Posted by Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
Led by Stephanie Lake Company, this three-week intensive brings together a large ensemble of contemporary dancers to train, rehearse, and perform Colossus, Stephanie Lake’s internationally acclaimed work for 50+ dancers.
Colossus is a monumental work in which 50 dancers become a single, continually transforming organism. Moving between unison and disruption, control and unpredictability, the work examines how individuals negotiate agency, leadership, conformity, resistance, and connection within a group. Colossus premiered in Australia in 2018 and has since been performed in 17 countries worldwide by nearly 1000 dancers. For the first time, the Banff version of Colossus invites dancers from across the glove to learn and perform the show.
Through the teaching and performance of this large-scale work, participants will engage with Lake’s choreographic language while developing precision, stamina, spatial awareness, responsiveness, and trust. The program combines rigorous professional training, fun and fast paced rehearsals, artistic development, and performance, offering firsthand experience of Stephanie Lake Company’s creative practice and strengthening the technical, interpretive, and collaborative skills required for contemporary dance.