Resistance-142466

A bold reimagining

The original choreography toured North America for seven years from 2000 through 2007, opening the Harbourfront Theatre’s 2000 Season. The choreography travelled from Mexico to the USA and across Canada with great success.

Exploring the power of human spirit in the face of oppression and fear, 142466 personifies resilience and courage: six dancers and five benches on a sparse stage embody an environment of reflection, danger, and intimacy. 

Resistance-142466 harnesses an ensemble of exceptional performers in a powerful experience of daring trust, uncompromising physicality, and hope. In this creative co-creation, the artists will reflect both on Holocaust narratives and today’s atmosphere of social tension, revision, and violence - a process that will inform the reimagined choreography. Each artist will approach Resistance-142466 through the lens of their own personal experiences, struggles, activism, and world perspectives. 

The artists will examine the essential fibres tying us together during times of oppression and crisis - fibres that are woven as human strands, providing strength and empowerment within a community. In a world where words can be inadequate, and events are difficult to convey, the human body and the language of dance can be employed to communicate emotions and narratives related to memory and trauma. Resistance-142466 offers a sense of hope and care which is crucial to survival.


Dates and location will be announced in 2027

 

Credits

Original Concept
Allen Kaeja

Choreographers
Allen Kaeja, with additional choreography by Karen Kaeja

Composer
Edgardo Moreno

WORLD PREMIERE: Premier Dance Theatre, Harbourfront Centre, 2000. Film created in 2001.

Click here for complete biographies of the artists

Click here for more information about the project

View the 2026 trailer here

Original Film Excerpts (2001)

  • "“BEAUTIFULLY EVOCATIVE, powerfully realized and ultimately uplifting work. Resistance is elegant and athletic, explosive and restrained... a celebration of the strength of the human spirit against all odds.”

    Washington Post

  • "Resistance is intense, powerful, and full of the vital energy of that brightness that often shines forth in the midst of horror and that enables us to survive anything "

    La Presse, Montreal

  • “BRILLIANT… Kaeja demonstrates a wonderful ability to create powerful images …of poignant beauty full of dignity and humanity."

    Isabelle Poulin, VOIR Magazine, Montreal

  • "RAVISHING to look at, Kaeja creates arresting stage pictures through movement … creating a kaleidoscope of images that are both defiant and victimizing. Kaeja’s fluid movement weaves Contact Improvisation into a unified language … cleverly elevating the technique into a dance form."

    Paula Citron, The Globe & Mail

  • "Explosive, physically risky performances. …the benches move with the same speed and precision as the dancers. …Despite its gloomy roots, Resistance is remarkably hopeful."

    Shannon Rupp, Ottawa Citizen

 Photos by Ella Cooper, David Hou and Cylla von Tiedemann

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