Lights, Dance, Action
Lights Dance Festival brings together the vibrant dance and film communities of Canada to celebrate the beauty of expression through movement.
Lights Dance aspires to bridge the gap between creators and lovers of dance, and between dance and cinema. Its mission is to spread awareness of dance media, celebrate diversity and all types of dance forms, and make great art more accessible to all.
The 4th Annual Lights Dance Festival will be curated around the concept of Shadows & Songs to consider our humanity in the changing landscape of communication and technology. In the age of expedience and convenience, as we find it difficult to maintain a sense of self and dignity, we hide behind our computer and phone screens, our true emotions tucked away in compartmentalized crevices deep within. Although we are quick to swipe left or right, click ‘send’ or ‘order,’ we are slow to listen, slow to be mindful and be present. Instant gratification is prioritized; individuals, objectified. Lights Dance 2020 meditates on the ways we get close to each other just enough to still keep our true selves concealed, and how fear of rejection and disappointment is a haunting dance of silhouettes. Deep down, we all still crave genuine connection. We hope our selection of screen-dance and live performances will give all of us a moment to slow down and take a breath while challenging us to re-examine our lives clouded by control and busyness.
2020 submissions now open.
2020
Submissions Information.
Film Deadline: Jan. 17, 2020
000 days 00 hours 00 minutes 00 seconds
Performance Submission: April 1, 2020
Salt Water
Salt Water explores the contrast between the force of natural events and our own need and desire for stability. The work opens with an abstract sculptural mass of more than twenty dancers interlocked with bare curved backs that sway, rise and fall in wave-like motions. Individual identification is only a momentary glimpse. Beneath the abstract form, intimate human connections reside.
MASS
MASS is a 10 minutes single take video-dance shot in Paris. The project was framed within the Danse en Seine’s choreographic workshops, including 40 amateur dancers. Images of the crowd appear more and more often and symbolize the current upheavals all over the world, evoking alternately parties, migrations of refugees, manifestations, religious gatherings or just the daily life of big cities. We thus work on the mass, with all the drunkenness and horror it can inspire. We confront the individual with crowd movements, in order to observe how he resists or lets immerse himself.
Coffee House Fundraiser
An evening featuring local artists, raffle prizes, and complimentary decadent treats! Lights Dance Festival invites you to our Fall Coffee House Fundraiser hosted by Japanese confections shop, LeTAO. This event will also feature performances from musical guests and a reading with Canadian Digital Artist, Writer, and Educator, Aaron Tucker.
Our fundraiser ticket includes complimentary cheesecake samples, a discount on our event-exclusive Lights Dance Cocktail, and entry to our Raffle Draw.
Raffle Draw prizes include:
– Products from Lush Cosmetics North America
– Felix and Norton Cookies
– Two Tickets to Bad Dog Theatre Company
St. George by the Grange
Lights Dance Festival 2019 was graciously hosted by our partner St. George by the Grange.
You can book it here.
Our 2019 Partners & Sponsors
We thank these lovely people for contributing to our preliminary crowdfunding campaign earlier this year!
Sian Melton, Jared Fath, Esther Lee, Bonnie Cheung, Vicki Kim, Sylvia van Helden, Heather Renzella, Robyn Boere, Jak Li, Cedric Tai, Luisa Cheng, Jacques Boulet, Yiqun Zhu, Kevin Ho
Partners: Hot Docs, Native Earth Performing Arts, Tapestry Opera, St. George by the Grange, Queen Books, Eastbound Brewery, LUSH, Sylvia van Helden, Bird & Rhino