posted November 17, 2000 11:24            

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"The highlight of Ottawa's Canada Dance Festival last summer, Chase shows why in a remarkably refreshing work called Muzz."

"Like a lot of dancers, Chase talks as she moves. The difference is, she tells stories, talking all the time in a soft voice.

"We are riveted to this young Torontonian, whose smooth tales ripple across our memories like perfumed breezes."

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posted September 22, 2001 10:03            

09.21.01
Sarah Chase Dance Stories [CANADA]
Lamont Earth Observatory & Muzz
Espace Tangente
Festival International de Nouvelle Danse

Sarah Chase tells stories while she dances. They are vignettes of her life woven together into amusing and charming tales. Her honesty is refreshing; she has stripped away any pretence or posturing in both her dancing and her text. When she tells you that she danced slowly for her great-grandmother, so that "she could see how flexible I was," you can't help but believe that she's telling you the truth. If she's fibbing, she's a great liar.

Her easy grace is emblematic of her cozy childhood. Some would say that she has led a charmed life. The trial of dealing with her great-grandmother's passing is overcome by the knowledge that visions of Chase dancing softened her final days.

Chase's early days, spent wandering the Lamont Earth Observatory where her grandfather presided, and playing at the beach where she studied the flora and fauna, suggest a trouble-free and tranquil youth. The way she tells the story of her life through text and movement interspersed with home movies is mesmerizing; it's like watching the ocean waves, endlessly lapping against the shore. Chase's work is like a lazy summer day, when it draws to close the feeling is one of calm and tranquil satisfaction.

video excerpt 56k

video excerpt DSL

posted October 21, 2001 08:07            

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Celestial storytelling

Chase has been phenomenally successful touring the European dance-festival circuit in the last few years.

But what makes Chase special is her exceptional generosity as a performer. She is able to abandon herself to her memories without ever losing sight of the fact that she's telling a story to each and every audience member.

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posted October 22, 2001 06:19            

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Remembered by the body

Sarah Chase's solo dances add new meaning to the term "body memory." Just as a dancer's body "remembers" the moves she is to perform, so do memories reside in body movements.

Such self-referential memoir runs the risk of self-indulgence, but Chase's story becomes a dream in which the audience participates.

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