Silver Fox

On a 25th anniversary of the outdoor festival Dusk Dances, I headed over to Withrow Park for an evening of dance. It has been more than a decade since I've attended, ever since they moved from Dufferin Park. But I had a number of pleasant memories especially during one of their final years there. At the time, I was briefly living for a few weeks in a boarding house. So I spent my evenings watching rehearsals instead of suffering through the heat in my room.

Both Withrow Park and the audience tonight were several times bigger than Dufferin. Hostess Madame Beaucoup (Lisa Anne Ross) led us all over the park for 5 performances. Fall was about the giddiness of being in love while Space Within Us played with the interactions between people. Both combined athletic hip-hop moves with elegant contemporary steps. Follow Me was the most fun; it was essentially 5 women out on the town, but they happened to be supremely talented dancers. Imprint and Moving Parts involved non-professionals. The first had non-dancers in its choreography and the latter had a volunteer "community choir" providing the music. They both presented themes of how to live in the world. Imprint posited friendly connections of neighbours and helpfulness. Parts was more pessimistic in its conflict: from dancers throwing projectiles during protests, to pas-de-deux that devolved into aikido take-downs.

Dusk Dances founder Sylvie Bouchard was feted tonight. Hopefully, this popular show will continue to its golden anniversary.