Toronto Dance Theatre – Four at the Winch 2009

reviewed by Paula Citron
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Four at the Winch 2009
Toronto Dance Theatre
Choreographies by Natasha Torres-Garner, Josh Beamish, Robert Kingsbury and Simone Orlando
Sarah Wasik and Yuichiro Inoue in Assembly by Simone Orlando. Photo by David Hou.
At Winchester Street Theatre until Oct. 17
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Four at the Winch is designed to stimulate the dancers of Toronto Dance Theatre. Artistic director Christopher House invites four choreographers to set works on his company and the results are always mixed. The present show is true to form.

TDT is a company that dances and Vancouver’s Simone Orlando understood that because she gave the company rigorous physicality interpolated by droll text. Her “Assembly” is an ironic title because she is exploring both tolerance and intolerance. She set male dancers of Chinese, Japanese, African, and French Canadian heritage against one white woman, and her piece was a sly commentary on multiethnic societies.

Winnipeg’s Natasha Torres-Garner opted for off-centre distortions. Vancouver’s Josh Beamish developed an elaborate gestural language, while Toronto’s Robert Kingsbury chose minimalism. Their works were interesting but seemed contrived. It was Orlando who found the key to unlock both movement and intelligence.

Four at the Winch continues at the Winchester Street Theatre until Oct. 17.