East Africa meets flamenco as New Works' All Over the Map wraps up its season outdoors August 13
Four globe-spanning performances from dance and music artists take place on Granville Island
Jhoely Triana in Arboles. Photo by Lula-Belle Jedynak
New Works presents All Over the Map at the Granville Island Picnic Pavillion on August 13 at 1 and 3 pm
THERE’S NOTHING LIKE spending a summer afternoon outdoors, soaking up the sunshine while enjoying free dance and music performances—and New Works delivers just that this weekend with the final installment of All Over the Map.
Presented in partnership with CMHC Granville Island, the event on August 13 closes out the annual series with four performances from diverse artists.
Ugandan dancer-drummer-educator Edward Sembatya kicks off the afternoon with MDUNDO WA EAST AFRICA, a varied mix of movements and rhythmic sequences that pull their inspiration from East African tribes. Featuring Erich Neitz, Angelique Muhorakeye, and Eavan Blue, the trio choreographed by Sembatya derives its title from the Swahili term “Mdundo”, the meaning of which can be interpreted as “rhythms”.
Sembatya is pursuing his PhD in contemporary arts at SFU, where he’s studying how the traditions of East African Indigenous dances translate into present-day contemporary dance. As choreographer and director of Dance Theatre Uganda, he explores the diversification and decolonisation of movement practice with his works.
Next on the lineup is Fiana Kawane, performing excerpts of her piece Nrityavandan: Ode to Dance. Kawane practices the North Indian classical dance style of Kathak, and has over a decade of training under her belt with renowned matriarch Kumudini Lakhia at the India-based dance conservatoire Kadamb.
Set to original Hindustani classical music, Nrityavandan: Ode to Dance highlights the footwork, pirouettes, and lyrical stylings of traditional Kathak compositions like “thumri” and “tarana”.
Later in the day, Colombian-born flamenco dancer Jhoely Triana takes to the outdoor stage with her work Arboles (Trees), a metaphorical representation of honouring one’s roots and growing to new heights.
Triana developed the piece with the guidance of Dance West Network’s DADAO (Des Arts Dehors / Arts Outside) professional support program. Through live flamenco song, guitar, and percussion, Arboles conveys a myriad of emotions, from loss to perseverance.
The fourth performance to catch at All Over the Map, The Lichenized Movement, is by Alyssa Amarshi, Thelonious Lee Dexter, and Kevin Li of the dance collective Earthen Bodies. With a combination of movement meditations, non-linear motion, and atmospheric noise, the dancers explore the cosmic existence of lichen, a fungus-algae organism known to survive some of the harshest conditions on Earth.
More information is here.
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