MovEnt to Hit the Town with New, Civic-Minded 'Community Stages' Project

This spring, MovEnt brings the act of collective artistic creation into five Vancouver Community Centres with the launch of Community Stages. Running now through May 30, 2014, the inaugural project pairs local professional dancers and musicians to openly collaborate and develop works at gathering spaces across the city.

"MovEnt's signature series - Dances for a Small Stage - has always been about two things: creating a platform for artists to create, while introducing new audiences to the art form of dance," says MovEnt Artistic Producer Julie-anne Saroyan. "Community Stages realizes these goals beautifully. Bringing dance out of traditional performance venues and into public, social spaces will create opportunities for both artist and audiences to make new discoveries in dance."

Each week, five Vancouver Community Centres will act as a gathering space for choreographers and musicians to work privately and publicly in development of newly inspired, on-site creations. The exciting line up of collaborator locations for the month of March includes:

Trout Lake Community Centre
Dancer/Choreographer/Percussion: Dayna Szyndrowski, Dancer: Jessica Wilkie, and Harp: Elisa Thorn
Public: Thursdays 3:30-4:30pm

Renfrew Community Centre
Dancer/Choreographer: Erika Mitsuhashi and Guitar/Vocals: Damon Schwabach-Morris
Public: Wednesdays 3-4pm & Fridays 4-5pm

Hillcrest Community Centre
Dancer/Choreographer: Lina Fitzner and Songwriter: Corbin Murdoch
Public: Mondays noon-1pm & Thursdays 3-4pm

Coal Harbour Community Centre
Dancer/Choreographer: Julie Chapple, Dancer: Lexi Vajda, and Percussion: Ben Brown
Public: Wednesdays & Fridays 11:30-1pm

False Creek Community Centre
Dancer/Choreographer: Arash Khakpour and Saxophone: Dominic Conway
- and -
Dancer/Choreographer: Sophia Wolfe and Bass: Colin Cowan

Audiences are invited to drop by during any of the public creation windows to visit with the artists, experience their creative process, and engage in dialogue about the artwork.

The five independent creation processes will culminate in a final performance of all works at Moberly Arts and Culture Theatre (7647 Prince Albert St.) on May 24 at 7pm and May 25 at 2pm. Admission is by donation.

The Community Stages project is made possible through support from the Vancouver Park Board, Arts, Culture and Environment team, and Telus - Vancouver Community Board.

About MovEnt: Founded in 2001, MovEnt is a Vancouver-based, charitable non-profit dance society devoted to producing new contemporary dance work, supporting dance artists and developing an audience for contemporary dance. MovEnt produces dance that encourages high expectations and produces accessible, engaging art. More information at movent.ca.