Malpaso Dance Company in “The Last Song (La Última Canción)”, Photo by Steven Pisano
Great dance doesn’t necessitate spectacle, of course, but the FFDN’s mainstage programming usually includes at least some relatively lavish, visually impressive execution. With no set elements, striking projections or even dynamic tonal variety, all three pieces that make up the Fall For Dance North’s Homecoming: 2024 Signature Programme are, if not fully underwhelming, certainly on the more sombre end of the spectrum. Perhaps this is somewhat appropriate for the bittersweet final season under the leadership of co-founding artistic director Ilter Ibrahimof.
For ACT 1, Havana’s Malpaso Dance Company returns to the festival with The Last Song (La Última Canción) by choreographer Daile Carrazano. Created in partnership with the festival and TMU’s Creative School, this piece is presented with live music performed by pianist Kathering Dowling.
A sensual piece, the dancers’ create a sultry ambiance almost as if they’ve gotten slightly drunk late into the evening at a classy dance club. Sometimes vibing in pairs or as a group, they break off into isolated little grooves. This work is all good, sexy vibes.
Heather Ogden and Emma Ouellet performing in “islands”, Photo by Karolina Kuras
For their first appearance in the festival since 2019, The National Ballet of Canada are ACT 2 where they perform choreography Emma Portner’s islands. This duet features two women dressed in grey. Sometimes entwined as a single person with limbs akimbo, they break apart and come together in a series of synchronized, ritualistic gestures.
One particularly trippy sequence has them caught in vast projected square of light that suddenly flips and lands on the floor. As the dancers fall to the stage floor in tandem with the light square, the disorienting perspective shift implies the audience itself has shifted its position in relation to the figures.
Ballet Edmonton in “Feel no more”, Photo by Nanc Price
ACT 3 sees Ballet Edmonton return to FFDN for choreographer Anne Plamondon’s eerie Feel no more. This cool, slightly alienating piece features jarring movements—sometimes robotic, sometimes full of organized, defiant energy. The first of two particularly evocative sequences has the ensemble lift and throw one of their number up into the air as if attempting to shatter the fourth wall. Another sequence gives us an ominous, pageant-like cascade of jittery, spasmodic episodes from each dancer as they emerge from the background darkness.
There are a handful of resonant moments, though nothing comes close to the sheer scale and impact of something like Jera Wolfe’s Arise from the FFDN 2022 signature programme (my review)—perhaps one of the most overwhelming experiences I’ve had with dance—an astonishing work that was both massive and nuanced.
