International Dance Day April 29

Vancouver celebrates International Dance Day with a series of events highlighting the diversity of BC’s dance scene. Free events include a lunchtime performance of flamenco and other dance styles at the Vancouver Public Library; downtown ‘swing bombs’ with swing champions Tessa Cunningham and Myles Munroe; and studio showings and a photo exhibit at Scotiabank Dance Centre. The evening sees the premiere of taking your experience for mine, a new work by rising choreographer Sara Coffin exploring the impact of digital media on our lives, presented through the Iris Garland Choreographer Award (the performance also runs Saturday April 30 at 8pm). For a full schedule visit www.thedancecentre.ca.

Initiated in 1982 by UNESCO, International Dance Day is marked annually on April 29 with events across Canada and around the world. The date commemorates the birthday of Jean-Georges Noverre (1727-1810), regarded as the founder of modern ballet. Each year The Dance Centre, BC’s resource centre for dance, presents events which celebrate the art form.

Read the official UNESCO International Dance Day message, by Anna Teresa de Keersmaeker, here.

Photo: Karen Flamenco by David Cooper

Co.ERASGA/Complot: EXpose

A powerful new full-length duet exploring sexuality, gender and identity, EXpose brings together two exceptional male solo artists: Vancouver’s own Alvin Erasga Tolentino, Artistic Director of Co. ERASGA, whose sophisticated works have toured around the world; and Martin Inthamoussú, a driving force in Uruguay’s contemporary dance scene, whose passionate works grapple with provocative socio-political ideas. These two charismatic performers seek to expose the complexity of the personal and public territories within the gay psyche, creating a spellbinding theatrical and physical dialogue.

April 14-16 at 8pm at Scotiabank Dance Centre, Vancouver. Post-show artist talkback April 15. Tickets $28/$20 from www.ticketstonight.ca Info www.thedancecentre.caNote: this show includes nudity.

Les Productions Figlio: Conversations

The Dance Centre and the Chutzpah! Festival 2011 present the world premiere of Les Productions Figlio's Conversations. Choreographed by Artistic Director Serge Bennathan, Conversations is an imaginary encounter between the great Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca, who was murdered by pro-Franco militias in 1936, and his assassin, Juan Luis Trescastro. Meshing movement, text, music, lighting and set design, the work examines the poetic and philosophical exchanges between the two men, portrayed on stage by the magnetic Billy Marchenski and Danny Wild.

Thursday-Saturday February 10-12, 8pm at Scotiabank Dance Centre, 677 Davie St, Vancouver. Tickets and info: 604 257 5145 www.chutzpahfestival.com www.thedancecentre.ca