February 2011

GCDF Performance Season Continues with Women’s Voices and the CSA Nooner

Women’s Voices
March 8, 2011 | 7 PM
E.L. Fox Auditorium, John F. Ross C.V.I

Celebrate International Women’s Day with the Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival! The GCDF in partnership with Dancetheatre David Earle present, Women’s Voices , featuring the premiere of three new dance works by local, multi-generational professional choreographers: the GCDF’s very own Co-Artistic Director Janet Johnson, Julia Garlisi and Suzette Sherman. Photo by David Earle.

Tickets can be purchased through the River Run Centre Box Office: (519) 763-3000 or (877) 520-2408 riverrun.ca

CSA Nooner: Muriva Dance
March 17, 2011 | 12 PM
University Centre Courtyard, University of Guelph

Experience contemporary dance in your own backyard, with this, our second CSA Nooner performance of this Festival year. Montreal’s Muriva Dance performs an excerpt from Sisi (2009), the celebrated dance work by African contemporary dancer and choreographer Gibson Muriva. Sisi is a cry from the heart for the oppressed, notably for women around the world who have little say in shaping their destiny. This is a call for action and change with this expression of hope. Photo by David Chedore.

The CSA Nooner is presented in partnership with the University of Guelph’s Central Students’ Association.

Free to the general public!

For more information, contact the GCDF: (519) 780-2220 guelphcontemporarydancefestival.com

Don’t miss either of these exciting events!

Top Stories

Move, Express, Discover! Arts Explosion March Break Camp almost here

With the start of the Arts Explosion March Break Camp just around the corner, our GCDF team is geared up and excited for the opportunity to once again help children “move, express and discover” through the arts. The camp, which, runs from March 14th to 18th, 2011, is led by skillful, local professional artists who guide children through a range of exciting (and educational!) activities in dance, theatre, visual arts and much more. Children engage in a fun-filled, pressure-free exploration of the arts, and do so in safe and encouraging environment.

This year, we are so pleased to have Special Guest Artist Gibson Muriva with us for our March Break Camp . Gibson Muriva was born and grew up in the slums of Harare, Zimbabwe, as the son of a dance teacher. He began his professional career at age of 17 by joining the National Ballet of Zimbabwe, where he studied many types of dance. Named the best ballet dancer in 1998, he went on to work with several companies in Zimbabwe, England and Canada. His choreographic work is deeply influenced by the images and photographs that inspire his narrative. Since he arrived in Montreal in 2007, he presented Sisi at Tangente, the MAI and in Art Council of Montreal Tour and also created a solo, Nyau.

Gibson Muriva’s passion for traditional African and Contemporary dance has inspired him to teach. His style combines elegance with energy and fluidity, and his classes are designed to help students move through space and to develop technique, strength, flexibility, and musicality. He is a highly enthusiastic and encouraging teacher who takes the time with each individual to illustrate, step-by-step, choreographic vocabulary in a very structured way. His classes are a real workout because he teaches dancers to perform each exercise and not simply to dance.

In addition to the GCDF’s upcoming CSA Nooner, Gibson will also be performing in our In the Park Series, June 2nd, 4th and 5th.

Download the March Break Camp Information Package (PDF 342K) to find out what your campers will be doing at camp!

Reserve a spot for your child today! Enroll through the River Run Centre Box Office:
(519) 763-3000 or (877) 520-2408 | riverrun.ca

For full camp details, contact the GCDF at (519) 780-2220 or gcdf@bellnet.ca.

***Also, don’t forget to book your Workshop in School through the GCDF office.***

Lend a Helping Hand, Help Send a Child to Camp

Here, at the GCDF, we are committed to providing a range of accessible programs to community members. And our Arts Explosion Camps are no exception. Each year, through the generosity of patrons like you, we offer two subsidized spaces in our Full-Day Program and one in our Half-Day Program for each camp. Gifts made to the Monica Davies Camp Scholarship Fund support this worthwhile cause.

Today, we are making a very special call for your support.

Recently, we received requests for subsidized spaces for 6 children who would for like to participate in our March Break Camp. You can make the difference toward meeting this need. Please consider making a donation of $25, $50 or whatever you can to the Monica Davies Camp Scholarship Fund today. Every little bit counts.

To make your gift, simply forward a cheque to the GCDF office at: 123 Woolwich Street, 2nd Floor, Guelph, ON, N1H 3V1 or donate online through CanadaHelps.org.

Giving Made Easy and Secure: The Advantages of Making an Online Donation

With the rise and continued advancement of communications technology, more and more of us are turning to the Internet for such things as shopping and conducting our banking. Another growing trend is that of the online donation, which follows directly from our societal move toward performing financial transactions via the Internet. But what are the benefits to donors?

The GCDF, along with thousands of other Canadian charities, turn to CanadaHelps for their online donation needs. A public charitable foundation (896568417RR0001), Canada Helps is Canada’s only donation portal that provides access to all of Canada’s over 80,000 charities. Since the launch of its website in 2000, the foundation has facilitated over $100 million in charitable donations.

Simply put, CanadaHelps makes the donation process easy, but more importantly, secure. On any pages where you share personal information or perform financial transactions, CanadaHelps.org encrypts your data using Secure Socket Layers (SSL), the industry standard security protocol. This allows you to send and receive information without the worry of having that sensitive data (such as your credit card or home address) intercepted. Donors can simply go online, select which charities they would like to make a donation to, and receive a tax receipt for each donation immediately --- they can do all of this and feel safe in the process.

Visit CanadaHelps.org for more details and their Privacy and Security Policies.

Learn more about the GCDF’s Individual Donor Program.

2011 Festival Supporters

The GCDF is funded in part through a grant from:

Back to top