Q Dance performed at Rachel Browne Theatre, Friday, May 27, 2011
Reviewed by John Herbert Cunningham
Who is Peter Quanz and why is he trying to blow our minds with some of the best dance this city has ever seen?
Quanz is a graduate of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s school who has garnered an international reputation for his choreography. For example, around the time this review is published he will be in Montreal working with one dance company for a few months after which he will be off to Europe to choreograph a work for a Russian ballet company that he frequently works for. He is quiet, unassuming, polite— until you talk to him mano-a-mano, which I had the privilege of doing recently by telephone, where you discover a combative personality with strong opinions regarding the contemporary dance world, of which he is a walking encyclopedia.
Jo-Ann Sundermeier in performance; Photo: Bruce Monk
If you attempt to assert that there are two dance forms— ballet and contemporary, he will correct you in no uncertain terms that all dance is contemporary as all has the purpose of drawing from contemporary life with the goal of entertaining an audience— something of which he is a master. He will then inform you of the ‘contemporary’ dance companies in Montreal that use pointe shoes. If you attempt to assert that the cross-over occurring between the two forms (again making that fundamental error) is of recent vintage, he will cite the example of the dancer with Merce Cunningham who, forty years ago, also danced with one of New York’s ballet troupes. And don’t try to pull the big v. small— ballet companies as big and contemporary dance companies as small in terms of number of dancers— argument on him as he will cite the New York contemporary dance troupe that has over sixty, that’s right over 60, dancers.
And don’t ever make the mistake of referring to an ideal body shape in ballet not found in contemporary, a mistake particularly compounded if you use the name Balanchine in that statement. His opinion, clearly enunciated and perhaps projected with a bit of venom, is that the tall, anorexic form of the ballerina is a thing of the past. He will tell you that contemporary ballet recognizes a variety of forms all in immaculate physical shape contrasting the taller Vanessa Lawson with the more diminutive Jo-Ann Sundermeier, two of the eight dancers who graced the stage Friday evening. He will also advise that there are ideal body shapes in contemporary although possibly less strongly.
So what is it that characterized the Q Dance performance on Friday evening, other than that it was exceptional dance? The evasive answer is that Q Dance was impossible to characterize, particularly this variant of it. Normally, it would be a showcase of Quanz’s choreography but, this time around, he invited a personal friend from his RWB school days, Yosuke Mino, to provide Mino’s first attempt at choreography, Koji. Quanz then presented a piece in which a vocalist and a pianist participated, Beautiful Stranger. The second half of the performance was his Luminous, an absolutely incredible piece of contemporary ballet. This was an evening of enchantment that is perhaps what Q Dance is all about.
Mino’s choreography, a solo performance by him, was set to the music of Rachel Grimes, who is a member of that group. Actually, the music consisted of two pieces spliced together into a performance done in five parts, each having a slightly different approach. For a first effort, this was impressive. Even more important, perhaps, is that with Mino’s emphasis on floor work it contrasted sharply with Quanz’s more classical ballet technique.
As the darkness between numbers disintegrated, the audience was greeted by two figures on stage, neither of whom was a dancer. Behind a grand piano was the figure of Laura Loewen. Standing farther back and to the right was the figure of the vocalist, baritone Mel Braun. They began a recital of Robert Schumann’s Liederkreis, Opus 39. As you can imagine, this is not your typical visual at a dance recital, having two musicians appear on stage sans dancers— or, indeed, appearing on stage at all. But then as the music proceeded ballerinas began to peel themselves from the sides to enter into the ecstasy of Schumann’s composition. There were the usual pirouettes and en pointe stances but this was suddenly disrupted by Braun, still singing, wandering into the performance space while singing to the dancers as they pirouetted by. At one point, Braun even reached out to hold the arm of one of the dancers as she saucily slid by him, her glance penetrating his longing stare as she left the stage.
Returning from intermission, the audience was about to be treated to the highlight of the evening, something that would turn out to be one of the highlights of dance in Winnipeg. Luminous, performed to the music of Marjan Mozetich’s Affairs of the Heart, a composition which had been commissioned some time ago by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, reflected that piece with the dancers dissolving from group into solo into pas de deux into group as the music progressed, each segment joined in a celebration of love and longing. Quanz, during our conversation, had advised me that this piece took on its form as a result of his having limited space at the RWB studios to rehearse, as the RWB was also rehearsing for its recent performance that announced Tara Birtwhistle’s retirement. Perhaps it’s true that adversity breeds genius as this piece exemplified the essence of the dancing arts. Several times, Vanessa Lawson was called upon to perform very high risk manoeuvres, something that she apparently delighted in. On two occasions, she propelled her body sideways depending only on her accomplice, Alexander Gamayunov, to prevent her from splattering her brains out on the hardwood surface to which she plunged. How she was able to maintain her position while falling was amazing. Not even a quiver of fear radiated from her. On another occasion, she propelled herself into the air only to be caught at the last minute. Quanz advised that these moves were carefully and slowly rehearsed so as to minimize the risk to the dancer.
Quanz promised that he would soon return to Winnipeg to begin rehearsals for next year’s Q Dance. If you didn’t attend this year, you don’t know what you’re missing.
Q Dance is Contemporary and Classic
Columns
Q Dance performed at Rachel Browne Theatre, Friday, May 27, 2011
Reviewed by John Herbert Cunningham
Who is Peter Quanz and why is he trying to blow our minds with some of the best dance this city has ever seen?
Quanz is a graduate of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s school who has garnered an international reputation for his choreography. For example, around the time this review is published he will be in Montreal working with one dance company for a few months after which he will be off to Europe to choreograph a work for a Russian ballet company that he frequently works for. He is quiet, unassuming, polite— until you talk to him mano-a-mano, which I had the privilege of doing recently by telephone, where you discover a combative personality with strong opinions regarding the contemporary dance world, of which he is a walking encyclopedia.
Jo-Ann Sundermeier in performance; Photo: Bruce Monk
If you attempt to assert that there are two dance forms— ballet and contemporary, he will correct you in no uncertain terms that all dance is contemporary as all has the purpose of drawing from contemporary life with the goal of entertaining an audience— something of which he is a master. He will then inform you of the ‘contemporary’ dance companies in Montreal that use pointe shoes. If you attempt to assert that the cross-over occurring between the two forms (again making that fundamental error) is of recent vintage, he will cite the example of the dancer with Merce Cunningham who, forty years ago, also danced with one of New York’s ballet troupes. And don’t try to pull the big v. small— ballet companies as big and contemporary dance companies as small in terms of number of dancers— argument on him as he will cite the New York contemporary dance troupe that has over sixty, that’s right over 60, dancers.
And don’t ever make the mistake of referring to an ideal body shape in ballet not found in contemporary, a mistake particularly compounded if you use the name Balanchine in that statement. His opinion, clearly enunciated and perhaps projected with a bit of venom, is that the tall, anorexic form of the ballerina is a thing of the past. He will tell you that contemporary ballet recognizes a variety of forms all in immaculate physical shape contrasting the taller Vanessa Lawson with the more diminutive Jo-Ann Sundermeier, two of the eight dancers who graced the stage Friday evening. He will also advise that there are ideal body shapes in contemporary although possibly less strongly.
So what is it that characterized the Q Dance performance on Friday evening, other than that it was exceptional dance? The evasive answer is that Q Dance was impossible to characterize, particularly this variant of it. Normally, it would be a showcase of Quanz’s choreography but, this time around, he invited a personal friend from his RWB school days, Yosuke Mino, to provide Mino’s first attempt at choreography, Koji. Quanz then presented a piece in which a vocalist and a pianist participated, Beautiful Stranger. The second half of the performance was his Luminous, an absolutely incredible piece of contemporary ballet. This was an evening of enchantment that is perhaps what Q Dance is all about.
Mino’s choreography, a solo performance by him, was set to the music of Rachel Grimes, who is a member of that group. Actually, the music consisted of two pieces spliced together into a performance done in five parts, each having a slightly different approach. For a first effort, this was impressive. Even more important, perhaps, is that with Mino’s emphasis on floor work it contrasted sharply with Quanz’s more classical ballet technique.
As the darkness between numbers disintegrated, the audience was greeted by two figures on stage, neither of whom was a dancer. Behind a grand piano was the figure of Laura Loewen. Standing farther back and to the right was the figure of the vocalist, baritone Mel Braun. They began a recital of Robert Schumann’s Liederkreis, Opus 39. As you can imagine, this is not your typical visual at a dance recital, having two musicians appear on stage sans dancers— or, indeed, appearing on stage at all. But then as the music proceeded ballerinas began to peel themselves from the sides to enter into the ecstasy of Schumann’s composition. There were the usual pirouettes and en pointe stances but this was suddenly disrupted by Braun, still singing, wandering into the performance space while singing to the dancers as they pirouetted by. At one point, Braun even reached out to hold the arm of one of the dancers as she saucily slid by him, her glance penetrating his longing stare as she left the stage.
Returning from intermission, the audience was about to be treated to the highlight of the evening, something that would turn out to be one of the highlights of dance in Winnipeg. Luminous, performed to the music of Marjan Mozetich’s Affairs of the Heart, a composition which had been commissioned some time ago by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, reflected that piece with the dancers dissolving from group into solo into pas de deux into group as the music progressed, each segment joined in a celebration of love and longing. Quanz, during our conversation, had advised me that this piece took on its form as a result of his having limited space at the RWB studios to rehearse, as the RWB was also rehearsing for its recent performance that announced Tara Birtwhistle’s retirement. Perhaps it’s true that adversity breeds genius as this piece exemplified the essence of the dancing arts. Several times, Vanessa Lawson was called upon to perform very high risk manoeuvres, something that she apparently delighted in. On two occasions, she propelled her body sideways depending only on her accomplice, Alexander Gamayunov, to prevent her from splattering her brains out on the hardwood surface to which she plunged. How she was able to maintain her position while falling was amazing. Not even a quiver of fear radiated from her. On another occasion, she propelled herself into the air only to be caught at the last minute. Quanz advised that these moves were carefully and slowly rehearsed so as to minimize the risk to the dancer.
Quanz promised that he would soon return to Winnipeg to begin rehearsals for next year’s Q Dance. If you didn’t attend this year, you don’t know what you’re missing.