As we reflect on the past year or so, there are so many people around us who help and make us proudly 2019 Nominee InspireAwards.ca LGBTQ Proud Business of the year THE CONTINENTAL DANCE CLUB JOIN US / SUBSCRIBE youtube> https://www.youtube.com/user/continentaldance LIKE US on Facebook: Continental…
EVERY DAY IS A GIFT… Thank you Maestro John Loomis Maestro Loomis + The Continental Dance Club virtual dance orchestra & chorus for FILLING OUR LIVES WITH JOY every day, but today “you take the cake” > an exceptionally poetic majestic birthday serenade from…
https://angeltorres.client-gallery.com/gallery/galerielausbergduesseldorf2018 The original Urban Matador, a biographical portrait series on the life of Brian Torner was held May 2018 as part of the ScotiaBank CONTACT Photography Festival open solo exhibition by Angel Torres held at HOST VENUE The Continental Dance Club! ALL ENQUIRIES: info@thecontinentaldanceclub.com …
SOME DATES TO NOTE: ONGOING ON SITE The CONTINENTAL DANCE CLUB 2019 CONTACT Photography Festival BackToTheRoots open call group exhibition …
THANK YOU > hands-on FESTIVAL COORDINATOR Brian St. Denis. PACKAGE PICKUP @ loading dock of CONTACT OFFICES TODAY. CLICK HERE to go to ScotiaBank OFFICIAL PAGE: http://scotiabankcontactphoto.com/exhibition/back-to-the-roots/ CLICK HERE…
IMPORTANT REMINDER : ALL REGISTRATION INFORMATION EXTENDED TO April 28 MIDNITE to info@thecontinentaldanceclub.com OR brian@thecontinentaldanceclub.com , should you intend to particpate Monday, April 29th @ YEAR6 UNESCO International Dance Day SHOWCASE. KINDLY RSVP HERE> https://www.facebook.com/events/1006004446253719/. ATTENTION ALL DANCERS PARTICIPATING > THERE WILL BE A GRATIS…
CONTINENTAL DANCE CLUB ADDS WOMEN’S AUTHOR INTERVIEW SERIES TO #BACKTOTHEROOTS OPENING NIGHT LINE-UP The Continental Dance Club and Brian Torner, Director, are excited to announce an important addition to the program for the #BackToTheRoots , Friday, April 26 th 6-10PM OPENING NITE. Alongside our four exhibiting…
What better choice to spearhead the WOMEN AUTHORS INTERVIEW SERIES as part of Brian Torner’s curated vision of #BackToTheRoots open group call exhibition with CONTACT Photography Festival running April 26 – May 31 at The Continental Dance Club than a back to the roots search…
WOW – How exciting and what an honour to be included in the lists of nominees in 2019 for POSITIVE LGBTQ Business of the Year! THANK YOU Marc Lalonde InspireAwards.ca Committee for taking this photo with Brian Torner direc tor of www.thecontinentaldancelub.com!
I am happy to announce, as director of www.thecontinentaldanceclub.com and curator of #BackToTheRoots https://www.facebook.com/events/761044090909697/ and https://scotiabankcontactphoto.com/exhibition/back-to-the-roots/ that I have additionally accepted the challenge of my colleague and friend Angel Torres photographer, the inspiring artist accepted into James Fowler’s 10×10 Photography Project https://www.facebook.com/10x10PhotographyProject/, to be his…
Brian and team/friends (Keren and Brigitt and Diana and …?) all impressed me so much with their technical skill and their wise (deep, effective) teaching and their generosity of spirit. Their passion for and delight in dancing makes Continental Dance Club a top place to go to learn, to create, and to just dance.
P.S. I’ve heard great praise for the food they sometimes serve… 5 Star
Top professional instruction and a warm, friendly and supportive atmosphere allows you to learn in a relaxed setting. A great place to tap any artistic potential that lies inside you. As a teacher of many decades, I know a good thing, when I see it. 👌A pleasure to be associated with people who truly help you to discover your potential. 5 Star
I’d highly recommend the Continental! …the Torner family who own and operate the hall went well out of their way to make sure we had everything we needed. Brian was attentive enough to have pointed out some details we hadn’t thought of. That saved us some headaches.
To the Torners: Thanks again for the lovely venue and we’ll look forward to our next event there. 5 Star
The Continental Dance Club is a pleasure to work with. Everyone is super friendly and very hospitable… can’t wait to see what their future holds! 5 Star
I like the Club. People I attend with are always pleasant and owners of the club seem eclectic mesh with my personality.
Brian and Daniella are passionate about Dance and Pilates/Barre and it shows in the way they teach. They are knowledgeable, expressive and fun to be around! I recommend them, I LOVE MONDAYS for stretching yourself into learning ballroom dancing! 5 Star
I’m so happy I found The Continental Dance Club – it’s a privilege to teach in the club !!
Very nice and big space !! Very clean !!
LOVE THE dance floor
Most life loving and enthusiastic owner ever !!!
My name is Lukas, I am 22 years old, from Germany and visiting Canada this year. I have been in Vancouver since February and I arrived in Toronto the end of June.
One of the best friends of my parents, Ute Spaeth, connected me with Brian Torner , who offered me lodging and work at the Continental dance Club for 6 weeks this summer. I arrived just in time for the opening of the photography exhibition by photographer Angel Torres #URBANMATADOR2 at Mitzi’s Café. This was really exciting for me. Despite the incredible heat during Canada Day weekend, Brian and Angel put on a show and gave a great impression of their caping skills, which I captured on GoPro.
I managed to find time in our busy schedule to visit some other interesting and impressive places in Toronto, for example the Hockey Hall of Fame, Echo Beach (for a one-day rock festival called “Vans Warped Tour”), the BMO Field (games of the Argonauts and the TFC), the Distillery District and many more – Toronto is a huge city which has a lot going on! A real highlight for me was being included in the closing show of #URBANMATADOR2 at Mitzi’s Café playing the bongos and congas as one of TRIO DA CAPO. Angel, Brian & I invited patrons to join an interactive percussion-dance-jam during breakfast/lunch at Mitzi’s Cafe, as a part of the finissage activities.
I want to use this little write-up to sincerely thank Brian, his parents Ernst and Ursula and Angel Torres for letting me be a part of their lives and for being so cordially received. It has been a real pleasure and I will never forget my time here and everything we were able to do together – so again: THANK YOU!
Now my time in Toronto has come to an end and I leave with mixed feelings as I am sad to leave but also excited for the upcoming weeks. My plans include travel along the west coast of the U.S. with two friends from Germany. We will be briefly back in the Toronto area in September before exploring east Canada.
Thanks to everyone who made my time here so memorable!
THANK YOU Pollyanna Blanco, valued TEAM PARTNER of the Continental Dance Club since 2016, author, REIKI Healer, CHAKRADANCE Facilitator for connecting with me, director of The Continental Dance Club as MEDITATIVE CAPING ARTIST collaborating with Christopher Johnstone for January 27, February 3, March 3 dates of CHAKRADANCE soul spa & URBAN RETREAT. 5 STARS!
August 1, 2019
It is a karmic law that, in the cycle of existence, no action occurs without an equal and opposing reaction. Having lost a nephew to gun violence in 2003, Angel Torres illumines this insight with emotional power in his photographic portrait series In Darkness Breathes Light.
A cinematic treatment of the aftermath of violence, this series could be mistaken for stills from Scorsese film. We see the aftermath of violence reflected in the anguished or shell-shocked faces of bystanders, family members, and concerned community avatars.
The “light” of the title is often lurid and feeble, the colour of blood or the flashing emergency lights atop an ambulance or police car. The darkness, by contrast, is widespread, found in the ominous gloom of back alleys, the graveyard, and most of all, the sorrowing mind of a devastated survivor.
Overall, we see the aftermath of violence as reflected in the faces and bodies of a cross-section of individuals who have been touched by it. Reactions run the gamut from fear and pain to steely, determined resistance.
Impelled by an awareness of the duality of light and dark, a skeletal deaths-head figure represents one aspect of the narrative, the brutally irrevocable outcome of gun violence. Weighing the balance, the portrait of an artist in the studio proposes a more redemptive vision of the renewal that is also engendered by violence.
In the journey of healing and renewal, no change will come about without the unwavering emotionally-charged efforts of the larger community. As we as a society collectively seek solidarity and a way forward in this weaponized time of crisis, artists such as Angel Torres are leaders in the charge.
Betty Ann Jordan, Toronto-based arts writer
ABOUT BETTY ANN JORDAN> https://bettyannjordan.wixsite.com/artinsite/about
A TORRES Photography Darkness Breathes Light FACEBOOK OFFICIAL https://www.facebook.com/TorresTornerARTProjects/?modal=admin_todo_tour
A TORRES 10×10 PORTFOLIO & INTERVIEWS & PRESS https://angeltorres.client-gallery.com/gallery/portrait?fbclid=IwAR1BM4bBUgtX0YmEeaSt-OztQTaPPrW6M5Kt3MikXuOr9A2-PJ6oK0SgMpE
5 Star