I'm so glad this contemporary choreography exists

Raw, unpolished. Wade Robson, Pam Chu, Ben Susak. John Mayer's Slow Dancing in a Burning Room. Throw it all together and end up with a contemporary choreography that breaks my heart every single time.

Early Mornings Montreal

The days are getting shorter, but it can be the most beautiful thing. Watch this to understand.

Le Poisson d'Argent - Early Mornings from Alex Labbé on Vimeo.

The Quartier Danses festival presented short films one morning showcasing work from young canadian   filmmakers at the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal. I almost didn't go, having spent the night before oot and aboot, but you know. Priorities. I ended waking up super early and making cupcakes anyway.

ANYWAY, all that to say, I'm so glad I made it out of bed in time because for those few minutes Early Mornings by Alex Labbé, featuring Claudia Chan Tak was playing, I was enthralled. I'm almost afraid to rewatch this because it's so grand in my memory.

Hope this strikes somethings in you as well.

I promise I'm coming back with an article about Tentacle Tribe. I ended up missing their show in verdun, but something else was coming for me. You'll see!

Passivity - Namjin Kim Dance Theater

I'm so excited to have finally kickstarted my journey into this year's Quartier Danse festival.  Sometimes I feel like I'm so stuck into my own beat that it becomes essential, though I may only realize afterwards, to see other people's work.

Can you tell which one of them is not a real person?!

This evening I went to see Passivity, a work from the Namjin Kim Dance Theater (and a creation from Tentacle Tribe that I'll talk about in another post after I go see them again!!!)

This choreography was playing with my mind! Not only had I not realized initially that the fourth "dancer" was a rag mannequin, but then they started incorporating the rag doll's body parts with their own bodies and I couldn't tell which limb belonged to which. Interesting experience, I must say.

Go see it for yourself and let me know what you think!

Quartier Danse Preview : Sept 11-21

I'm am more than excited that Quartier Danse festival is starting in Montreal. This is a fantastic opportunity to experience dance in Montreal either outdoors, for free, or for a very low cost. In the next few weeks during the festival, I will be posting on twitter the works I will be going to see and I hope you will join me! Here's a preview list of the shows I'd like to attend according to my availabilities (did I say that I'm working three jobs right now -____- , poor idea, I know).

http://tentacletribe.com/new-gallery/    Gorgeous photo, amazing composition!

"When they fall: revisited explore l’influence des subites rencontres humaines qui marquent notre vie. Comme deux inconnus dont les chemins se croisent dans un monde anonyme, les danseurs entrent en collision et partagent une synchronicité intime." - Vendredi 13 Sept. 17h30 - Place Des Festivals

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http://www.quartiersdanses.com/event/passivity/   +++  http://www.quartiersdanses.com/namjin-kim-dance-theater-chang/

Passivity: "Trois danseurs et une poupée de chiffon, véritable partenaire des interprètes, nous livrent une illustration troublante de cette manipulation et stimulent notre désir de reprendre le contrôle de nos vies." - Vendredi 13 Sept. 17h - Place Des Festivals 

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http://bit.ly/14DnXNN 

Soirées Soli - Collection 1 "An actor, director and amazing dancer, Marc Béland gives us a thoughtful solo retracing his moods, his obsessions, his worries; the lights and the shadows on the path he has traveled. With BOX, l’homme au carton, Paul-André Fortier, a mature choreographer with close to 50 works on his résumé, transforms an ordinary box into a poetic object. He opens a door in the spectators’ imagination, giving life to the box and turning this solo into a duet. Finally, Tony Chong brings back to life the imaginary characters and superheroes who peopled his teen years and still reside within the man that he has become. His emotional piece, influenced by both the beauty and the awkwardness of mankind, invites us to explore our own memories in order to find this fanciful being we all carry inside." - Vendredi 13 Sept - Samedi 14 Sept. 19h30

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http://www.quartiersdanses.com/event/courts-metrages-jeunes-realisateurs-canadiens/

Courts Métrages: Jeunes Réalisateurs Canadiens "Afin d’encourager les réalisateurs de la relève québécoise et canadienne, Quartiers Danses présente au Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal et au cinéma Beaubien une série de courts métrages sur la danse. Des talents à découvrir dans une programmation éclectique qui montre une autre facette de l’art chorégraphique." - Samedi 14 Sept. 11h

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http://www.accesculture.com/activite/Bowling_Blues

Bowling Blues: "Heidi Duckler, chorégraphe de Los Angeles, et Claire Gignac, multi instrumentiste et compositeure, joignent leur talent afin de créer une performance unique dans un lieu inusité : le Salon de quilles Darling, situé sur la Promenade Hocelaga-Maisonneuve. Une rencontre inspirante entre musique vivante et danse contemporaine !" -Samedi 21 Sept. 17h30 et 18h30

Enjoy the montreal dance scene and don't forget to check out all the other awesome event/shows going on during the festival at Quartier Danse's website. I'll definitely be going to more shows according to my level of sleep deprivation and last minute scheduling.

See you there!

The Ailey School Intensive: Summer in the Empire State

When I was eight or nine, my uncle would bring me to dance shows every month. I now realize how lucky I was to attend these performances.  Some pieces may have been a bit over the comprehension of my age at the time (a.k.a. deeply experimental contemporary choreographies not standing a chance beside the Nutcracker and Giselle.) In a particularly experimental season in the Montreal dance scene, I was becoming mildly weirded out by dance. That's when I saw the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform in Montreal and I was completely captivated. I still remember how beautifully the dancers moved, and that was over ten years ago!

The name stayed in my head since, so recently I decided to see if they had a professional school. Turns out they have even more than that! They have a summer intensive for aspiring dancers!

What is it all about?
The intensive offers students from the age of 16 to 25 daily modern technique classes alongside other courses that offer complementary skills (such as yoga, body conditioning, jazz, etc...)

Tech Specs
It usually runs from the end of June to the beginning of August and requires 2500$ tuition fee, 50$ registration fee and 45$ Physical Therapy service fee for a total of 2595$ for a little over a month of training at 12-15 classes per week. If you pay in advance, you may be eligible for a discount. Also, it's to be noted that the intensive requires an audition. See more info on their website here.

Note: With a valid, readable passport, Canadian citizens can stay in the U.S. for up to six months without requiring a visa (hence, covering the summer intensive hassle-free). 

C'mon, who ain't inspired?! Just listen to Jay-Z, he knows best. 

DIY: Dance Fund Jar

Ok so it not a huge secret - the career of a dancer is not the one that'll the most likely secure you a monetary fortune. Good for you if it does, but I think we'd best go in it simply because we must. We need to go in it because that feeling cannot be shaken, that the dancing and the experiences that go with it just HAVE TO happen.

So that's why I bring to you the DANCE FUND mason jar craft. It's a cute way to collect your spare change and put it together towards something bigger. You know as they've always said: Pennies turn into a dollar (although we don't have the penny anymore!!!) and dollars into a hundred dollars and hundreds into... well you know and so on. Maybe your house guests would like to lighten their pockets too ;)

Basically you just need to draw out a design and glue it into the a jar. I think Rubber Cement is your best bet to get it to stick and not make your ink run. You could do like me if you're having trouble getting it to glue instantly: roll up a rag into the jar and place a heavy-ish item on top of that rag.

So there there you go! Your that closer to pay for dance supplies - or even your whole tuition!

Speaking of tuition, check out the Resources page! I've listed some interesting schools that'll help you ace your dream school's auditions. You don't want miss them!

Late Bloomers in Dance Turned Pro

Part of being a late bloomer in dance includes dealing with the non-believers (including oneself). Being a late-blooming dancer does make a difference and wishfulness alone will not make it happen. In regards to that, there are three points I'd like to address. Ps. I've enclosed a link in this post to an article all about late-blooming dance pros, read this post to find it hihihi

1. For starters, how about we do this simple exercise: Take what you see as a weakness (in this case, having started on your career path later than most) and turn it into strengths. For example, having decided to pursue dance later in life I begin the journey having already developed a maturity through real life experiences. I can directly transpose this to the decisions I make and the actions I take, which in turn will direct me towards success. Also, having some catching up to do develops in me a strong drive and a solid determination to improve in order to reach the opportunities in life that matter to me.  


2. I can now channel all of these advantages into making pristine actions towards my goals and detach myself from the outcome. This not only saves my energy from being spent on dealing with unnecessary pressure, but it also enables me to have 360 vision of the opportunities around me, whether they are directly linked to dance or not.  Who knows where life will go with this path, but when actions are taken with genuine heart in them, the journey is bound to be interesting.


3. There actually exist late-blooming dance professionals. Take David Zurak for example, who started his first dance class at age 23. There are more of those, though rare, that succeed. They succeeded because 1. they actually went for it 2. they went for it with intense determination, time and effort. (check out some more late-bloomin' pros here)

So whenever you're self-douting, think of these points up there. I don't believe that all who try will succeed, man, even dancers who started early on don't make it, but sometimes you've just got to at least give it your all (and I mean really, your ALL). Who knows where this path will bring you and which people it will lead you to meet. That's why it's important to love the journey and not the end destination.

Now tell me, what weakness have you transformed into strengths today?