Dancing on the Edge Festival Makes Dance a Public Affair

Videos

Fujiwara Dancing Inventions Rehearses

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Fujiwara Dance Inventions Rehearses

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It's not every Friday that you walk out of your office to see a contemporary dance group performing in front of your building; in fact, it's never happened to me before today.

Turns out I was watching the dress rehearsal of a dance group called Fujiwara Dance Inventions, a part of the Dancing on the Edge Festival which runs in Vancouver from July 5 to 14. Thanks to Fujiwara's GM Adina Herling, I learned that this particular dance, Conference of the Birds, is based on an ancient Sufi poem by Farid Ud-din Atar about a flock of birds preparing for a long and arduous journey.

Fujiwara calls the dance a "site-specific work" which uses the space--in this case, the flat lot at the foot of Carrall and Water Streets in Vancouver--as part of the work. Our very own Victoria Revay jumped in to the dance near the end (you can see her in the video). That's not something you'd see in a stuffy old theatre, is it?

The Dancing on the Edge Festival is in its 19th year and celebrates contemporary dance from across Canada, with the occasional international guest. You can see Fujiwara perform on Saturday July 7 at 2 and 4pm in Gastown (foot of Carrall and Water) or Sunday July 8 at 12 and 2pm in Chinatown (50 East Pender Street).