision have been the troupe’s hallmarks, and those are still present in Vital Few, which often seems uncanny in the way its six dancers move with the unforced synchronization of flocking birds.... 65 minutes of excellence.”
–Alexander Varty, The Georgia Straight (Vancouver), March 2016
info below from online source:
Vital Few highlights autonomy and responsibility within a collective consciousness. Based on individual dancers’ choice-making within a group dynamic, the six dancers - Laura Avery, Hayden Fong, Josh Martin, Renee Sigouin, Jessica Wilkie, and Sophia Wolfe - share in the creative process, forming a moving sculpture of the group body, the whole greater than the sum of its parts. Directed by Co-Artistic Directors Lisa Gelleyand Josh Martin, Vital Few incarnates the struggle of coexistence within set parameters and finite space in this hyper-connected dance.
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Check out “605 Collective in rehearsal” by David Cooper on Vimeo.
The video is available for your viewing pleasure at https://vimeo.com/97354339
The video is available for your viewing pleasure at https://vimeo.com/97354339
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Vital Few had its world premiere at the Vancouver International Dance Festival in March, then toured throughout British Columbia, followed by three dates in Quebec including Montreal and Quebec City. It heads to Edmonton (May 26-27) and then Ottawa for the Canada Dance Festival (June 9) after its DanceWorks Toronto appearance on May 7.
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