The Brutal Joy
Justine A. Chambers (Canada)
- Thu Feb 5 8PM
- Fri Feb 6 8PM
Presented with
Lineage // Style // Liberation
Dance as archive. Style as philosophy. The Brutal Joy slides between ritual and rebellion—part groove, part revelation, all liberation.
An improvisational act of devotion to Black-living, The Brutal Joy merges Black vernacular line dance and sartorial gesture, transforming social dance and self-styling into an embodied living library of self-determination. Within its scored improvisation for dance, light, and sound, performers riff, vamp, and break—tracing the syncopations between individuality and collectivity, ritual and rebellion.
As light carves the body and shadows echo back, The Brutal Joy unfolds as both performance and inquiry: a living counter-archive where gesture becomes knowledge and attire holds history. At once reverent and radical, it embodies the bodily sovereignty of the Black dandy and the communal vitality of the Electric Slide. What emerges is a choreography of becoming—radiant, self-determined, and alive to the possibilities of another future.
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Artist Bio
Justine A. Chambers
Justine A. Chambers is a dance artist based in the unceded Coast Salish territories of the Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Her work stresses collaboration, empathy and the choreography that she sees in everyday social behaviour; it has taken her from Hong Kong to Pennsylvania, as well as many festivals and venues across Canada.
Venue
677 Davie Street, Vancouver
Content Advisory
Flashing lights, haze
Showtimes & Tickets
Standard: $38 // Under 30, Students, and Seniors: $29
If you want to book this show on a PuSh Pass, you can do so below. For single tickets, please make your purchase on The Dance Centre website.
Single tickets from The Dance Centre
Book on a PuSh Pass
Limited quantities available for booking on passes—act early to secure your tickets!
Accessibility
Highly visual, no speaking
Credits
Concept, Choreography, & Performance Justine A. Chambers Lighting Design & Performance James Proudfoot Sound Design/Composition & Performance Mauricio Pauly Dramaturgy Vanessa (VK) Kwan
Created in collaboration with Mauricio Pauly, James Proudfoot, Vanessa Kwan
Costume Old Fashioned Standards, Cassandra Bailey Hair Liam Murley Administration/Tour Manager Kaia Shukin Co-production The CanDance Network Creation Fund, Agora de la danse, Toronto Dance Theatre, The Dance Centre; Creative Residencies Agora de la danse, The Dance Centre
This project was made possible with the support of PERICULUM. Foundation for Contemporary Art | Fondation pour l’Art Contemporain
This project was supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.
In loving memory of Delores Hutchinson (1929-2024)
This project was made possible with the support of PERICULUM. Foundation for Contemporary Art | Fondation pour l’Art Contemporain. This project was supported by the Canada Council for the arts.