DANCE AT THE 2009 TORONTO FRINGE - ROUND-UP

Reviewed by: Beverley Daurio

The Toronto Fringe Festival’s featuring of several dance performances in its annual programming is to be applauded. Highlights of the 2009 Fringe dance shows included Artists' Play's HeartSurge, choreographed by Elizabeth Dawn Snell, and based on the true story of one man’s experience of heart surgery. I saw this emotionally charged piece in a previous incarnation, with strong performances from Jason Vanstone in the complex role of patient/doctor, and from Tanya Crowder, Elizabeth Dawn Snell, and Sarah McQueston. AX-S dance presented the playful, impelling and questioning twentysomethings (choreographed by Kate Nankervis). Also notable were The Ascension (with Tanya Crowder’s enigmatic and stirring physical theatre piece, Charlie), and Dancing in My Unbirthday Suit (a humourous exploration of the lives of three girls growing from toddlers to adulthood, created by the dancer-choreographers of Montreal’s Inertia Productions). Head First (an aerial show with colourful costuming and energetic body design among hanging silks with a rock music score, created by Holly Treddenick and Sabrina Pringle), was a Fringe Patron’s Pick.

Further sprightly discussion of the 2009 Toronto Fringe dance initiative shows can be heard on the Evi-Dance podcast for July 12, 2009 on this website.