Decidedly Jazz Danceworks is closing its season with a two-part performance that also marks an important anniversary for the Calgary company, which is celebrating ten years since DJD moved into its purpose-built home in the Beltline.
Artistic Director Kimberley Cooper says it’s hard to believe how quickly a decade has gone by.
“Ten years already. I can’t believe it. And I can. Every time I give a tour to somebody, I feel that rush of newness again,” she says. “It’s really transformed our lives. It’s great.”
The DJD Dance Centre spans 107,000 square feet and includes seven studios, a 230 seat theatre, and spaces designed specifically for jazz dance and live music. The $26 million building gave the company something it never had before.
“It’s so different to think back to how it was before when we were renting a space, and we had so much less control over it,” Cooper says.
She points to the ability to rehearse and present work in the same space as a major shift.
“What we’re able to do here, what we’re able to do in terms of supporting other artists in terms of making shows and putting them in, like rehearsing them in the place that they’re going to be performed.”
Operating costs, she adds, are no higher than DJD’s previous patchwork of rented spaces.
“And the fact that it costs the same to run this building as it did to rent a space that was like, puny, you know, is um, yeah, it’s changed everything,” Cooper says. “It’s really what a blessing.”
The anniversary is being marked with a true double bill.
Act one, Carne Vale, is a new work by longtime DJD dancer Sabrina Naz Comănescu, heavily inspired by Caribbean culture. Cooper describes it as “a carnivalesque ride of a soul’s journey after death.”
The piece is performed with live original music by a five-piece band led by Calgary trombonist Carsten Rubeling.
Act two, Between the Bandstand and the Dancefloor, is Cooper’s own new creation, focusing on the relationship between musicians and dancers.
“It’s kind of about the conversation between the dance floor and the bandstand,” she says, describing it as an exploration of “the intimate relationship between music and dance.”
Live music is a long-standing DJD tradition; however, the last production, for budgetary reasons, relied on recorded tracks.
“It’s just a different experience,” Cooper says. “I always want to have the band because that energy and that conversation are so vital.”
With musicians returning to the room, she says the shift is immediately noticeable.
“It’s so wonderful to hear them play,” she says. “It makes the music come to life differently. And it’s always just so much joy in the space.”
Matters of Rhythm and Harmony is on stage through May 10.