Exotic tango-flavoured Exodo by Venezuela's DANZAHOY brings South American sizzle to the stage at the National Arts Centre
November 10, 2003 -
OTTAWA -- Venezuela's much-acclaimed DANZAHOY performs Exodo in the Theatre of the National Arts Centre (NAC) on Tuesday November 25, 2003 at 20:30. DANZAHOY vivaciously expresses the country's character - open, multicultural, highly physical, and free of convention. The company has an original and acute aesthetic sensibility, perfectly expressed in Exodo (translation: exodus) a tango-influenced examination of the exile of the soul that throbs with passion, melancholy, and sensuality. Hailed worldwide for their fluidity, dramatic power, visual ingenuity, and technical virtuosity, DANZAHOY makes a welcome debut in Ottawa.
Created by Venezuelan choreographer Luz Urdaneta, Exodo brings to life the world of inner emotions living side by side with the violence and chaos of life in contemporary Latin American cities. Exodo speaks of the exile of the soul. It is an urban work bound by the limits of man's contemporary life, where he confines his day-to-day living to hard, cold places where emotions are left to memory. The work highlights melancholy, the eager search for philosophical meaning to existence and relationships. Strength, lyricism, and passion remind us of the unequivocal nature of being, an existence which - regardless of its own oblivion - is alive beyond death. The tango was chosen as its musical equivalent, a song dedicated to being uprooted, a protest song of the soul. Exodo examines fate, explores love, questions life, and confronts death. Tango is related to the great themes of life throughout time. Born as dance, it is above all dance, pure dance.
"DANZAHOY is one of the best regional companies of the hemisphere."
Susan Levy, The Washington Post
"DANZAHOY is one of the most beautiful things that have been created in the cultural history of the country. An outstanding performance … a choreographic concept with a strong accent on dance and a setting that amazes us a s a result of its impeccability, all this makes Exodo a fulfilling stage experience"
El Nacional, Caracas
"The quintessence of dance in Venezuela. A powerful company that moves with artists really aware of their times."
Yolanda Montesinos, La Critica, Chile
Since 1980, Artistic Director/dancer-choreographer Adriana Urdaneta has constructed an audacious beacon of contemporary dance in modern Venezuela - a poetic mixture of humour, drama, lyricism, tragedy, fantasy, abstraction and magic. With acute aesthetic sensitivity and an audacious and contemporary approach, DANZAHOY expresses the open and multicultural character of Venezuela in a language of touching movement and vivacity, free of convention and mere fashion. Created by Venezuelan choreographer and dancer Adriana Urdaneta, DANZAHOY made its debut in 1980, receiving the effusive applause of both audiences and critics. Commentators called the company "a revelation" using "fluid and different language" with "solid direction and interpretation". "Virtuosity, dramatic force and absolute technical dominion" are some of the critiques garnered during numerous international tours of America and Europe. Ms Urdaneta has been awarded prestigious prizes and both national and international recognition for her contribution to Venezuelan and Latin American dance. As Artistic Directors of the company, Adriana Urdaneta and choreographers Luz Urdaneta and Jacques Broquet have developed a repertoire of 50 choreographic works, 30 of which have come out of the prolific imagination of DANZAHOY's directors. With the constant urge which characterizes a pioneering spirit, DANZAHOY also creates works for children, thus enriching the national cultural scene with spectacular productions of stories which combine humour, love and adventure. DANZAHOY is part of the Latin American Dance Center and is a resident company of the Caracas Teresa Carreño Theater. It receives funds from the Venezuelan Congress, the National Council on Culture, The Teresa Carreño Foundation and the Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho Foundation.
