The ROMP! Festival Returns!

Suddenly Dance Theatre's 11th ROMP! Festival of Independent Dance takes place October 23 - 26, 2008, at the Metro Studio Theatre in Victoria, British Columbia. There are 11 shows over 4 days!

The ROMP! Festival is a platform for professional independent dancers and choreographers to show new work. This M-Award winning Festival has grown to become a significant part of the Canadian dance ecology – a venue for experimentation and creative exploration. Multiple programs offer an opportunity to sample diverse dance works, with live performances interspersed with dance films from around the world; with touring partner: Dance Films Association, New York.

The 11th ROMP! A Festival of Independent Dance features
choreography by:

Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg : Vancouver
Jung ah Chung : Victoria
Lucie Carmen Gregoire : Montreal
Helen Husak : Calgary
Shay Kuebler : Vancouver
Daniel McCusker : Boston
Leah Wickes : Victoria

PLUS!

+ PRESENT/TENSE 3:
Dance meets the spoken word with 10 writers and 10 dancers!
+ CAKE ON THE STAGE:
Sing, Dance, and eat cake with TREENA STUBEL!
+ MOMENTUM:
Meet Andrea Gunnlaugson from
the Dancers Transition Resource Centre
+DREAMING DANCE:
A Dance Forum hosted by Stephen White of Dance Victoria

SPECIAL Program: PRESENT/TENSE 3

photo credit: Lucie Carmen Gregoire

Dance meets the Spoken Word
80 mins
$24 Students, $30 General

THURSDAY OCTOBER 23 @ 9pm

Present/Tense 3 is our special opening night performance featuring 10 writers and 10 dancers!  A sequel to last year's sell-out show, this fundraiser/laboratory seeks to nourish a collaborative process between improvised dance and the spoken word. Beloved resident writers read selections of their work while guest dancers receive the impetus to respond - to the sound, syllables, intent and multiple meanings.

including:

Dancers:
Holly Bright
Jung ah Chung
Connie Cooke
David Ferguson
Lucie Carmen Gregoire
Lori Hamar
Helen Husak
Lisa Milloy
Lynda Raino
Victor Sanchez

Writers:
Marilyn Bowering

Carla Funk
Clint Huzulak

Miles Lowry
Justin McGrail
Jacob Richmond
Linda Rogers
Jay Ruzesky
Peter Such

Jennifer Wise

(immediately followed by @ 10:30pm)
CAKE ON THE STAGE

photo credit: Treena Stubel by Miles Lowry

Opening Festival Reception
FREE!

Mingle on the stage and eat a piece of our delicious Romp! Festival cake introduced with song by TREENA STUBEL! Please join us at our opening reception to celebrate the 11th ROMP! A Festival of Independent Dance and welcome our guest artists.

Program A: NICK & JUANITA: Livin' in my Dreams

photo credit: Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg is Nick & Juanita by Chris Morris

Concept/Choreography: Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg (Vancouver)
Presented in association with Dance Victoria
60 mins plus intermission
Tickets: All tickets $26 (including surcharges)
*Available Only at the McPherson Box Office (386 6121) or at the door.

Thursday, October 23 @ 7pm – SOLD OUT!
Friday, October 24 @ 9pm – SOLD OUT!
Saturday, October 25 @ 9pm – SOLD OUT!
Sunday, October 26 @ 2pm

Hilarious! Half actor, half stand-up comic, and 100% dancer, Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg is nothing less than a phenomenon. Her satirical character-driven solos are garnering raves across the country. In this, her latest work, you'll meet slick talk-show host Nick and lovelorn Juanita as they navigate the minefields of lust, desire and love. Friedenberg will amaze you with her dexterity, both as a dancer and as an actor, as she leaps between characters and genders with finesse. Music: Marc Stewart

“an incandescently hilarious performance” Georgia Strait
“Friedenberg portrays men better than they can themselves” Globe and Mail

Program B: HIDDEN ENDS

photo credit: Helen Husak by Lisa Hebert

66 minutes
Tickets: $15 Students / $20 General
*SPECIAL - See both Program B and Program C! - $24 Students/$35 General

Friday, October 24 @ 7pm
Sunday, October 26 @ 7pm

Helen Husak (Calgary)
A STORY OF RECONSTRUCTION (30 mins)

Shaken up, torn down, blown asunder - A Story of Reconstruction is a solo work in which the creator/performer Helen Husak invites the audience into a childhood memory of an accident that caused a shift, a re-evaluation of her self-perception. Text and spoken word are used to convey fragments of the story, as the dancer builds a castle-like structure on the stage. The dancer moves through real and imagined obstacles - symbolic of the human condition of building, destroying and re-building.

James Cunningham, Robert Tannion, Suzon Fuks (Australia)
FRAGMENTATION (Dance on Film, 6 mins)
Directed by Suzon Fuks, 2007

Originally an installation performance on the theme "Even though technology links people, it can also fragment their lives" FRAGMENTATION features dancers Robert Tannion and James Cunningham as two guys, though absorbed in their morning paper and their personal space, somehow manage to find a disjointed connection with one another.

Leah Wickes (Victoria)
TALKING HANDS (30 mins)

Talking Hands features five Victoria dancers using a multi-coloured array of hands to form, to inform, and to bridge inner dialogue with outward expression. The dance unravels personal boundaries and invites an all-knowing, intuitive, invisible hand - articulate, dexterous, and transmitted through the body. With performers Leah Wickes, Lisa Milloy, Kathy Lang, Nicole McSkimming, and Rachel Anderson.

Program C: FLYING LESSONS


photo credit: Shay Kuebler by Wendy D Photography

55 minutes
Tickets: $15 Students / $20 General
*SPECIAL - See both Program B and Program C! - $24 Students/$35 General


Saturday, October 25 @ 7:00pm
Sunday, October 26 @ 9:00pm

YOU SAID WOMAN? TOME I (18mins)
Lucie Carmen Grégoire (Montréal)

You said woman? Tome I touches directly on the phenomenon of hyper-sexualization in contemporary western society. It exposes viewers to a collection of typical poses, movements and gazes seen in the media while exploring the underlying meaning of these sexualized images. Performed with great sensibility, the work encourages reflection in viewers by pushing the limits of provocation, and creates a clear and engaged discourse using a figurative and meticulous vocabulary. Musical score: Samuel Laflamme

FLYING LESSON (Dance on Film, 4.3 mins)
Phil Harder, Rosanne Chamecki, Andrea Lerner (USA) 2007

A sweet sail one foot above Brooklyn, accomplished by Rosanne Chamecki and Andrea Lerner who are old friends from their native Brazil.

SATELLITE (7 mins)
Daniel McCusker (Boston)

This duet by Boston-based choreographer Daniel McCusker features performers Lori Hamar (Victoria) and Robbyn Scott (SaltSpring Island). The work offers a rich palette of human connection - at times playful, pensive, driving and tender. There is a continuous sense of discovery in each new configuration as the performers orbit in silence.

APROP (Dance on Film, 6 mins)
Aitor Echeverria (Spain) 2007

The most everyday gestures become, at close range, an extraordinary dance: Sleep interrupted by the brush of a familiar touch. The sigh of that voice inviting you to play. Choreography by Carolina Alejos (Argentina).

FOUR SWALLOWS (10 mins)
Jung Ah Chung (Victoria)

FOUR SWALLOWS traces a journey without return: Departure; Arrival; Abandonment; Disappearance. Choreographed and performed by Jung ah Chung, this solo emerges from the recent duet Courtyard for a Bird, created by Chung and David Ferguson. Costume by Syreeta Wootton. Music by Miles Lowry.

ONE CONSTANT (10.5 mins)
Shay Kuebler (Vancouver)

“The constant push and pull of time forces everyone to ignore personal enjoyment and life. We rush and ignore, we stress and anger, and we lose sight of self-fulfillment. Even subtle actions and common courtesies are thrown out when stress and frustration add up. The preoccupation with time, money and achievement is the catalyst for this inner conflict. It is the struggle between the confines of society and the freedoms that feed the soul.” Shay Kuebler

HORIZON OF EXILE

photo credit: from the film Horizon of Exile by Isabel Rocamora

55 mins
A special dance on film program with touring partner
DANCE FILMS ASSOCIATION, NEW YORK.
$7 Students, $10 General

SUNDAY OCTOBER 26 @ 5pm - one show only!

HORIZON OF EXILE (22mins)
Isabel Rocamora (United Kingdom), 2007

A journey of two women across timeless desert landscapes is punctuated by voice testimonies of Iraqi exiles. Set to a soundtrack by Jivan Gasparyan with the hypnotic voice of Surma Hamid, an Iraqi exile now living in London, the bodies betray a serene violence, travelling as though released from consciousness or gravity, falling and recuperating, haunted by an irrepressible past.

DADA DUM (8 mins)
Britt Randle, Caroline Niklas-Gordon (Canada) 2007

Dada Dum is an experimental, narrative, dance film set within the aesthetic of black and white, silent cinema and paired with a haunting musical soundtrack. The film depicts a blind woman trapped within a surreal mansion as she tries to escape.

LA VIE EST BELLE (3mins)
Tristan Duhamel, France, 2004

A character of street-art painted by Jérôme Mesnager is dancing and running on the walls of Paris, animated by Tristan Duhamel.

SHAKE OFF (9 mins)
Hans Beenhakker, The Netherlands, 2007

In this dance film, Prince Credell solos in one continuous shot. The camera follows the exceptional dancer as he moves magically through different times and spaces. The athleticism and bold surprises lure the viewer into a dynamic world - which teeters between the impossible and the real. The dancer can’t or won’t stop dancing till he finds his goal.

FOLIES D'ESPAGNE (7 mins)
Philip Buiser, USA, 2007

A mysterious woman appears at court where manner and reputation are essential for survival. She breaks all the rules publicly and is ultimately put back in her place as a subject of the court. This work
contrasts the formality of the Baroque aesthetic with contemporary issues
of sexuality and class. Created in collaboration with dancer/choreographer
Austin McCormick, winner of DFA's Young Choreographers Initiative.

 2 SPECIAL FORUMS: Empowering Dancers

photo credit: Lori Hamar and Robbyn Scott by Michael Barnes

10am to noon
Sunday, October 26
venue: Ballet Victoria (1201 Fort Street)

MOMENTUM @ 10am

This professional development forum led by Andrea Gunnlaugson from the Dancers Transition Resource Centre is open to all dance artists and public. Founded in 1985, the DTRC is the only organization in Canada dedicated to helping dancers make necessary transitions into, within and from professional performing careers.

DREAMING DANCE @ 11am

This Dance Forum hosted by Stephen White of Dance Victoria invites the community to share thoughts, visions, insights, and needs in building Victoria’s dance culture.

Come join Suddenly Dance, Dance Victoria and the DTRC for a community information and sharing brunch. Delicious food, hot coffee, fresh juice and a caring community!

 

SEE THE ROMP! COMMERCIAL on SuddenlyYOUTUBE!

Click here to view the commercial

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