Mainstage A

Two distinct Mainstage programs showcase diverse, accomplished and innovative Canadian artists.

Friday, May 30th | 8pm | Gala/Talkback | 9:30pm | $28
Saturday, May 31st | 4pm | $20
Co-operators Hall, River Run Centre, Guelph, Ontario
| $5

DANCETHEATRE DAVID EARLE [Guelph]
Ray Charles Suite

Choreographer: David Earle

In the Ray Charles Suite, David Earle remembers his teenage years - attending rock-&-roll concerts at Maple Leaf Gardens and performing at high school dances to that "voice like an open wound"--Ray Charles. This piece satirizes the culture of the 50s, from tacky t.v. dance routines to the glamour of Astaire and Rogers.

Photo by Frank Richards

David Earle was a student with the National Ballet School of Canada (from 1959 to 1963) and the Martha Graham School in New York (1964-66). He co-founded the Toronto Dance Theatre where he operated in a variety of roles for 28 years, including those of Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer. In 1979, he founded the School of Toronto Dance Theatre's Professional Training Program, where he choreographed 75 dance works. Since establishing Dancetheatre David Earle, Mr. Earle has created another 47 dance works; whether he is teaching at Temple Studios in Guelph or at one of many universities, he continues to train and inspire the next generation of modern dancers through professional classes. Throughout his distinguished career, Mr. Earle has received many honours and awards, including the Press Award from France's Grand Prix International de vidéo-danse de Sète, a Gemini Award, the Clifford E. Lee Award from the Banff Festival of the Arts, the Dora Mavor Moore Award, the Toronto Arts Award for performing arts, the Jean A. Chalmers Award, the Muriel Sherrin Award, the Canada Council's Jacqueline Lemieux Prize, an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the Faculty of Education at Queen's University, the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts, and the Order of Canada.

SINHA DANSE [Montréal]
Apricot Trees Exist (2004)

Choreographer: Roger Sinha

Apricot Trees Exist is inspired by alphabet, the celebrated epic poem by Danish experimentalist Inger Christensen. It is Roger Sinha's ode to the metaphysical in everyday life, in which the visionary, philosophical quality of Christensen's poem is transformed into movement. Simple references to the everyday, such as trees, doves, fruit, or paper, give way to deeply resonant states of reflection such that the mundane and miraculous become interconnected. Sinha weaves together such dualities of the mundane and miraculous, life and destruction so that their interdependence is highlighted: his dancers stride between the intimate and the universal, control and abandon, connection and aloneness. Never far from the surface is Sinha's particular meshing of Eastern and Western dance influences, a perfect complement to a work on the interplay of all things. Sinha combines mudras (hand gestures) and the rhythmic footwork of Indian dance with the full-body movements of modern, ballet and martial arts.

Photo of David Flenelling and Magdalena Nowecka

Roger Sinha, Artistic Director of Sinha Danse, has presented his works both nationally and internationally. His Indian heritage offers him inspiration and a tradition by which he shapes a modern expression of his reality. His work uses the universality of the body to explore cultural harmony and dissonance, particularly the collision of East and West. Beautifully expressive mudras (hand gestures) and the rhythmically complex footwork of Indian dance combine with the full body movements of modern, ballet and the martial arts. Critical successes include Burning Skin (1992), LOHA (2000), THOK (2002), Apricots Trees Exist (2004) and Benches (2006).

Trial & Eros [Montréal]
Wuthering Heights (2007)

Choreographer: Deborah Dunn

Inspired by Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, Nocturnes explores the darker side of romantic love. Six characters, finding themselves in three couples, enact the themes of desire, possession and loss within a piece that unites melancholy and humour. The score mixes pieces by David Cronkite, which were inspired by Chopin's Nocturnes, with three original Nocturnes. The costumes by Deborah Dunn, Josée Gagnon and Sarah Tracey are a gorgeous hybrid of Victorian and contemporary design.

Photo by Nicolas Ruel
Photo of Sara Hanley, Sonya Stefan, Audrée Juteau.

Incorporated in Vancouver in 1993 and then officially relocating to Montreal in 2001, Trial & Eros is now in its fourteenth season, operating as a non-profit company devoted to the research, creation and production of new dance theatre. Though the company stays abreast of contemporary aesthetics and is known for its sophisticated visuals, the work is also concerned with social commentary, historical inquiry and humour. Since its debut, Trial & Eros has produced almost fifty works, starting with "Pandora's Books," "Sink," The Little Queen," and "Fuse, Sink and Pox" in the 90's where poetry and history drove lyrical inquiry. "Fuse," a precise and stark piece, has since been performed over fifty times across Canada and in New York City. More recently, the company presented its first full evening of dance in Montreal in January 2001: "The Birds, Le jardin mécanique et Fuse" was well-received by both the public and critics and went on to tour for the next three years. In 2003/04 in Toronto and Montreal, the company presented "Blackmail," a full-length trio with music by Diane Labrosse. Deborah Dunn, Trial and Eros's choreographer, also created two text-based solos, "Burnt Norton" and "Macbeth's Wife," which have been touring the country actively. In December 2005, Trial & Eros premiered its latest creation, the sumptuous quintet "Elegant Heathens" in Calgary, Montreal and at the Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival in June 2007.