DANCE ADVANCE 2008

SUMMER RESIDENCY

Menaka Thakkar Dance Company
(Artistic Director: Menaka Thakkar)
and
Kalanidhi Fine Arts of Canada
(Artistic Director: Sudha Khandwani)

Jointly offer

In collaboration with Nrtyakala - The Canadian Academy of Indian Dance

A two week professional development and training residency for the established and
emerging professional dancers of all genres, Indian and non-Indian

Date:  Aug 18-29, 2008 (10 Days)
Time:  9:00 am - 6:00 pm (nine hours each day)
Location:  MTDC Dance Studio, Toronto
                         (Two traffic lights north of Steeles, off Yonge)

Objectives
DanceAdvanceE will be inaugurated in Aug 2008 with two primary objectives:

• Create stronger and more versatile dancers who can perform varied works of choreographers working both within and beyond the Indian dance systems, and
• More importantly, create and contribute in diverse ways to the development of contemporary face of Indian dance in Canada.

The secondary objective is to create opportunity for choreographers and well-trained dancers of diverse backgrounds to meet and know one another, and possibly work together on various projects following diverse choreographic approaches.

Participants
Eligible participants will come from both ends: Those who are fully professionally trained in any Indian dance andor those who have received complete professional training in other non-Indian dance systems such as Ballet, Western Contemporary, or any European, Asian, African, or other Classical dance. In addition, they should have willingness and dedication to be deeply exposed to the basic technique and aesthetics of major dance cultures of the world, Indian and non-Indian.

Time Frame and the Amount of Work
The work that is ideally required of each participant in order to achieve the objectives envisioned above, is far more than what can be accomplished in only one two-week residency. It is therefore divided into three sections and several alternative optional components in each section that are planned to be offered over a somewhat longer period of two consecutive summers. But much is left to the choice of participants within a broad framework that makes it possible for a participant to chose at least one component from each of the three sections. Ideally the participants may choose to be exposed to more components even if spread over the two summers.

Although the August 18-29, 2008 residency is structured to offer all three sections together on a daily basis, individual sectional residencies are also offered, on a ‘stand alone’ basis, (with possibly alternative components) at other times of the summer to provide more options and flexibility of scheduling and grouping to suit the participants’ needs and convenience. The work done in any component will be intense and deep but it will still be an exposure. This may often be enough to begin the practical work of getting professionally involved in some one’s project or start one’s own and learn further on the job. Or the participant may like to pursue further deeper training in some aspect. In that case the help in form of suggestions, advice and guideline will be offered by the teachers, mentors and/or the attending choreographers.

The three sections referred to above are:

(1) Section I
Body Conditioning – One and a half hour classes are offered including exercises derived from Graham technique, Kallari, Chauu, Pilates, Yoga and Butoh in varying combinations in different years.
    2008 Instructors: Natasha Bakht and Jay Hirabayashi,).

(2) Section II
Technique – One and a half hour classes offering options such as Bharatanatyam, Ballet and Modern dance for dancers not trained in these systems.
    2008 Instructors: Eddie Kastrau, Terrill Maguire, and Menaka Thakkar

(3) Section III
A three-hour period of choreography which will involve general exposure to different traditions of choreographic processes and different working methods of different choreographers. An important choreographer ,different every other day, will be invited to talk about his/her approach to choreography including working with a dramaturge and other members of the creative team(music, lighting, visual design etc) and show his/her work on video. He/ she will be requested to select one significant work of his/her own and walk the class through the entire creative process revealing his/her own mind and artistic choices and changes which may have been made at various points in the process.

More importantly, the participants will, in fact ,be involved, even in a small way to work with the visiting choreographer in the studio. This will be possible since the visit is sustained over a two-afternoon period. The third hour is the Participants’ Hour in which they will talk about, and physically explore, their choreographic ideas for a work of their own and seek feed back from the visitor as well as from other participants. This will be sustained for a full 10-day period. Also, the participants will be encouraged to work independently or jointly with some other participants during the residency, particularly over the intervening weekend and showcase a work-in-progress.
    2008 Instructors: Nova Bhattacharya, Peter Chin, Jay Hirabayashi, Hari Krishnan, and Menaka Thakkar

In August 2008, the mentors/teachers will be Shaji John (from Chandralekha’s group) for Kallari Payattu, Jay Hirabayashi(Butoh), Deb Kumar Paul(mime and Aerial dance), Navtej johar(Yoga for Dance), Natasha Bakht (Body conditioning), Menaka Thakkar(Indian dance Bharat Natyam and Odissi), Sujata Mohapatra(Odissi), Eddie Kastrau(Modern Dance), Peter Chin (Choreography), Nova Bhattacharya (Choreography), Hari Krishnan (Choreography), Terrill Maguire (Ballet) etc.

Dance AdvancE – August 2008 – Section I : BODY CONDITIONING
MTDC Dance Lab Series

Butoh Workshop with Jay Hirabayashi
August 18 – 29, 9-10:30 or 10:45 – 12:15 am
Butoh is a Japanese word comprised of two characters: bu and toh . Bu means foot and toh means step or tread. Butoh in Japan is generally used to describe any non-Japanese style of dance such as ballroom or Flamenco. In the West, the word specifically points to the dance aesthetic begun in the late 1950’s by Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno. In this workshop, we will work on the specific performance qualities of butoh that can be applied to any dance discipline. Butoh imbues movement with meaning by associating it with poetic imagery. The butoh dancer changes the audience’s perceptions of time and space by changing his/her own perceptions of time and space. The butoh dancer stretches time and space by being conscious of moving in opposite directions at the same time. Butoh incorporates an appreciation of ma, the attention to the space between events in time or objects in space, into dance. The butoh dancer dances in the moment with no thought to what has happened or what will happen. The butoh dancer searches in the memory carried in the skin and bones of the dancer for his/her own original sense of movement. The butoh dancer does not try to dance like someone else and tries not to rely on what is comfortable and habitual. The butoh dancer tries to dance with a beginner’s mind of excitement at the discovery of dance in the moment. The workshop begins with a physical warmup and then, when the body is ready, we work on finding our own sense and understanding of butoh.

Workshop Fees: $300 plus GST (subsidies and scholarships available)

Jay Hirabayashi

Jay Hirabayashi is the Executive Director of Kokoro Dance and the Vancouver International Dance Festival. In addition to his duties as administrator and dance presenter, Jay also teaches, choreographs, and performs. Jay began his dance career in 1979 with the Paula Ross Dance Company. In 1982, he danced in the inaugural year of the Karen Jamieson Dance Company. In 1982, he was also a founding co-artistic director of EDAM. In 1986, Jay and Barbara Bourget left EDAM to form Kokoro Dance. Kokoro Dance has performed across Canada, in the United States and in Europe with its unique blend of butoh and contemporary dance aesthetics. Jay has studied ballet, modern dance, contact improvisation, and butoh. His butoh studies have included workshops with Goro Namerikawa, Minoru Hideshima, Natsu Nakajima, Koichi Tamano, Hiroko Tamano, Kazuo Ohno, Yoshito Ohno, Soga Kobayashi, Yumiko Yoshioka, Akira Kasai, Katsura Kan, Kinya "Zulu" Tsuruyama, Diego Piñón, Gustavo Collini-Sartor, Masahide Ohmori, SU-EN, Yukio Waguri, Tadashi Endo, and Taketeru Kudo. In 1994, Jay was the recipient of the Jacquelin e Lemieux Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts and a grant to study with Kazuo Ohno in Japan. Jay has a B.A. degree in philosophy and religious studies from the University of Alberta and a M.A. degree in Buddhist studies from the University of British Columbia.

Body Conditioning Workshop with Natasha Bakht
August 19 – 29 - 10:45 – 12:15 pm
This workshop for Bharatanataym or Odissi trained dancers will work to develop core body strength, stamina and musculature not normally utilized in Bharatanatyam or Odissi. Exercises will be drawn from such movement techniques as pilates, yoga, Kalari, Chhau and contemporary dance to extend flexibility, build power and understand one’s strengths and weaknesses with a view to becoming more attuned to the workings of the dancing body.

Workshop Fees: $300 for full course (subsidies and scholarships available)

Natasha Bakht

Natasha Bakht is an Indian contemporary dancer and choreographer. She trained in bharata natyam under Menaka Thakkar for over 20 years, touring internationally with her company. For three seasons she danced with the Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company in London, England, renowned for its groundbreaking work in Indian contemporary dance. She has also worked with choreographers Yvonne Coutts, Joan Phillips, Wayne McGregor and Robert Desrosiers and has appeared in their works in a variety of festivals including, several Kalanidhi Festivals and the Canada Dance Festival. Natasha has collaborated with Montreal’s Roger Sinha on three pieces. Her own choreography includes a group piece, Riaz, for the Menaka Thakkar Dance Company and four solos for herself entitled Dance If You Must, Appropriating Edges, Obiter Dictum and White Space. Obiter Dictum was nominated for a 2003 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Choreography. In 2008, Natasha was the co-recipient of the K.M. Hunter Artists Award, which is presented to emerging individual artists in Ontario who have completed their training, begun to produce a body of work, and are starting to make a significant mark in their field. Natasha has been described as “a brilliant diamond” (The Dance Current, 2005)… “all honed to the bone elegance and precision” (Vancouver Sun, 2004).

Dance AdvancE – August 2008 – Section II : DANCE TECHNIQUE

Modern Dance Workshop with Eddie Kastrau
August 25 – 29 - 12:30 to 2:00 pm
Eddie will begin class with a combination of modern dance techniques, including Graham, Horton, Limon and Taylor with the goal of preparing the students physically to then learn segments of repertoire from the Danny Grossman Dance Company in each class. There will also be some repertoire segments taught from other choreographers such as Paul Taylor and Charles Weidman.

Workshop Fees: $150 plus GST (subsidies and scholarships available)

Eddie Kastrau – Danny Grossman Dance Company

Eddie Kastrau is a dancer with the Danny Grossman Dance Company since 1986, where a mutual admiration and collaboration between himself and Grossman has developed. He has performed most of the featured roles with the company, and has been a creative muse for many of Grossman's original roles. Most recently, he collaborated with Grossman in the creation of a number of educational etudes. Also Eddie has strong interests in teaching the Grossman repertoire. Through the Grossman company Kastrau has had the opportunity to dance in major modern works, including Paul Taylor’s Aureole, The Beloved by Lester Horton, Anna Sokolow’s Rooms, Charles Weidman’s Lynchtown, and Canadian classics by David Earle, Patricia Beatty, Peter Randazzo, Robert Derosiers, Paula Ross and others. Eddie has also danced independently for numerous choreographers including David Earle, Patrica Beatty, Andrea Nann, Bill James, D. A. Hoskins, Nenagh Leigh, Menaka Thakkar, Rina Singha, James Kudelka, Michelle Silagy, and many others. Eddie recently returned from a tour to China and Mongolia dancing with Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie and will be going to South Africa in September 2008 with the Janak Khendry Dance Company as a technical assistant.

A strong advocate for dance preservation, Kastrau was inspired to create computer software to digitally store and preserve the rich heritage of dance companies. His Performance History Database is used by numerous dance companies throughout North America. Eddie has also been actively involved in the Grossman preservation project, documenting the choreography, intent, staging, costumes and history for ten of the major works of Danny Grossman. This material will be at the forefront of the Grossman Institute, which will license, sell and teach the works of Danny Grossman.

Ballet Dance Workshop with Terrill Maguire
August 18 – 23 - 12:30 to 2:00 pm
The workshop will introduce the fundamentals of classical ballet technique, with integrated descriptions of the history/conceptual basis for the form. There will also be material presented that represents the evolution of various ballet styles, including influences and cross-overs with contemporary dance.

Workshop Fees: $150 plus GST (subsidies and scholarships available)

Terrill Maguire

A dancer and Chalmers Award-winning choreographer, Terrill Maguire has created numerous works for the concert stage and site-specific environments. Most have involved collaborations with composer-musicians. She has also choreographed for television, film and theatre including Gilbert & Sullivan's Iolanthe and the original John Gray musical, Amelia! produced by the National Arts Centre.

Bloodsongs, Terrill Maguire's choreographic work exploring the sacred/sensual paradigm, was presented to critical and audience acclaim on the Toronto Dance Theatre Foundation's "Dancing the Goddess" program in 1995 and was featured in the film of the same name, broadcast on Bravo! and Vision TV. Skeleton Woman, a collaboration with novelist-storyteller Jan Andrews and musician Geoff Bennett, was the subject of a documentary on WTN, and Ankh, a creative re-visioning of Egyptian dance and music in association with the Royal Ontario Museum, was featured on the Discovery Channel.

Among Terrill Maguire's site-specific and environmental projects is a Celtic triology that draws on themes contained in ancient mythology. Sanctuary was created for the fountain and stream of Trinity-Bellwoods Plaza for "Art in Open Spaces" in 1997. Bile (Gaelic for 'sacred tree'), was performed in and around a willow tree for Dusk Dances in 1999, and Grove was presented at the Toronto Music Garden in 2003.

As an educator, Terrill Maguire has been involved in creative arts projects all over Ontario, from James Bay, where she has done annual residencies since 1999, to the Jane-Finch community in Toronto. She has served a teacher-artist for the Ontario Arts in Education Institute, based at the Royal Ontario Museum and the Art Gallery of Ontario, and on the advisory boards of the Ottawa Board of Education and the Laidlaw Foundation. She has also worked as a movement coach and choreographer for professional performers in related fields, including musicians Alanis Morrisette and Amy Sky, and actors Andy Jones and Aron Tager. For the past decade, she has been teaching part-time in the York University's Dance Department .

A life-long practitioner of integrated arts, Terrill Maguire founded and served as artistic director of the Inde Festival of New Music and Dance from 1985-1992. With Inde Multidisciplinary Arts Projects, she continues to produce community events, such as the Body and Soul series in Ottawa and the Bloodsongs Project in Toronto high schools, as well as creating and performing in her own works.

Bharatanatyam Workshop with Menaka Thakkar
August 18 – August 29, 12:30 – 2:00 pm
Indian dance is increasingly appearing in professional choreographies of contemporary dance and Bollywood dance has become mainstream. This 10 dance day workshop with master dancer, choreographer Menaka Thakkar is designed for professional dancers who would like to learn the basics of Bharatanatyam with a view to adding south asian dance movements to their dance vocabulary. The workshop is based on Menaka’s annual residency at the National Ballet School of Canada. Participants will learn about the similarities and differences between modern and ballet dance forms with regard to how the body is used. Since many people are familiar with Ballet technique, the process of learning Bharatnatyam technique becomes teaching the class new movements using the same basic principles of body positioning. For example, centering the body and turning out of the legs are the same in both dance styles, but differ when executed. The exercises are followed by demonstrating body movements that are unique to Bharatnatyam. This will include the basic steps, neck and eye movements, language of hand gestures (mudras), the facial expressions and the basic concept of rhythms and choreography. The workshop will be followed by the students learning a small dance sequence that has all these basic movements learned in the workshop.

Workshop Fees: $300 plus GST (subsidies and scholarships available)

Menaka Thakkar

Menaka Thakkar is a master dancer in three classical Indian styles – Bharatanatyam, Odissi and Kuchipudi. Now in her 66th year, Ms. Thakkar settled in Canada over 38 years ago at the peak of her career as an international soloist. She is credited (along with Kathak dancer, Rina Singha) as having been the first artist to introduce Indian culture to Canadian audiences.
In the early years Ms. Thakkar performed across Canada and soon began to train youngsters in classical bharatanatyam. Eventually she began creating original choreographies that were performed in major venues across Canada. She opened the first school of Indian dance in Canada, Nrytakala which continues to train new generations of dancers and formed the Menaka Thakkar Dance Company comprised of graduates of her school. Many of the graduates have gone on to develop their own dance companies and solo careers in dance such as Winnipeg’s “Manohar Dance Company”, Natasha Bakht, Niharika Mohanty, and Nova Bhattacharya.
The Menaka Thakkar Dance Company became the first South Asian arts organization to be recognized by the Canada Council for the Arts thereby opening the door to other multicultural artists to receive funding. Today the Menaka Thakkar Dance Company, known as MTDC is Canada’s premiere Indian dance company. It includes up to 20 professional dancers who have each studied with Ms. Thakkar from 16 to 26 years.
Ms. Thakkar has created groundbreaking choreographies since coming to Canada which reflect both her exposure to western dance styles and her background in classical Indian dance. She has collaborated with many of Canada’s most accomplished dancers including Claudia Moore, Danny Grossman, William Lau, Robert Desrosiers, Patrick Parson, Debbie Wilson and Grant Strate to create possibly some of the first fusion pieces in Canada and group choreographies for Indian dancers.

Dance AdvancE – August 2008 – Section III : CHOREOGRAPHY

Hari Krishnan – August 18 & 19, 2:45 to 4:45 pm
followed by Participant’s Hour

inDANCE’s artistic director Hari Krishnan discusses his collaborative experiences of his 2007 work Inverse. The work was choreographed between 2005-7 in collaboration with dancers Beth Despres, Hiroshi Miyamoto, Masumi Sato and Kamen Wang. Grace and bravado, pulse and impulse clash and coalesce in this dynamic new creation for interpreters from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds. Inverse visually addresses the dissonance of bringing the disparate together. Music had been commissioned from Dora award winner Phil Strong and Inverse was nominated for a 2008 Dora award for sound design. Collaborations are part of a larger, continuous artistic imperative in which Krishnan seeks to challenge and reinvent himself and his art. He sees such interactions as an integral component for the growth of his company and his personal artistic path. In some ways, the real core of his company lies in the “give and take” – aesthetic, personal, social – that “colors” his productions. Krishnan discusses these learning experiences, and reflects the national and global directions in which his work has expanded over the last few years.

Menaka Thakkar – August 20 & 21, 2:45 to 4:45 pm
followed by Participant’s Hour

Whether in traditional or non-traditional styles, Menaka Thakkar’s choreography is rich, textured, and multi-layered in meaning and nuance. Her output over the last 37 years is prolific, varied and innovative. She has been hailed as a pioneer breaking new ground and paving ways in several new directions for others to follow – whether fusing the styles of different cultures, treating contemporary themes, or experimenting with large Western musical ensembles.

As a teacher and choreographer, Dr. Menaka Thakkar is dedicated to the education of the next generation of dance enthusiasts and dancers in Indian dance. Menaka is also committed to the exploration of the commonalities between Indian dance and western dance, music and theatre. To that end Menaka conducts residencies and workshops with the National Ballet School and other dance schools on a regular basis. She has been an adjunct professor of dance at York University since 1993 and has worked with Grant Strate while he was the head of the dance department at Simon Fraser University in B.C. conducting master classes and choreographic labs. The Menaka Thakkar Dance Company’s repertoire includes traditional and contemporary works in Bharatanatyam and Odissi, two of seven styles of classical dance in India. As an innovator in the presentation of Indian dance, Menaka Thakkar has also choreographed a number of exciting new works often fusing Indian dance styles with contemporary dance styles from other cultures. She has collaborated with several western dance choreographers including: Robert Desrosiers, Danny Grossman, Bengt Jorgen, Claudia Moore, William Lau, Patrick Parson, Grant Strate and Debbie Wilson.

Jay Hirabayashi – August 22 & 25, 2:45 to 4:45 pm
followed by Participant’s Hour

In 1985 directed EDAM/MADE, a four hour performance involving fifty artists (including Mel Wong) at the Western Front. In that year, he also made his first contact with Vancouver's Japanese Canadian artists working on a piece with Katari Taiko called Runaway Horses, inspired by the Yukio Mishima novel of the same name. Since forming Kokoro Dance in 1986, he has developed over 100 choreographies with his partner Barbara Bourget and on his own. His work entitled Rage engaged fourteen taiko drummers, three dancers, a martial artist, and a stiltwalker. The work received standing ovations at the 1987 Asia Pacific Festival and the 1987 Canada Dance Festival and has been revised nine times since then and been performed over two hundred times across Canada, in the U.S. and in Europe. Other choreographies include: Episode in Blue, Aeon, Ascension, Dance of the Dead, Encounters With The Goddess and White Hot Core (with Jay Hirabayashi - 60 minute dance for five dancers performed live with the 18 piece Hard Rubber Orchestra).

Peter Chin – August 27 & 28, 2:45 to 4:45 pm
followed by Participant’s Hour

Peter Chin is highly acclaimed as a choreographer throughout the dance community and has created commissions for Dancemakers, Toronto Dance Theatre, the CanAsian Dance Festival where Chin created a solo for National Ballet of Canada's Chan Hon Goh, Bill James, Marie-Jose Chartier, Hari Krishnan, the Moving Pictures Festival, the Canadian Childrens' Dance Theatre and Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People. Peter Chin has received four Dora Mavor Moore Awards: "Outstanding New Choreography" for Stupa in 2005, "Outstanding New Choreography" and "Outstanding Performance" for Bite in 2000, and "Outstanding New Choreography" for Northeastsouthwest in 1997. He has also been nominated twice: for Language in 1998 and Ghost Train in 2001.

Peter's works have been presented internationally and throughout Canada: at the Canada Dance Festival in Ottawa, Festival International de Nouvelle Danse in Montreal, the Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival, the Peterborough Festival of the Arts, Dancing on the Edge in Vancouver, the Asian Heritage Month in Vancouver, St. John's Sound Symposium, the Other Festival in Chennai India, the Indonesian Dance Festival, the International Jakarta Festival (representing Canada), the National Gallery of Jamaica, Sutra's Gerak Angin Festival in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, the Singapore Festival Fringe, the Ijsbreker Festival in Amsterdam Holland; and in Toronto among others with DanceWorks, INDE '92 Toronto, Art in Open Spaces, the Gamelan Summit, the Shared Habitat Festival and Dances For a Small Stage. Peter’s premiered his most recent work Transmission of the Invisible in February 2008 at the Enwave Theatre in Toronto.

Nova Bhattacharya – August 28 & 29, 2:45 to 4:45 pm
followed by Participant’s Hour

Nova Bhattacharya is acclaimed as one of Canada’s finest dance artists. She has trained with some of bharatanatyam’s most esteemed teachers including Menaka Thakkar, Kalanidhi Narayan and Kitappa Pillai. For eleven years she toured with Menaka Thakkar & Company as a soloist and company member. Since embarking on an independent career, this gifted interpreter has appeared with a number of companies while building an exceptional body of work, ranging from full length classical recitals in the bharatanatyam style, to powerful contemporary works. Her repertoire includes works created for her by Canadian choreographers Peggy Baker, José Navas, Karen Kaeja and an upcoming commission from Laurence Lemieux. She has also commissioned a series of unique duets created with accomplished creators and performers including Natasha Bakht, Dana Gingras, Jenn Goodwin, Louis Laberge-Côté, and Mika Kurosawa. Ms. Bhattacharya’s choreography has been commissioned by the Canada Dance Festival, Cahoots Theatre Projects, Dusk Dances, Theatre Direct Canada and Toronto Dance Theatre. Her performances have been presented by Canada’s National Arts Centre, Kalanidhi Fine Arts, Dancing on the Edge, Danceworks, Peterborough New Dance, Tokyo’s An Creative and at fabrik Potsdam / 17th Potsdamer Tanztage – International Festival of Contemporary Dance. Bhattacharya’s artistry is a reflection of her classical training and present- day aesthetic, her work is formally rigorous and displays an eloquence that goes beyond pure movement.

Dance AdvancE - 2008

Choreographic Workshops – 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm