Contemporaneity 3.0 is a new presenting series by Anandam Dancetheatre in partnership with Toronto Dance Theatre, featuring new works and works-in-progress by artists practicing in Asian, African, Latin American, Arab and Indigenous dance forms. Contemporaneity 3.0 features dance pieces by Nova Dance (Toronto), Mix Mix Dance Collective (Toronto), and Padmini Chettur (India).
The term “contemporary” is often used to describe European and white American theatrical dance, while all other forms are categorized as just that – “other.” Anandam Dancetheatre is part of a current that seeks to reclaim and expand notions of the “contemporary”. Contemporaneity 3.0 seeks new meanings, gathering around diverse and divergent aesthetics; reimagining values of beauty, virtuosity, innovation, tradition, ritual, and meaning.
Featured Works
Nova Dance, led by Toronto dance artist Nova Bhattacharya, brings Svāvā Study I, a new solo work examining paradoxical ritual spaces of feminine energy encompassed in the dance practice of Bharatanatyam (south Indian classical dance). Nova is one of Indian dance’s most passionate advocates, endeavoring to dive deeper into bharatanatyam as its own source for contemporary expression.
Choreographed and Performed by: Nova Bhattacharya, Composition: Ed Hanley.
Mix Mix is a Toronto based intersectional collective like no other, utilizing various movement forms including: waacking, house, vogue, hip hop, contemporary, and martial arts to create new dance works and examine a wide spectrum of personal and cultural identities (of colour/mixed race, women/non-binary, queer/trans). Mix Mix ’s new piece Reclaiming My Time, features original music from Toronto based rapper, producer, DJ and visual artist Myst Milano. Inspired by the declaration of American politician Maxine Waters, Reclaiming My Time is a new original work driven by our communal effort to overturn systems of under-representation, silencing, and power imbalances.
Directed/Choreographed by: Emily Law & Ashley Perez with contributions from the performers. Performed by and created with: Kristine Flores, Jelani Ade Lam, Sze Yang Ade Lam, Jasmyn Fyffe, Sarah Tumaliuan.
José Xtravaganza master class presented by Mix Mix Dance Collective from MixMixDanceCollective on Vimeo.
Padmini Chettur is one of India’s foremost contemporary dancers, trained in bharatanatyam by visionary Chandralekha, and a former member of Chandralekha’s dance company. Her work unveils a taut vision that takes the contemporary dance of India, from what it is and how it should look, to radical dimensions. Philosophical Enactments 1 is a world premiere from one of India’s most experimental and profound dance artists. Set to a sound score by Maarten Visser, that proposes gentle shifts in temporality, the piece plays with a ceaseless imagination of the body’s capacity to expand and retreat.
Choreographed and performed by: Padmini Chettur Composition: Maarten Visser.
Performances are from April 3 – 6, 2019, 8pm at Toronto Dance Theatre, 80 Winchester Street, Toronto. To purchase tickets and for further details, please visit anandam.ca.
