DJD's Party Time gets the seats shaking in downtown Calgary
Decidedly Jazz Danceworks threw a pretty catchy party Saturday night.
The Calgary dance company’s new show Party Time is a kind of celebration of springtime and it was hard not to watch the company’s dancers trace out the steps of a night on the town and feel a little spring in your step, no matter how close we are to the tax filing deadline (Tuesday!).
In fact, at DJD’s gorgeous 12th Avenue S.E. dance theatre, when a piece gets the audience’s groove, you can actually feel the bleachers move in time to the music onstage – and that’s what was happening in the first act Saturday night.
That’s when company member Sabrina Naz Comanescu, dressed a bit like a 1920s flapper, evoking turn-of-the-20th century New Orleans, acted as a kind of choreographed emcee for the evening, slowly drawing us into the dreamy, drifty world of Party Time.
What makes a DJD show special is that they have always blended their unique dance with live music.
Decidedly Jazz Danceworks' new show Party Time opens Thursday night in Calgary at the DJD Dance Theatre
In Party Time’s first half, the soundscape is dominated by Andre Wickenheiser’s trumpet, which provides an almost elegiac soundtrack for the company as it gathers for a house party.
There’s Hugo Barry (Thys Armstrong), a mustachioed dude prone to missteps. There’s Fifi (Mara Liao Esnard), an animated presence who dreams of one day becoming a flying squirrel. There’s Zeus (Catherine Hayward), whose Van Dyck beard looks carved from a Rembrandt painting who moves like a panther.
Roshanak (Shahrzad Ahmadi) is a Persian powerhouse whose presence shrinks everyone around her.
David Kizzy Wisdom the 3rd (Shemar Herbert) brings the street dance to the party and a pretty wicked sense of mischief.
There’s others too, the same way there is at every party: people you spot across a crowded room, smoking a cigarette or laughing in a way that makes their head tilt back and showcases their molars and makes you write a life story for them in your head.
All of it unfolds somewhat dreamily, led by Wickenheiser’s lonely trumpet that made me think of city life, sort of the way it’s depicted in Billy Wilder’s Oscar-winning classic film The Apartment or even the Edward Hopper painting Nighthawks at the Diner.
City living, as depicted in Party Time, is a weird gumbo of loneliness and the instant intimacy that sometimes happens between strangers who happen to be in the same place one night, listening to the same jazz ensemble melodies when a little magic happens.
Choreographed by DJD artistic director Kimberley Cooper, Party Time poignantly acknowledges both strands of city life – it bounces between celebration and meditation, between youthful exuberance (Esnard’s jubilant flying squirrel fantasy) and Hugo’s awkward efforts to fit in with a crowd he doesn’t quite fit in with.
The second half of Party Time pumps it up, replacing Wickenheiser’s lonely trumpet with something a little funkier, allowing Kizzy Wisdom the 3rd and Roshanak among others moments to shine, as the party goes deeper into the night and everyone starts to think and move and feel as one.
All of it benefits from Hannah Fisher's sublime costume design and Scott Reid's evocative sets. In addition to Wickenheiser's wicked trumpet playing, there's great musical chops from Carsten Rubeling (keyboards/trombone), Jeff Gammon (bass) and Luis 'El Pana' Tovar on drums.
Not to be overlooked either is the DJD Dance Centre: walking out of the theatre, you are greeted with a gorgeous, glassed-in tableau of downtown Calgary and Saturday, there were a few young women standing there taking selfies against a backdrop of the glittering city skyline – and I thought it kind of fits exactly into what Party Time explored.
I used to live in Los Angeles and one time someone asked what it’s like to live in Los Angeles and I said, “I’ve never lived anywhere where I met so many people for the first time.”
Party Time will make you feel like you’ve known the dance company and even the people sitting next to you forever.
It runs at DJD Dance Theatre from April 25 to May 12.
For tickets, go here.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING NEWS 'A horrible way to start the summer': 3 killed in serious boat crash on lake north of Kingston, Ont.
Three people were killed and five others were injured Saturday night following a boat crash on the Buck Bay area of Bobs Lake, north of Kingston, Ont., the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) said.
Walmart, Costco refusing to sign grocery code of conduct 'untenable': industry minister
Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says it's 'untenable' for 'smaller players' like Walmart and Costco to delay signing on to the government- and industry-led grocery code of conduct, now that industry giant Loblaw has agreed to do so.
Diddy admits beating ex-girlfriend Cassie, says he's sorry, calls his actions 'inexcusable'
Sean 'Diddy' Combs admitted Sunday that he beat his ex-girlfriend in a hotel hallway in 2016 after CNN released video of the attack, saying in a video apology he was 'truly sorry' and his actions were 'inexcusable.'
French security forces work to regain control of airport highway in violence-scorched New Caledonia
Using armoured vehicles and backhoes to shove aside charred barricades, French security forces worked Sunday to retake control of the highway to the international airport in violence-scorched New Caledonia, shuttered because of deadly unrest wracking the French Pacific archipelago where indigenous people have long sought independence from France.
Signs of Alzheimer’s were everywhere. Then his brain improved
Blood biomarkers of telltale signs of early Alzheimer’s disease in the brain of his patient, 55-year-old entrepreneur Simon Nicholls, had all but disappeared in a mere 14 months.
Helicopter carrying Iran's hard-line president apparently crashes in foggy, mountainous region
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country's foreign minister and other officials apparently crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran on Sunday, sparking a massive rescue operation in a fog-shrouded forest as the public was urged to pray.
VIDEO Born without front legs, this dog has been inspiring the world for 3 years: Dresden farm owner
A sanctuary dedicated to animals with disabilities is celebrating the third birthday of one of its most popular residents.
Canadian immigration asks medical worker fleeing Gaza if he treated Hamas fighters
Lawyers are questioning Canada’s approach to screening visa applications for people in Gaza with extended family in Canada after one applicant, a medical worker, was asked whether he had treated members of Hamas.
Ottawa driver who appeared to be racing another vehicle on Highway 416 facing charges
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says an Ottawa driver is facing charges after being caught going 187 km/h on Highway 416.