Southam Hall
National Arts Centre
Ottawa, ON

An NAC Dance and Orchestra co-commission 

With UAQUE, Peña opens the SPHERE Festival in spectacular fashion by creating a dialogue between dance, visual arts and music (performed by the NAC Orchestra, with Alexander Shelley conducting). In the background, Edward Burtynsky’s astonishing images paint a fascinating self-portrait of the planet, illustrating the duality between beauty and the environmental crisis beneath the surface. Ten dancers, in tension and in conversation with these images, create a moment suspended in time in which humanity and nature are united. With this work, Peña asks us to slow down and create a sustainable future, leaving a glimmer of hope in the dancers’ wake.