Cascade
A selection of Cascade was presented as part of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s First Thursdays in the Frank Gehry designed atrium. Featuring a mass of suspended bodies engaged in the repetitive actions of slowly falling and ascending held within a projection and sonic environment.
Heading east over Wellington, I stumbled on Cascade, a project that for some reason had failed to pop up on my radar. I'm not sure what the long, narrow, high-ceilinged warehouse is ordinarily used for, but ĀNANDAṀ made it into a magical space. Ten or more performers climbed, hung and swung from ropes as a delicate light show played over the dim walls to a slow soundtrack. There was no reparation between the performers and the audience, who sat against walls or around support pillars or moved among the athletic climbers. It embodied a hallucinatory, dreamlike state perfect for the wee hours of Nuit Blanche."
"I was spellbound and becalmed by this 12-hour immersive meditation featuring stately aerial rope work, stunning projections and atmospheric music in the old Globe and Mail Press Hall. AD's Brandy Leary is now on my watch list for 2015."
-Kathleen Smith, Now Toronto, 2014 Top 5 Dance Performances
Year: 2014
Venue: Art Gallery of Ontario as part of First Thursdays
Choreography: Brandy Leary
Composition: James Bunton
Projection Design: Eamon Mac Mahon
Rigging Design: Patrick Pendergast, Rebecca Leonard
Dance Artists: Hoi Ning Cheng, Lindsay Bellaire, Sabrina Pringle, Diane McGrath, Valerie Arthur, Andy Wang, Anna Amy Ho, Sara Greenberg, Lara Ebata, Sarah Gauian, Jen Hum, Mark Segal, Amy Strizic, Katie Perconti, Marie France Forcier, Brandy Leary, Katelyn McCulloch, Tanya Herbert, Alissa Balge, Amy Hampton, Margarita Soria, Michael Caldwell, Emily Hughes, Kirsten Edwards, Oscar Surla, Madeline Quinn Morris, Ashleigh Woodhall-Hart, Alisha Maclean, Karl Pazdernik, Cydney Penner, Tamara Arenovich, Antonia Dalhaine, Zita Nyarady, Natasha Danchenko, Mary-Margaret Scrimger, Rebecca Leonard, Scott Waters, Jennifer Elchuk, Molly Keczan, Whitney Treddenick, Xander Taylor, Maura Priebe, Melissa Major, Jackie Houghton, Jessie Garon, Jaclynn McCaffrey, Sarah Muehlbauer, Ashley Hurlock, Lindsay Goodtimes, Tiffany Warden, Nicole Belfer, Tamara Salpeter, Emily Halliwell, Eric Liu, Annelise Hawrylak, Zoey Gould, Jessica John, Jane Kirby, Jamie Holmes, Michelle Lee, Laura Stokes
Curator/Presenter: ScotiaBank Nuit Blanche, curator Denise Markonish
Photos: Nuit Blache archives, Jessa Agilo