Winnipeg’s dance lovers have something to rejoice over this June with the return of Q Dance to cap off the dance season. Q Dance – soon celebrating 10 years – is back at the Gas Station Arts Centre June 6 to 8, for a limited run of four performances, that will feature new work from world-renowned Artistic Director, Peter Quanz.
“I’m so happy to be back in Winnipeg, my creative home, and to be sharing my creations with so many who love mixed rep ballet,” says Quanz.
This will be the second year in a row that Q Dance takes over the Gas Station Arts Centre to bring Quanz’s impressive choreographic talents to the stage. Last year Quanz made a splash with four new pieces of work performed by a tight ensemble of four dancers. This year the Q Dance artists grows to seven. Each performance will include a talk back with Quanz.
Yosuke Mino has performed the most with Q Dance of any dancers, including Q Dance’s first performance at the famed Guggenheim in New York City in 2009. One of the dance highlights from last year was a poignant duet between Mino and Alanna McAdie. It came together incredibly quickly.
“The duet just flowed out. We had created about three minutes in the first hour of rehearsal. It was just there. It is unusual to get that much done so quickly. But that is the amazing thing about working with such talented colleagues like Yosuke and Alanna,” says Quanz.
Each time Quanz creates a show in Winnipeg he has been able to draw on a family of dancers from the RWB and elsewhere. This year he is reaching out to the contemporary dance community and created a solo for local dancer, Kathleen Hiley. The quartet of dancers from 2018 — Liam Caines, Philippe Alexandre Jacques, Alanna McAdie and Yosuke Mino – return and are joined by Josh Reynold and Jo-Ann Sundermeier.
“One of the great joys of creating your own work with your own company is choosing your artists. Jo-Ann is a founding member of Q Dance. I love her presence on stage. I wanted to showcase her and her husband Josh. It will be the final opportunity for people in Winnipeg to see them dance before they leave to live and work in the States,” says Quanz, who has had his work performed in the US, Hong Kong, China, Cuba, Russia, Germany and across Canada.
For the past five years, Quanz has been invited to work on full-length ballets for several dance companies in China. The piece he just finished earlier this year for Wuxi Song and Dance Company is coming to Canada and the US on tour this fall. No dates have been set for Winnipeg.
Q Dance tickets are currently on sale by visiting peterquanz.com and ticket are $35 for evening performances and $25 for the matinee on Saturday. Q Danceback June 6 to 8