5 choreographers + 3 intimate venues + 2 continents = 1 week of outstanding dance!

The NAC’s Face 2 Face contemporary dance series returns for one sensational week of spectacular dance. This third edition of Face 2 Face brings you face to face with compelling personal performances created and inspired by experiences of Africa. Artists from South Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Canada—who are making waves on the international scene—share their fascinating contemporary stories through these distinctive works.

The artists and works featured in this year’s Face 2 Face series are:

NTU (an NAC co-production) and Skwatta, choreographed and performed by Vincent Mantsoe
My Exile Is In My Head, choreographed and performed by Qudus Onikeku
Idiom, choreographed and performed by Jennifer Dallas and Bienvenue Bazié and Sous un projecteur, choreographed and performed by Bienvenue Bazié
Le Cargo, choreographed and performed by Faustin Linyekula

 

ABOUT NTU AND SKWATTA
Vincent Mantsoe masterfully weaves together African and Western dance styles. NTU (an NAC co-production) and Skwatta, two politically charged works, comment on the desperation of life in South Africa’s squatter camps, and the triumph of the human spirit.

Duration 75 minutes with one intermission

“Mantsoe is an artist of fierce uniqueness …He combines entertainment, history, and spirituality with an earthshaking expressiveness that audiences find irresistible.”

Dance Magazine

VENUE:                        NAC Studio

DAY AND TIME:            Thursday February 5 at 7:30 p.m.

                                    Friday February 6 at 9 p.m.
                                    Saturday February 7 at 7:30 p.m.
 

NTU (2011)
ChoreographY and performANCE Vincent Mantsoe

MUSIC Hamayoun Shajarian and Dastan Ensemble

LIGHTING DESIGN Serge Damon

AN NAC CO-PRODUCTION

 

SKWATTA (2012)
ChoreographY and performANCE Vincent Mantsoe

MUSIC Amampondo, the Kronos Quartet, Danyel Waro, and Nina Simone

COSTUME DESIGN Vincent Mantsoe

LIGHTING DESIGN Serge Damon

SET DESIGN Mirko Pavasovic

ABOUT VINCENT MANTSOE / COMPAGNIE NOA
Vincent Mantsoe’s Afro-fusion mixes traditional African dance with contemporary Western street styles/martial arts to create an exhilarating and passionate new language. With commanding presence, he embodies control, intensity, and absolute commitment.

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: South Africa

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ABOUT MY EXILE IS IN MY HEAD
Nigeria’s Qudus Onikeku creates movement fusing dance and acrobatics to explore cultural identity and the human condition. This award-winning solo is a penetrating, high-energy work filled with beauty, angst, resignation -- and deep spirituality. This is the Canadian premiere of an exclusive Canadian engagement.

Duration 40 minutes

“… a beautiful work, sophisticated, and wonderfully enjoyable. The dance was filled with acrobatic moves, high energy and spirituality … when Onikeku danced, I, too, was closer to God.”

Moira de Swardt, artslink.co.za, February 28, 2011

VENUE:                        NAC Studio

DAY AND TIME:            Friday February 6 at 7:30 p.m.

                                    Saturday February 7 at 6 p.m.
 

MY EXILE IS IN MY HEAD (2010)

ChoreographY and performANCE Qudus Onikeku

MUSIC Charles Amblard (performed live)

LIGHTING DESIGN Guillaume Fesneau

VIDEO Isaak Lartey

 

ABOUT QUDUS ONIKEKU/YK PROJECTS

Qudus Onikeku is part of an acclaimed new generation of African dancer/choreographers. He is a graduate of the National Higher School of Circus Arts in France. His work combines traces of Nigerian dance, hip hop, Tai Chi, capoeira, acrobatics, and contemporary dance, as well as drawing on his Yoruba culture and other influences. 

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Nigeria 

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ABOUT SOUS UN PROJECTEUR and IDIOM
Jennifer Dallas (Canada) and Bienvenue Bazié (Burkina Faso) share a unique artistic sensibility. Bazié performs his solo Sous un projecteur and together they perform Idiom, a compelling cross-cultural mashup which explores like and unlike cultures in musical, verbal, and movement-based idioms.

Duration 60 minutes

Co-presented with Ottawa Dance Directive/SD10#18

[review of Converse by Jennifer Dallas and Bienvenue Bazié] “Voice, humor, mimicry, compassion – these allow an exchange [between cultures] to happen and they are all evident in this work. It’s a hopeful message that couldn’t be clearer.”
Kathleen M. Smith, The Dance Current

VENUE:                        ODD BOX, Ottawa Dance Directive Studio A, Arts Court, 2 Daly Avenue

DAY AND TIME:            Wednesday February 4 at 9 p.m.

                                    Thursday February 5 at 9 p.m.
                                    Friday February 6 at 6 p.m.
                                    Saturday February 7 at 4:30 p.m.

 

IDIOM (2014)

CREATION and PERFORMANCE Jennifer Dallas and Bienvenue Bazié
COMPOSER John MacLean
LIGHTING DESIGN Oz Weaver

 

SOUS UN PROJECTEUR (2009)

CREATION and PERFORMANCE Bienvenue Bazié

MUSIC: Fools die (For Want Of Wisdom), Peter Tosh
PRODUCTION: Compagnie Auguste-Bienvenue

ABOUT JENNIFER DALLAS and BIENVENUE BAZIÉ
 

Jennifer Dallas (Artistic Director of Toronto’s Kẹmi Contemporary Dance Projects) met dancer-choreographer Bienvenue Bazié (co-director of Art’ Dév / Cie Auguste Bienvenue) in Lagos, Nigeria in 2010, and they discovered that they shared an artistic sensibility. In 2011, their first duet, Converse, premiered in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso followed by  Idiom in 2014. Idiom proposes a dialogic exploration of the threads that connect divergent cultures.

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada (Jennifer Dallas) and Burkina Faso (Bienvenue Bazié)

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ABOUT LE CARGO

Faustin Linyekula is captivating as he examines his personal history amid the violent upheaval in his native Congo. Inspired by potent music and his own deep desires, Faustin moves and sings beautifully in the brutally honest, bare-bones Le Cargo.

Duration 60 minutes

“To see a perfect example of how simplicity will always trump spectacle, do yourself a favor and go watch Faustin Linyekula’s Le Cargo. Linyekula is charming, magnetic, modest, and talented. His piece is beautiful, thrilling, moving, and good. You should go see it.”

Noah Dunham, The Portland Mercury, September 14, 2012

 

VENUE:                        Arts Court Theatre, 2 Daly Avenue

DAY AND TIME:            Wednesday February 4 at 7:30 p.m.

                                    Thursday February 5 at 6 p.m.
                                    Saturday February 7 at 9:30 p.m.
 

LE CARGO (2011)
ChoreographY and performANCE Faustin Linyekula

MUSIC Flamme Kapaya

(In English with French surtitles)

 

ABOUT FAUSTIN LINYEKULA / LES STUDIOS KABAKO
After spending eight years in exile (1993-2001), Faustin Linyekula returned to his native Congo with a renewed desire to create art there. He subsequently founded a company and art centre, Les Studios Kabako. Linyekula has since emerged as a leading figure recognized for his artistry, commitment to education and firm belief in the importance of art in addressing social issues. He is also recognized as one of the foremost choreographers to emerge and define contemporary African dance. Linyekula's work has received numerous awards, and he has been invited to participate in residencies throughout Europe.
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Democratic Republic of Congo

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ANCILLARY EVENTS
Panel Discussion (for podcast recording) with Artists of Face 2 Face
Saturday, February 7, 2015
2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. NAC Salon

 

SPONSORS

NAC Dance gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Institut Français.

 

TICKETS AND PERFORMANCES

Face 2 Face takes place on Wednesday February 4, Thursday February 5, Friday February 6, and Saturday February 7, 2015. Performances are at various times in the National Arts Centre Studio, the Arts Court Theatre, and ODD Box -- details are shown above. Tickets for My exile is in my Head, Le Cargo, and Idiom, Sous un projecteur are $20 for adults and $10 for students (upon presentation of a valid student ID card). Tickets for NTU,Skwatta  are $30 for adults and $16.50 for students.

Groups of 10 or more save 15% to 20% off regular ticket prices; to reserve your seats, call 613 947-7000, ext. 634 or e-mail grp@nac-cna.ca.

Tickets are available for purchase:

• In person at the NAC Box Office

• At all Ticketmaster outlets

• By telephone from Ticketmaster, 1-888-991-2787 (ARTS)

• Online through the Ticketmaster link on the NAC’s website (http://www.nac-cna.ca)

• A service charge applies on all purchases made through Ticketmaster