Luminato Video Blog

Program Launch Video

2007-12-04T18:50:00.000-08:00

From June 6-15, 2008, Luminato will again throw a spotlight on the cultural richness of Toronto, Canada and the world. A myriad of themes make the world yours to experience, tantalizing the senses with perspectives on South Asia and First Nations, the disappearing boundaries between fact and fiction, and the nature of conflict. The sights and sounds of the 2008 Festival will invite you on an exhilarating journey through 10 days of music, movement and imagery both on our streets and on the city's many stages.

Black Watch

2007-12-04T18:49:00.000-08:00

Black Watch – The National Theatre of Scotland’s critically acclaimed international theatre sensation. Hurtling from a pool room in Fife to an armoured wagon in Iraq, Black Watch is based on recent interviews conducted by playwright Gregory Burke –winner of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain’s Best Play (Theatre) award – with former soldiers who served in Iraq. Viewed through the eyes of those on the ground, Black Watch reveals what it means to be part of the legendary Scottish regiment, what it means to be part of the war on terror and what it means to make the journey home again. In its five-star review, The Herald wrote, “Black Watch is an astonishing artistic whirlwind. The world must see this play. Immediately.” Location TBA.

Mozart Dances

2007-12-04T18:48:00.000-08:00

Mozart Dances – Inspired by the timeless music of Mozart, Mozart Dances features 16 dancers performing against the bold backdrops of British artist Howard Hodgkins and accompanied live by members of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra. The New York Times hailed the piece as “a masterpiece…one of Mr. Morris’s grandest achievements.” MacMillan Theatre.

Mark Morris Dance Group – Leading contemporary choreographer Mark Morris brings his Brooklyn-based Mark Morris Dance Group to Canada for the first time in 10 years.

Mikel RouseTrilogy

2007-12-04T18:45:00.000-08:00

DENNIS CLEVELAND

THE END OF CINEMATICS

Mikel Rouse Trilogy – American composer and performer Mikel Rouse’s innovative multi-media opera trilogy, presented for the first time in repertory. Fifteen years in the making, these three sensational pieces include: Failing Kansas, a one-man show inspired by the murders and men at the heart of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood; Dennis Cleveland, in which Rouse transforms the landscape of trash-talk TV into rock poetry; and The End of Cinematics, a “hyper-real” 3-D movie live on stage. Failing Kansas: The Factory Theatre. Dennis Cleveland: Toronto Film School Studio. The End of Cinematics: Bluma Appel Theatre.

Slow Dancing

2007-12-04T18:42:00.000-08:00

Slow Dancing – Photographer David Michalek’s series of 43 larger-than-life, hyper-slow-motion video portraits of dancers and choreographers from around the world. Displayed on multiple giant screens, each subject’s five-second movement unfolds gesture by barely perceptible gesture into 10 minutes of extreme slow motion, enabling the viewer to share in the simplest of movements. Of its acclaimed installation at Lincoln Center, The New York Times wrote: “At this scale and speed, everything the dancer does has an air of the miraculous.” Co-commissioned by Luminato, the LA Music Centre and Sadler’s Wells, London. Location TBA.

Nunavut (Kronos Quartet and Tanya Tagaq)

2007-12-04T18:41:00.000-08:00

Grammy-winning, genre-bending ensemble, Kronos Quartet present Nunavut, which includes a spectacular musical collaboration with groundbreaking Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq and a world première piece by Hurdy-Gurdy, commissioned by Luminato. Isabel Bader Theatre.

Laurie Anderson's HOMELAND

2007-12-04T18:35:00.000-08:00

Homeland – A new project from acclaimed American multimedia performance artist Laurie Anderson. A “concert-poem,” Homeland questions the current fears of Americans, their obsession with security and their increasing loneliness and loss of freedom. Winner of the 2007 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize and the first artist-in-residence at NASA, Anderson is internationally recognized for her groundbreaking use of technology. Commissioned by Luminato and The Barbican Centre, London; Cal Performances at UC Berkeley; Melbourne International Arts Festival; Society for the Performing Arts, Houston, Texas; and the University of Florida, Gainesville. The Music Hall.

City of Abstracts (William Forsythe Company)

2007-12-04T18:00:00.000-08:00

City of Abstracts – Famed choreographer William Forsythe is celebrated for reorienting the practice of ballet into a dynamic 21^st-century art form. The Forsythe Company’s City of Abstracts projects and then distorts the movements of passers-by onto a giant screen, resulting in an unconscious choreography.