Eifman St. Petersburg Ballet Presents Rodin

Whoa, check out this video clip of Boris Eifman’s choreography for the ballet Rodin, which is based on the life of French sculptor Auguste Rodin (of "The Thinker" fame).

I'm usually a little cynical when I hear that a ballet is "sexy" – especially when it comes from Russia, a bastion of traditional, formal ballet. However, this one looks very fresh and energetic, and it's set to exuberantly passionate music by Saint-Saëns, Massenet and Ravel

Rodin runs from May 23 to 25 of 2013 at the Sony Centre For The Performing Arts. Tickets go on sale this year, May 26, 2012. To find out more, call 1-855-872-7669 or visit the Sony Centre.

Cavalia's Odysseo Extended to September 9

Cavalia's latest equestrian spectacle Odysseo is extending its Toronto run again due to strong ticket sales. For tickets and further information, call 866-999-8111 or visit Cavalia.

Photo by JF Leblanc.

Volunteer for The Encampment at Fort York during Luminato

From June 8 to 24, Fort York will be the setting for an ambitious installation, part of Luminato 2012, commemorating the bicentennial of the War of 1812. The Encampment is "temporal village" consisting of 200 A-frame tents (like the ones that have already been set up in the photo above). Each one will contain a visual representation of some aspect of the war’s civilian history; the site will also be animated with music, bonfires and storytelling every night.

Fort York is seeking volunteers to help out evenings from 7 to 11 p.m. during The Encampment as Heritage Hosts and Garrison Greeters, who will represent the face of Fort York. Training will be provided. To find out more, call 416-392-6907, ext. 226 or email Fort York.

The Encampment is a project of Thom Sokoloski and Jenny-Anne McCowan, and produced by Sherrie Johnson Productions

DanceWorks CoWorks Presents LINK Dance Foundation

On May 25 and 26, LINK Dance Foundation performs Experiments - where logic and emotions collide, a work about science and dance, at the Winchester Street Theatre in Cabbagetown. In an interview with Lucy Rupert, creator Gail Lotenberg says that "Each section in the dance revolves around a key fascination or area of achievement of the scientists collaborating on this project. (...) A unifying theme of the work is the abstraction that is used commonly by scientists and artists to express our deepest insights."

Part of the DanceWorks CoWorks Series, the performance is choreographed by Lotenberg to music by Jordy Walker, and incorporates the work of actual scientists, both live and via projection. For tickets and further information, contact Danceworks.

Toronto Festival of Clowns

How do you feel about clowns? If the idea of confronting 100 of them in less than a week doesn't terrify you, you'll be pleased to hear that from May 31 to June 3 the seventh annual Toronto Festival of Clowns is running at Pia Bouman Studio Theatre (6 Noble Street, near Queen West and Dufferin).

In past years, the festival has presented the work of some of this city's preeminent clowns, including John Turner (Mump & Smoot), David S. Craig, Rick Roberts, Sue Morrison, Michelle Smith and Dean Gilmour. This year, a highlight will be a work by the renowned French Master Clown Teacher Philippe Gaulier, called La gnole de Tante Christine est imbuvable (Betcha Can't Stomach Auntie Christine's Rotgut – my translation). It's in the bouffon style, which means it'll most likely be uncomfortably confrontational... which, in the hands of someone who knows what they're doing, can be great.

Other performers – who will be working in a wide range of clown performance styles – include Christine Lesiak and Adam Keefe from Edmonton, and Torontonians Phil Luzi, Foo, and Morro & Jasp. A full schedule and ticket information are available at Toronto Festival of Clowns.

Photo credit: Kathleen Finlay Photography.

Cavalia Odysseo: Review

When the equestrian spectacle Cavalia made its debut in Toronto in 2003, I saw a short media preview and was charmed. But it wasn't until tonight that I had a chance to see a full show, this time a different production, called Cavalia Odysseo, which is running under an impressive giant tent on the lakeshore.

Horses are the focus of this opulent performance: 61 of them, to be exact, along with 49 two-legged performers. I had expected some sort of basic storyline, à la Cirque de Soleil, but this truly is more like a contemporary circus, with tumbling, aerial rings and silks, some song and dance, and several other acrobatic performance styles intermingled with fancy riding tricks.

The tent (which as my companion remarked, shares in common with the paradoxical Doctor Who tardis that it's much bigger on the inside), houses an absolutely enormous stage area; in particular it's so deep that there seems to be about a city block between the nearest and furthest performers.

Furthermore, it has a steep rise built into it, which adds to the sense of distance, and a vast cyclorama across the back allows for almost hallucinatory high-definition projections of huge skies, clouds, forests, deserts and mountains. These come closest to giving some narrative to the various acts, as they illustrate a progression from Mongolian steppes to African savannah to Saharan desert, and so on.

In this dreamlike wordless landscape, one of the things  that gave me the most pleasure was the costuming by Georges Lévesque and Michèle Hamel. In particular, the use of colour is stunning. In one particular section of the show ("Grand Cavalia" or "Equestrian Carrousel"), mounted riders parade solemnly in formation, wearing robes that drape the entire back of their horses. I have rarely seen a stage design so deftly composed as these outfits, in glowing burgundies, peaches, reds, golds, ochres and warm greens.

Some of the most satisfying parts of the show were the simplest, such as the interludes when a group of unbridled, unsaddled horses emerge onto the stage and move about naturally with minimal human intervention... or splash through a pool of water (as in the top photo), a blissfully basic but utterly lovely thing to watch.

I was curious about a troupe of multitalented African acrobats who also drum, dance and sing, and who are used as a kind of Greek chorus alongside the horseback activities. In the press material they seem only to be mentioned as a "troupe from Guinea", but that struck a chord with me. I did a little digging, and I believe that the group represents members of Kalabanté, a project to support basic education in Guinea through teaching circus skills.

It was founded by a charismatic self-taught acrobat called Yamoussa Bangoura; he worked for some time at Montreal's Cirque Éloize, and there formed connections with Cavalia, which is also based in Montreal. The Kalabanté ensemble is not only impressively athletic, but communicates lots of humour in a show that's more often lyrical and grand than funny. 

Cavalia continues its run until June 3. For tickets and further information, information, call 1-866-999-8111 or visit Cavalia.

Photo credits: Pascal Ratthé (Kalabanté) and François Bergeron (top image).

West Side Story at Toronto Centre for the Arts: Review

The first question you want to ask about a touring production of West Side Story is: how's the dancing? In the first national tour of the recent Broadway revival that opened tonight at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, the answer is: pretty good.

Sometimes a touring production has a shopworn look, but this one (a taut two-and-a-half hours) seemed crisp from the dissonant opening snarl of the orchestra (a respectable 20 pieces, including strings) through some of the most iconic (and demanding) dance numbers ever. This production restages the original Jerome Robbins choreography that has been imitated so often that every kick and lunge seems familiar. But the (for its time) groundbreaking "street ballet" is still exciting, robust and virile.

The storyline (based on Romeo and Juliet, as everyone knows) is sadly as potent a lesson as it was in Shakespeare's day. The virulent poison of racism infects not only the youngsters in the streets but also the cops who are supposed to be keeping order, and the few voices of reason are laughed down and abused as the violence spirals out of control to its inevitable climax. (One measure of the enduring effectiveness of the show: when the scrapping gang rivals Bernardo and Riff snapped out their switchblades in what was up to that point supposed to be an honourable fistfight, a woman a few seats down my row gasped loudly in spontaneous shock.)

Of course, the music is great too. It's become so much part of the popular imagination that even the opening theme for The Simpsons shamelessly rips it off. Leads Ross Lekites (Tony) and Evy Ortiz (Maria) – pictured above – have the vocal chops to really make the most of their big songs: "Maria" (Lekites takes his time over some really strong high notes in that one), "Tonight", "Somewhere", and (for Maria) "I Have a Love".

There were a couple of offbeat aspects to the production. The first, translating some of the dialogue and song lyrics into Spanish, made sense most of the time and added a certain feeling of authenticity to the action in Maria's home. Once or twice it was jarring. For example, when Chino arrives to break the news to Maria that there has been a gang fight, he speaks Spanish, but when he tells her the worst part of the story ("He killed your brother!"), he switches to English. This is clearly so the audience understands what's going on, but it makes no sense for the character in the context.

Also (a very minor quibble), the choice has been made to give the rival Jets and Sharks gang colours, a detail that didn't figure in the original staging, to the best of my knowledge. In the case of the Puerto Rican Sharks, it's fairly understated, but the jets wear orange accessories (especially cloth strips used as headbands, neckties and armbands, as in the photo above) that don't look quite in keeping with the rest of the design; it almost feels as though each cast member was told to go out and find something orange for their character to wear. But you know? As soon as they started dancing again I forgot about the colours.

Finally, I must say that whoever hung and focused the lights did a bang-up job, and the actors were admirably hitting their marks considering how new they are to this stage; this is a show that has a lot of lighting cues in which a bright white pool of light suddenly bathes one or two performers in order to pick them out from the rest of the action – most critically of course when Tony and Maria first spot each other on the dance floor. Every single one seemed spot-on (so to speak), and no one was lost in shadow or (almost worse) in darkness from the knees down.

The Dancap presentation of West Side Story runs at the Toronto Centre for the Arts until June 3. At the moment, tickets are only available as part of a subscription with the upcoming Beauty and the Beast and Million Dollar Quartet. To find out more, call 416-640-0172 (toll-free 1-866-950-7469) or visit Dancap.

Photos: ©Carol Rosegg 2011 – The First National Tour of West Side Story.