Fall for Dance North is Toronto’s biggest dance festival which signals the start of the arts performance season each autumn. Now in its 10th year, the festival presents a host of Canadian and international companies and choreographers including some of the biggest names in dance like Crystal Pite, Peggy Baker, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Company Wayne McGregor.
2024 marks the final year for festival founder Ilter Ibrahimof who boldly pitched the idea of bringing New York’s Fall for Dance Festival to Toronto back in 2015. On opening night (Sept. 26), Ibrahimof addressed the audience to say good-bye and also, to introduce his successors. As of next year, FFDN will be led by Lily Sutherland as Festival Director & Co-CEO and Robert Binet as Artistic Director & Co-CEO. Much was made of their appointment being the result of an ‘international search’ yet Sutherland was an in-house promotion, and Binet comes from the National Ballet of Canada. Eyes will be on them as they shepherd the festival into its next decade.
Malpaso Dance Company. Photo: Steven Pisano
Cuba’s Malpaso Dance Company
The opening program was entitled Homecoming and represents founder Ibrahimof’s final curation, highlighting the work of three female choreographers who have grown their craft through FFDN. First up was Cuba’s Malpaso Dance Company with The Last Song (La Última Canción) choreographed by Daile Carrazano. The piece was originally developed in partnership with FFDN and Toronto Metropolitan University’s Creative School in 2023. Three recent graduates from TMU’s dance program joined their Cuban colleagues on Sept. 26.
The score was a combination of recorded vocals with guitar, and live piano played by Katherine Dowling. Movement ranged from sustained poses through playful mambo-inspired loose hip shaking. The seven dancers were showcased in a succession of duets and groups with lots of playful slapping, intriguing removal of a sock (a motif) and signature sudden ‘popcorn’ jumps. A light-hearted, celebratory festival opener.
National Ballet of Canada. Heather Ogden & Emma Ouellet in islands (March 2024). Photo:
Karolina Kuras
islands by Emma Portner
Next up was Emma Portner’s islands which the National Ballet of Canada added to their repertoire in March 2024. Canadian choreographer Emma Portner has garnered an enviable reputation outside the realm of ballet in the pop culture world of Netflix, Justin Bieber and Vogue. Her creation, islands, premiered at Norwegian Opera & Ballet in 2020 and is a fascinating subversion of the traditional male/female pas de deux.
At FFDN, two National Ballet prima ballerinas, Heather Ogden and Genvieve Penn Nabity, inhabited Portner’s unusual piece. They are almost glued together throughout, legs intertwined to the point where it was difficult to tell whose were whose. Intriguingly intricate weaving and knitting of limbs and subtle positioning of one woman in front, sometimes lifted by her partner, made for a moving, amusing and truly original creation.
Movement and music (various electronic/vocal/pop-styled songs) were beautifully married. There was something innocent and nostalgic that arose from the dancers’ physical closeness. The lighting scheme, consisting of little more than a lit frame or size-shifting block of white light projected onto the stage floor, perfectly suited the work’s simple eloquence.
Ballet Edmonton. Feel no More. Photo: Nanc Price
Ballet Edmonton premiere
The program concluded with Ballet Edmonton in the world premiere of Anne Plamondon’s Feel no More. It begins with the ominous sound of a creaking, dungeon door slamming shut. The piece explores extreme moods, enhanced by the use of nine lanterns that cast their light through a smoky haze. Some of the movement is extremely attenuated as if the five dancers are moving through quicksand. While individual artists are highlighted with extended arm movements, the piece’s second part finds the dancers massed into bigger shapes to create striking, sculptural groupings within a cone of light.
The piece ends with a frenzied piano solo played by Zach Frampton which sees each dancer showcased, runway style. Their jerky, tortured movements feel entirely individual and almost like a form of scream therapy.
Genetic-coded Autobiography
On Oct. 1, the festival welcomed the UK’s Company Wayne McGregor in Autobiography V98 + V99, set on a cast of nine dancers to an original score by American DJ Jlin. Wayne McGregor’s celebrated work in film, dance, theatre and opera has made him one of today’s most in-demand directors and choreographers. For Autobiography, McGregor created choreography based on significant writings, personal memories, pieces of art and music of his life. From these elements, 23 sections of movement were created, reflecting the 23 pairs of chromosomes of the human genome. Using an algorithm, a different section of the code from McGregor’s genome is selected for each presentation that will determine in which order the sections will be performed.
Company Wayne McGregor. Autobiography. Photo: Ollie Adegboye
The demands made on the dancers cannot be underestimated. Extreme movement requiring incredible flexibility and a dizzying array of solos, duets, and more concerted sections. So much appears improvised, yet obviously is not. This also means there is a lot happening on stage, with each dancer often performing movements completely independent from one another. At times, this became a little overwhelming to the eye, but maybe that’s the point. Thankfully, there were a couple of moments of repose when all the dancers moved in unison, allowing one’s attention to settle and regroup. Regardless, this is an endlessly fascinating piece that would no doubt merit repeated viewings.
More information on Fall for Dance North’s 2024 season can be found here.
