Touch will be presented from Sept. 29 to Oct. 17.Karoline Kumas/Handout
Coming this fall, Lighthouse Immersive is marrying two things many people have been waiting to experience again: exhibitions and live performances.
The producer of the popular Immersive Van Gogh, which saw more than two million visitors when it was shown in Paris, will be presenting two new immersive art installations: Looking For the Dance, a photo exhibit by Mikhail Baryshnikov; and Touch, an immersive dance experience created by Guillaume Côté, a principal dancer and choreographic associate at the National Ballet of Canada, and Montreal-based multimedia artist Thomas Payette.
Once a printing press warehouse for the Toronto Star, the home venue of Lighthouse Immersive Toronto at 1 Yonge St. has been transformed into a cultural destination for immersive arts and interdisciplinary experiences.
The art space occupies a vacant five-storey building, with the main gallery accompanied by two additional gallery spaces. It was founded by Toronto-based producers Corey Ross and Svetlana Dvoretsky.
'I am both humbled and honoured to bring this work to Toronto, a city I care deeply about,' Mr. Baryshnikov says.Handout
Dvoretsky, a producer at the company, said they are happy to have landed in this space and provide a platform for artists across Canada to come and create.
“We wanted to be this multihub for the different immersive experiences … more and more artists are creating different forms of [immersive art],” she said.
The creation of Touch began with an idea from Côté: to display dance movements through film. The idea eventually developed into a mixed-media experience featuring a live dance performance and a projection.
“The thesis of Touch grew on the tails of the pandemic because this is what we’ve been deprived of – the human energy, the hug and touch and feel gravitated to each other,” Dvoretsky said.
“This is all about people, human energy and human interaction.”
A live performance of Touch.Karoline Kumas/Handout
Touch will be presented from Sept. 29 to Oct. 17, with 45-minute performances Wednesday through Sunday.
Visitors can find photographic portraits of dancers by acclaimed artist Mikhail Baryshnikov in the neighbouring gallery.
Looking For the Dance depicts the intimate essence of dance, its constant transformation and its most abstract and purest concept.
This will be a North American premiere for Baryshnikov’s photographic works. He will travel to Toronto in September to open the exhibit.
“Looking For the Dance is an extension of my journey to capture dance in transformative moments – most recently within the Argentinian milongas and the South Indian Odissi styles,” Baryshnikov said in a statement.
“I am both humbled and honoured to bring this work to Toronto, a city I care deeply about.”
Looking For the Dance will be on display from Sept. 18 to Oct. 17.
Lighthouse Immersive brings together two of Toronto’s pre-eminent production companies – Starvox Entertainment and Show One Productions. The company has announced new galleries in 19 U.S. cities over the past year, including Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.
“But our heart and soul are in our home city that we love. We’re super excited to be able to be ready to bring the new art forms for the city of Toronto,” Dvoretsky said.
“It’s very gratifying to create, especially during these difficult times … we’re looking forward to presenting new content and new ideas.”
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