THEATRE PREVIEW

AUGUST 2024 | Volume 242

 

The Firehall Arts Centre Presents Empty-Handed

"You are excrement. You can change yourself into gold." – Alejandro Jodorowsky

The Firehall Arts Centre is pleased to open its 42nd season with the world premiere of The Biting School's Empty-Handed from Wednesday, October 2 to Saturday, October 5.

Empty-Handed is a contemporary dance piece that explores the journeys of five cosmic characters through themes of darkness, deception, and greed.

Audience members are invited to leave behind something from their past, which becomes part of the show. Through expressive movement, choreography and storytelling, the dancers create a world that transcends time and culture. Each character guides the viewer through an emotional arc that honours the essence of their personal revolution.

The vibrant colour palette, transformational costumes, provocative props, and theatrical lighting reinforce the characters' metamorphosis. Multi-layered original music composition and imaginative projection design amplify our satirical commentary on the haunting subject matter.

"We are sitting in the madness of the human experience," says co-artistic director and choreographer Arash Khakpour, "forgetting we are the guests that the daffodils invited in a long time ago. We are sitting in stillness and finding the trails. The trails that will eventually take us home."

Firehall Arts Centre's Artistic Producer Donna Spencer adds, "It is exciting to open our 2024-2025 season with this newest work from The Biting School. This piece reflects our ongoing commitment to bring up-and-coming dance artists to the stage while ensuring thematic content addresses current societal issues."
  
Credits for Empty-Handed:

Co-Artistic Director/Choreographer:  Arash Khakpour
Performers:  Juolin Lee, Marisa Gold, Hayley Gawthrop, Antonio Somera Jr., and Arash Khakpour
Creative Consultant:  Heather Lamoureux
Dramaturg:  Raïna von Waldenburg
Props & Set Designer:  Hamidreza Jadid
Costume Designer:  Elika Mojtabaei
Projection Designer:  Candelario Andrade Gutierrez
Composer:  Alex Mah
Lighting/Tech Designer:  Dan O'Shea
Photographer/Videographer:  Luciana Freire D'Anunciação 
Outside Eye:  Anne Cooper
Co-Producer:  Aryo Khakpour

October 2-5 | Firehall Arts Centre | 280 E. Cordova Street 
Media Opening:  Wednesday, October 2 at 7:30pm 
Performance Times:  Wednesday-Saturday at 7:30pm  
Tickets:  From $35 at firehallartscentre.ca | 604.689.0926
Post Show Talkback:  October 3

For more information on The Firehall, please visit the following platforms:
Website:         www.firehallartscentre.ca
Facebook:        www.facebook.com/firehallarts 
Instagram:       www.instagram.com/firehall.arts/ 
Twitter (X):      twitter.com/firehallarts

About The Biting School:
The Biting School is a multidisciplinary performing arts company founded by co-artistic directors (and brothers) Aryo and ArashKhakpour. Drawing from histories, myths and philosophical inquiries, The Biting School explores social dynamics, historical roots, and political issues on a physical and visceral level. The company aims to translate the anxiety, the grotesque, the trauma, and the beautiful of our time into the language of the flesh. The Biting School creates works that are ethically engaging, physically demanding, theatrically bold, and rhythmically humorous. www.bitingschool.com

About Firehall Arts Centre:

With over forty years' history of weaving diverse storytelling into the fabric of Greater Vancouver, Firehall Arts Centre is where stories come alive. Through theatre, dance, music, inter-disciplinary work and the visual arts, The Firehall has embraced its mission to enrich lives and expand minds through the arts. One of the most unique cultural institutions in British Columbia, The Firehall - in more predictable times - hosts over two hundred performances per year. Located in the city-owned heritage fire station built in 1906, The Firehall's intimate black box studio theatre along with its outdoor courtyard performance area and its rehearsal studio has served to support innovative, eclectic, and often politically-charged theatre productions as well as exquisite, cutting-edge dance and music performances. The Firehall is proud to support emerging and established performing artists and companies, and strives to program work that is inclusive, culturally rich, and reflective of the many voices and perspectives in Canada. www.firehallartscentre.ca

 

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