Dance fans rejoice! Christopher House, Toronto Dance Theatre’s influential artistic director, is finally returning after four years to Vancouver as part of Dancing on the Edge (July 3-12).
This is an even bigger feat, considering House has only lately returned to the stage as a regular performer.
“I’ve danced more this year than I have for the past 20 years put together,” he says in a phone interview from his office in Toronto. “I’d been really busy directing the company […] and I didn’t really have anything to dance. There was no time to do it.”
Now, with The Body in Question (his adaptation of Deborah Hay’s two solo works At Once and News) he’s tapped into a new realm of experience through dance. He says the performances are all about the real-time presence of the dancer – there’s no choreography, and the only element that remains consistent from one performance to the next is the score.
“The movement actually just occurs to you in the moment,” House says. “You’re discovering the dance at the same time as the audience is. It’s a pretty risky process!”
He likens it to juggling, – once he’s practiced the movement a few times, he’ll add more the routine. And like juggling, the threat of a public failure is built into it.
“In some ways, you could describe the work as minimal, but in some ways its extremely detailed and complex work.”
This year also marks Vancouver choreographer Karen Jamieson’s 30th anniversary, and Dancing on the Edge will feature solo|soul, a solo dance work created by Karen Jamieson Dance.
