Today Sunday was a Saturday for us because we had Rebecca and Lauren over. They no longer come on Saturdays. The occasional Sunday will have to do.
After Rebecca's noon piano lesson (we recently had that Chickering tuned) we had a home made pizza and we then went to see Josh Martin (left) and the 605 Collective at the Roundhouse presented by Dance Allsorts. While there were two performances today the early one at two was free for children under 12. Rosemary's response to the challenging (physically challenging, too) blend of hip hop, modern dance, karate (yes!) and other sports into dance was ambivalent. But she did admit that Josh Martin was superb so I smiled at that. Both Rosemary and I liked Told Him Twice with Josh Martin and his fellow 605 Collective Lisa Gelley.
Lauren, Rebecca and I had seen Martin before at Dancing on the Edge with Amber Funk Barton and Shay Kuebler. That evening at the Firehall we had sat near Crystal Pite who was blown away (I know because she told me) by that performance.
Shay Kuebler,(right) who did most of the choreography for today's performance of the 605 Collective, was not present (a very good dance engagement in Montreal was the reason) is a rising star (with Martin) in Canadian dance.
It would seem that these two, in cahoots with Amber Funk Barton, are bringing a fusion to our local scene. Those that love classical ballet will not go to modern dance and those into Butoh will go to contact improv but not to classical ballet.
This combination of many dance methods and types might help to bring the dance community together which is somewhat fractured. The Collective will perhaps draw more people who love dance. It would then be the audience that would help in bridging this dance gap. Amber Funk Barton and the 605 Collective might just represent a new form of dance. It is exciting to be living in Vancouver to see its birth and development.
And to any of my friends whom might look at my adoption of hip hop with incredulity all I can say in my defense is that there is hip hop and then there are these guys. And therin lies the difference!
