Alias Dance Projects: The First LP April 13- 17 in Toronto

From a media release:

Alias Dance Project presents
The First LP
A DanceWorks CoWorks Series Event featuring choreography by
Meghan Cafferky, Valerie Calam, Geordan Coupland, Troy Feldman,
Solid State Breakdance, Heidi Strauss and Apolonia Velasquez

Toronto - Alias Dance Project debuts its first full-length presentation with The First LP, a landmark evening for the company, designed to provide an invigorating dance experience as it combines the explosive frontal energy of urban hip-hop dance styles - breakdance, popping and house - with the artistic sensibility of contemporary forms.

• The First LP, a DanceWorks CoWorks Series event, features three world premieres out of six pieces and previews April 12, opens April 13 and runs to April 17 at the Lower Ossington Theatre.

As the first LP of its new dance "discography," Alias Dance Project brings audiences a new spin on contemporary dance as it features commissioned projects by some of Canada's most celebrated choreographers including Dora recipient Heidi Strauss, Dora nominee Valerie Calam, JoDee Allen and Helen Simard of Montreal's Solid State Breakdance, Alias' own Meghan Cafferky and Geordan Coupland, and urban dance artists Apolonia Velasquez and Troy Feldman.

The First LP is presented in conjunction with the CD release of music from the show: The First LP Soundtrack. DJ/Producer Patootihed (Joe Noonan) will be on the decks spinning the show live from the audience. Environment design is by Trixie and Beever (Barbie's Basement Jewelry) as an homage to hip hop culture and its historic correlation to dance, music, and visual arts.

The Bone Yard (2010)
Choreographers: JoDee Allen and Helen Simard (Solid State Breakdance). Music: Roger White.
Dancers: Lauren Cook, Geordan Coupland, Gita Harris, Andrea Spaziani and Sarah Yu;
Domino's have a plethora of uses, but no matter what game is played, dominos are constantly implicated in creation, being destroyed and then created anew. The acts of game and play, building and breaking apart, strategy and patterns, are the ideas that inspired this choreography.

I Hate Yellow  (2009)
Choreographer: Valerie Calam. Music: Joe Noonan
Dancers: Lauren Cook, Geordan Coupland, Gita Harris, Emily Law and Sarah Yu

Insignia (2010)
Choreographers: Meghan Cafferky and Geordan Coupland. Music: remix Nine Inch Nails (Not on show CD)
Dancers: Lauren Cook, Gita Harris, Andrea Spaziani and Sarah Yu
"nicely craftedŠ. switches dynamics effortlessly as it simultaneously hints at the menace of regimentation." - Toronto Star

Forward Grade - world premiere
Choreographers: Heidi Strauss and Apolonia Velasquez. Music: Jeremy Mimnagh
Dancers: Lauren Cook, Geordan Coupland, Gita Harris, Andrea Spaziani and Sarah Yu.
Forward Grade plays with ideas around shifting allegiances within a group, the dynamic of opposition and surprising unions through a mixture of urban and contemporary dance languages.

The evening also features:
- a new solo for Andrea Spaziani choreographed by Valerie Calam that explores personal ritual through the direction of a higher power with music by Paul Shepherd; and
- a new solo for Gita Harris choreographed by Troy Feldman (Bboy Whiplash), with music by Modern Artifacts.

First image: (Back row L-R) Sarah Yu, Gita Harris, Lauren Cook, Andrea Spaziani (Front row L-R) Geordan Coupland, Meghan Cafferky - Photo credit: E. S. Cheah

Alias Dance Project presents The First LP
A DanceWorks CoWorks Series event featuring choreography by
Meghan Cafferky, Valerie Calam, Geordan Coupland, Troy Feldman,
Solid State Breakdance, Heidi Strauss and Apolonia Velasquez
Preview April 12, Opens April 13 and runs to April 17
Tuesday-Sunday at 8pm, Sunday matinee at 2pm at the Lower Ossington Theatre, 100A Ossington Street
 
• For tickets, call 416 204-1082 or email info@danceworks.ca
• Website: http://www.aliasdanceproject.com
• General Admission $20 ($35 in advance with CD); CADA/Students/Seniors $18 ($33 in advance with CD)
• The First LP Soundtrack CD: $20