By Liz Nicholls, .ca
Expanse, Azimuth Theatre’s 19-year-old movement arts festival, a “celebration of ALL bodies onstage,” is back, March 28 through April 4. And, says Azimuth’s co-artistic director Morgan Yamada, it’s been “re-framed” for the hard-edged realities of our post-pandemic moment in the arts.
“How do we reframe our perspectives, with the resources we have?” That’s the question that confronted Yamada and Sue Goberdhan, who jointly steer the Azimuth course. And it’s the theme of this year’s edition of the festivities. The telling of body-based stories is the engine of the mainstage “performance series” that opens tonight with The Adventure of Young Turtle, a queer puppet musical for all ages (five and over) by S.E. Grummett of Saskatoon-based So.Glad Arts and an all-queer/trans/non-binary team of artist collaborators from across the prairies. Check out the PREVIEW with Grummett here.
The origins of the well-named Expanse festival are in dance; it’s constantly expanded the dance frontiers ever since. Reframe Perspective: Stories in Motion, Friday and Saturday on the Westbury stage, is a dance curation that includes a trio of offerings. In and out of dark is by Molly McDermott, the Edmonton-based recipient of Good Women Dance’s New Work Award. Its focus, as Yamada describes, is “how we look at fear,” a “playful exploration of darkness and nightmares” as billed. The collaborative piece is performed by McDermott, Max Hanic, Alida Kendell, Tia Kushniruk, and Will Scott, with live sound.
Residuals (住み·墨), a memory piece by Vancouver-based dancer/choreographer Shion Skye Carter, channels the traditional art of Japanese calligraphy and sets childhood memory in motion in a contemporary journey of self-discovery.
And Fairly Becoming brings Toronto’s Mayumi Lashbrook of Aeris Körper to the festival in a solo show that, as Yamada describes, is a meditation on consumption and the climate crisis.
Between shows, the Lobbyists return with site-specific, immersive collective movement creations, in spaces that aren’t the theatre — like the Westbury lobby.
And the grand finale is The Expanse Living Room Party April 4, its title a nod to Expanse’s first home. Yamada describes it as “a big cabaret party with cool new work from local artists” — music, dance, drag, spoken word, monologues, and more. The evening includes a music video premiere from Just Moe, and a performance from Juno-nominated Josh Sahunta.
Between mainstage performances, Expanse in its outreach mode includes mixers and workshops with many of the festival artists. S.E. Grummett, for example, will share their first-hand experience in How To Tour Your Work (and not go broke in the process).
Check out the full schedule, with more information, at azimuththeatre.com. Azimuth is big on accessibility: all tickets (available in advance at fringetheatre.ca) are pay-what-you-can.