{"id":123189,"date":"2026-04-08T09:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T13:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=123189"},"modified":"2026-04-07T21:40:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T01:40:20","slug":"interview-coal-mine-co-founder-diana-bentley-national-ballet-canada-creative-producer-alyssa-martin-talk-dance-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2026\/04\/08\/interview-coal-mine-co-founder-diana-bentley-national-ballet-canada-creative-producer-alyssa-martin-talk-dance-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | Coal Mine Co-Founder Diana Bentley & National Ballet of Canada Creative Producer Alyssa Martin Talk About Dance Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dance
Dance Nation, a Coal Mine Theatre and Outside the March co-production (Photo courtesy of Coal Mine Theatre)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Coal Mine Theatre ends their 2025\/26 season with Dance Nation by playwright Clare Barron. Barron wrote the work inspired by the fierce competition she witnessed watching Dance Moms on TV. The American playwright was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for the work, and won the 2017 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.<\/p>\n

She wrote a comedic play featuring pre-teen competitive dancers at a national competition, girls who are going after that prize just as they\u2019re beginning to understand what society expects from them. While they throw their all into the competition, they\u2019re also starting to be aware of the fact that the world expects them to tone themselves down, and not be \u201ctoo much\u201d.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s certainly fruitful grounds for exploration.<\/p>\n

Coal Mine co-founder Diana Bentley is co-directing the show with National Ballet of Canada Creative Producer Alyssa Martin. The pair also teamed up to co-director last season\u2019s multi-Dora Award winning People, Places and Things.<\/p>\n

The show makes its professional Toronto debut April 12 to May 3, 2026, and takes over two floors of the Coal Mine venue as a Coal Mine Theatre and Outside the March co-production.<\/p>\n

LV caught up with Bentley and Martin to talk abut the show.<\/p>\n

Diana Bentley & Alyssa Martin: The Interview<\/h2>\n

The play is a comedy with a lot to say.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my feeling is that Clare Barron is using the whole structure of competitive dance to give herself a scaffolding as a playwright,\u201d says Bentley.<\/p>\n

Young girls can be intense, spirited, and feel free to take up space \u2014 qualities that are conditioned out of them as they get older. It can be easy to make fun of the subject, but it ultimately reveals the ways that society makes fun of most things that young girls get passionate about.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat it means to grow into womanhood, and what it means to be a woman, and what it means to be in a female body,\u201d Bentley continues. \u201cAs you watch the play, the dance world really bleeds away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barron\u2019s genius lies in using the scaffolding Bentley mentions.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe does incredible things with structure. She calls it a ghost play.\u201d<\/p>\n

The actors of various ages cycle between the pre-teen dance competitors, aged 11 to 14, and adults of various ages who may be reflecting on their own past.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt goes in and out of time, and in and out of the different ages,\u201d Diana explains. At one point there is a 65 year old man talking about his mother, at another, a 40-something woman who reminisces about her own days as a competitive dancer, for example.<\/p>\n

The young dancers, from their own perspective, become more and more aware of what waits for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cDance teacher Pat has this moment where he says to Zuzu, if you leave now, puberty will happen,\u201d Bentley says. \u201cThere’s this whole paradigm of how women are made to feel small.\u201d<\/p>\n

The story doesn\u2019t shy away from the harsh realities of the dance world, a kind of microcosm of how the world pressures women to become smaller. \u201cOut of our size and wisdom, especially as we age,\u201d Diana says. \u201cIt’s such a clever container for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ideas come through the action.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd \u2014 it’s hilarious,\u201d she adds. \u201cIt’s also a satire. It’s the perfect vehicle for clown.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she points out, teens are incredibly direct when it comes to matters of age.<\/p>\n

\"Beck
Beck Lloyd, Zorana Sadiq, Annie Luj\u00e1n, Oliver Dennis, Jean Yoon, Katherine Cullen, Amy Keating in Dance Nation (Photo: Elana Emer)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Cast<\/h3>\n

The play requires a great deal of its cast \u2014 to be able to slip in and out of different ages both in character and physicality, to dance, and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an exceptional cast,\u201d Bentley says. \u201cIt’s been a long casting process.\u201d When it was completed, she was sure she had the right performers in place. \u201cEverybody in this room first of all has a very clear clown, which is important to this play, but there is a delicacy which is important to this show.\u201d<\/p>\n

She mentions the play\u2019s \u201cemotional white hot centre\u201d of the story, something the actors understood.<\/p>\n

Portraying different ages is something that comes with that kind of talent. \u201cIn casting these different ages, you have to understand it when you see it,\u201d Bentley says. \u201cIt’s very trippy. I would say directorially, it’s one of those things that I don’t have to very much to do with. \u201c<\/p>\n

Movement<\/h3>\n

Along with the dance sequences, movement is crucial to the performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of it is just the way we approach working together,\u201d says Alyssa Martin. \u201cThe movement of the entire piece is always considered. The body is always considered.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a principle that operates on various levels, from the individual performers and characters to the group.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ensemble as a physical presence is always pretty important with us,\u201d Alyssa says. \u201cThere are obviously dances, choreographed dance sequences that are part of the script. Beyond that, we are considering how these characters exist physically throughout.\u201d<\/p>\n

It demands a lot from the performers. \u201cIt’s a great point. There’s so much energy,\u201d Bentley says. Portraying adolescents isn\u2019t for the faint of heart. \u201cWe’re lucky to have an extremely athletic group of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says the cast has been eager to push their own limits during rehearsals. \u201cThis show needs that,\u201d Bentley says. There\u2019s a lot of clown, and a lot of text to cover. \u201cIt needs a cast that is pushing.\u201d<\/p>\n

She calls it \u201cdeep tissue work\u201d in terms of the emotional range. \u201c[There are] conversations about feminism and periods, and male gaze.\u201d<\/p>\n

All the details, including performance and set design, work towards the goal of getting the message and the emotions across. \u201cIt’s really deep delicate work with all the pieces of the play. You have to carve right into the centre of that to make a play like this,\u201d Diana explains.<\/p>\n

The choreographed dances are a highlight of the play.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to harness my teen spirit,\u201d Alyssa says. \u201cI’m definitely excavating my childhood self who did dance competitions.\u201d<\/p>\n

She notes that anyone in the audience who comes from a dance background will recognize details within the choreography \u2014 the trends, the moves, and more. Those unfamiliar with that world will simply find the humour in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are jokes, and it’s satirical, and it definitely winks in that world,\u201d Martin adds.<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/h3>\n

\u201cI’m curious to see what our audiences get out of it,\u201d Bentley says. \u201cI have personal feeling about this current time to be a woman.\u201d It\u2019s a time when misogynists have been emboldened, as she points out, and the political climate for gender issues in general has become fraught.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ultimately hope that the play is inspiring for women to come and see it, and kind of participate in it,\u201d Diana adds. \u201cIt feels really important to me that we’ve really excavated that in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

She says that the play generates a mood that is \u201cradically ecstatic\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that allows the audiences to come in how they want and need to see it,\u201d Bentley adds.<\/p>\n

Martin hopes that the work helps the audience free up the way that they use their own bodies \u201cThere’s something about […] putting adults into these teenage dancers,\u201d she says. \u201cI hope they feel moved by that, and hopefully feel compelled to do that themselves,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s still very compelling to watch people dance who are not necessarily dancers themselves,\u201d Alyssa says. \u201cThe tension of that creates something very joyful, and I hope that it gives people permission.
\nI think as much as we give people permission to move their bodies […] the freer they’ll be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be the win,\u201d Bentley says, \u201cif everybody had to go out dancing after seeing this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Performances<\/h2>\n

\u201cThis is the first time that we’ve taken over our whole building, so it will be really exciting experience,\u201d Diana notes. The action will take place on two levels of the performance space. As she points out, it allows for varying perspectives as a member of the audience.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first time that Coal Mine has coproduced with Outside the March. \u201cThey\u2019re known for their immersive productions,\u201d Bentley says. \u201cIt has this really special combination of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Credits<\/strong><\/p>\n

Clare Barron\u2019s DANCE NATION<\/p>\n