Toronto’s fFIDA is the largest dance festival in Canada, and this year’s edition provided a good overview of the dance scene. “The festival had some outstanding choreographies and dancers, but there was also a lot of blancmange. There seems to be quite of few groups of attractive dancers (mostly from Toronto, alas) who can’t choreograph very well. Dance is always a sign of the times and there were very few funny works, and pitifully few political ones. The themes were mostly abstract, or navel-gazing, or angst-filled relationships, and a sharp edge was missing overall. Electronic music-cum-soundscape remains the score of choice, so any dance that actually used something melodic was a relief indeed.”