Indigenous Keynote Speakers

Friday, June 12, 7:30 p.m.
Max Bell Auditorium, Free

Revealing and unpredictable. Featuring Neil Ieremia (New Zealand) and Frances Rings (Australia), choreographers at the very top of the Indigenous dance world. With DVD excerpts of their celebrated works.

Indigenous Dance Excerpts

Saturday, June 20, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, June 21, 2 p.m.
Margaret Greenham Theatre, $10

Dynamic and exciting, these cutting edge choreographic excerpts feature works by Neil Ieremia (New Zealand), Frances Rings (Australia), Gaetan Gingras (Quebec), and Santee Smith (Ontario).   » More

Aszure Barton & Artists
Busk II

Thursday, June 25, 2009
Eric Harvie Theatre, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: Adult $40-$25 · Student/Senior $36-$23
Child $20-$13

Known for her complex, demanding dance-making that is at once vulnerable, feisty, witty, and impetuous, Alberta’s own Aszure Barton is one of the world’s hottest contemporary choreographers. Barton’s company, Aszure & Artists, is in residence during the 2009 Banff Summer Arts Festival developing and performing a new work, Busk II, co-commissioned by The Banff Centre, as well as performing other Barton favorites, in the company’s Alberta debut. » More

Shadow Pleasures
and
Vida y Danza, Cuba

Sunday, July 19, 2 p.m.
Margaret Greenham Theatre, $12

Filmmaker Veronica Tennant introduces Shadow Pleasures (2004), featuring readings by Michael Ondaatje, as interpreted in dance and film. Tennant’s latest dance documentary, Vida y Danza, Cuba — Life & Dance (2008) traces the journey of Cuban choreographer Lizt Alfonso and her all-female company Danza Cuba.

Festival Dance

Wednesday, July 22, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, July 23, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, July 24, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 26, 2 p.m.
Eric Harvie Theatre
Adult $20 · Student/Senior $15 · Child $9

North America’s finest young dancers delight in a stunning new work by the 2009 Lee Award winner Heather Myers and a pas de deux from Romeo and Juliette. Pre-show chats start 45 minutes prior to each Festival Dance performance.

Panel Discussion: Standing anywhere in the space in a relaxed position

Sunday, July 26, 4:30 p.m.
Walter Phillips Gallery, Free

In conjunction with the Silke Otto-Knapp exhibition, this panel follows the final performance of Festival Dance. Moderated by art critic Jan Verwoert, Otto-Knapp, artist Frances Stark, dancer/choreographer Flora Wiegmann, and ballet master Lindsay Fischer discuss the relationship between dance and visual art, and contemporary engagements with each field’s avant-garde history.