Volume 26 Issue 6 - March and April 2021

MUSIC THEATRE
The Many
Virtues of
Necessity
JENNIFER PARR
Digidance’s upcoming digital broadcast of Joe was produced in
1995 by Bernard Picard for Radio-Canada and features dancers
from Jean-Pierre Perreault’s own company alongside artists
from Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers and Dancemakers.
©ROBERT ETCHEVERRY
This is such a strange time to be writing about music
theatre. As I scour the Internet for news of new
works and remounts, the contrast with this time
last year is impossible to escape. On top of that, as the
one-year anniversary of the first pandemic lockdown
approaches it feels as if we are collectively holding our
breath as we wait to find out if we are actually on the road
out of this horrific year, or if a longer period of isolation is
first going to be necessary.
Not only are live performances still not allowed in Toronto, but (as
of March 5) the rules of the current lockdown, imposed in December,
also forbid arts companies from even rehearsing to film content
to be streamed online (as of March 5). This hits particularly hard
when so many companies are using this method to not only survive
by creating streaming content, but to share their productions beyond
local borders thus extending their reach and their audiences across
the country and even around the world.
Digidance
In the dance world one of the most exciting new initiatives, and
on an international scale, is Digidance, a collaboration between
four of Canada’s leading dance presenters: Toronto’s Harbourfront
Centre, Ottawa’s National Arts Centre, Vancouver’s DanceHouse
and Montreal’s Danse Danse, that may not have happened without
the impossibility of live performance this season. By joining forces,
these partners have been able to aim for the top, making it possible
for audiences across Canada to watch in their own homes – for an
incredibly inexpensive ticket price (starting at $15 ) – the very best
from the cutting edge of contemporary dance. both very recent
international repertoire as well as seminal earlier works.
Digidance launched in February with the online debut
of thrillingly kinetic Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite’s Body
and Soul, created for the Paris Opera Ballet in 2019. In March, it now
takes a step back into dance history with Jean-Pierre Perreault’s Joe,
an equally groundbreaking large-scale dance piece from 1984 that
took the dance world by storm. From March 17 to 23, audiences can
thrill again to the surprising power and noise of this work danced
by a company of 32 in overcoats, fedoras and heavy work boots;
a work so iconic that it has been compared to a Beatles album, a
Kundera novel, or an Andy Warhol print. As with all Digidance
presentations, the screening will be supplemented with informative
additional content exploring the creation and context of the work
(harbourfrontcentre.com). This is exciting in so many ways: glorious
contemporary dance works are going to be seen by a much wider
audience than ever before.
Opera 5
One of Toronto’s younger indie opera companies, Opera 5, is
also stretching its wings and taking flight into new territory with
Threepenny Submarine, a collaboration with practical filmmaking
and puppetry company, Gazelle Automations – a collaboration that
might never have happened without this year’s need to isolate. For
the young and young at heart, Threepenny is planned as a series of
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