Stir Cheat Sheet: 3 works worth catching at the Dancing on the Edge festival

Studies in math and an industrial fan are just some of the unexpected touches on the event’s mixed programs

By Janet Smith

Windshear. Photo by Isabelle Michaud

1,000 Pieces of π.

THE 37TH ANNUAL Dancing on the Edge, running from June 12 to 21, spans every flavour of contemporary choreography.

Think risks, surprises, and general Edge-iness. The fest’s offerings from here and across the world (visiting troupes include Manu Badás from Spain and Mehdi Dakhan from France) draw on everything from Taiwanese folklore to math calculations.

Below, three works that look promising—including a couple on the mixed Edge programs—though there are many more worth sampling.

#1

Windshear/If I were 2

Inverso Productions, Edge 2 (June 12 at 9 pm and June 13 at 7 pm at the Firehall Arts Centre)

Choreographer Lesley Telford honed her skills at Nederlands Dans Theater and Spain’s Compañía Nacional de Danza, and she’s become one of the city’s smartest and most compelling voices in dance. Edge 2 offers a chance to see Windshear, a piece she debuted at the 2023 Saint Sauveur Festival—a solo performed with an industrial-sized fan to the mesmerizing, minimalistic music of Philip Glass. The whirlwind of a piece was originally created with and for Quebecois-Eritrean dancer Eden Solomon; in this new iteration, Brazilian performer Ysadora Dias takes on the challenging work. Fans can also see a new rendition of Telford’s If I were 2: originally created for Ballet BC (and danced by Emily Chessa and Brandon Alley in 2017), the work now features Eowynn and Isak Enquist. The piece plays with ideas of twinning and reflection. Inspired by the Narcissus myth, it explores the subjectivity of our perceptions—and now Telford has apparently added new inspiration from Naomi Klein’s Doppelgänger, in which the author ties the concepts of the evil twin or shadow self into the distortions of opinion in today’s political echo chambers. Vancouver poet Barbara Adler provides the layered text.

1,000 Pieces of π by Broken Rhythms Dance Company. Photo by Hélène Cyr

#2

1,000 Pieces of π

Broken Rhythms Dance Company, Edge 4 (June 14 at 7pm and June 15 at 7pm at the Firehall Arts Centre)

The concept for this Victoria company’s work is irresistable—even if you failed math. It plays cleverly on the constraints of the never-ending, never-repeating pi sequence of numbers—with the emphasis on plays. Choreographer and Broken Rhythms artistic director Dyana Sonik-Henderson has built the entire show from only 10 dance moves, each given a corresponding number (1 is run, 2 is jump, 3 is slide, et cetera). The goal is to reach the 1,000th number of π in under 50 minutes. If the whole concept has you feeling math anxiety, the piece is about that too: 1,000 Pieces of π actually grew out of the choreographer’s own struggles with math, and building movement patterns to memorize sequencing—and conquer her own fears. You might even learn a little about numbers while enjoying the rhythmic dance. The show has won multiple Pick of the Fringe awards in its travels.

Tunnel 9. Photo by Barry Go

#3

Tunnel 9

Fila 13 Productions, Edge 6 (June 20 at 7 pm and June 21 at 9 pm at the Firehall Arts Centre)

Decades of talent converge in this strange little work on the Edge 6 program. First, you have Colombian-born, Montreal-based choreographer Lina Cruz, who’s just been nominated for one of Ontario’s prestigious Dora Mavor Moore Awards (and already has a couple of those prizes to her name). Then you have the two performers: Claudia Moore, the founding artistic director of Moonhorse Dance Theatre who was once a star performer at the Desrosiers Dance Theatre, and Sean Ling-Allen, who performed for the likes of Peggy Baker Dance Projects, Toronto Dance Theatre, and Alberta Ballet. Aside from that, the piece just looks like a cool study of two hooded figures plunged into an imaginary, and highly metaphorical, tunnel. Veteran musician Philippe Noireaut creates the atmospheric soundtrack.

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