Laura Power
Northern News Services
Friday, May 25, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - With three performances and a workshop, the members of Vancouver's Dancers Dancing shared their first Northern experience with audience members last weekend.

Judith Garay, the group's artistic director, said "I thought it was a wonderful residency that we did in Yellowknife." She said the dancers "thoroughly enjoyed it," and that it seemed the audiences did, too.

"My sense was that they really enjoyed the show," she said, adding "all the verbal feedback I got was positive."

The group held a workshop last Wednesday night for about 15-20 people. Garay said a good portion of the group were dancers from the Crazy Legs Contemporary dance company. The members of Dancers Dancing led the group in a variety of creative exercises and a technique class.

On Friday afternoon, high school students from Sir John Franklin High School were treated to a show. Garay said they were "lively as teenagers should be" and asked great questions. Later that evening, the group gave its first presentation of its show, Mixed Highlights.

The first half of the show consisted of three separate pieces, all choreographed by Garay. The first piece, titled Trio of Duets was performed by the group's three female dancers: DesirÈe Dunbar, Vanessa Goodman and Natasha Lutz. The group's two male dancers, Christopher Duban and Kevin Bergsma, performed the next bit, which was a preview and excerpt from Extra, Extra - which won't officially premiere until July.

ONE, The Catwalk, the third piece in the first half, was a solo dance performed by Dunbar. This was inspired by a collection of fashion-based photography and looked at the media's portrayal of women over a span of about 30 years.

"In the first half, all of those pieces were created and sourced from print media photos," said Garay, who drew inspiration from photos she collected from magazines and newspapers and turned them into dances.

The first of two pieces in the second half of the show, Midwinter Dreaming, was the only performance in the show choreographed by Santee Smith.

The piece was inspired by Iroquoian midwinter ceremonies and it used simulated Northern lights as a creative tool as all five of the group's dancers performed together.

The second and final piece, Quicksilver, which was performed again by all the members of the group, was a personal story for Garay.

"It was actually done as a response to my brother dying," she said.

Garay said the people at NACC were fabulous to work with, and said she felt it was good for the group to get to work in a "whole different kind of community."