Broken Rhythms brings Chiaro:Scuro to the Victoria Fringe Festival
Chiaro:Scuro is a dance show, murder mystery and expressionistic art experiment all in one
“…exciting, authentic, intriguing, frightening, and beautiful.”
From the Dance Company that brought you ‘Pick of the Fringe’ winning shows, Spark, Grimm, SEVEN, Universal Horrors and 1,000 Pieces of π. Broken Rhythms is back at Victoria Fringe to wow audiences with an exceptional new work. Taking inspiration from the Film Noir genre and Germanic Expressionism, Chiaro:Scuro ties together the light and dark of the human condition and the motivations that can lead to paranoia, inner turmoil and murder.
Chiaro:Scuro is a re-imagining of Film Noir stylistic and stereotypical features such as shadows, fog, the femme fatale, feelings of paranoia, betrayal and antiheroes who find themselves in dire situations beyond their control. Chiaro:Scuro is created using Broken Rhythms praised and unique signature style (Rhythmical Contemporary) and utilizes complex choreography to unusual rhythms set to film noir inspired music. Dance is a perfect medium to explore these themes and create an expressionistic experience for fringe audiences to interpret, enjoy and discuss.
Odd inspiration: While doing research for ‘Universal Horrors’ (2022), a show based on monster movies from 1925-1980 Dyana, (Choreographer and Broken Rhythms Artistic Director), stumbled onto Nosferatu (1922) a Germanic expressionistic film that went on to inspire the monster movie genre, film noir and later Neo-noir films. This led to a binging on these films during the covid lockdown in which artists/dancers found themselves not only out of work but also experiencing pessimistic thoughts and emotions. For Dyana these situations culminated in a sequence of realistic dreams in which neckties kept trying to kill her. This interest and obsession with ties can be seen in the show and ended up being the connecting thread between the expressionistic quality of Germanic expressionism and the pessimistic and patriarchal film noire era.
Broken Rhythms Victoria Society is a Victoria-based, registered not-for-profit independent dance company founded in 2011 under the artistic direction of Dyana Sonik-Henderson. The company was created to showcase the unique style of Rhythmical Contemporary, to provide local artists with performance and training opportunities, and to support and develop the Canadian arts community. Broken Rhythms has created and produced numerous original works such as SPARK, GRIM, SEVEN, UNIVERSAL HORRORS, THYSELF , INTERNAL RHYTHMS, INTO THE WIRE, 1,000 PIECES OF ∏ and ABOVE ME, that have toured all over Canada with reviews calling the work ‘genius, ‘stunning’ and ‘captivating’. They have been awarded multiple Pick of the Fringe awards, named as one of Toronto Star’s “can’t miss shows” and received the LOLA International Project award.
Show location/times and media contact
The Metro Studio Theatre, 1411 Quadra Street (Venue 1) Part of the Victoria Fringe Festival
Thursday, August 24 8:30pm
Saturday, August 26 3:15pm
Sunday, August 27 5:00pm
Tuesday, August 29 8:00pm
Friday, September 1 7:30pm
Media contact: Dyana Sonik-Henderson. Broken Rhythms Victoria Society 250-508-0577. Email: brokenrhythmsvictoria@gmail.com
Promotional Video: Chiaro:Scuro at Victoria Fringe
Broken Rhythms 