PuSh International Performing Arts Festival (PuSh) presents the Western Canadian premiere of Montreal choreographer Dana Gingras’ visually arresting new work, FRONTERA, for one-night only, January 30, 2020 at 8pm at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Gingras and her internationally lauded dance company, Animals of Distinction, collaborate with the experimental post-rock band Fly Pan Am and members of the UK-based collective United Visual Artists to create a provocative multimedia experience of motion, sound, and light. The dancers on stage explore notions of individual and political agency within a contested space of borderlands — both real and imagined.
In FRONTERA, 10 dancers take to the stage amid pulsing flashes and towering vertical rays of light. The dancers react to the clarion call of the driving music and the whims of the lighting, becoming wildly shifting forms in a singular struggle between impulse and design. Columns of light alternately guide, divide, and entrap the dancers, but ultimately cannot defeat their fearless physicality and ingenuity. Apart from the bodies of the performers, there are no solid structures on stage. Borders, fences, and walls are showcased as luminous virtual constructs — reflecting their roles in our lives.
The scenography by United Visual Artists amplifies Fly Pan Am’s live music and field recordings from David Bryant of Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The performance by Animals of Distinction features: Robert Abubo, Justin de Luna, Léna Demnati, Stacey Désilier, Caroline Gravel, Louise Michel Jackson, Mark Sawh Medrano, Koliane Rochon Prom Tep, Sovann Rochon Prom Tep, and Lexi Vajda.
FRONTERA is the first creation of the long-term, two-year residency program at the Centre de Création O Vertigo (CCOV), awarded to Gingras for the inaugural 2017–2019 period. CCOV is the executive producer of FRONTERA, which was developed with support from the National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund.
PuSh will unveil the full 2020 festival line-up at a program announcement party on November 27 from 7–9pm at Central Studios (856 Seymour Street).
PuSh International Performing Arts Festival presents FRONTERA
Date: January 30, 2020 at 8pm
Ticket Prices: From $39, including fees
Early Bird Offer: $20 off tickets in Price Level 1 ($79.50)
and Price Level 2 ($59) until Nov. 27
Location: Queen Elizabeth Theatre
630 Hamilton Street
Vancouver, BC
Audience Services: 604.449.6000 / tickets@pushfestival.ca
Website: www.pushfestival.ca
Photo: ©Adrián Morillo
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