Dance company honours past, leaps to future

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This article was published 23/10/2024 (707 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Something Old, something new. And lots of celebration, too.

Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers’ 60th season, which begins Thursday, will offer a look at the past, present and future of Canada’s oldest and longest-running modern dance company, founded by Rachel Browne in 1964.

First, the present. It’s a Monday afternoon, and WCD artistic director and choreographer Jolene Bailie is in the Rachel Browne Theatre working on a brand-new work — so new it doesn’t have a name.

“Maybe you can help think of one,” she says with a laugh.

Dancers Aileen Holzritcher and Thomas Oberlin are in costume, an old-timey couple you might find in an black and white photograph. They cut jarring, unsettling figures — neither of them has a head. (“Yes and yes,” Oberlin answers when asked if it’s hot and hard to dance in there.)

The piece itself is full of longing — there’s an oddly gutting moment in which Holzritcher blindly tries to adjust a headless Oberlin’s tie — but it’s not a bummer, Bailie insists.

“I feel it’s both freeing and inspiring in how the characters carry on despite carrying on with something they probably never imagined they could carry on without,” Bailie says. (Just in case it’s not clear, she’s talking about their heads.)

The new work is part of this week’s WCD’s Emerging Artist Initiative series, Game On — a mixed-repertoire show performed by eight dancers featuring a 2016 Bailie-choreographed work by the same name.

“Game On is completely different. It’s really jubilant. It’s really triumphant. There’s always a little bit of humour, I think, in my work, but this one really is a laugh-out-loud piece,” she says.

Two more pieces, Calibrations of Flux and Signals to Segue, round out the showcase.

WCD’s 60th anniversary season continues next month with a celebration of its groundbreaking founder.

Tribute to Rachel Browne, which runs Nov. 28 to Dec. 1, is a survey of Browne’s singular career as a choreographer. Five of Browne’s most notable works will be performed, honouring the work of a giant in Canadian contemporary dance who remained involved with the company until her death in 2012 at the age of 77.

Four of the pieces — the 2001 trio Sending Love; the 1994 quartet KJ4; the 1992 solo Mouvement; and the 1990 solo My Romance — have long been personal favourites of Bailie’s.

The fifth, a solo from Browne’s 1990 work Fine, Thank You!, was a new discovery for her, uncovered in her research for the show.

“They’re all really great, complete works that are well-tailored to the dancers we have. I think Rachel would be really pleased,” Bailie says.

Next up is a new work by a living legend.

The venerated Montreal-born contemporary dance artist Margie Gillis will bring her latest full-length solo work, Old, to the Rachel Browne Theatre Feb. 7-9.

Created in 2023, Old — a word that women, especially, are socialized to fear — is an examination of aging performed by Gillis, who is still dancing at 71.

Bailie, who is heading into her sixth year as WCD’s artistic director, has always made a point of showcasing dancers over the age 50 in every season during her tenure, and this anniversary season is no exception.

“As a person, I just think it’s really important to highlight and celebrate all stages of a human’s career on the stage,” she says.

“We start with the emerging artists show, then we go to our founder, then we go to Margie, who has been performing for over 50 years now. And it’s just a beautiful work.”

It also has a Winnipeg connection: Old was created in collaboration with the locally based visual artist Randal Newman.

The final as-yet-untitled show of the season, which will run April 25-27, will be a look forward. The organization is putting out a call for submissions to artists who are specifically creating works about the future.

“This is a real, new opportunity. We’re hoping to put the call out next week, and we’ll see what works are proposed to us,” Bailie says.

Bailie didn’t want the 60th season to strictly be a retrospective.

“I think that’s really important,” she says. “We honour our history. We honour the dancers coming up. We honour people who have been here almost as long as our history. And then, let’s see where it’s going.”

jen.zoratti@winnipegfreepress.com