And it's off to the printers we go!

Check out our swanky promo for the Light & Metal tour!
(Designed by Ahmed Kahlil)

Dance Dance Revolution (FASHION Magazine, August 2009)

Check out Paula Citron’s article, Dance Dance Revolution, in the August 2009 issue of FASHION Magazine (and here online as a slideshow), featuring 6 of the “hottest names” in Canadian contemporary dance. Two of the choreographers in the article are from BC, Crystal Pite (Kidd Pivot) & Wen Wei Wang (Wen Wei Dance), photographed by Alex Waterhouse-Hayward.

Solo 30x30

We've got the windows open, it's hot and summery for my inaugural MiBC blog posting! Here's a dance I've been thinking about....

Still lingering in the downtown Vancouver sunshine is the dancing ghost of Montreal's Paul Andre Fortier, who recently brought his Solo 30x30 to the Dancing on the Edge Festival. Paul Andre danced a 30 minute solo, every day for 30 days, on the same street corner outside the downtown public library. As in other cities around the world where Paul Andre has performed this piece, passers by were treated to the elegant and playful presence of one of Canada's veteran choreographer/dancers, and a unique sense of community began to build.

I lost track of how many times I stopped by- the shows were free, and the ritual dance became part of my afternoon routine, even when I couldn't attend. During the first few weeks of the show I was also part of a choreographic workshop sponsored by the Dance Centre, with Paul Andre and rehearsal director Ginelle Chagnon as generous mentors. As I was trying to figure out my own choreographic puzzles in the studio, it was inspiring to see them return, again and again, to the same spot, at the same time, every day.

An echo remains in the space now that it's done. Check out Ginelle's daily account of this beautiful feat!

Photograph by : Steve Bosch, Vancouver Sun, via http://fortierdanse.blogspot.com/

Dance around the world

(photo via this article at boston.com)

This photo is just a teaser of a larger photo essay of 39 images entitled Dance around the world. It was such a great Monday morning treat to open my email inbox and find this link from an old (and non-dance related) friend. Here is the opening paragraph of the article:

"We humans are natural dancers. Dances can be celebrations, or for praise, or for an audience - or just a simple act of letting the rhythm move your body. Dancers can communicate ideas, preserve cultural identities, strengthen social bonds, or just have a lot of fun. Collected here are recent photographs of us, human beings around the world, professional and amateur, in motion for all of the reasons above and more. "
-boston.com

E.D. postings - #001

photo: International Dance Day 2007 in Smithers, BC

Well, here I am, the Executive Director, writing what will be the first ever post on the Made in BC blog. We here at the office (Caroline & I, that is) are at the very tail end of our Spring grant writing season, as well as the tail end of our fiscal year end... so really that means getting ready for final reports... audits... (no, no, don't fall asleep, I swear it gets better - read on!)

I'm sure that doesn't sound all that much fun to any of you who are reading this, but the flip side of grant writing and final reporting is the actual FUN part of what we do, program development; taking stock of our accomplishments from the past year, what we'd like to do differently and better; and putting it into action for next year.

So, this is it. In action. Really! I've been wanting to get a blog going for Made in BC over the past year... In fact, this blog has had a couple iterations, but as with many blogs that try and get off the ground, they've evaporated into cyberspace. There's a lot of reasons why I wanted to start a blog for Made in BC... imagine any one of these things:

• following a dancer on tour throughout BC, an inside look to life on the road
• reading about a young person's journey of pursuing a dance career
• a hot debate about So You Think You Can Dance: does it help or hinder contemporary dance?

Sounds neat, doesn't it? Well, I think so, and I guess that's why I'm charge!

All this to say that we've got a great online project in the works; and just like the beginnings of this organization itself, we're starting small, and in manageable pieces. We hope to give you an insight to our operations, to give you an inside look at dance and touring and life around BC.

Please let us know what you think!