Dusk Dances brings mix of dance performances to Withrow Park starting on Aug. 4
Dusk Dances celebrates its 30th anniversary this year with outdoor dance performances planned for Withrow Park beginning this weekend.
Dusk Dances 2024 takes place from Sunday, Aug. 4 through to Sunday, Aug. 11, with performances starting at 7:30 p.m. Prior to the performances there will be pre-show workshops at 7 p.m.
Withrow Park is located one block south of Danforth Avenue between Logan and Carlaw avenues.
This year’s Dusk Dances features an “eclectic mix of contemporary, traditional and experimental dance forms.”
Each evening’s performance will be “a journey of discovery” that fills the park with are and creativity, said a news release from Dusk Dances 2024.
Dusk Dances will feature four dance performances each night in Withrow Park. Those performances are Astitva, Petunia, Path and Give Me One.
“We are thrilled to present this stellar program of artists to the community for a special 30th Birthday edition of Dusk Dances,” said Dusk Dances festival director Sofi Gudino in the news release. “This year’s artists celebrate the creativity, beauty and strength of public dance in Toronto.”
For the Path performances, Dusk Dances is partnering with Project Soniashnyk to bring one of the pieces to life with community performers.
Path is presented by Project Soniashnyk, a Ukrainian Canadian fund that brings summer trauma rehabilitation camps to children of Ukraine’s armed forces and fallen defenders. They are helping Dusk Dances present the work of Ukrainian artist and choreographer, Yevgen Karykakin, his sister, and her two children, who will be performing Path about their journey to Canada through the war, alongside community children performers from their studio.
The Path dancers are Karyakin, Kateryna Khruzyna, Anna-Mariia Khruzyna, Stanislav Khruzyn, with community performers from Dance by Khruzyna.
“This is a philosophical reflection on the topic of human life as a unit, as part of a family and as part of society. We go through our own journey, we can literally change locations, as happened with our family due to the war. Or consider the journey metaphorically – as a person’s path through life and the path of humanity through history.We are all travellers and we all leave traces… on Earth, in digital space, in the memory of our descendants,” said Karyakin of Path.
Astitva is choreographed and performed by Gouri Kundu and Anita Pandey, and will be making its premiere at Dusk Dances.
Astitva is the Hindi word for “identity/existence” and this dance is introspective and seeks to express the vast spectrum of emotions from confliction and pain, to eventual joy and euphoria experienced in the reclaiming of the self through the exploration of one’s identity.
It follows the dancers through their reflection of their authentic selves as diasporic artists practicing Kathak, an Indian classical dance form, in a foreign land usurped by spaces that cater predominantly to dance styles of Eurocentric origin, said the news release. The work witnesses a navigation through the emotional dissonance of embracing elements of the western aesthetic, while remaining rooted to Kathak.
Petunia is choreographed and performed by Olga Barrios, with costume design by Ruth Gutierrez.
First performed in 2008 at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Latin America Contemporary Dance Event, Petunia “seeks to explore salsa music and theatricality in movement within the context of gender”.
“… a woman, a woman being an object in the environment, object of vibration, object for society, object of thoughts, object for pleasure and pain, of eroticism, sensuality, object of criticism and of power, mystery object, object of desire, of rhythm, of her skin, her blood, her passion. An object woman, owner of life, object of herself,” is how the news release described Petunia.
Give Me One is choreographed by Danah Rosales. It will be performed by Matthew Cuff (Legendary Snoopy 007); Jocelyne Cardenas (Father Jaws Siriano); and Kelly-Ann Johnson (Godmother Mystic Siriano). Music for Give Me One is composed by Fly Lady Di (Diana Reyes).
The news release describes Give Me One as follows:
“Dating back to the late 1960’s, Ballroom culture is birthed and created by Black and Latinx Gay and Trans folx as an act of resistance to racism in the New York drag scene. Based on preparation practices of walking a ball, this adaptation of ‘GIVE ME ONE’ is an invitation to an inside peek into our world of playful approaches to different categories that include best dressed, vogue and runway. Ballroom energy is like no other and within these underground spaces, forms and nurtures familial bonds while at the same time creates high competitive tension, all while celebrating each other’s queerness, unique identities, audacious performance personas, attitude, beauty, power, sharp wit and joy.
“In the ballroom scene, ‘Give Me One’ is a phrase that directly requests the judges’ vote in order to determine the winner of the battle.”
Give Me One first premiered at Toronto Dance Theatre in 2023.
The pre-show workshops for Dusk Dances in Withrow Park will be hosted by Fly Lady Di, and there will be traditional Hoop Dance lessons led by River Christie-White.
Admission to Dusk Dances is pay-what-you-wish (suggested $20), ensuring accessibility for all. Those attending the performances are asked to please bring their own blankets and chairs.
The Sunday, Aug. 4, performance is a preview night for Dusk Dances 2024.
Opening night is Monday, Aug. 5, followed by nightly performances on Aug. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.
For more information on this year’s Dusk Dances performances at Withrow Park, please visit https://www.duskdances.ca/en/season2024_Toronto.php
