DanceHouse Announces Electrifying 2019/20 Season

DanceHouse is thrilled to unveil its exhilarating 2019/20 season, showcasing the work of four new companies to DanceHouse audiences and two returning favourites, from October 2019 through May 2020. This season's offerings highlight an exceptionally diverse range of pioneering artists who are transforming traditional dance styles with boundary-blurring fusions of genres and cultures.

"Dance is a vibrant art form that is constantly evolving. We are delighted to share a curated lineup of world-class dance companies at the vanguard of their respective fields in our 2019/20 season," says Jim Smith, Artistic and Executive Director of DanceHouse. "We strive to present works with a unique and compelling perspective that simultaneously entertain and challenge our preconceptions. Vancouver audiences will be inspired by the artists' athleticism, artistry, diversity of styles, and dedication to inclusiveness."

This season, new additions to the DanceHouse family include Bangarra Dance Theatre, one of Australia's leading Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander dance companies performing Spirit, a powerful collection of dance stories selected from their 30-year repertoire; Montreal-based arts collective The 7 Fingers in collaboration with Artcirq of Igloolik and Taqqut Productions of Iqaluit with Unikkaaqtuat, an innovative work that melds ancestral Inuit practices with circus arts; Montreal's explosive RUBBERBANDance Group showcasing their dynamic blend of break-dancing, ballet, and dance theatre in Ever So Slightly; and Spain's iconoclastic Compañía Rocío Molina's reinvention of flamenco dance in the virtuoso tour de force Fallen from Heaven (Caída del Cielo).

DanceHouse welcomes back audience-favourite and internationally acclaimed Brazilian company Grupo Corpo in a mixed program featuring Gira, a dazzling homage to dance as a conduit to the divine. Finally, following their crowd-pleasing appearance in Vancouver in 2018, the New York-based tap dance sensation Dorrance Dance will return with ETM: Double Down, a rollicking celebration of the percussive potential of the human body.

The 2019/20 DanceHouse Season includes:

Spirit - Bangarra Dance Theatre (Australia)

In partnership with Dancers of Damelahamid

October 25 & 26, 2019 | Vancouver Playhouse

Drawn from 65,000 years of culture, Australia's Bangarra Dance Theatre presents foundational work, seemingly pulled from the very belly of the earth. In their first visit to Vancouver, Bangarra will showcase a selection of its extraordinary repertoire with Spirit, a work that weaves together totemic storytelling, dance,

and a lush musical score. Elemental in its power and raw beauty, Spirit traces the unbroken connection between Indigenous people, the land, and creation itself.

Unikkaaqtuat - The 7 Fingers / Artcirq / Taqqut Productions (Montreal / Igloolik / Iqaluit)

Co-presented with The Cultch

January 22-25, 2020 | Vancouver Playhouse

The oral history of the Inuit people is the inspiration for Unikkaaqtuat, a multidisciplinary work that combines the traditional practices of throat-singing, hunting, and competitive games with circus arts. Engaging Inuit and non-Inuit musicians and performers, Montreal's The 7 Fingers joins forces with Igloolik's Artcirq, and Iqaluit's Taqqut Productions in a unique collaborative process. DanceHouse is extremely proud to partner with The Cultch to co-present this astounding new production fresh from its January 2020 premiere just a few weeks before.

Gira & Other Works - Grupo Corpo (Brazil)

February 28 & 29, 2020 | Vancouver Playhouse

In their third presentation with DanceHouse, the Brazilian juggernaut Grupo Corpo channel the metaphysical with Gira. Choreographer Rodrigo Pederneiras has infused the company's signature style with movement idioms inspired by Afro-Brazilian rituals. Set to music from São Paulo band Méta Méta, Gira is a profound investigation of the human need to connect with the divine through the corporeal.

Ever So Slightly - RUBBERBANDance Group (Montreal)

March 20 & 21, 2020 | Vancouver Playhouse

In their inaugural presentation with DanceHouse, powerhouse Canadian company RUBBERBANDance kick off with a roar. Melding the forces of two musicians and ten extraordinary performers, choreographer Victor Quijada takes apart the mechanisms of compliance and control with surgical precision. One moment, the dancers look like inmates in an asylum, the next, street dance warriors in boiler-suited conformity. Balancing chaos and catharsis, Ever So Slightly carves a path towards genuine resistance and liberation.

Fallen from Heaven - Compañía Rocío Molina (Spain)

Co-presented with SFU Woodward's Cultural Programs & in partnership with Vancouver International Flamenco Festival

April 1-4, 2020 | SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts

The enfant terrible of Flamenco, Rocio Molina brings her masterwork Fallen from Heaven (Caída del Cielo) to Vancouver. Channeling multiple incarnations - fetishistic matador, bloodied avenging angel - Molina crushes expectations, reinventing classical technique with anarchic punk energy. Through radical wit, sensuality, and unyielding ferocity, Molina has revolutionized flamenco for a new generation.

ETM: Double Down - Dorrance Dance (US)

In partnership with Vancouver Tap Dance Society

May 15 & 16, 2020 | Vancouver Playhouse

In their second outing with DanceHouse, New York City's Dorrance Dance serves up ETM: Double Down. Eight dancers and three musicians spike the punch bowl with rumpus room antics and staggering technical prowess. Using the entire stage as an instrument, the performers create their own percussive soundtrack that layers and loops in a dizzying atomic maelstrom that is one-part playground contest, two-parts collectivist exercise, and three-parts mad-tap genius!

DanceHouse subscribers can purchase their 2019/20 season now through to April 14. Subscriptions on sale to general public as of April 15. Subscribe and get up to 30% off tickets to all six performances. Visit dancehouse.ca or call 604.801.6225. Single tickets will be on sale as of September 9.