Prairie Dance Circuit offers a multiplicity of movement

Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers produced a harvest bounty of five premieres last weekend, courtesy of the second annual touring production Prairie Dance Circuit. The two shows were held Oct. 28 and 28 at the Rachel Browne Theatre, before wrapping a four-city Western Canadian tour next month.

The PDC is a collaborative network of five artistic directors based in Calgary, Edmonton, Regina and Winnipeg, which last year featured emerging dance artists from each of those Prairie cities. This time around, PDC showcased solos and duets by the directors themselves — with fascinating results.
Davida Monk’s (Calgary’s Dancers Studio West) riveting solo, Under Cover of Darkness, is simple in construct yet razor sharp in its message. Wearing pedestrian pants and top, Monk struggles to remove a hoodie — clothing as carapace — while drawn to another T-shirt laying downstage. The defiant shedding of her metaphorical skin like a snake only to don (and shed) another layer becomes a transformative journey about identity. Her final ecstatic dance to Habil-Sajahy’s cello/piano score speaks loudly to the need for self-acceptance.

The most startling work is Brian Webb’s (Edmonton’s Brian Webb Dance Company) 30% gone, choreographed after experiencing a heart attack last October. The 25-minute solo begins with Webb recounting a tale of his dying father. He then proceeds to take a walk on the wild side by stripping and strutting down a brightly lit runway like a model in defiance of age. When Edmonton composer Dave Wallace’s electronic score jolts - like nightmarish EKG blips — a flailing Webb onto the floor, the effect is harrowing. When he rises again, silently tracing a blood vein to his heart, the work becomes a gripping, brutally honest tale of personal survival.

Another piece about the ravages of time — albeit through the lens of inter-generational relationships — is Brent Lott’s (Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers) The Occasion of our Passing. The mature duet performed by Lott with WCD company member Sarah Roche resonates with an emotional poignancy borne of experience, as the two dancers lock eyes as much as they do arms for physical support.
Quiver, by Nicole Mion (Calgary’s Springboard Performance), is an introspective solo interpreted by James Gnam. The Vancouver-based dancer performs the abstract piece with Butoh-like grace and fluidity that steadily grows in intensity.

The fifth work of the 110-minute show is Robin Poitras’ (Regina’s New Dance Horizons) soft foot, choreographed as interplay of myth and body memory inspired by stellar constellation Ursa Major.
Poitras creates pure candy as lithe dancer Ziyian Kwan navigates long rods and furry bear shoes dramatically lit – as with the entire show by - Edmonton’s David Fraser.