fringe Festival of Independent Dance Artists

Mainstay Series A to F

Late Show Series 1 and 11

At Buddies in Bad Times Theatre

in Toronto on Friday and Saturday

The 12th annual fringe Festival of Independent Dance Artists, while an eccentric collection of choreographers, is also an ad hoc barometer of where contemporary dance is currently focused.

Billed as Canada's largest international dance festival, fFIDA is non-curated, which means there are bound to be artistic crimes as well as pleasant surprises. Only in the specialty series -- By Design, Words 'n Motion and Composer's Choice -- does one find choreographers linked in a common purpose. The other series are an exhilarating hodgepodge of hour-long shows featuring dance works put together by serendipity.

The first impression is that fFIDA remains dominated by women, with male choreographers and dancers in short supply. And while a significant number of artists have come from other provinces and countries, francophone choreographers from Quebec continue to give fFIDA a miss. As well, the Late Show series, which features shorter and, supposedly, edgier works, continues to be abused, with dancesmiths mounting routine stuff.

The first half of the festival reveals several interesting trends: There is an emphasis on beautiful dance, anchored in strong technique and form. There are also more group pieces rather than a long line of solos. The solos themselves are less introspective and self-indulgent than in previous years. Humour is making a welcome return.

There is also real quality of choreographic output, which means spectators can pick any one of the first eight fFIDA series and spend an entertaining hour. The most consistent performers are the flamenco companies that always put on a good show and, thus far, include Ritmo Flamenco (Series D), Esmeralda Enrique (Series F -- Composer's Choice), Carmen Romero (Late Show 1) and Salazul (Late Show 11).

Highlights of fFIDA's first half (choreographers are Toronto-based, unless otherwise noted):

William Yong's Thrice Withershins (Series A): This talented Toronto Dance Theatre dancer has created an entertaining gothic melodrama, based on the Nosferatu myth, that includes some sexy partnering and arresting makeup. Yong is the bloodsucking vampire, while fellow TDT members Valerie Calam and Kristy Kennedy are the two hapless sisters he victimizes. Trevor Mann's rock score is terrific.

Jennifer Lynn Dick's Far Away So Close and Kathleen Dyer's Flowers on the Table by the Open Window (By Design -- Series B): The mandate of this speciality series is that the design element must be an important component of the work. Dick's collaborators in the Furious Beaver Design Concern collective have created a huge pair of wings that dominate the stage, which is appropriate to Dick's theme of portraying angels that may live among us. Her lovely, ballet-based choreography is superbly danced by Carolyn Richardson, Roberto Campanella, Robert Glumbek and Dick, and beautifully costumed by FBDC and Evelyn Bastien.

New York-based Dyer, meanwhile, teamed up with designer Richard Koch to create a moving work inspired by pictures found in museums of women waiting by windows, such as in the works of Jan Vermeer. Each of the three solos is very different choreographically, with Theresa Duhon portraying elegant resignation, Mollie Melugin Slaton as broken defeat, and Dyer as frustrated anger. Dyer herself created the richly ornate period costumes.

Keith Morino's Oh Yeah..!! and No Tango (Series C): Barcelona-based Morino creates dances filled with rich characterization. His solo, Oh Yeah..!! begins as macho-man and cleverly transforms into the frail male ego that lives within the mask. The poignant yet charming duet No Tango,performed with Johanna Laber, features two wallflowers in search of a partner. They express their loneliness in parallel solos and, sadly, never find each other.

Travesty Dance Group's Three (Series D): This imaginative dance-theatre piece by the Philadelphia-based collective (Kimberly Karpanty, Rebecca Malcolm-Naib and Karen Stokes) uses text, movement and sound collage in a clever exploration of the number 3 in all its mythological, historical and emotional contexts.

Young Park's Fibonacci and Rachel Gorman's Waking the Living (Composer's Choice -- Series F): The composer for Cleveland-based Park is Neil Chastain, who has given her a fabulous percussive score that is both live and on tape. The fascination here is how each change in the world-beat array of rhythms brings out a different mood and style from this excellent dancer. Gorman's piece is one of the most compelling at fFIDA to date. Aided by Lilia Silveira's atmospheric score, Gorman gives us a disturbing and riveting reality check, exploring the interaction between three physically able dancers (Perry Augustine, Paulo Raposo and Gorman) and a wheelchair-bound one (Spirit Synott). The piece moves from violence to acceptance, and Synott holds her own, even dominating the events.

Bridget Cauthery's delightful Last Wash (Late Show Series 1) features a trio of dancers (Jennifer Bolt, Caroline Niklas-Gordon and Lucy Rupert) who move cleverly between being the bored patrons at the laundromat and the washers and dryers themselves.

Claire Sparrow from London, England, focused on road rage in her droll duet License 2 performed with Christa Lochead, in which the two women collide and interface without any understanding of the danger and with a cheeriness that covers up darker layers of meaning.

Unfortunately Kathleen Martinez did not provide program credits. Nonetheless, her trio Cycles is a beautiful return to the Martha Graham archetype aesthetic, masterfully portraying, in gorgeous ritual, the triple icons of the maid, mother and crone of the feminine goddess.

One can always count on Stephanie Thompson for entertaining dance and her Twice 4 no reason (Late Show Series 11), performed by Michelle DeBrouwer, does not disappoint. The central core is a signpost pointing to happiness, completeness, more, better, joy and the like, leaving the dancer in utter confusion. The voice-over is from TV infomercials that offer advice on taking control of one's life, and the dichotomy between reality and guru glibness makes for a delightful look at indecision.

New York's Sarah Hook walks the razor's edge between meaningful and silly with the bizarre solo Bashibazouk,performed by Luc Vanier. Inspired by an 18th-century sect of Turkish soldiers known for their savagery, Hook's present incarnation swings between fierce attitudes and ballet nerdism, and is hysterically funny, particularly Vanier's verbal outcries. Machismo takes a real drubbing in this piece.

The eight series of the first half of fFIDA continue in rotation until tomorrow. The second series of eight different programs begins Wed. For information, call 416-975-8555.