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Dusk Dances 2022

HCA Dance Theatre once again brings one of the most exciting events of the summer to Hamilton – Dusk Dances Hamilton 2022 at Bayfront Park!

Event Details

Dusk Dances Hamilton 2022

 

July 21 - 24, 2022

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Bayfront Park
200 Harbourfront Drive, Hamilton

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Event entry:
Pay-what-you-can
Suggested donation: $10

Dusk Dances is an outdoor dance festival that brings arts to the City of Hamilton, offering a unique experience and spectacular atmosphere. As dusk descends, a theatrical host leads the audience through an array of unique world-class dance pieces that unfold in different areas of the park.

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Not only is it an artistic event, but a social and cultural one, bringing people together to celebrate the art of dance with family, friends, and strangers against the backdrop of breathtaking waterfront views.

What to expect:

  • A inspiring and unique experience you can share with your loved ones 

  • Rhythmic live music, including an African drum circle that welcomes audience members to participate

  • Four unique dance performances performed by professional dancers 

  • A Caribbean African dance workshop, allowing audience members to experience dance firsthand

 

Don't miss this spectacular summer event that features a wonderful mosaic of modern, professional dance!

Event Programme

Hosted by Anne Millaire

Caribbean African Dance movement workshop with Michael Mortley, accompanied by live music

THE HOROLOGIUM

CHOREOGRAPHED BY MICHAEL CALDWELL
Performers: Sydney Keir, Ryan Kostyniuk, Zoe Kwan, Willem Sadler & Sarah Kennedy
Original Music Composer and Vocal Performer: Anika Johnson
Original Costume Designer and Construction: Emily Tench
Additional Costume Designer and Construction: Valerie Calam
Set and Dress Designer and Construction: Michael Caldwell
Rehearsal Director and Outside Eye: Sylvie Bouchard
Follow the fantastical journey of an unobservant businessperson into the topsy-turvy world of a nine-foot-tall matriarch and three terpsichorean spirits.

“Thank you to Sebastian Cepka, Emma-Kate Millar, Megan Vance, Rhonda Baker, Molly Johnson, Anika Johnson, Meredith Thompson, Brodie Stevenson, Mairéad Filgate, and Yvonne Ng for their contributions to this work over the years.” – Michael Caldwell
First premiered as a Dusk Dances commission in 2011.

NO RETURN

CHOREOGRAPHED BY MICHAEL MORTLEY
Performer: Michael Mortley
Costume Designer: Michael Mortley
Rehearsal Director: Mellissa Bertrand
Music / Poetry Writer: War Orphans by Charlie Hade
Poet: Charles C. Smith / Voice: Atri Nundy
Outside Eye: Wind In the Leaves Collective through the CRP process
An interpretation of return. A return to self, a return to the place my body called home not just where the heart is. A place that holds no judgment for who you are and what you chose to be. No Return... no way back, just forward, through all adversity forward.
A Dusk Dances premiere.

SELF-PORTRAITS WITH AMRITA

CHOREOGRAPHED BY DEEPTI GUPTA (ARZOO DANCE THEATRE)
Performers: Deepti Gupta, Sukriti Sharma and Priyanka Tope
Spoken Word Artist: Sheniz Janmohamed
Composer: Sandy Singh
Costumes: Deepti Gupta
“Self-Portraits with Amrita explores the body language of Indian women in the diaspora. The self-portraits and paintings of Amrita Sher-Gil are used as springboards to reflect and explore culturally plural identities. Growing up in Canada, my body still has a memory of a woman’s physicality in rural India or of the way Indian women inhabit their clothing and their bodies. The creative process also goes beyond the classical training of Kathak dance to discover how the body of an Indian dancer can express itself in new ways. At the same time, we look at the dance vocabulary of Kathak and how it can be deconstructed to express new stories and experiences. The aim of the process is to create complete freedom of expression for Indian dancers who are often bound by a very strict classical system of movement.” – Deepti Gupta
A Dusk Dances premiere.

BOXSET

CHOREOGRAPHED BY THROWDOWN COLLECTIVE
(ZHENYA CERNEACOV, MAIRÉAD FILGATE AND BRODIE STEVENSON)
Performers: Sydney Keir, Michael Mortley & Willem Sadler
Understudy: Ryan Kostyniuk
Costumes: Throwdown Collective
Music / Composer: Kid Koala and Parov Stelar
Set Construction: Larry Hahn
Set to the infectious beats of Kid Koala and Parov Stelar, BoxSet is an athletic dance for three performers and four wooden boxes that provide a dynamic moving structure for the dancers. Clad in blue overalls, the performers climb up, propel from and slide down their four giant props, continuously shifting them into surprising geometric configurations.

Throwdown Collective would like to thank the dancers for their dedication and willingness to throw themselves into this piece and all that it entails.
First premiered as a Dusk Dances commission in 2011.