New DJD show Olio features dancer-choreographed performance

Olio is a dancer-choreographed show from Decidedly Jazz Danceworks. It's part of the 2024 High Performance Rodeo in Calgary. (Photo: Laura Kleiner)

Decidedly Jazz Danceworks' new show  takes the people up front – the dancers – and transforms them into the architects of the show.

Olio, which opens Thursday night at the DJD Dance Centre as part of the 2024 High Performance Rodeo, is even more of a collaborative effort than usual for the jazz dance company, which was founded in Calgary in 1984.

Rather than being choreographed by a single individual, Olio is a quintet of original pieces conceived of and created by long-time and former company numbers, accompanied by live musicians.

Company members Sabrina Naz Comanescu, Catherine Hayward and Kaja Irwin, as well as former DJD dancer Deanne Walsh and artistic director Kimberley Cooper all worked with composer Jonathan McCaslin who is part of a musical trio that performs live throughout Olio. 

The idea behind the show is part of a longstanding DJD tradition, started in 1993 by company founder Vicki Adams Willis, of a dancer-choreographed show.

As for the title, it has multiple meanings but maybe the best reference is that "olio" used to refer to the short dance number that took place in front of the curtain at vaudeville shows while the sets were being changed behind it.

It’s a bit of a potpourri of performance styles and sensibilities in a performance festival that celebrates storytelling that’s a little bit out of the mainstream.

Olio runs through Jan. 28, including a relaxed performance on Jan. 24.

For more information about DJD and Olio, go here.

For more information about the High Performance Rodeo, go here.