Dusk Dances descends on Sunnidale Park from Thursday, Aug. 26 to Sunday, Aug. 29 and will see a local dance company perform, a dance film shown and workshops for those wanting to give it a try.
Simcoe Contemporary Dancers is once again hosting Dusk Dances Barrie and will present it in the spacious Sunnidale Park.
Simcoe Contemporary Dancers executive director Chrissy King says the company has been hosting Dusk Dances Barrie since 2017.
“This is one of our favourite events and it is such a wonderful thing for people to witness,” King said. “Being able to perform as dusk hits is a very, almost magical feeling.”
Dusk Dances as a whole have been around for more than 25 years and is an outdoor dance festival presented in public parks in Hamilton, Toronto and Quebec's Lanaudière region.
As soon as dusk begins, the host for the evening leads the audience to several unique dance pieces that unfold in different areas of the park.
“The event this year will be a little different than we’ve seen in past years. From 2017 to 2019, the event took place at Lampman Lane Park and the host would lead people through a festival of dance. But with COVID we had to make adjustments,” said King.
“This year’s event will consist of live music, a dance performance by us (Simcoe Contemporary Dancers) and then a screening of a dance film.”
The film will be shown in co-operation with the Barrie Film Festival.
The Barrie event will also have three different workshops over four days for people to participate in.
Bhangra with Gurpartap Singh of Bhangra Crew Ontario, BellyDance with Nicole Welsh of Cairo’s Jewels BellyDance and Irish Dance with Deirdre Hamilton School of Irish Dance will all be available for guests to learn.
“There is no dance experience required to get involved,” said King. “All these workshops will be taught at a beginner to non-dancer level, so anybody can join.”
King said that pre-registration is required for the workshops and can be done through this link.
Workshops run from 6:45 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., on Aug. 26 to Aug. 29.
The Dusk Dances live music begins at 7:45 p.m. each day, followed at 8:20 p.m. by the dances with the film showing at 8:30 p.m.
Admission is by donation, with the website suggesting $10.
Head to the website for more information.
