Welcome back. What a difference a year makes, what a difference a moment can make…

I don’t believe we are on the other side yet, maybe we are on another side, here we are, opening our arms and hearts with hope of live experiences, of health, of great times!

We have an ambitious season planned, let’s dream big and see…

We begin where we left off, sort of… It’s been wonderful to have been an Artist in Residence at Fall for Dance North, Canada’s premiere dance festival, for the past two years.  For the grand finale, DJD will be performing Family of Jazz in Toronto Sept 30, Oct 1 and 2.  Family of Jazz will be performed in a double bill with Holla Jazz, whose artistic director Natasha Powell, has also been Artist in Residence at the festival. It is going to be a fantastic weekend for jazz, not only because of this show but also because DJD’s founders Vicki Adams Willis, Michèle Moss and Hannah Stilwell will be inducted into Canada’s Dance Hall of Fame on Oct 2, also in Toronto! The FFDN performance will be available to stream on-line for the duration of the festival–check it out here:    https://www.ffdnorth.com

And the induction ceremony will be available as well: https://halloffame.dcd.ca

Before we go east we will do 2 performances of Family of Jazz at the DJD Dance Centre Sept 22 and 23. That’s it – that’s all we have time for so get your tickets now before they get scooped!

https://www.decidedlyjazz.com/experience/performances/

We are excited to once again partner with One Yellow Rabbit to co-present some work in their fabulous High Performance Rodeo this winter.  January 19-29 we will present a new DJD performance called Old/New/Borrowed/Blue – and it will be just that – some DJD repertoire, new works by Sarisa F de Toledo and Sabrina Naz Comanescu, and a borrowed piece by contemporary dance artist Marie France Forcier.

Next comes Ephemeral Artifacts: Travis Knights at the DJD Dance Centre from Feb 2-4 also co-presented with OYR.  Anandam Dancetheatre, led by the amazing Brandy Leary, is a company from Toronto that does incredibly beautiful work. This piece was created in collaboration with Travis Knights who also stars in it. Get ready, Travis is a brilliant artist – he is a tap dancer, a musician, an incredible thinker and speaker. I can’t wait.

We will end the season in with something completely new that will run April 27-May 14.  I’m going to make it.  It doesn’t even have a name yet. I can tell you that it will have original live music, played by a four-piece band, that this band will be led by Calgary musician and trombonist Carsten Rubeling, that it will be dramatic and compelling.

And I hope this will all go according to plan, without plague or locusts… alas, my crystal ball is on the fritz so all I can do is stay in the moment.

In the spirit of jazz,
Kimberley Cooper