UMS Concert Program, July 1 And 2, 1985: Ann Arbor Summer '85 Festival -- Toronto Dance Theatre

Power Center For The Performing Arts Ann Arbor, Michigan

mn Arbor (ummer 'oc
THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
presents
Toronto Dance Theatre
Founders
Peter Randazzo
Patricia Beatty
David Earle
KENNY PEARL, Artistic Director Ellen Busby, General Manager
Resident Choreographers
Peter Randazzo David Earle
Patricia Beatty Christopher House
Dancers
Lucie Boissinot Karen duPlessis Rene Highway Merle Holloman
Christopher House Helen Jones Benoit Lachambre
Learie McNicolls Grace Miyagawa Luc Tremblay
Apprentice: Silvi Bouchard
Ron Snippe, Company Manager and Lighting Designer
Denis Joffre, Wardrobe Master and Costume Designer
Sheenah Andrews, Development Director
Penny Olorenshaw, Stage Manager
Janine Cheung, Administrative Assistant
Lynda Stamp, Assistant to the General Manager
Monday and Tuesday Evenings, July 1 and 2, 1985, at 8:00
Power Center for the Performing Arts
Ann Arbor, Michigan
The Toronto Dance Theatre is supported by the Department of Communications, External Affairs, the Canada Council, Ministry of Citizenship and Culture, Ontario Arts Council, Metropolitan Toronto, and City of Toronto.
BAROQUE SUITE
Choreography: David Earle Lighting design: Ron Snippe
Music: Corelli, Bach, Vivaldi Costume design: Audrey Vanderstoop
Duet........................................Helen Jones, Christopher House
Mirrors................................. Merle Holloman, Learie McNicolls,
Grace Miyagawa, Rene Highway
Finale.........................Grace Miyagawa, Helen Jones, Karen duPlessis,
Lucie Boissinot, Silvi Bouchard, Christopher House, Learie McNicolls, Luc Tremblay, Rene Highway
Premiere: Duet, Oct. 1972; Mirrors, Dec. 1968; Finale, Oct. 1980
FLEET
Choreography: Christopher House Costume design: Denis Joffre
Music: John Cage Lighting design: Ron Snippe
Merle Holloman
Grace Miyagawa
Learie McNicolls
Lucie Boissinot
Rene Highway
Karen duPlessis
Helen Jones
?"Three Dances for Two Amplified Prepared Pianos"
(used by permission of Henmar Press Inc., C. F. Peters Corporation)
Premiere: November 1982
INTERMISSION
RADICAL LIGHT
Premiere: July 1, 1985, Ann Arbor Summer Festival
Choreography: Patricia Beatty Lighting design: Ron Snippe
Music: Carlos Chavez Set design: Aiko Suzuki
Costume design: Denis Joffre
Tliis piece is dedicated to those who see a different future for us all, who work to bring it closer, and to those who suffer so gravely because it has not vet arrived.
The Reality.
The Dream.
The Spirit.
The Victim -Learie McNicolls His Courage -Grace Miyagawa
GLASS HOUSES
Choreography: Christopher House Lighting design: Ron Snippe
Music: Ann Southam, "Glass Houses No. 5"
Costume design: Denis Joffre
Merle Holloman
Helen Jones
Karen duPlessis
Luc Tremblay
Benoit Lachambre
Premiere: November 1983
INTERMISSION A SIMPLE MELODY
Choreography: Peter Randazzo Costume design: Carol Crawley
Music collage: David Davis Lighting design: Ron Snippe
Apertif....................Christopher House, Learie McNicolls, Rene Highway
Chants....................................Merle Hollomon, Karen duPlessis,
Lucie Boissinot, Silvi Bouchard, Luc Tremblay
Waterfall......................Karen duPlessis, Lucie Boissinot, Silvi Bouchard,
Helen Jones (Mon.), Merle Holloman (Tues.),
Luc Tremblay, Benoit Lachambre.
Learie McNicolls, Rene Highway
Pavane...........................Grace Miyagawa, Christopher House (Mon.)
Grace Miyagawa, Rene Highway (Tues.)
Tango................................Merle Holloman, Luc Tremblay (Mon.)
Helen Jones, Christopher House (Tues.)
Finale........................Karen duPlessis, Lucie Boissinot, Silvi Bouchard,
Benoit Lachambre, Christopher House, Luc Tremblay, Learie McNicolls, Merle Holloman
Premiere: October 1977
The Toronto Dance Theatre has brought bold, innovative dance excitement to audiences in Canada, the United States and Europe. The three founders, and for fifteen years artistic directors of the Toronto Dance Theatre, came together in 1968. Torontoborn Patricia Beatty, who worked with Pearl Lang in New York, had established a school and company, the New Dance Group of Canada, which she was running in Toronto. Also from Toronto, David Earle had recently returned from a career as a dancer with the Jose Limon Company in New York, and has also been assistant artistic director of the London Contemporary Dance Theatre in London, England. Peter Randazzo, originally from New York, had been a soloist with the Limon and Martha Graham companies. David Earle and Peter Randazzo decided to found their own company, and when Patricia Beatty offered the New Dance Group as a basis, the Toronto Dance Theatre came into being with a season of eight works, using a company often dancers. The School, also started in 1968, has a fulltime pro?fessional program. It has trained dancers not only for Toronto Dance Theater and other modern dance companies across Canada, but also for the Martha Graham Dance Company, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, The Louis Falco Company, and the London Contemporary Dance Theatre.
The dancers in the company have always been singled out for their excellence. They have per?formed in the United States, Lisbon, London, Paris, and at the Angers Festival in France. Their popularity in Canada is reflected in their reception away from home: "beautiful to look at. . . a hit with the audience," wrote the New York Times, while London's Dancing Times reported: "the immediate audience response was enthusiastic. The theatre was packed every night."
In 1982, the three founding artistic directors received the fifth annual Dance Ontario Award in recognition of their work in developing dance in their home province; and in 1983, Christopher House, the company's first appointed resident choreographer, received the prestigious Jean A. Chalmers Award in recognition of his "pronounced gift for making dances" (Toronto Star). Over the years, eighty works have been created by the four choreographers to music that ranges from J. S. Bach to Steve Reich to Ray Charles. In addition, scores for thirty dances have been commis?sioned from Canadian composers. Toronto Dance Theatre has been featured in two National Film Board films: For the Love of Dance and Gala; Baroque Suite was hailed as "the finest piece on the (Gala) program" by Canadian Dance News.
In the spring of 1983, the three artistic directors stepped down from their positions and ap?pointed Torontoborn Kenny Pearl to take their place. Kenny Pearl toured internationally with the Martha Graham and Alvin Ailey Dance Companies for nine years. He returned frequently to teach at Toronto Dance Theatre and codirected a production of the opera Dido and Aeneas that the com?pany coproduced at the Stratford Summer Music Festival.
With a repertoire that ranges from "immense and majestic" (Edmonton Journal) to "rhap?sodic and exhilarating" (CBC Stereo Morning) to "genuinely hilarious" (Globe and Mail), what remains constant is that "Toronto Dance Theatre has consistently tried to say something important about the way we are, the way we feel, the way we see. . .on its own terms, Toronto Dance Theatre has built an amazing repertoire." (CentreStage, Toronto)