The Dance Debrief

Dance reviews from Toronto and beyond.

Photo of Ana, Dree, and Abena in Ara Shushit or "Flower Bodies" by Nickeshia Garrick and Irma Villafuerte.
Dance Review •

Review: Porch View Dances (Kaeja d'Dance)

What is more of a Toronto community event than being led around the city by a quippy drag queen to see contemporary dance works performed by diverse families and friends? Porch View Dances, presented by Kaeja d'Dance, is an annual community dance event in its eleventh year. It engages everyday people to tell stories, create movement and perform on porches, lawns and parks in Toronto's Seaton Village. Still transitioning back to its live format, this year’s event is hybrid in nature, with one live performance, four dance films, an AR experience and a final participatory movement exercise.
Photo by Michael Mortley
Dance Review •

Review: Legacy Tap Dance Concert (dance Immersion and Canadian Stage)

Full of feeling, soul, personality and creativity, the Legacy Tap Dance Concert brings together two Canadian tap dance legends, Travis Knights and Lisa La Touche, in performance and choreography. Together, they perform with a group of tappers, movers and a full band under the musical direction of on-stage drummer Danny Milwalkee. This moving and grooving outdoor show takes place in the beautiful High Park Amphitheatre, and is presented by dance Immersion in association with Canadian Stage.
Virtual Review •

Virtual Review: Let The Elephants Dance (Annual Fundraising Gala 2022)

Let The Elephants Dance is an annual fundraiser presented by Michelle Crossman and dedicated to the importance of mental health awareness. The gala is in its sixth year and this is the second showcase that is virtual. To date, they have donated over $28,000.00 to mental health initiatives in Toronto and have been partnered with The Canadian Mental Health Association and Kids Help Phone since 2016.
Photo by Tiu Makkonen
Virtual Review •

Review: Grin / Minors, Movement, and the Gathering of Data (The Theatre Centre and Battersea Arts Centre)

Grin is a dance film directed and choreographed by Mele Broomes and features two dancers/collaborators, Kemono L.Riot and Divine Tasinda. It focuses on black love and subverting the hyper-sexualized gaze on African and Caribbean dance. The piece slowly builds over forty-five minutes from slight body pulses, tableaus and gestures to grooves, full-body swings and synchronized dance sequences by the duo. There is even some krump and hip hop vocabulary from Kemono L.Riot.

Review: Radical Vitality, Solos and Duets (Compagnie Marie Chouinard / Canadian Stage / TO Live) | Mooney on Theatre

Absolutely absurd yet strangely serene, Radical Vitality is a reimagined collection of Canadian choreographic legend Marie Chouinard‘s work. Presented in part by Canadian Stage and TO Live at the Bluma Appel Theatre, the performance showcases over forty years of short solos and duets from the daring choreographer. I’ve been talking about Marie Chouinard’s infamous work, Petite danse sans nom, for over a decade. Although I had never seen it till tonight, it may be one of the best examples of t

Review: 8 minutes 17 seconds (Blue Ceiling dance) | Mooney on Theatre

What would you do if you only had 8 minutes 17 seconds? Blue Ceiling dance poses this question in its science-infused dance work presented in the Franco Boni Theatre in The Theatre Centre. It is the exact amount of time it takes for light to travel from the sun to the earth. It is how much time we would have if the sun were to die. Conceived and co-choreographed by Lucy Rupert, the evening consists of twelve performers using dance to explore a range of emotions and responses to this time constr

Review: The Roaring 20’s (Lunacy Cabaret) | Mooney on Theatre

A silly, yet snarky, and a little bit dirty, night of flappers, hula hoop artist, pantomime performers and much, much more, The Lunacy Cabaret presented The Roaring 20’s to a lively crowd at the Opera House on January 18th. The Lunacy Cabaret presents professional circus artists, clowns and comedians in a night where they can cut loose from constraints of stuffy corporate gigs and show what they want to a spirited crowd of friends and fans. The show starts with a land acknowledgment that calls

Overview: Impulse 2019 (School of Toronto Dance Theatre) | Mooney on Theatre

Student showcase offers a wide variety of dance pieces, now on stage in Toronto The School of Toronto Dance Theatre (STDT) presents IMPULSE 2019 at the Winchester Street Theatre, showcasing work from all three years of their professional training program. Celebrating fifty years of dance education, the modern/contemporary conservatory program produces some of Canada’s top performers. Since it’s a student showcase we’re not offering a traditional review, but instead an overview of the piece. Givi

Review: IN ABSENTIA (JD DANCE / DANCEWORKS) | Mooney on Theatre

In Absentia is an imaginative work that sparks childlike wonder A mature fairytale in an absurd universe, IN ABSENTIA presented by JD Dance and Danceworks takes to the Harbourfront Centre Theatre. A fantastic work of dance, puppetry and lots and lots of cardboard. The stage is riddled with cardboard boxes and slabs, over 1000 pounds of it. Boxes of all different sizes are stacked, at some points to the ceiling, into different towers and walls. Many small slabs of ripped cardboard pieces hang a

Review: Spirit (Bangarra Dance Theatre/Canadian Stage/TO LIVE) | Mooney on Theatre

Bangarra Dance Theatre, one of Australia’s top dance companies, make their Toronto premiere with Spirit, performing a collection of stories and dances in a celebration of the Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander’s traditions. With mesmerizing movement and captivating physicality, the large seventeen member company take to the Bluma Appel Theatre, co-presented by Canadian Stage and TO Live. Dusted in what appears to be white powder or paint, the dancers flock and float around the stage,

Review: The 9th! (ProArteDanza) | Mooney on Theatre

The 9th! is a sombre piece, rich with movement and emotion ProArteDanza celebrates its fifteen anniversary with the Toronto Premiere of The 9th!, a take on Beethoven’s most beloved symphony. Presented at Harbourfront Centre’s Fleck Dance Theatre, eight dancers take on this virtuosic contemporary modern choreography. ProArteDanza always does a great job leading audiences of all levels through contemporary dance. In this performance, they provide strong program notes which give great insight int
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