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Dancers With Day Jobs will make their Atlantic Fringe Festival debut when the hit the stage on
DANSpace on Grafton on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
WHAT'S UP
What: The 14th Atlantic Fringe Festival, features 290 performances of 45 dance, drama, comedy and
musical shows. When: Tonight to Sept. 12 features 290 performances of 45 dance, drama, comedy and
musical shows Where: Downtown Halifax at DANSpace, 1531 Grafton St., Neptune Theatre's Imperial
Room and Studio Theatre, Khyber Ballroom and Turret and St. Matthew's Church Hall, 1479 Barrington
St. Box office: The central box office is at Neptune's Studio Theatre, 1593 Argyle St. How
much?:Tickets range from $3 to $9, and may be purchased at the kiosk up to a half hour before show
time, and after that at the play's venue. Times: Shows start 6 p.m. on weekdays, and 1 p.m. on
weekends. Some of the acts: They include The Fortune Teller, a new musical by Emily Shute, Halifax
playwright Charles Crosby's latest drama about a home invasion, Arthur Sullivan's Cox and Box with
pianist Leon Cole and G and S society veteran Brian King, new dance shows from Flyby Dance and
Maritime Dance Performance Group, thirtySomething Dance Co-op and Leslie Carvery's Shake It Dancers;
a Halifax show about the history of hip hop, What is Hip Hop?, a Chezzetcook kids' troupe in A Wee
Drop of Aesop and Minneapolis performer Amy Salloway's fringe hit Does This Monologue Make Me Look
Fat? Schedule Info is at: 1-800-565- 0000 Website: www.atlanticfringe.ca and in programs
around the city.
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Dancing
on the Fringe
thirtySomething dancers ready to step it up in festival debut
By PEGGY MacKINNON
IT'S A HUMID Thursday evening in Dartmouth and the Waverley Road basement reverberates with laughs
and chatter. Dancers leap and roll across the hardwood floor, while a gaggle in the corner
exchanges good-natured insults, fighting over the last Timbit. A teenage house party? Well,
not quite. These aren't teenagers and this ain't no party. The thirtySomething Dance Co-operative
is here to do some serious work. Dancers with Day Jobs debuts at the Atlantic Fringe Festival on
Friday, and time is running short. They will take to the stage at DANSpace on Grafton, 1531
Grafton St., Friday at 6:15 p.m., Sunday at 1:15 and 8:30 p.m., Monday at 4:30 and 9 p.m. and
Sunday, Sept. 12 and 6:30 p.m. The music rises and people move. Jazz, tap, salsa, modern, there
are as many styles in this show as there are body types. The performance is focused and intense, but
everyone's having fun. One sweaty hour later the troupe sits on the floor for a critique from Verve
Mwendo's Jacinte Armstrong. The 14-member group formed last spring and it boasts an impressive
troupe with professional credentials, including a psychiatrist, a university professor, a mechanical
engineer and a graphic designer. But tonight they're all students of dance and readily defer to
Armstrong's expertise, despite the fact that she seems much younger than most of them. And age is
definitely a factor here. "The co-op's name was chosen specifically to communicate the fact that we
are grown ups who love to dance," says Kate Hayter-Reid, co-founder and key organizer. "As the years
pass, you start asking your jazz teacher for the 'senior's discount' version of floor-work
combinations. TSDC does not apologize for this - it embraces it, flaunts it, and we've let this
inform our way of working, rehearsing, the material we choose to mount." "We are doing what isn't
often done," says Robert Aitkens, another founding member. "In the sea of young and thin
professional dancers, we have stepped out as older amateur dancers of all ages and sizes, to dance
for the love of dance." Steven Bruhm agrees: "In the dance world, only certain types of bodies
get celebrated. Being over 30, overworked, and overweight means I have to think of more
unconventional ways to present my body in space. Choreography that is restricted by 30-something
limitations on flexibility, posture, extension, and strength can also be elegant, knowing, funny,
expressive. Older bodies read differently from younger ones, and I want thirtySomething to
capitalize on those differences." And difference makes Dancers with Day Jobs and the festival a
good fit. "The fringe was the perfect place for us to debut as a co-operative," says Hayter-Reid.
"We kind of are on the fringe of the dance community - we're not a professional dance company and
have no aspirations to become one. We like it out here on the fringe." Many thirtySomething
members enjoy the opportunity to try on the choreographer's hat. "I'm known to be the quiet one
in the group and have never choreographed for a show before," says Jennifer Hayes. "It was
intimidating at first, but in the end I was happy with the results and would definitely try it
again." For others, the group provides a welcome respite from life. "When I'm dancing I feel much
younger than my years," says Milica Pelot, a university lecturer and mother of two. "The day's
stresses and demands take a backseat for a while and then I don't worry about that fact that I have
not yet made peace with my laughlines." "I'm a doctor, a psychiatrist to be exact," adds Mary-Ann
Hudec. "I use dance as my therapy - a place to get away from work and enjoy another part of life. In
my work I encourage patients to find a passion in life, to invest in something that is just for them
that makes them feel great - I guess you can say I practice what I preach!" With input from guest
choreographers Cory Bowles, Kym Butler and Jenee Gowing and performances throughout fringe week,
Dancers with Day Jobs hopes to live up to their motto: "Everyone loves a good 5,6,7,8!" Peggy
MacKinnon is a freelance writer living in Halifax.
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