Fringe Festival of Independent Dance Artists, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Toronto, August 15-24, 1997 - Brief Article

Dance Magazine, Dec, 1997 by Lewis Hertzman

BUDDIES IN BAD TIMES THEATRE, TORONTO AUGUST 15-24, 1997 REVIEWED BY LEWIS HERTZMAN

The many participants in Toronto's fringe Festival of Independent Dance Artists (fFIDA) are chosen not by jury, but by lottery among artists with some performance background. Even so, there was more an enough quality to sustain in the interest an enthusiasm of the 9,000 who attended this year's event. Eighteen mainstage programs covered a great variety of styles and themes ranging from banal to sophisticated, and from ordinary to unusual.

Now in its seventh season, fFIDA has become a venue of choice for many young artists trying out their wings. This year more than 300 independent dance artists appeared, coming mainly from Canada but also from the U.S., Japan, Sweden, Mexico, and Venezuela. With judicious choice, it was not difficult to discover talented performers and some very good choreography.

Mariko Tanabe's performance of Benoit Lachambre's Gliding the Volcano, which was based on Tanabe's own life and movement vocabulary, was a bizarre introspection. Memories of past friendships and loves emerged in fragments amid a mass of sunflower seeds, both real and in photographs. She began, it seemed, as a North American woman speaking English, but ended almost butoh-fashion in Japanese, somewhere in mid-Pacific.

A delightful, completely extroverted contrast was the piece presented by the six members of NorrDans, a young company resident in the north of Sweden. Their piece, Morkvitt ("Dark White"), by Jessica Iwanson, bore a strong allusion to the snowy winter landscape of their country. In rehearsal, the dancers began work outdoors on a frozen beach so that they could experience the daily changing qualities of snow and ice in a new way; they then attempted to bring their impressions into the studio. The dancers not only managed to convey their feelings toward the rigors of the land, but even their thoughts about relationships and love, both collectively and as individuals. The choreographic patterns, while not remarkable in themselves, were well executed and pleasingly clear.

A striking solo was Michael Trent's Acts of Light, choreographed, designed, and performed by himself. With an interesting light prop that at times shifted planes, he proceeded through three segments, "Chiaroscuro," "Reflection," and "Speed," with multiple changes of feeling and pace for each. The work felt experimental, even mechanical, at times, not unlike Bauhaus choreography. But it was filled with strong, highly expressive movement reminiscent of Martha Graham (who choreographed a dance with the same title).

Michael Downing's Tripping Beauty (with choreographic credit shared by performers Jhe Russell and Elisanda Moya) was a clever spoof on a familiar ballet fairy tale. When Russell, as the prince, stepped up to a microphone and began a rap version of The Sleeping Beauty, it turned hilarious.

Russell also appeared in Roberto Campanella's excellent The Soul in the Body. . ., this time as a magician conjuring visions of love, humor, and violence in human relations. Using fine dancers recruited mainly from the National Ballet of Canada, and free movement based in the ballet idiom, Campanella created several sharply etched and surprising scenes, including a riveting combat (almost Greco-Roman in feeling) between Robert Conn and Christopher Body, who were later found erotically a trois with Joanna Ivey, and a vigorous pas de deux for Russell and a bare-breasted Jennifer Lynn Dick. Story elements were more evocative than linear, as transitions reflected the young magician's erratic thoughts and uncertain emotions. The Soul in the Body. . . was a strong first piece by an emerging talent.