Progress Avenue

Atlas Moves Watching & Peterborough New Dance present
PROGRESS AVENUE
a new work by Bill James
formerly titled From Darkness…
Featuring dancers D.A. Hoskins, Ryan Kerr, Jonathan Osborn, Allison Rees-Cummings, Emma Romerein and Kate Story.
Costumes by Martha Cockshutt.
Lighting by Robin Dutt.

Also at the Market Hall:
– Open Rehearsals. Wed Oct 6 and Tues Oct 12 at 2 PM. The public is invited into the theatre to watch the creative process.
– A Preview and Talk With Bill James. Fri Oct 8 at 8 PM at the Market Hall Performing Arts Centre. Bill will talk about his work, show video excerpts of past work, and his dancers will perform excerpts from the new work. A unique chance to learn about the creative process of dance-making from one of Canada’s leading choreographers.

Progress Avenue is a real street in a real town, where the houses are falling apart and the future exists only on the sign. A street of forgotten dreams that shows us that progress is really a myth, that it doesn’t happen. However, it is a street that has inspired Bill James, artistic director of Atlas Move Watching Dance Projects, and his company of six dancers to create a work about dealing with change by living in the present.

A quest for peace and insight into an environment in flux, the work itself has embraced change: Progress Avenue was first shown in workshop form just four months ago under a very different title, From Darkness. At that time the work was presented at the Market Hall Theatre in Peterborough to an enthusiastic audience who gave feedback and offered suggestions. Now Bill James and his dancers have returned to the Market Hall for a two-week residency to finish the work and present its premiere. While in residence, the company will hold two open rehearsals and show excerpts from the new work at a special Preview And Talk where Bill will also show videos and speak about his past work.

Since the original workshop, Bill has brought on board two new collaborators: Martha Cockshutt, a Peterborough-based costume designer, and Robin Dutt, a Toronto-based lighting designer. The company of dancers has not changed. It consists of four Toronto-based dancers: D.A. Hoskins, Jonathan Osborn, Allison Rees-Cummings, and Emma Romerein, along with Peterborough dancers Ryan Kerr and Kate Story.

For more information call Peterborough New Dance, (705) 745-1788.

video stills by PowerHouse Digital Video