By Kaija Pepper Three well-established theatrical festivals dominate the dance landscape at the beginning of every year in Vancouver, starting with PuSh International Performing Arts in mid-January. Two popular shows at PuSh were the one-woman solo, Pour, at Scotiabank Dance Centre’s black-box studio-theatre, and the group spectacle, The Eternal Tides, at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
Even without a playbill, it may have been possible to pick up on the fact that all three pieces in the terrific program presented by Ballet Hispánico in Victoria, B.C., in April were created by women. The evening just felt a little different. Throughout, women were central, but not as male-gaze objects of desire. There
by Toba Singer It inspires Lizt Alfonso that Cuban dance is broader than its renowned achievements in classical ballet. She credits both that breadth and the founders of Cuba’s classical training system — Alicia Alonso and her former husband Fernando Alonso — for shaping her work today. “Cubans dance from birth,” she says. “How we