Elementary school students from across Muskoka will be exposed to the rudiments of modern dance, thanks to the Huntsville Festival of the Arts and a dance school in Toronto.
The Canadian Children's Dance Theatre (CCDT) is a modern dance repertory company of 12 to 18-year-old dancers, founded in 1983 by artistic director Deborah Lundmark.
One of the festival's mandates is education, and in keeping with offering educational opportunities to the area's youth, the CCDT will be at the 408-seat Algonquin Theatre on Monday, March 26, for two performances. Both shows are already full.
“The response from the schools was overwhelming,” said festival general manager Rob Saunders. “Within 20 minutes of sending out e-mails we heard from Gravenhurst and Bracebridge schools committing 400 students. Within a few days 800 seats were committed from local schools. This proves there is a need for this sort of program.”
The dance troupe will arrive in Huntsville on Sunday. “It’s quite an extensive setup. They bring their own floor, so they’ll be setting up and rehearsing all Sunday afternoon,” Saunders said.
The Toronto contingent are staying overnight at Tawingo College. It was Tia Pearse of Tawingo (also a festival board member and dance enthusiast) who first made contact with CCDT managing director Michael deConinck Smith in early January, with a view to bringing dance workshops to the area as part of the education initiative.
“The festival board had a full plate working with Cadence [an a cappella quartet which in addition to their show in February at the Algonquin Theatre also hosted a workshop at Huntsville High School], Slam Poetry [another workshop for HHS English and drama students in April] and a year-end arts program in June so we thought it would be something which would work in the fall,” said Saunders.
“Then we learned that the CCDT had some specific funding support to allow busing for the schools which was set to expire, so we said we should do it now.”
Teacher Suzanne Riverin, who works with the Trillium Lakelands District School Board, put together a memo for the schools.
The festival has guaranteed the costs of the theatre and CCDT. To offset those costs each student will pay $5 for the one-hour program, which is titled Teasing Gravity. Lundmark introduces each of the five pieces with a brief description and the performances are followed by a question-and-answer session.
Teasing Gravity is a thrilling adventure in movement that features dances by some of Canada’s leading choreographers. The program includes dances that are fun and whimsical and others that address more serious themes and subjects.
Platform Blues choreographer Deborah Lundmark places six people and a musician on the waiting platform of a train station. The audience watch estheir relationships develop as they interact with each other to the accompaniment of blues harmonica player Jerome Godboo.
Attack of the Small Ones is choreographer Holly Small’s humourous answer to the age-old problem of the schoolyard bully who spoils the fun of an innocent (and very comical) group of playmates. Everyone – except the bully – cheers the surprise ending that the “small ones” have in store.
Nine-Person Precision Ball Passing is a dazzling “dance of the hands” created by New Yorker Charles Moulton. The choreographer challenges nine dancers to pass brightly coloured balls in a kaleidoscope of musical patterns – a one-of-a-kind feat of hand-eye co-ordination and perfect team timing.
Oh Mary Don’t You Weep was created by New York choreographer Keith Lee for five young women in Lexington, Kentucky. He was inspired by the music of Aretha Franklin and the strong characters of his dancers. Lee parallels their strength with that of four monumental Marys from history, who, through the power of their belief, raise Lazarus from the dead.
Musical Chairs is choreographer Gerry Trentham’s comic takeoff on the popular children’s game where too many characters chasing too few chairs make for some of the funniest moments in dance. As if such worldly problems were not enough, the choreographer gives the chairs a mischievous personality of their own. The bizarre result, while not so funny for the players, is a great delight for audiences everywhere.
Since the CCDT began its Ontario residency initiative in 2002, the company has toured across the province, performing for over 60,000 students by offering a series of matinee shows in each community, as well as in-school workshops to expand on the impact of the performance.
“Some of the schools in the area are currently investigating the possibility of bringing these workshops in,” concluded Saunders.
