For Immediate Release, Please Add to Listings Now Through November 18, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE ADD TO LISTINGS NOW THROUGH NOVEMBER 18, 2009 Media Refer: Dianne Weinrib – DW Communications 416-703-5479 [email protected]

HCA Dance Theatre Company presents the Toronto premiere of Displacement A multi-media dance art piece created by three acclaimed Canadian artists: choreographer Robert Glumbek, visual artist Vessna Perunovich, and composer Christos Hatzis Performed by 7 dancers and featuring the world-renowned Penderecki String Quartet.

TORONTO, October 20, 2009 - Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts (HCA) Dance Theatre Company makes its Toronto debut with Displacement, a vibrant multi-media collaboration created by three internationally acclaimed Canadian artists. Choreographer/dancer Robert Glumbek, artist Vessna Perunovich and composer Christos Hatzis – all immigrants themselves – explore the immigrant experience through contemporary dance, music, visual art and film. This critically acclaimed work runs November 18-21 at Fleck Dance Theatre as part of Harbourfront Centre’s prestigious NextSteps Dance Series.

When it made its world premiere in Hamilton in 2007, Gary Smith of the Hamilton Spectator raved:

“If you can beg, borrow or steal a ticket to Displacement, for goodness sake do. This multi-disciplinary production is art in the purest sense of the word. It tears a strip off the senses, it assaults comfortable notions of what dance, art and music ought to be… What emerges is brilliant theatre, the sort that forces you kicking and screaming inside the broken soul of humanity... In terms of dance, you get the sort of visceral edge we're accustomed to find in the best imaginings of German neo-expressionist Pina Bausch.”

Displacement brings together the rich experiences of these diverse creators to show us a reflection of ourselves as Canadians as they collaboratively explore their unique perspectives on the immigrant dynamic, examining personal transitions and conflicting histories.

With choreography by Glumbek, music by Hatzis and film and art installations by Perunovich, Displacement features seven uniquely talented dancers – Robert Glumbek, Johanna Bergfeldt, Tyler Gledhill, Ryan Lee, Rena Narumi, Anisa Tajpar and Brendan Wyatt – who perform this innovative and breathtaking work that features a live performance by the world-renowned Penderecki String Quartet, based in Kitchener-Waterloo.

Under the artistic direction of HCA Dance Theatre Company founder Vitek Wincza, whose experience reaches back to his days as an acclaimed ballet dancer in Poland, this critically lauded work is about pulling up stakes and putting down roots, moving from one place to another, both geographically and psychologically.

“Stories of displacement are all around us,” Wincza explains, “even if your story simply means moving away to a new town or city, you sense the shock as well as the pleasure of the new experience competing with the old.” Glumbek adds that the performance is “about truth and drama coming from a point of reality.” “The principle themes in my artistic practice are reinforced with my experience of immigration, the notion of displacement, separation, home and transition,” says Perunovich while Hatzis notes “Canadian culture today is for the most part a reflection of migrant experience.”

HCA Dance Theatre Company presents the Toronto premiere of Displacement Created by choreographer Robert Glumbek, visual artist Vessna Perunovich, and composer Christos Hatzis part of the Harbourfront Centre's NextSteps at Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay West November 18 – 21 at 8pm / November 21 at 2pm Tickets: $35 / $30 Student / Senior / Next Steps Package Price Box Office: (416) 973-4000 or online at www.HCArts.cs -30- ARTIST BIOS for HCA Dance Theatre’s ‘Displacement’

Vitek Wincza - Artistic Director, Producer

Wincza performed as a ballet dancer for the Musical Theatre of Gdynia, Poland; the Grand Operation; and the Ballet Theatre of Lodz, Poland. He defected from Poland in 1981. Since 1987, he has been the Artistic Director of the Hamilton Ballet School. In 1997, Vitek Wincza founded the Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts, creating a unique environment for all arts under one roof, where currently there are 108 active programs established in dance, music, visual and theatre arts. Wincza has choreographed and produced full ballet and dance productions, such as Babar the Elephant, Carnival of the Animals, Snow White, and staged Pinocchio with choreographer, Robert Desrosiers. In 1997, he created, choreographed, and produced the full- length ballet “Hamilton Nutcracker” with 30 dancers from Kiev Ballet Theatre (Ukraine), the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, and 90 local dancers. It ran to the sold out capacity in Hamilton Place Theatre for 8 consecutive years. In 2001, Vitek founded the HCA Dance Theatre, a non-profit organization dedicated to professional artists and the creation of new innovative works in dance. Vitek has received recognition from the Government of Poland in 1996, Cultural Merit Award; in 1998, Vision 2020 Award, Hamilton, ON; 2003, Diaglieve Foundation, Moscow, Russia; 2004, City of Hamilton Dance Award, Hamilton, ON and 2004, WNED and Stueben Canadian Artist Award, Buffalo, NY. www.hcarts.ca

Robert Glumbek - Choreographer/Dancer Upon graduation from Bytom State Ballet School in Poland, Robert Glumbek joined The Great Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Warsaw as a soloist where he worked with choreographers such as John Neumeier, Maurice Bejart, Hans Van Manen, John Butler, and Constantine Siergiejew. In 1987, Glumbek came to Canada and in 1990, joined Desrosiers Dance Theatre, where he danced for ten years and was instrumental in the creation of many roles. Glumbek joined National Theatre Mannheim in 2002 as dancer and ballet master and returned to Canada in 2004 to work as an independent artist and choreographer.

Robert Glumbek’s career as a choreographer began in 1999, his passion and sensitivity towards the dynamics of human relationships is what characterizes his emotionally charged choreography. Robert is the Associate Artistic Director of ProArteDanza founded by Artistic Director Roberto Campanella.

Robert’s most recent works include Alpha Female created for Ryerson University, Unfinished 32 and Still for Proarte Danza. Artistic Directors Kevin O’Day and Dominique Dumaishave invited Robert to include Still in an evening of duets for the Mannheim Ballet this May 2007 and for the 2007/2008 upcoming season he will also be creating a new ballet. February 2005, Robert was commissioned by the Mannheim Ballet to create a ballet entitled Subsistence. Compared with Edward Munch’s The Scream, his work was received with critical acclaim. During the summer of 2004, Robert choreographed Contemplation of Betrayal for Proarte Danza and he also created A Tale Begun for Princess Productions.

In the 8th International Solo-Dance Festival in Stuggart, Robert was entered as a finalist for his solo Subsistence. Robert and Roberto were finalists at the 17. Internationaler Wettbewerb für Choreographen (2003) in Hannover for their quartette, Nothing Twice. Continuing in their ventures together Robert and Roberto joined in collaboration with Canadian author Michael Ondaatje in the creation of Nine Sentiments, entitled and inspired by Michael Ondaatje’s poem.

Robert currently teaches at the National Ballet of Canada, Dance Teq, Mannheim Ballet, and Ryerson University.

Vessna Perunovich - Visual Artist Vessna Perunovich is a Toronto based artist who works in a variety of media including: draw- ing, painting, sculpture, installation, video & performance. She has exhibited widely across Canada, and internationally in Europe, United States and South America. Her work was part of Liverpool Biennial Independents (2007) and Trampoline Multi Media Art Festival (2006), both in the UK, XII International Biennial VN de Cerveira in Portugal (2007,2005 and 2003), VI Vrsac Biennial in Serbia and Mon- tenegro (2004), Diaspora at Rialtosantanbrogio in Rome Italy (2004), 8th Havana Biennial in Havana Cuba (2003), Second Tirana Biennial in Albania (2003), IV Cetinje Biennial in Yugoslavia (2002). In Canada she has shown at the Textile Museum of Canada, Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery, York Quay Gallery, Cambridge Gal- leries, A Space Gallery, Hamilton Artist Inc., Gallery Vertical and others. Her touring survey exhibition “Em- blems of the Enigma” will travel to a number of public galleries across Canada in 2007 to 2009. She has been a recipient of Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Art Council and Toronto Art Council Grants. In 2005 Pe- runovich received a T.F.V.A. (Toronto Friends of Visual Arts) award. www.vessnaperunovich.com Christos Hatzis – Composer Born in Greece, Christos Hatizis is a professor of composition at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. Hatzis is the recipient of several national and international distinctions such as the Jean A. Chalmers National Music Award, the Prix Italia Special Prize, the Prix Bohemia Radio, the Julies Léger Prize for chamber music and the 2006 Juno Award in the “Classical Composition of the Year “ category. Premiers of his music from 2003 – 7 include venues such as The Royal Opera House at Convent Garden and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, England, The Lincoln Centre and Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Winspear Centre in Edmonton and Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto. In the past few seasons, Hatzis’ compositions have been receiving international exposure through performances by touring ensembles committed to Hatzis’ music, such as the St. Lawrence String Quartet, The Gryphon Trio, Pilobolus Dance Theater, the English Chamber Choir, and soloists such as sopranos Isabel Bayrakdarian, Patricia Rozario and Patricia O’Callaghan. Compact disc recordings of his works are available on EMI Classics, Sony Classical in Greece, Naxos, Marquis, CBC and the Centrediscs labels in Canada, Cherry Red Records in the United Kingdom and Consipio in Japan. www.chass.utoronto.ca/~chatzis/

Penderecki String Quartet The Penderecki String Quartet, approaching the third decade of an extraordinary career, has become one of the most celebrated chamber ensembles of their generation. These four musicians from Poland, Canada, and the USA bring their varied yet collective experience to create performances that demonstrate their “re- markable range of technical excellence and emotional sweep” (Toronto, Globe and Mail). The Quartet's performing schedule takes them annually to the great concert stages of North and South Amer- ica, Europe and the Far East. Recent appearances include New York (Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall), Madrid, Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Prague, St. Petersburg, Rome, Belgrade, Zagreb, Paris, Los Angeles, Wieczory Arsenale Festival in Poland, Is Arti Festival in Lithuania, Rive-Gauche Concerti in Italy, the Festival In- ternacional de Musica in Venezuela, Casalmaggiore Festival and Incontri in Terra di Sienna in Italy, Musicara- ma Festival Hong Kong, and the Shanghai International Arts Festival. The PSQ appears extensively in Canada, giving numerous performances in all the major centres from coast to coast and participating in this country’s foremost concert series such as the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, Festival of the Sound, Banff Centre’s Mu- sic and Sound, Festival Vancouver and Music Toronto. Now based in Ontario, the PSQ was originally founded in Poland in 1986 at the urging of the pre-eminent Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. The fruit of their asso- ciation includes Penderecki's complete works for String Quartet on CD (United Records, England). To this day the Quartet is a devoted champion of the music of our time, and has performed a wide range of repertoire from Bach to Brahms, Bartók to Ligeti, Frank Zappa to John Oswald, as well as premiering over 100 new works from numerous composers including Brian Cherney, Linda C. Smith, Randolph Peters, Harry Freedman, Glenn Buhr, Alice Ho, Peter Hatch, Omar Daniel and Gilles Tremblay. -30-