By Michael Crabb It’s mid-October, almost six weeks until the premiere of the National Ballet of Canada’s two-million-dollar aspiring blockbuster, MADDADDAM, and much remains to be done. “There were four weeks I was really making material,” says the acclaimed British choreographer Wayne McGregor. “I was trying to invent, to get stuff out of my head,
By Michael Crabb Toronto’s 2019-2020 dance season was heralded in October by the fifth annual edition of Fall For Dance North, a sampler of Canadian and foreign companies representing everything from meticulously stylized Indian classical dance to no-holds-barred urban moves, frequently with live musical accompaniment. Apart from FFDN’s high profile mainstage shows, made as affordable
by Michael Crabb The problem with many garden-variety ballet galas is the monotony of star turns in bravura classical pas de deux. Although the second Canada All Star Ballet Gala convened at Toronto’s Sony Centre in October cleaved to the duet format, with offerings often extracted from longer works, the extraordinary variety of choreography, most