Kicking off the season was the annual Fall for Dance Festival, now in its 20th year. As per usual, the festival welcomed a star-studded lineup including Sara Mearns in a piece by Bobbie Jene Smith, a collaboration between Michelle Dorrance and Ephrat Asherie, Brazilian company Grupo Corpo, and a duet of Paris Opera Ballet étoiles Hugo Marchand and Germain Louvet. 

Program 1 opened with Crystal Pite's “The Statement” from 2016, a tense, dark depiction of a corporate cover-up set to text by Jonathon Young with music by Owen Belton. Danced with precision by a quartet from Ballet BC, the piece follows a conflict of conscience and a struggle of power. 

Positioned around an imposing glass table, four dancers articulate in perfect coordination to spoken text. The voices never reveal what exactly they're trying to hide, but hint towards violence and mayhem with a guilt that is itself covered up by party allegiance. 

Mirroring the voices’ conversation of manipulation, the dancers’ movement is slinky and feline. They hop on and off the table soundlessly and twitch their heads and shoulders while the voices finalize the party-line.  

“The Statement” looks kind of like an anime cartoon: Characters are clearly defined but slightly detached from the voices, with choreographed moments of hidden inner dialogue. Equally cartoon-like is the piece's ability to shift visual scenes swiftly and dramatically, enabled by Tom Visser’s exceptional lighting. Using the table as both prop and boundary, Visser creates reflections and shadows, then shuts off the lighting altogether. At one point, all is dark except for underneath the table, which becomes a hell-like cave where dancers quiver in sin.