Dana Gingras and her company Animals of Distinction present her most recent project Heart as Arena in the NAC Studio from May 10-12, 2012.

Heart as Arena explores ideas of receptivity and transmission, and the secret language of electricity that animates heart, mind and muscle.
An installation of nearly 50 radios dominates the inventive set, some hanging above the stage in a ring formation, or arena. Within this arena, performers execute Gingras’s deft, skilful choreography, while struggle to form meaningful connections with one another.  For Gingras, the radio represents a perfect metaphor for relationships: To get the proper reception in a radio the receiver has to be in the right position relative to the transmitter; to get the most out of a relationship both people have to be on the right wavelength. The drama in Heart as Arena unfolds as the performers struggle to achieve this clarity.
The art and sound installation, created by Anna Friz, broadcasts the work’s score, which includes snippets from Bellini’s opera Norma coupled with Spanish and Thai love songs and a mixing of static. As the classic opera of desire, love and loss, Norma acts as the emotional centre of the piece, emerging and disappearing throughout the work like a distant station heard on late night radio.
Dana Gingras is a critically-acclaimed Canadian choreographer who divides her time between Montreal and Vancouver. She first gained international recognition for her work during the 1980s and 90s as co-founder of the legendary Canadian dance company Holy Body Tattoo. More recently, her choreography was featured in the music video for Montreal band Arcade Fire’s Sprawl 2. Dana Gingras is a NAC Associate Dance Artist.
Heart as Arena features performers Sarah Doucet, Shay Kuebler, Amber Funk Barton, Masaharu Imazu and Dana Gingras. Creative collaborators include sound artist Anna Friz, sound and lighting artist Mikko Hynninen, dramaturge Ruth Little, and costumes by Sarah Doucet.

“Surreal and sexually charged…Five red-hot dancers rip open the heart as a place for electrical and emotional sparks… For cool kids and those who think with their hearts”
— The Georgia Straight

“… an eerie, often-unsettling score of static and song fragments — a kick-ass mess of everything from Bellini opera to wailing flamenco to hyperspeed Asian pop.”
— The Georgia Straight

Heart as Arena is a co-production of the CanDance Network Creation Fund: The Cultch, Brian Webb Dance Company, the National Arts Centre, L’Agora de la danse, and supported by the Dance Section of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Heart as Arena is also a co-production of Festival TransAmériques.

Duration: 65 minutes, no intermission

DANA GINGRAS - contemporary dance workshop
Friday May 11, 2012
10:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon

• Location: Rehearsal Hall B, National Arts Centre, 53 Elgin Street, Ottawa (Enter by Stage Door)
• Cost: $15
• You must REGISTER in advance, as space is limited, at soutter@magma.ca 613-947-7000 ext 588 – Renata Soutter, Dance Outreach Coordinator
Heart as Arena is presented in the NAC Studio from May 10-12 at 8pm. Tickets are $29.06, and $16.03 for students (upon presentation of a valid student ID card).
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 (www.nac-cna.ca)
• A service charge applies on all purchases made through Ticketmaster
This production is eligible for the Trinity Live Rush program. Full-time students aged 13-29 with a valid Live Rush membership may buy up to two tickets per performance at the discounted price of only $12 per ticket. Live Rush tickets are available from 10 a.m. on the day before the performance until 6 p.m. on the day of the performance. This includes all available seats, including the best seats in the house. Check out liverush.ca for information on the Trinity Live Rush program.

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For more information, please call:
Eleri Evans
Marketing and Communications Officer, Dance
National Arts Centre
613-947-7000 ext. 379; e-mail: eleri.evans@nac-cna.ca
or visit the NAC website at www.nac-cna.ca