FEBRUARY
Montreal choreographer Louise Bédard celebrates 30 years of her eponymous company with Promesses, performed by six talented dancers alternating duos and counterpoints. Wilder Building, Feb. 5 to 8. www.agoradanse.com
The productive duo Philippe Meunier and Ian Yaworski will teach four new dancers how to dance a jig in Suspendu au sol. The other piece of the evening is Pythagore mon corps, choreographed by Stacey Désilier. She answers the question: How to combine the individuality of performers, seriousness and musicality? By mingling martial arts, urban dance and boxing, of course! Wilder Building, Feb. 6 to 9. www.tangentedanse.ca
London choreographer Jamila Johnson-Small has been touring the world with her solo project Last Yearz Interesting Negro. She’ll be performing I Ride in Colours and Soft Focus, No Longer Anywhere, combining trance, electronic music and movement evoking a battlefield. In partnership with Studio 303 and MAI,
Feb. 8 and 9. www.lachapelle.org
Venezuelan dancer-choreographer José Navas has chosen to perform Schubert’s epic song cycle Winterreise, accompanied by a tenor soloist and a pianist. It promises to be moving and elegant. At Place des Arts, February 11 to 22. www.dansedanse.ca
Nine years after Dance Europe magazine voted him one of the 25 best dancers in the world, Olivier Dubois from France presents Pour sortir au jour, a playful solo piece that uses humour and analysis to revisit some of his 60 shows. Wilder Building, Feb. 12 to 15. www.agoradanse.com
Combining two of her passions, dance and cello, the gifted Virginie Brunelle has devised a second international production that explores power relations and social breakdown. In Les corps avalés, eight dancers evoke a human race that has lost all cohesion, while the Molinari String Quartet plays selected works. At Théâtre Maisonneuve, Feb. 26 to 29. www.dansedanse.ca
MARCH
As part of a two-woman program, Toronto choreographer and performer Jane-Alison McKinney presents There She Was, exploring the schizophrenia of her femininity, which starts as androgynous but becomes monstrous. In the second half, choreographer-dancer Geneviève Smith-Courtois performs Postx, two solos evoking a post-pornographic vision of sexuality.
18+. Wilder Building March 5 to 8. www.tangentedanse.ca
The legendary Nederlands Dans Theater is back with three unmissable performances: In The Statement, the great Crystal Pite dives into politics and examines power struggles, both public and private; Hofesh Shechter’s Vladimir evokes youth in turmoil; and Paul Lightfoot and Sol León complete the evening with Singulière Odyssée, a sort of initiation quest. Théâtre Maisonneuve, Place des Arts, March 10 to 14. www.dansedanse.ca
Alexandra “Spicey” Landé, pioneer of the hip-hop scene and winner of the Prix de la danse Découverte 2019, performs In-Ward, diving into the meanders of the human psyche, both individual and collective. Wilder Building, March 11 to 13. www.agoradanse.com
Pursuing her new career as choreographer, the brilliant Anne Plamondon presents Seulement toi, her third work. Cinquième Salle, Place des Arts, March 17 to 21. www.dansedanse.ca
Bones & Wires by Sébastien Provencher and Mathieu Leroux is the choreographic meeting between memory and obsession with the future. Wilder Building, March 19 to 22. www.tangentedanse.ca
Jean-Sébastien Lourdais and Catherine Lalonde perform Les appuis imaginés. Wilder, March 25 to 28. www.agoradanse.com
A triple program at Tangente: Polymorphic Microbe Bodies by Hanna Sybille Müller and Erin Robinsong, Étude sur la pénombre by Hugo Dalphond and Soie by Hélène Messier. Wilder, March 26 to 29. www.tangentedanse.ca
APRIL
Guillaume Côté, Principal Dancer and Choreographic Associate at the National Ballet of Canada, performs Crypto, a reflection on the beauty of nature and man’s obsession with dominating it. Swedish composer Mikael Karlsson wrote the score and the multimedia company Hub Studio created the visual effects. Théâtre Maisonneuve, Place des Arts, April 1 to 4. www.dansedanse.ca
Sarah Wendt and Pascal Dufaux launch the hybrid project Quelque part dans l’inachevé. Wilder, April 2 to 5. www.tangentedanse.ca Originally from Mexico, Diana León, who has danced for the Grands Ballets Canadiens, among others, performs the multidisciplinary solo Sur ce chemin, tu es sûre de te perdre. MAI, April 15 and 16. www.m-a-i.qc.ca
Jérémie Niel and Catherine Gaudet examine the act of creation in Face-à-face. La Chapelle, April 15 to 25. www.dansedanse.ca
Inspired by Black Lives Matter and Erin Manning’s book The Minor Gesture, Justine A. Chambers (Vancouver) and Laurie Young (Berlin) present One hundred more, conveying gestures of resistance, from a shift of focus to the iconic “Hands up, don’t shoot” slogan. Wilder Building, April 15 to 18. www.agoradanse.com
Le reste des vagues by Ingrid Vallus, Le temps des fruits by Marilyn Daoust and Gabriel Léger-Savard, and Les Soirées 100Lux 2020. Wilder, respectively April 16 to 19 and April 23 to 26. www.tangentedanse.ca
Cuban rhythms will defy the last of the cold weather when Danza Contemporánea de Cuba presents Coil by Julio César Iglesias, La Ecuación by George Céspedes, Mambo 3XXI by George Céspedes and Cénit by Laura Domingo Agüero. At Théâtre Maisonneuve, April 29 to May 2. www.dansedanse.ca
