Marie Chouinard’s “M”: animated by breath
Watching Marie Chouinard’s latest creation, “M,” is like having a fever dream where AI teaches cute mechanical dolls how to dance like humans.
theatre maisonneuve
Holly Cole at the Jazz Fest
Sometimes the magic just isn’t there, and it’s hard to say why. That’s how it was at Holly Cole’s Jazz Fest appearance. Did she sound good? Yes. Did the band play [read on]
Radicale Vitalité: Marie Chouinard pushes the envelope, laughing all the way
In her latest work, Radicale Vitalité, Solos et Duos, Marie Chouinard walks a bunch of fine lines: pleasure vs. pain, laughter vs. tears, love vs. strife, sanity vs. [read on]
Dianne Reeves: Building Bridges, Not Walls
One of the world’s foremost jazz vocalists, five-time Grammy winner Dianne Reeves and her phenomenal band knocked it out of the ballpark last night at the FIJM. Known for [read on]
Lisa Fischer and Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet: Propelled Hearts
With a voice to shake you to your very core, Lisa Fischer takes to the stage with a dozen dancers in Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet’s Canadian premiere of The Propelled [read on]
Kidd Pivot’s Revisor: a fun-house mirror for modern times
In 1836 the Russian author Nikolai Gogol wrote a play called The Revisor in which not only the corruption but also the profound lack of humanity of government bureaucracies [read on]
Women Rock the Jazz Fest: Jann Arden, Martha Wainwright, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Davina and the Vagabonds
The opening weekend of the 39th edition of the FIJM featured some of the most inspiring women in the music world, including a new fun find. Friday night Jann Arden [read on]
Who knew monks could dance?
In Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Sutra, 19 Shaolin monks from an ancient temple near Dengfeng, China, perform hair-raising feats of martial prowess honed over a lifetime of [read on]
Legend Lin Dance Theatre’s Eternal Tides: the virtuosity of stillness
I have never seen anything like this. The stage is hung with long white translucent panels. Just in front of the stage, a candle burns on a sort of shrine. On each [read on]
Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal’s Dance Me: paging Leonard Cohen
With the one-year anniversary of his death one month past, Montreal’s craze for all things Leonard Cohen shows no sign of abating. There was the five-night Jenny Holzer [read on]
Danse Danse presents Hofesh Shecter’s Grand Finale: an absolute must see
Many years ago I met a young man from Tel Aviv. I asked him what it was like to live in a place where bombs regularly go off in night clubs, pizza parlors, and crowded [read on]
Marie Chouinard’s Garden of Earthly Delights: The Ecstasy of Creation
When was the last time you took a good look at Hieronymous Bosch’s early 16th-century painting “The Garden of Earthly Delights?” I mean, really looked at it, at all the [read on]
Michael Kaeshammer and Lisa Simone Double Bill at the FIJM
I admit that curiosity got the better of me: I wanted to see Lisa Simone not because I knew her music or anything about her, but rather because she is the great Nina [read on]
The World Famous Harlem Gospel Choir: Praising the Lord at the FIJM
No matter how foul your mood, it’s ridiculously difficult not to smile like a fool at a gospel concert, and the World Famous Harlem Gospel Choir had the whole audience [read on]
Ohad Naharin’s “Last Work”: Mind. Blown.
Nancy Berman reviews Ohad’s mindblowing “Last Work,” for Batsheva Dance Company, part of the Danse Danse season.
Nederlands Dans Theatre: highlight of the Danse Danse season
Thanks to Danse Danse, for the first time in 20 years, the Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) is back in Montreal, with a stellar triple bill line-up featuring two works [read on]
Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal: Slick But Lacking Substance
Nancy Berman reviews the latest triple bill from the Ballets Jazz de Montreal.
Hofesh Shecter’s Sun: hilarious, terrifying, and thought-provoking
Where to begin? With the bigger-than-life-size cardboard sheep? The commedia dell’arte players? The bagpipes and electronic soundtrack? The Leonard-Cohenesque voice slowly [read on]
Danse Danse Season Kicks off with National Ballet Triple Bill
The National Ballet of Canada launches the Danse Danse season with a stunning contemporary triple bill featuring works by Forsythe, Goecke, and McGregor.