tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75787156401730166102024-03-13T12:35:16.940-07:00Toronto Dance Community Love-InAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16194445993594121514noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-2576293650043111982016-07-05T22:42:00.000-07:002016-07-05T22:44:16.933-07:00Lucy Rupert /Blue ceiling dancer Artist Interview: Alex Mardon and Erika Mitsuhashi<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative;">
<span style="background-color:;">ps: We Are All Here festival -- Artist interview #1: Alexa Mardon and Erika Mitsuhashi</span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Thank you Lucy! </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ps: We Are All Here is the Toronto Dance Community Love-in's performance festival with an aim, it seems to me, of exposing we lovers of contemporary dance/performance to a range of approaches, to artists with innate freshness to their work whether emerging or established creators. Overlapping with the Toronto Fringe Festival, (which can be an artistic crapshoot, although this year's dance at the Fringe seems to be doing exceedingly well critically!), ps: We Are All Here offers a curated, well-crafted view of dance performance in the summer.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">As I am involved in the Toronto Fringe Festival in the "little fires" production at Factory Theatre, so I could only cover a few of the imaginative artists included in the the TO Love-In's offerings this year. It might go without saying, but I'll say it anyway, they all have sparked my curiosity.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">There is an embarrassment of riches to choose from in dance performances this week so indulge yourself!!</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Info on the festival is here:</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><a href="http://tolovein.com/ps-we-are-all-here" style="color: #cc6600; text-decoration: none;">http://tolovein.com/ps-we-are-all-here</a><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">My first interview is with the artistic team of Alexa Mardon and Erika Mitsuhashi from Vancouver. </span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">LR: <i>In the description of your work New Beginnings you cite string theory and multiverses as inspirations I am fascinated by and an avid reader of all things theoretical physics and cosmology….what brought the two of you to string theory and multiverses?</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">AM: Erika and I began this collaboration by co-writing a list of all the things we were interested in at the time – images, sound, approaches, and performance situations that we wanted to explore. A mutual interest in this idea of shifting a sense of time within a performance led us to discover we'd both been nerding out a bit on this idea of the multiverse – via podcasts, a book called "Sum: Tales from the Afterlives" by neuroscientist David Eagleton, and the incredibly complex and absurd show <i>Rick and Morty.</i> </span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">EM: <i>Ricky and Morty</i> was the "big bang" or spark of our work...We started our collaboration with common interests and we soon realized that the associative chain we started all fell under the this LARGE idea of the multiverse. The endlessness of this concept has been a wonderful fuel for our work together. </span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>LR: What brought the two of you together in the first place? What is your history, attraction, curiosity with each other as artists?</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">EM: Alexa and I have been getting to know each other on many different levels over the past few years. First as interpreters in our mutual friends' works, then in professional choreographic processes and lastly as dear friends and collaborators. Alexa is one of the most thoughtful artists I know and is one of the most effortlessly intelligent movers and thinker that I have ever met. </span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">As we became better friends I was curious about her politics and socially minded work. She carries all of her knowledge in her presence and in her moving. As a collaborator she pushes our work to be multifaceted and to make art that resonates. She is game to try anything and keeps us on track when I am on a tangent about a dream I had. </span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">AM: In a sense, we have spent the last four years collaborating in the way that dancers in a process come to understand how each dancer is working and approaching movement and creating relationships that way. I think that making work together has been a long time coming; Erika's brain works in a way unlike anyone I've ever met. </span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">I saw her solo work "this room has curved edges" at the Powell Street Festival in 2014 right after I'd gotten off a 13-hour plane ride from Taiwan, and after it finished, I sat in my seat and bawled until I could bring myself to thank her for her work. Erika's ability to flesh a complex concept into an incredibly clear image, and to run with something until it becomes absurd, funny, devastating, and then repeat the whole cycle again is something I selfishly knew I wanted to learn from her. </span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Also, I think Erika experiences in her dreams what most people take acid to experience – many hours of our friendship have been spent sitting at the Alibi Room (our favourite bar in Vancouver) over beers as I listen with complete fascination to descriptions of the detailed, warped, and often prescient dreams she has on an almost nightly basis. It's wild, and the title of the piece, along with some other things in it, come from one of these dreams of hers. </span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Q2shf9mC-4c/V3vo3PJobzI/AAAAAAAADNE/Zmt42sh-Leg9hlLPtwcYNaHclJExrUu1gCLcB/s1600/Erika%2Bgiving%2Blecture%2Bscreenshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; color: #cc6600; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Q2shf9mC-4c/V3vo3PJobzI/AAAAAAAADNE/Zmt42sh-Leg9hlLPtwcYNaHclJExrUu1gCLcB/s320/Erika%2Bgiving%2Blecture%2Bscreenshot.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(17, 17, 17); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 1px; position: relative;" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: xx-small;">photo of Erika Mitsuhashi by Sepehr Samimi</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><i>LR: How do you approach what you refer to as the“sales pitch” aspect of this performance? </i><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">AM: We invite the audience to join us as we attempt to do something that is probably impossible. There's an aspect of genuine desire to win the audience over in a way, and that's where the "pitch" part comes in. We are also highly aware of the structures of neoliberal, corporate consumption of immaterial or affective labour including that of artists, and the language creep that scares us. We are playing on this a little bit, but at the same time, this work means a lot to us, it's emotionally draining to perform, and we do want to "sell" it a little to the audience. Of course, not everyone will bite, and that's okay. Consent is important. We can hope you'll come along, but we can't will you to. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">EM: The sales pitch feels like it was a result of us attempting to bring the audience on a journey with us. We have been developing ways to have the performance have genuine moments, along with the performative. I think we walk a playful line between the different performance states and subsequently created this "pitch". It challenges both us the performers and the audience to address the inherent consent in live performance that we are all in it together. </span></span><br />
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<i style="background-color: white;">LR: You also refer to “female affective labour” what does this mean to you in general terms and in the performance work?</i></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">AM: This is something I've been thinking a lot about lately. Of course, affective or more specifically, emotional labour, isn't something that only women perform. Many folks extend themselves energetically and simultaneously contract their presence either due to their social conditioning, or in order to survive the micro-violences performed on their bodies by white supremacist capitalist patriarchy (bell hooks' excellent term) or both. My lived experience of this type of labour is from a white, cis-female perspective, so that is where I'm speaking from around this term. In this piece, Erika and I are interested in how this invisible labour (which can show up as care, hosting, smiling, organizing) crosses over into the act of dance work, and the situation of performing, itself – the collapse between production and reproduction....I don't think we've fully addressed these complex ideas in the 15-minute working version we have now, and maybe we won't ever totally get there, but that's why this work excites me. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">EM: In this iteration, the female affective labour was alive in our bodies without us knowing at first. We host, we ease the situation, we guide, we nurture, we smile and this list goes on. We acknowledged that we were socialized to do these things and that's when we started the process of allowing it to have a place in the work. It is rather layered and veiled with so many other things in our 15 minute excerpt but it is a subject that we plan to continue to investigate. </span></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>LR: What interested or interests you in being part of the ps: We Are All Here Festival? </i></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">EM: Alexa and I had been rehearsing once a week, mainly accumulating research. We both had been desiring some intensive training and both planned to come to Toronto to learn from some Eastern Canadian movers and shakers. The Love-In team inquired about us presenting a short excerpt of what we have been investigating and we started building this iteration. We are both excited to present to a completely new audience and hope to gather responses that will inform the direction of the work. I am so excited by the roster for this year's Love-in. </span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">AM: Yes, up until mid-May, Erika and I were content to get together and work every Sunday morning on New Beginnings, with no intent to show it or structure it until an opportunity we were interested in came up. We both registered to take the Love-In workshops, and when Kate emailed us to ask if we were working on anything, we knew we had to jump. I'd attended the Love-In in 2013 and felt so welcomed by that dance community and impressed by the Love-In team's dedication to making things happen that they felt were missing in their city. It's a little strange that the first time we're showing this work is outside of our home city, but I think it's fitting, too. </span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">ps: We Are All Here</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">July 7-15, 2016</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">360 Geary Ave</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">tickets: </span><br /><a href="http://www.eventbrite.com/o/toronto-dance-community-love-in-10937500290" style="color: #cc6600; text-decoration: none;">http://www.eventbrite.com/o/toronto-dance-community-love-in-10937500290</a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Alexa and Erika perform on a program with Syreeta Hector and Jenn Goodwin</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">July 8th </span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16194445993594121514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-13885768987546020442014-07-09T19:16:00.000-07:002014-07-14T05:44:34.391-07:00ps: we are all here. part deux. night one.ps: we are all here. night one.<br />
curated, organized, realized by the toronto dance community love-in<br />
grass installation by helen yung<br />
two/fan by michael caldwell<br />
d.b.k. by rob abubo<br />
the practice by kelly keenan and adam kinner<br />
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these thoughts by molly johnson<br />
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1. Most of our show going happens in the dark of winter, or that's the way it seems. My recollections of Toronto performance attending mainly involve me, at home, not wanting to go nowhere...which could happen at any old time of year but generally indicates winter. So to take the cross-town bike ride, with the warm and the breeze and the actual physical lightness that only summer can conjure, and to end up at the back end of Pia's, where food is being served and friends are congregating and it's eight pm but it's not dark out and everyone looks kind of fabulous and kind of crazy...this is good news. This is good news for art-going.<br />
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2. Reasons to love the grass: nature's charge. it made everyone a little dirty. i could take my shoes off in a demonstrative way instead of a sneaky weirdo way. my mouth felt gritty, which felt immersive. outside inside inside outside.<br />
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3. As the evening plays out, I am aware of needing to write about my experience. I am also aware that I am more willing to criticize the work of the artist I don't have a personal relationship with. I am more inclined to appreciate the work of the people I know well.<br />
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4. Michael Caldwell's Two/Fan reminds me of my neighbourhood, Sherbourne and Dundas. It reminds me of the manic but familiar relationships that amass on these street corners. Sweatpants and sunglasses cement this vibe. Louis Laberge-Côté defies gravity, which I'm pretty into. I wish there was more silence in the work. And more intention? I'm not sure about that. I experience the work with the knowledge of Michael, and feel the continued growth in what he is exploring as a creator. Whether through the vocabulary itself, or the inevitable lines of the trained bodies, I start thinking about dance as a form and how I want less of it because it doesn't make any goddamn sense...but I miss it when it's gone.<br />
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5. Rob Abubo entertains me. I don't know if the work he has made entertains me, or if it's just him. But then, in my mind, the success of the work relies on his unique brand of insanity. I've yet to see Ben Kamino's nudity, desire but I have fragments of other people's recollections of the work implanted in my memory. I wonder about karaokes and covers and how closely they tie to inside jokes and think on the good and the bad of that.<br />
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6. When I see the saxophone, it worries me. In the end it was exactly right, and a welcome presence in a work I had many questions about. Questions are all the rage, which made me want to stop asking and just lay there and turn my head on its axis and vibe with what it was instead of wondering what it wasn't. I'm interested in work that <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">work relies heavily on the abandon and attention of the audience. </span>But The Practice was too familiar to someone who spends many a day practicing. And as a performance...not for me, I don't think but perhaps I need to see it and not be it. From within, the voice of Kelly Keenan is spacious and assured but I have a hard time listening to lines being read off of a script. It is becoming increasingly clear to me that I need all or nothing.<br />
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7. Do I need a conclusion? The work was varied and involving, thoughtfully curated and delivered by the artists. This night made my head spin in good/important/spinal related ways and it happened in the grass, with a tall can of beer, surrounded by favourite faces and welcome unknowns. The Love In continues to contribute to our keepin on keepin community of makers in incredibly important ways, and in the case of ps: We All Are Here they are making a space that encourages taking pleasure in an event of presentation. That may sound obvious, but frankly, more often than not it's an elusive entity. I was really happy to be there.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16194445993594121514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-80137074139576405962014-02-21T11:30:00.000-08:002014-02-22T07:42:04.007-08:00The interstellar mission of ceaseless movement<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ceaselessly we moved through this moment, passing into the
next without a glance backward.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This piece is about the Henderson/Castle collaboration with
TDT called <i>voyager</i>. Like so many of
Ame’s choices, the absence of capital letters in the titles of her work is
surely intentional. I’ve never asked her about it though. In fact, we have
rarely had the chance to discuss her work outside of my self-serving
motivations for framing a grant proposal. Almost nothing that I write here is
tethered by conversations I’ve had about the piece with Ame, or any of her
collaborators. I hope I don’t say anything stupid, but
that’s always the risk with writing. Actually it’s true of any expression at
any time, in general, about any subject. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Voyager’s </i>task is at first simple: move without stopping, never
repeat. A straightforward description, nine bodies take the stage in sparkly
outfits. *** I didn't mean to say Jennifer Castle and her piano don't take the stage, they do. I realized after publishing how movement centric this writing is. *** To say these bodies are costumed is inaccurate. They are not
‘costumed’, but dressed and revealed to us in naked lighting that relentlessly
unmasks the dancers to us as audience, and us to each other as people who sit
and watch the endless procession of movement and sound. Costuming in dance and
performance can serve many purposes, but is commonly thought of as an expression
of something related to the content of the piece, that relates in some way to
the distinction between audience and performer. When the dancers move into the
space, I feel as though I am seeing each individual body ‘dressed’ in clothing
that expresses their movement, rather than an ensemble of bodies costumed as an
expression of the content of the work itself. This initial impression becomes
more palpable as the piece progresses: I am in love with Marie-Claire Forté’s
ankle boots. It’s not just because I like them and wish I owned them (though
this may also be true but she’s very tall so I would guess they’re too big for
me). Rather, the precision of her never-stopping motion is anchored in the sound
of her heels on the marley flooring. The articulation of her limbs is drawn in
contrast to the flopping of the oversized bows on the front of the boots (<a href="http://www.hushpuppies.com/CA/en-CA/Product.mvc.aspx/32737W/0/Womens/Lonna-Shootie?dimensions=0">drool</a>). The outfits exist in contrast to the at first delicate quality of the dancer's movement. The texture of this movement builds and in its full force it is anything
but gentle, though we don’t notice its force until it’s over. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So then, let’s talk about the task, as a task whose
immediate definition isn’t anything more than just the condition of inhabiting,
being or having a body. A way to address this work is by simply saying that
embodiment is a sort of condemnation to continually move and ultimately to
never move in ways that aren’t already conditioned by our experience and
history. These are questions shaped by my
experience of watching:<br />
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span>What counts as repetition? </span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span>If you can’t repeat anything, how do you measure time?
(that question I’ll take up in a little more detail in a minute)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span>If the goal is to avoid repetition, does that mean that
the body (or subjectivity) never reflexively encounters itself? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span>If there’s no repetition as such, can our eyes or our
bodies recognize, see, feel, hear or otherwise sense progression? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The work is at times, totally
unbearable. This frustration is partly due to the fact that we don’t, at first, have any way of measuring time
without immediately discernible patterns of motion and rest. This kind of shit
drives people crazy. Ultimately watching performance is pretty hard to begin
with, especially when people want to be at home watching True Detective or whatever,
which is considerably easier to pay attention to. <i>Voyager</i> articulates something different about the conventions of its form. It is challenging to watch. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(I wonder what Paula Citron will
say/ has said. Does anybody know who the critic sitting in the top right corner
seat of the audience was? I'm 90% sure now that it was Michael Crabb, you can read his review <a href="http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/stage/2014/02/21/spaceinspired_voyager_goes_boldly_nowhere_dance_review.html">here</a>, though I'm not sure one should. My favourite part was when two people left and
Erika Hennebury (coincidentally also Public Recording’s artistic producer) with
lightning reflexes, caught them through the railing with their forgotten
iPhone, abandoned on the seat during a hasty departure. I’m glad that people
left during the show. I often think about doing that but it’s more difficult
when the house lights are down. The house lights stayed up for the
whole piece.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The experience of being an
audience for <i>voyager</i> is a bit like
trying to have a conversation with a new person who talks non-stop. It’s
frustrating because you can’t sense their speech patterns and they don’t give
you space to digest any of the things they’re saying, but rather just move on.
I have a friend like this. When we were first becoming friends, I don’t think I
ever understood a single thing he said. As I got to know him better, spent more
time in his company, I began to pick out phrasing and cadence habits, though it
still seemed like the flow of his words was endless and never self-referential.
Likewise, I learned how to distribute my attention rather than concentrating on
picking out meaning in the ways I was used to. By using this example of
becoming acclimatized through conversation with someone, I am pointing to the
way that repetition requires two distinct but related areas of our
motor-perceptual lives. First, movement always comes from somewhere, from a
preceding bodily action on its way to the next. It is in this way always
reflecting itself, its own history. It is impossible to find movement that
doesn’t in some form contain its own genesis. As a condition of being what it
is, movement is thus only ever self-referential (in the sense that in order to
continue on moving it must have its history built into it). If this weren’t
true you wouldn’t really even be able to lift your arm. Probably this is
redundant for dancers, but try it. Try to lift your arm as if the movement you
can identify as ‘lifting your arm’ came from out of nowhere. It’s impossible.
So the first sense of repetition implies that all movement has this character
of always belonging to itself. Second, repetition is part of how we encounter
the world in structures that are usual, regular or habitual. For example,
“hello” is usually followed by a pause that allows the other person to respond.
My reciprocal hello is an acknowledgment of a familiar pattern of greeting
people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Movement’s necessary condition of
containing its own history becomes perceptible only as habit. A particular
person’s way of lifting their arm, or saying hello, as containing a past
movement history and gesturing towards a future one, is identifiable only
through becoming accustomed to that gesture or that greeting. When you know
someone’s regular bodily ways of moving, you might be able to sense the
beginning of their arm gesture or anticipate the tone of their hello and the
length of pause that follows it. We are thus deeply attuned to the ways in
which movement habits show up in the people around us. This is largely how we
make sense of the world. Ultimately <i>voyager’s </i>journey is futile for the reason that our perception, both of our own
moving bodies and the bodies of others, is so deeply conditioned by habits
which take hold in us, only to emerge as simply capacities of the body or
something. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The futility of <i>voyager’s </i>exercise is precisely what makes it compelling. Each moment of <i>voyager
</i>feels almost like nothing is happening
because everything is happening. You cannot at first rely on the regularities of habit and repetition, which normally structure our perception. As
the piece progresses, new forms of pattern, habit and ways of marking time
begin to emerge in the perceptual field, but they are not built from the
currency of the familiar. </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Henderson, Castle and Co. demand that we suspend the
expectations and sedimentations of our ordinary ways of engaging with the world, in order to see things as they really are.</span></div>
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Niomi Anna Cherneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06065467706892675764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-64452048756059224672013-12-17T07:08:00.000-08:002013-12-17T07:08:07.788-08:00Toronto's KillJoy’s Kastle: A Lesbian Feminist Haunted House is a “creep lez” labour of art love. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mrOXhnOxMzo/UrBoWKhnjsI/AAAAAAAAANY/NvPhXE1P1_Y/s1600/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mrOXhnOxMzo/UrBoWKhnjsI/AAAAAAAAANY/NvPhXE1P1_Y/s200/images.jpeg" width="200" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u7PK7L2j_5s/UrBoCnSj_BI/AAAAAAAAANQ/nNhiHeTafVE/s1600/emasculator-500x335.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u7PK7L2j_5s/UrBoCnSj_BI/AAAAAAAAANQ/nNhiHeTafVE/s200/emasculator-500x335.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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by Eroca Nicols</div>
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Allyson Mitchell, of FAG (feminist art gallery (1)) fame has instigated the queer answer to evangelical North America’s hate driven, scare tactic based hell houses. Instead of demonizing the sins of fornication, abortion, suicide, occultism, and— of course—same-sex relationships, as in traditional hell houses, KillJoy's Kastle engages these icons of deviance to highlight fear that surrounds queerness and feminism.</div>
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The welcome mat image to the work is a giant half rainbow glory hole sprouting "vagina dentata" complete with dripping bloody fangs. It bears the sign, LESBIAN RULE, in giant fuchsia letters, leaking gold. A self proclaimed "demented women's studies professor" acts as tour guide through the installation, which is the remains of the previous nights performance. She advises “Careful! Don’t slip on the pussy juice!” as she amusingly embodies the stereotype of the fun murdering feminist kill joy.</div>
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The tour winds through monster truck sized voluptuous vagina sculptures, a lavender corridor of "two adult lesbians in love," remnants of riot ghouls and truck nut ball busting butches. After living through the emasculator and many encounters of the latch hooked and heavily hand crafted kind we end up being offered a piece of vegan, gluten free chocolate cake after processing the experience with a real live feminist killjoy.</div>
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Wielding craft like an inviting, recklessly cozy, distinctly feminist fuck you! to hetero art world cleanliness, this Lesbian haunted house is a pussy palace of radical inclusion and anti oppression while at the same time staying relevant, fun, uncompromising and un-whiney. This is neither an easy nor an unconsidered plan of action. </div>
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“Designed to pervert not convert"</div>
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It is important to acknowledge that as much fun and mystical magic all of this madame oriented mayhem is, the dark underbelly is that there is one lez ruled castle and multitudes of Christian Right run hell houses. That shit is real scary. Allyson Mitchell and the crowd sourced crew of queer badasses she has brought together to make Killjoys Kastle get it. Tongues are firmly in cheeks and pussies but radical organizing and art and support for queer artists is not just a laughing matter, though laughing is also encouraged. These humans are carving out an outsider existence within the current framework being set out for artists by making work in ways that are doggedly defiant to demands for competitivity from the capitalist art market and dude worshipping hetero favoritism.</div>
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A hefty combination of dispute and dialogue rages even now after the installation has closed (mainly on FB) about whether/how the house was white-centric, cisnormative and exclusive. This brings to light yet another dark underbelly- that of feminism in general as mainly engaging with the interests, abilities, and concerns of white, cis, able bodied, middle class women. I agree with Alison Cooley's sentiment that this work, "successfully manages at once to satirize those evangelical scare-tactics and homophobic stereotypes, and to provide a sense of the systems of exclusion which operate within radical communities."(2) The continued conversations online suggest Kill Joys Kastle walks a complicated line of showing that underbelly and also perhaps celebrating it at the expense of more marginalized groups within the queer community.</div>
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To approach this work in term of success or failure seems to me to be missing the point. Is it possible to work in ways that are anti-oppressive and inclusive while at the same time acknowledging that fuck-ups are imminent? Can makers be discerning and self aware but still embrace a biting (insert werwolf, vampire) sense of trangrassion, satire and humor? Can the queer community assume its' intelligent beastly criticality while resisting co-option? Is there potential to acknowledge myriad faults and address these concerns from within the community and with the community with dignity and care? These questions are the real monsters. And Killjoys Kastle, in all its fake blood and blunder, takes a stab at both asking them and addressing them. The work serves as a call to other art makers and producers that claim radicality to step up and deal with the skeletons in their own closets. Spooky, scary.</div>
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The dominant arts communities in Toronto would do well to acknowledge and learn from the badassery (and openness to dealing directly with criticism, see the FB page (3)) of FAG’s and Allyson Mitchell’s commitment to a radically open queer spaces of art. Many artists and arts organizations in Toronto (including the Love-In) flirt with flying radical flags but Killjoys Kastle and FAG are all in. FAG puts their money, their home, their art and their vagina dentata where their mouth is. For this, I say hells yes to LESBIAN RULE.</div>
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1.Since FAG’s inception in 2011, Allyson Mitchell and Deirdre Logue have been dedicating their home (the gallery is in their home,) their opportunities (they gave their commission at the Tate Modern over to local emerging queer artists of color,) and their place of privilege in the art world (university professor and development director respectively,) to making a space for feminist and queer makers in Toronto and beyond.</div>
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2. <a href="http://www.canadianart.ca/reviews/2013/10/29/allyson-mitchell-killjoys-kastle/#sthash.yISrRakA.dpuf" target="_blank">http://www.canadianart.ca/reviews/2013/10/29/allyson-mitchell-killjoys-kastle/#sthash.yISrRakA.dpuf</a></div>
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3.<a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/166258290234212/permalink/172523529607688/" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/events/166258290234212/permalink/172523529607688/</a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Eroca Nicols aka Lady Janitor is Toronto based, nomadic performance and body nerd and co-founder of the Toronto Dance Community Love-In.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16194445993594121514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-1014341344078863092013-07-11T15:33:00.002-07:002013-07-11T15:33:24.110-07:00Bee-ginnings<br />
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<i>This piece has already begun.</i></div>
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Sometimes when you watch a dance performance, you can have a sense of not knowing when the performers begin to move. They seem to sneak into motion in such a way that you never perceive stillness as the opposite of motion; movement and rest appear as dynamically entangled in one another. In <i>b side's </i>careful simplicity, this is the story we get. Movement gathers force effortlessly, as if beginning always already from the middle.</div>
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<i>Is it possible to be in more than one place at once?</i></div>
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<i><br /></i>Bee says she is hot. That she created this piece in the fall and there was air conditioning. There is no air conditioning in the corner-oriented Sterling space. My hair sucks at the sweat dripping from the base of my skull: I remember when my hair was short. But we are close to her, and she leans into the microphone to speak with us.</div>
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<i>I have been thinking about what's underneath us, what's under the surface of the skin?</i></div>
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When Bee presses play, the analog tape recorder make a delicious scrunching sound. Chestnut shells on pavement. The texture of the sound radiates satisfaction when I see her push down on the buttons. Her voice lilts on the recording and I am caught up in it. Glad to hear the questions a second time, I am struck by the possibility of unfolding without a future or a past, into a kind of forgetting (her words, not mine). It seems to me that movement is always, and never, this kind of forgetting. Each footstep orients us to the here-now present of our current bodily situation, but it seems to me that it could only do so out of each preceding footfall, as the momentum of time or memory carried in the body, leans us toward the next. Is that what it means to be all places at once? It seems like the space our body moves through must be held or caught up in this forgetting.</div>
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Are forgetting and remembering diametrically opposed to each other? Or, like motion and rest, do they belong to each other intrinsically as counterpart to one another?</div>
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More thoughts on this tomorrow.</div>
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Niomi Anna Cherneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06065467706892675764noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-38340698416557374322013-07-07T23:24:00.000-07:002013-07-07T23:24:12.743-07:00postscripts to ps ( week 1 )<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Whenever I write a novel I’m reminded of the essential hubris of criticism. When I write criticism I’m in such a protected position: here are my arguments, here are my blessed opinions, here is my textual evidence, here my rhetorical flourish. One feels very pleased with oneself. Fiction has none of these defences. You are just a fool with a keyboard. It’s much harder. More frightening.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>- Zadie Smith </i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">dance : ephemera<span style="color: #999999;">l</span> forever</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">dance : response</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">dance : Listen</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">dance : being ( Open )<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">dance : bodies ( yours,
mine ) new heights; breaking down<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">dance : strength ( fragility )<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">dance : code<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">dance : sight </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I don't mind criticism a bit — the critics are always wrong … but they are always right in the sense that they make one re-examine one’s artistic conscience.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>- F. Scott Fitzgerald </i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">is it rare</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">to find </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">a dancer </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">willing to lie ?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Authenticity & all that</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">so essential to the dancing body.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">art </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">also</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">is a precipice</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> an impossible position</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">between the climb</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">& the chasm</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">between Work</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">& <i>sublime</i> <i>fear</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">with what </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">have-to </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">have you </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">to unfurl</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">here insert.</span></div>
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Helen Yunghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10341245677112117511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-9398995049316235252013-07-05T12:16:00.000-07:002013-07-26T13:23:39.541-07:00I had promised to not write a review<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tMMNssepztM/Udcd9oj-SHI/AAAAAAAABnE/xqcg9JFpDKk/s1600/_W0A4617.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="256" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tMMNssepztM/Udcd9oj-SHI/AAAAAAAABnE/xqcg9JFpDKk/s320/_W0A4617.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They sat us in a line by Andréa de Keijzer/Je suis Julio. Photo by Jeremy Mimnagh.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The second night of </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ps: We Are All Here </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">passed last night. I continue to find the festival refreshing, </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">just so</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, and it's burrowing a little spot I think inside (me) where it will maintain a good home. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What makes it so enchanting?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is the first edition of a cool, young thing. It's almost a secret. A dance speakeasy. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You have to find the space. I mean you really have to go look for it. Sterling Road, you know. <a href="http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/visualarts/2012/08/12/sterling_rd_artistic_hotbed_but_with_development_plans_looming_for_how_long.html" target="_blank">Artistic hotbed.</a> The only sensible way to get there is to bike. When you've found or created a parking spot, y</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ou walk three-quarters of the way around an ugly squat building (kitty-corner to the mysterious draped sand dunes) to suddenly stroll into an obscure, blessedly friendly-looking triangular patch of lithe, smiling people, the occasional baby, dog or kitten slinking between bare summer legs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the alley or pseudo-backyard, Katya Kuznetsova presides over a small table, to which a kind of abstract representation of two lines cling (<i>Pick-up</i> & <i>Purchase</i>). Let's play Festival-Going. A little stamp set of cartoonish characters mark impressions on your pink slip of a photocopied ticket. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>"This is a pass. Bring it back & we'll stamp it each night."</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Indeed, why should Festivals be stuffy and full of official, formal pomp? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The casual organization is endearing, and <i>very hip</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A petite sky-blue garage door guards entry to the studio. We wait before this cute little gateway by the tree stumps that double as stools for you and me, and platform for Kate Nankervis who, nightly, stands atop a stump to gently remind all and one, </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"<i>Don't smoke by these pipes. They're full of natural gas.</i>"</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Across the way, a tangle of tomato plants, orange nasturtiums and bergamot (or perhaps a weed?)... still in this same secret corner, a few trees, a hammock, an open door to someone's home, ostensibly. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's almost impressionistic. Casual edges here and there that suggest the generic features of a Festival. Sometimes we sit in chairs, other times on the floor, then get up and roam about with the performer. Theatrical lighting. Projectors. Sound could be better. No program book. An oversized, wall-mounted program poster in 3 parts, elegantly designed with a clever map of production photographs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And then, there is <i>the dance</i>. (But this is no review.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Contemporary, yes. Well-curated. Dance for the theatrical folk. Dance for conceptual folk. Dance for dancers. Dance for participation. Dance for sensual types. It makes <i>you </i>dance. And great stories behind the works. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A8B3tXMvT38/Udcd9u2PgSI/AAAAAAAABnA/ggA17aG4qJ0/s1600/Heidi_Strauss_Darryl_Tracy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A8B3tXMvT38/Udcd9u2PgSI/AAAAAAAABnA/ggA17aG4qJ0/s1600/Heidi_Strauss_Darryl_Tracy.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a map of light years by Heidi Strauss. Photo by Amanda Acorn.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Each night, two different pieces. No one is rushed or squeezed. There is time between works to drink, converse, break, and yet not so much time that the night is needlessly over-stretched. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's a <i>pleasant, human </i>experience. The informality, an enchanting tension between order and no order, <i>makes it</i>. We live and breathe with the show. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yes, it is warm, and wouldn't it be nice if we could keep that sky door open. But the common suffering, slight as it is, embraces us collectively - places us all in the same room at the same time together. We sense - subconsciously - how much we Are it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With so few - and virtually transparent - features to mark the occasion, the performances are illuminated by our rapt attention. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is A Show because we too, are all here. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Go on, get out to <i>ps: We Are All Here</i>. You'll be sorry if you miss it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">........................................................................................................................</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Helen Yung is an interdisciplinary artist. She also consults. She writes periodically at <a href="http://www.helenyung.com/">www.helenyung.com</a>. </i></span>Helen Yunghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10341245677112117511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-22356697036503530462013-07-04T16:33:00.000-07:002013-07-05T12:17:24.412-07:00Eroca Nichols & Francesca Pedullà - More than one way to skin a cat<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(s)he mops the floor with a dead animal</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">sparrow has crazy great buttocks</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">a mole on the left cheek</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">the woman with the mic</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">her shoes don't fit ( not Cinderella & not Dorothy ) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">the shrouded janitor skates</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">with a hawaiian red cap </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">( what suburban archetype is this ? )</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">there was </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">seduction </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">sparrow </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">growling</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">barking</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">steamy panting</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">gyrations of every kind</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">breathy reading </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">how-to </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">grass</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">arms outstretched standing on a plinth</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">" Death. "</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">the fans overhead squeak & shudder</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">along the lawn mower sounds</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">what a strange pet</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">what a clever mask</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">won't you pet her</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">as she passes you by ?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">won't you laugh ? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">how Do we </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">lift a cat ? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">it was a good show</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">i liked everything.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">a clever title</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">unpacked from 1 expression</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
Helen Yunghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10341245677112117511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-72388101898557719812013-07-03T23:04:00.000-07:002013-07-05T12:17:34.640-07:00She looked me in the eye / & smiled. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--9eDGpKEvi4/UdUINoGyMGI/AAAAAAAABlo/0sFH6c7GZXM/s750/IMG_1560-amanda-acorn_web2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><img border="0" height="255" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--9eDGpKEvi4/UdUINoGyMGI/AAAAAAAABlo/0sFH6c7GZXM/s400/IMG_1560-amanda-acorn_web2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"> You/Me/Us (prologue) by Amanda Acorn. Photo by Joffrey Saintrapt</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>She looked me in the eye / & smiled. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">the evening begins with amanda</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">she enters by not </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">entering</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">she settles & composes into</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Being</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">as </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">our searching eyes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">settled </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">resting finally</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">on her Being</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">so she enters </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">or rather Becomes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Takes On </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">the scene</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">looking very lovely</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">red</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">black</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">purple</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">grey </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">later she</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">unpockets a flame</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">pulled out from the black</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">a flame with which we could </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Light a thousand cigarettes if only we were to not </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">misplace it</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">yes. there were </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">found lights</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">worklights</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">lamp - tall, standing kind</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">then i think a six by nine</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">projector ( short throw ? )</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">fluorescent light tubes </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">& that aforementioned flame</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">she lay there</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">she looked me in the eye</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">& smiled</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">i've often wondered</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">why we don't do shows</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">right after yoga</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">in the yoga studio</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">when everyone's bodies are </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">supple. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">when we are most connected </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">to our own bodies</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">one could expand </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">& contract with her</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">like those fireworks on her belly</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">later marking 'manda's new auburn hair</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">i liked the giant shadow of an amanda</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">her turns and wrinkled silhouette</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">cast upon the corner walls</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">" it was a beautiful repose " </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">yes.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">and it was about Permission </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">[ expand, contract & repose were someone else's words ; do add your own below pls & thx. ]</span></div>
Helen Yunghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10341245677112117511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-21347085723425808262013-01-02T08:45:00.000-08:002013-01-02T09:26:19.363-08:00The Perfect Dance Critic : Miguel Gutierrez<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The Perfect Dance Critic</span></div>
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The perfect dance critic does not exist.</div>
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The perfect dance critic works for the perfect arts editor, who does not exist. The perfect dance critic writes in the perfect arts publication, which also does not exist. The perfect dance critic doesn’t secretly wish that everything was the way it used to be. The perfect dance critic doesn’t secretly love ballet more than anything else and feel like she’s just slumming when she sees “downtown” work.<br />
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The perfect dance critic can talk about individual pieces in relationship to the pieces that the choreographer has made before, and can write about how the piece fits in terms of the evolution of the work. The perfect dance critic understands that “technique” is a vast term that applies to the ways in which dancers can access effectively and intelligently the numerous expressive possibilities that are available to them in their bodies. The perfect dance critic understands that “virtuosity” can apply to the most idiosyncratic of weight shifts.<br />
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The perfect dance critic has an awareness of what the postmodern movement in dance expressed, achieved, and how it lives in our consciousness today.<br />
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The perfect dance critic does not live in a time warp that shuttles him between now at City Center and 1950 when he irreversibly decided what dance was, is, and can only be. </div>
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The perfect dance critic can describe movement vocabulary, and speculate as to what the choices of movement vocabulary mean in relationship to or how they help to shape the larger vision that the dance artist offers.<br />
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The perfect dance critic knows that the choreographer’s choices are integrally related to the selection of dancers that she has working with her.<br />
<br />
The perfect dance critic understands that the dancer is an artist and not merely a tool of the choreographer’s or director’s work.<br />
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The perfect dance critic can articulate the qualities of individual dancer’s energetic presence in the work.<br />
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The perfect dance critic understands that beyond movement vocabulary, dance work is a total aesthetic experience and can therefore elaborate on the contributions or selections of music, set design, costumes and lighting in more than one-sentence toss-offs. The perfect dance critic can write about these aspects of performance with ease and intelligence because the perfect dance critic is well-informed has a comprehensive interest in all aspects of performance.<br />
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The perfect dance critic can make references to artists and ideas from other forms of performing and visual arts when trying to contextualize work.<br />
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The perfect dance critic discusses the implications of the different cultural representations of gender, race, sexual orientation or class in the work. The perfect dance critic acknowledges his own cultural position when addressing these issues, and how that cultural position may shape his feelings or responses.<br />
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The perfect dance critic gets excited when she sees something that’s different, unusual, challenging, or thought provoking, rocks her world, and writes about it with accompanying vigor.<br />
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The perfect dance critic writes in a way that is contemporaneous with the time we are living in.<br />
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The perfect dance critic knows when it’s time to quit, change careers or retire.<br />
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<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Published in the Movement Research Journal #25 Dance Writing, Fall 2002 </em></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16194445993594121514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-1085208844157372242012-12-09T16:24:00.001-08:002012-12-09T21:30:38.751-08:00Training Trends: reporting back!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7B0QR7FpoIY/UMUhW0WiY6I/AAAAAAAAAHI/YJNjrxbDa2k/s1600/love-in3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7B0QR7FpoIY/UMUhW0WiY6I/AAAAAAAAAHI/YJNjrxbDa2k/s320/love-in3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Last Sunday, December 2nd, approximately 30 dance artists gathered at Cafe Cito for the Training Trends meeting. It was great to see so many people out and artists from different generations, engaged in conversation about the training activities in our city. The meeting was buzzing with positive energy and conversations which were productive and can lead us somewhere new. The word, choice, seemed to continue coming up as a value. The training options that are available in Toronto are quite wide in what they offer and the consensus was that this is a strength. People see the value in training which is seen as perhaps more traditional, as well as training that is more research based. The fact that classes which fall into both categories are available to us, is a positive place to start.<br />
<br />
The distinction between these two camps seemed to be defined by something which could be viewed as a kind of 'dance maintenance', where you show up and are taken through a class of known vocabulary, which is a great workout and helps you to stay in shape for whatever project you happen to be working on. The other option being a class which may be a bit more nebulous to describe, in which we may be focusing on acquiring new skills, patterns for movement and exploring new methodology in how we use our bodies for artistic practice. We see these kinds of classes being offered more often in a workshop setting as opposed to a drop-in class structure. We spoke of the value of both of these ways of working to the community at large. The descriptions above are of course very general and cannot encompass the scope of all the training being offered. A statement was made at the meeting which may be obvious but struck me as being potent right now. In a climate where there is not much work for independent artists, when talking about training, that activity then becomes my artistic practice in place of actual 'work'. Also the idea that I am working all the time and that everything I do informs my practice, lots of work or not, how I choose to engage physically becomes very important to me.<br />
<br />
We were nervous in planning for the meeting because we know that training is a subject that we all have a long history with and is very closely tied to our artistic values, therefore very personal. I think it is impossible to speak about how we want to train without speaking about what we value in our creative practice. It is evident to me that the way I train my body, directly and quite profoundly impacts the work that I make. It is impossible to look at the history of dance in Toronto and not acknowledge that, that history runs parallel to the training lineage we have followed over the years. I'm sure this is true of other communities as well. It seems that there is currently more choice today in 2012 than perhaps there has ever been, in terms of the modes of training available to the community on an on-going basis. This choice allows for artists to pursue their interests and what feeds them in their artistic life by taking ownership of their own training activities by pursuing what is potent and of interest for them.<br />
<br />
We also talked about space, community, sustainability, communication, development, partnership and what we could each individually do to affect the change we wanted to see.<br />
<br />
Watch for a centralized community training calendar coming soon. Sometimes you express a need and someone answers your call and quickly!<br />
<br />
Thank you for everyone who came and those who couldn't but expressed their regrets and asked for these notes. These were my personal take away impressions but if you have your own please leave your comment below!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16194445993594121514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-17503838985733159582012-11-12T17:15:00.001-08:002012-11-12T17:15:34.397-08:00Training Is CreatingIt seems that people are talking about training everywhere I go lately... As someone who trains daily as part of my practice as a dance artist, as a training provider through my work with the Love-In and a new teacher myself, I am asking myself many questions all the time about this very large part of my professional life.<br />
<br />
How does training feed me artistically? Am I just going through the motions? How can this part of my practice continue to serve my needs as I inch above 30?<br />
<br />
After being introduced to the <a href="http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=axis%20syllabus&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCIQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.axissyllabus.com%2F&ei=dZChUN-MO-ig2AWn94HgBg&usg=AFQjCNFfB-eHLoms0wBj3x52aMyOI9cTIQ&sig2=ZX6rv-PtsBLoxL-hzTG8Bg">Axis Syllabus</a> and <a href="http://www.anoukvandijk.nl/en/what-countertechnique/introduction-countertechnique">Countertechnique</a> about 3 years ago, I felt very empowered with lots of new insights about my body as well as the realization that how I think can dramatically change how I work and move. I have been thinking about how we train, why we train and am certain that the training we do directly informs the work that we make and how we make it. I came across a great essay (thank you Andrew Hartley) written by Thomas Hauert, artistic director of ZOO company in Brussels. The essay echoes many of the things I had been thinking about and maybe you too... I stole the title of the essay for the heading of this post. You can read the essay here:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.zoo-thomashauert.be/workshop/thomasforparts/">http://www.zoo-thomashauert.be/workshop/thomasforparts/</a><br />
<br />
Please share your thoughts below or join the Love-In for a lively conversation about this very popular topic on December 2nd at 6pm at El Cafecito Espresso Bar at<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">3 Westmoreland Ave (north of Bloor, one block west of Dovercourt).</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16194445993594121514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-73504599419385711202012-11-04T17:54:00.000-08:002012-11-04T18:02:57.024-08:00Place for thoughts, inspired by the Swedish Dance HistoryLast winter we launched our official <a href="http://www.tolovein.com/">website</a>, so haven't been actively using the blog to post information about our workshops or events... Please visit our website for information on our training season and other events!<br />
<br />
I would like to re-launch the blog as a place for writings, articles, thoughts and rants for the community at large about creative practice, thinking, talking and making dance. While at the Impulstanz Festival in Vienna in 2010, a group of young artists were at the festival, promoting the launch of the second edition of the Swedish Dance History, a free, published document created in collaboration by over 200 authors, makers and doers in the field of dance and choreography. I grabbed my free copy of the very large, silver book at the closing party on the final night of the festival and have been inspired by the idea of a collaboration in collecting thoughts and a process of documenting and sharing. I extend an open invitation to you, to send along your own writings or articles that have inspired you to create an online vault of thoughts to be shared here. Read more about the Swedish Dance History <a href="http://inpex-universe.org/events/swedish-dance-history-2010">here</a> .<br />
Email us your desired contributions: tolove.in@gmail.com<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">'The history of dance is initiated through dance, but it is writers that fasten it and its readers that secure it. The Swedish Dance History is dance’s claim on its own history, a history created and authorized by us who create dance and choreography. The Swedish Dance History is a collective effort to realize this history and ultimately to claim the right to our future.'</span><br />
<br />
Watch for words coming soon!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16194445993594121514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-1467013388252642252012-01-03T20:43:00.000-08:002012-01-03T20:43:17.310-08:00Workshops coming up!!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CUgOb1rN1Bc/TwPX0H-boHI/AAAAAAAAAHA/Gd3ip-mavUM/s1600/sf-farley3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CUgOb1rN1Bc/TwPX0H-boHI/AAAAAAAAAHA/Gd3ip-mavUM/s320/sf-farley3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">Farley Johansson<br />
<br />
We have just posted all workshop descriptions for our Winter and Spring workshops for 2012! We have an amazing line up of talented dance artists coming to share their work, movement research and gifts with us. Don't miss it! Visit the Winter/Spring workshop page for all the details on each workshop and the facilitators. Look forward to dancing with you!<br />
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</span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16194445993594121514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-90913660559079248882011-12-19T18:35:00.000-08:002011-12-19T18:35:32.964-08:00Workshops Winter/Spring 2012!!!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DMbpf9-Xzwk/Tu_x56_kWtI/AAAAAAAAAGE/ufP7BZxJuuQ/s1600/_MG_3761.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DMbpf9-Xzwk/Tu_x56_kWtI/AAAAAAAAAGE/ufP7BZxJuuQ/s400/_MG_3761.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Justine Chambers Workshop January 2011, photo by Yoann Malnati</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Just a brief post to announce our Winter and Spring Workshops for 2012 before you completely lose your mind with holiday cheer and rum and egg nog! We have a great line-up for the next few months and we are excited to be hosting a mix of local treasures and teachers from afar... We will be officially announcing news and the line-up for Summer Love-In 2012 in January as well so stay posted for that goodness! Trust us, you do not want to miss this!</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>January 16- 20th Eroca Nicols and Yves Candeau Partnering Workshop</b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>February 6-10th Susanna Hood</b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>March 12-16th Jennifer Dallas</b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>March 26-30th Kira Kirsch Axis Syllabus Workshop</b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>April 2-6th Kelly Keenan Axis Syllabus Workshop</b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>May 7-11th Farley Joahnsson</b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
</b></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Full workshop descriptions, instructor bios and registration details will be available soon!</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">To register for any workshop please email <a href="mailto:tolove.in@gmail.com">tolove.in@gmail.com</a></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16194445993594121514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-32025499498769717012011-11-17T11:11:00.000-08:002011-11-17T11:11:00.923-08:00Up next!! Love-In Workshop with Stephen Thompson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Y6OJZo25H5g/TsVb3Pu-Y7I/AAAAAAAAAF8/E_5huhJlHOM/s1600/276781_237183186343537_671528879_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Y6OJZo25H5g/TsVb3Pu-Y7I/AAAAAAAAAF8/E_5huhJlHOM/s1600/276781_237183186343537_671528879_n.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">December 5 - 9, 10am to 12pm at Dovercourt House</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="uiGrid mvm" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="vTop" style="font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top;"><div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4ec5587c1a1dd4d28746041" style="display: inline;">$50/5 classes, $12 to drop-in<br />
tolove.in@gmail.com to register!! Full description below.<br />
<br />
Stephen Thompson’s class attempts, negotiates and passes through techniques and tools to assist movers in awakening for the challenges of the day while maintaining individualism (auto<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">nomy), honing physical skill, curiosity, well-being and "being" together. The class is aimed towards movers/performers interested to not only prepare their body to “dance” but to sublimate (through redefining, redirecting and refining) our choices. By observing patterns and recognizing a practice we can shift our perspective, expand our vocabulary and augment who we are and what we do. The dynamic of the class is self-administered with guidance to correlate to the needs of the individual. Fundamental principles are accumulative however each day will offer new material.<br />
<br />
<span>Stephen Thompson is a dancer/choreographer/</span><wbr></wbr><span class="word_break" style="display: inline-block;"></span>pedagogue originally from Calgary, Alberta. His initial experience as a performer started as a competitive figure skater where he competed at the 1998 Olympic Trials. He received a Bachelor of Kinesiology with a minor in Contemporary Dance at the University of Calgary. Stephen has worked as an interpreter, collaborator and co-choreographer with numerous companies and artists across Canada and Europe including Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, Nicole Mion, Foundation Jean- Pierre Perrault, Le Groupe de la Place Royale, Production LAPS (Martin Bélanger),Par B.L.eux (Benoit Lachambre), Lee Su-Feh, DANS.KIAS (Austria), Fabrice Lambert (France), Fabrice Ramalingom (France), Dick Wong (Hong Kong) and Antonija Livingstone and Jennifer Lacey in Impulstanz festival in Vienna (2009). He has authored several choreographies, This may contain… (2009) ________+ NOW and a little bit before (2007), Garden Variety (2006), Minor Fantasy (2005) and *You aRe HERE has been presented in Montreal OFF.T.A. (2009) and Fluid Festival Calgary. He has taught workshops and classes in Canadian and European schools, communities and Universities.</span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16194445993594121514noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-30653709914262563092011-10-10T20:46:00.000-07:002011-10-10T20:47:40.410-07:00Coming Up!! House Workshop with Emily Law!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5AV5BrJGGCM/TpO7LvB8_PI/AAAAAAAAAFw/uPKGzkTtYJY/s1600/Em+vogue+in+air.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5AV5BrJGGCM/TpO7LvB8_PI/AAAAAAAAAFw/uPKGzkTtYJY/s400/Em+vogue+in+air.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>House Workshop with Emily Law (Toronto)</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>November 7-11, 10am to 12pm</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>$50/5 classes or $12 drop-in</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Dovercourt House</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>tolove.in@gmail.com to register</b></span><br />
<b></b><br />
<b><div class="MsoBodyText3" style="display: inline !important; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><div class="MsoNormal" style="display: inline !important; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">This all style street dance class will explore concepts from house, waacking, popping, contemporary and breaking. Through these dance forms we will practice isolations, grooves , musicality and footwork. The class will be informed by the rich history of street dance and the social and cultural context and movements that influenced these many dance styles. Through the isolation work we will try to liberate varying sections of our bodies to explore new avenues for movement. Each person in the class will be encouraged to investigate their own style and take on the movements shared in class.</span></div></div></b></span></div></b><br />
<b><div class="MsoBodyText3" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">To the sounds of some funky tunes we will waack, pop, jack and skate through the space. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-weight: normal;"><b></b></span><br />
<b><div class="MsoBodyText3" style="display: inline !important; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><div class="MsoNormal" style="display: inline !important; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><div class="MsoBodyText3" style="display: inline !important; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><div class="MsoNormal" style="display: inline !important; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Please bring running shoes.</span></div></div></b></span></div></span></b></span></div></b></span></div></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><div class="MsoBodyText3" style="display: inline !important; line-height: normal;"></div></span></b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"></span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"></span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><div class="MsoBodyText3" style="display: inline !important; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>Emily Law</b> was born in Toronto and started dancing while attending the Etobicoke School of the Arts in 2000. She has many passions including contemporary dance, various styles of street dance, and visual art. She is a graduate of The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, where she formed two collectives. One with Masuyo Higashide, and Jennifer Lécuyer called cube3 and another called Octamerous. She is also a founding member of the Toronto house dance crew Warehouse Jacks and the street dance/ theatre dance company Gadfly. These past few years Emily has Enjoyed working with Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, The Chimera Project, the Parahumans Dance Theatre, Event Horizon Dance, Piotr Biernat and was a resident artists at Sound Travels 2006.</span></span></div></span></b></span></div></b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span></span></div></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16194445993594121514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-45009707055087163602011-10-10T20:36:00.000-07:002011-10-10T20:36:05.778-07:00Just added!!! Axis Syllabus Fundamentals<h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1}" style="color: black; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span class="messageBody translationEligibleUserMessage" data-ft="{"type":3}"><div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4e93b8e9c88a23885763844" style="display: inline;">Axis Syllabus (AS) Fundamentals - Early Morning Movement Salutations<br />
<br />
October 24, 25, 26 8:00-9:30am, $45/ 3 classes or $15 drop-in<br />
Downward Dog Yoga Centre, 735 Queen St West<br />
<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">Facilitated by <a data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=687045526" href="https://www.facebook.com/kira.kirsch" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Kira Maria Kirsch</a><br />
These three classes will serve as an introduction of the Axis Syllabus to the novice as well as a form of deepening practice for the experienced mover. At a slow pace and in simple motives we will explore ways of getting into, across and out of the floor with more ease and fluidity. We will look closely at safe anatomical architecture to build ramps and structures with and within your body that prevent you from injury, enhance efficiency and increase joy!<br />
<br />
email tolove.in@gmail.com to register!</span></div></span></h6>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16194445993594121514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-12213422499165393432011-09-26T20:03:00.001-07:002011-09-26T20:03:58.960-07:00Yoga times!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3ujxvvOeP58/ToE84kub0cI/AAAAAAAAAFs/sATjVLdWn1M/s1600/hubclass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3ujxvvOeP58/ToE84kub0cI/AAAAAAAAAFs/sATjVLdWn1M/s640/hubclass.jpg" width="427" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16194445993594121514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-4149724445454434182011-09-21T20:47:00.000-07:002011-09-21T20:47:49.566-07:00SWAP-IT!! this Sunday at Dancemakers!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kMze5v0kMw4/TnqvtOFxTII/AAAAAAAAAFo/ckk3s9Zo8ps/s1600/SWAPIT-poster-final-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kMze5v0kMw4/TnqvtOFxTII/AAAAAAAAAFo/ckk3s9Zo8ps/s640/SWAPIT-poster-final-1.jpg" width="492" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16194445993594121514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-21271587086776783232011-08-18T15:37:00.000-07:002011-08-18T15:37:45.809-07:00Fundraiser for the amazing Marjory Smarth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ULmhdD2s0dU/Tk2TlONl6qI/AAAAAAAAAFk/sbEcwxhcVKM/s1600/290706_10150272909402605_504502604_7840167_7761028_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ULmhdD2s0dU/Tk2TlONl6qI/AAAAAAAAAFk/sbEcwxhcVKM/s400/290706_10150272909402605_504502604_7840167_7761028_o.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<div style="font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Uniting over one woman’s battle with cancer, an encouraged dance arts community wishes to raise funds for Marjory Smarth, internationally known professional dancer and dance teacher, on August 28. The event will include food for sale, great raffle prizes, and a house dance workshop at Gotta Dance at 3581 Dundas Street West, Toronto, 7PM- 11PM. Suggested donation for the event is 10$.</div><div style="font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">“We hope Marjory can continue teaching ‘till she’s old and grey- she would continue to give through her talent and spirit,” says ‘Fly Lady Di-‘ Diana Reyes, a former pupil of Marjory’s and the teacher leading the dance workshop at the fundraiser.</div><div style="font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">For the past two years, Marjory has been battling cancer, and as she lives in the United States, medical care is not cheap. That is why members of the Toronto house and hip hop dance community are being summoned to raise money for this amazing woman. Between cupcake sales and tickets for raffle prizes such as private dance classes, the goal is to raise -either meet or exceed- $500 for Marjory.</div><div style="font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Marjory’s skills, like most early house and hip hop dancers, were taken from the streets and developed in the underground club scene. In the late 1980s, she danced professionally with music artists including Diana Ross, Heavy D and CeCe Peniston, among others. After numerous dance tours, four documentaries and teaching internationally, she is continually considered to be a major figure in the dance and historian communities. Today she enjoys focusing on helping people find their own freedom of expression. </div><div style="font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">“I just open the threshold, that’s all,” Marjory says. “They have to find their own eloquence.”<span style="font: 12.0px 'Lucida Grande';"><br />
<br />
</span>Raffle Prizes Include But Are Not Limited To:</div><ul style="list-style-type: disc;"><li style="font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Art work by Terrance Es</li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Massage with Ceinwin Gobert</li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Private 60 minute classes from six or more seasoned house and hip hop dancers</li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Times; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Music/entry pass for Soul Custody</li>
</ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Hope to see you there!!!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16194445993594121514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-23845849032138020402011-08-03T21:34:00.000-07:002011-09-25T14:36:26.412-07:00Announcing our Fall/Winter programming!!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pTotBjlXBWM/TjoeaMGtFHI/AAAAAAAAAFU/W4ZTzzGDlfI/s1600/1737.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pTotBjlXBWM/TjoeaMGtFHI/AAAAAAAAAFU/W4ZTzzGDlfI/s320/1737.jpg" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stephen Thompson workshop, Feb 2010. Photo Jeremy Mimnagh<br />
<br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">The summer marches on but we have been planning ahead...!! Lucky you! We are thrilled to share our fall/winter 2011 programming with you. We will be visited by some old favorites and have the pleasure of hosting some new teachers as well. Please visit the ' Fall/Winter 2011 Workshops' page for teachers bios, class descriptions and pre-registration information! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">To register for any workshop email: tolove.in@gmail.com</span><br />
<div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>September 19-23: Deconstructing Cages Workshop with Liz Kinoshita (Brussels)</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>September 26-30: Break Fusion Workshop with Emmanuelle Le Phan (Montreal)</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>October 24-28: Elastic Perspectives, Axis-Syllabus Workshop with Kira Kirsch (Germany/USA)</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>November 7-11: House with Emily Law (Toronto)</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b>December 5-9: Workshop with Stephen Thompson (Canada/France)</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Happy Summer! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">The Love-In team</span><br />
<div><br />
</div></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16194445993594121514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-81750655028259095692011-07-28T15:42:00.000-07:002011-07-28T15:42:24.660-07:00Summer Love-In: a success story<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kc-DkyLI-jI/TjHaj1fi_II/AAAAAAAAAE0/LHwg-eiFLZM/s1600/DSC_5022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kc-DkyLI-jI/TjHaj1fi_II/AAAAAAAAAE0/LHwg-eiFLZM/s320/DSC_5022.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">9 days, 1 BBQ, over 30 dancers, lots of sweating and of course, lots of loving times....</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">I </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">knew I wouldn't believe that we had pulled it off until I saw it with my own eyes. My first day in Frey's class, I had a moment recalling taking the Dynamic Geometry class at Impulstanz with Eroca last year and I could hardly believe, there we were, a year later hosting Frey and Francesca in Toronto. There was maybe a small tear.... We couldn't have been happier with how things went!!! </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Over the course of the intensive, we welcomed dance artists from Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto and Calgary. We were so pleased to have artists to represent so many communities, as we so rarely get to dance together. We hope that this will inspire new collaborations, friendships and projects in the future. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Big thanks to the amazing faculty; Frey Faust, Heidi Strauss, Justine Chambers and Francesca Pedulla.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Many many thanks to Dancemakers for generously helping us out with the space in the final hours.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Stay tuned for updates about our Fall and Winter programming to be released very soon!!!</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16194445993594121514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-38200643615348566252011-05-05T15:03:00.000-07:002011-05-14T09:41:39.281-07:00Floorwork(ed) Workshop with Elke Schroeder!!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px;"><b>May 16-18</b> : 10am to noon</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px;"><b>June 13-16</b>: 10am to noon</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px;">Monday-Dancemakers, Tuesday and Wednesday-Dovercourt hOuse, 1st floor!<br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px;">Floorwork(ed) with Elke Schroeder</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">Practice techniques for getting in and out of the floor with speed and grace. Jump, dive, fly low... Learn how to condition the body to perform these movements safely. A grounding and invigorating dance practice for professional and pre professional dancers.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">Floorwork(ed) trailer: </span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/qUlxWsyY65Q?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">What to bring?<br />
*kneepads<br />
*danceable sneakers<br />
*long pants and sleeves for sliding<br />
<br />
12$ to drop-in or $30 for 3 classes (May) or $40 for 4 classes (June)<br />
tolove.in@gmail.com to register<br />
</span></span><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7yqyGTTXtYY/TcMbjVya9uI/AAAAAAAAAEo/TAZbZmERMs8/s1600/elke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7yqyGTTXtYY/TcMbjVya9uI/AAAAAAAAAEo/TAZbZmERMs8/s1600/elke.jpg" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">About Elke:<br />
<br />
Elke Schroeder has been training and performing in various disciplines of dance and theatre for over 20 years, and is a graduate of The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. Ms. Schroeder has performed at fFIDA, the Junction Arts Festival, In a White Room, the Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival, Equity Showcase Theatre and Nuit Blanche. She has worked with Darryl Tracy, Andrea Nann, Heidi Strauss, Susie Burpee and TILT Sound + Motion and has been teaching her FloorWork(ed) classes for over a year. She continues to dance independently and manages Ahimsa Yoga Centre. Her teaching has been influenced by her s</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px;">tudies with Inaki Azpillaga, David Zambrano and Ted Stoffer.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16194445993594121514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578715640173016610.post-37826363392183965152011-04-06T15:43:00.000-07:002011-04-06T15:43:25.558-07:00first home grown workshop in a while!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-446L4ICFQR0/TZzrxGff4TI/AAAAAAAAAEk/Wmps-yE0z4I/s1600/eroca+yves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-446L4ICFQR0/TZzrxGff4TI/AAAAAAAAAEk/Wmps-yE0z4I/s320/eroca+yves.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<table class="uiInfoTable mvm profileInfoTable" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 10px; width: 493px;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="data" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 15px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 3px; text-align: left; vertical-align: top;"><div class="description summary"><div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4d9ce9bfa43d97119813669" style="display: inline;">Monday May 2-Friday May 6, 10am-12noon<br />
<br />
$60 for 5 day workshop or $15 drop in (because we have 2 instructors)<br />
pre registration strongly encouraged<br />
to pre register email: tolove.in@gmail.com<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />
<b>Momentum-based Floorwork into Partnering </b><br />
Eroca and Yves’ class will explore the parallels between momentum-based floorwork and momentum-based partnering. Internally, we will develop our awareness, clarity of intention, and refine our use of the foundations of movement in the body: such as the structural support provided by the skeleton and the flow of muscular tone that creates movement. Externally, we will explore and strengthen specific movement patterns, using spirals to move in and out of the floor, both with a partner and solo. We will continue this dynamic use of the spiral as we move through space; expanding our perception and the physical possibilities towards a spherical appreciation of space, where movement can take place in any direction. Linking the skills we already have in floorwork or contact will provide us with a base for creating a greater ease in moving with and accessing momentum when dancing with another moving body.<br />
<br />
Eroca and Yves having been dancing together for 3 years and are eager to share the discoveries of their research with the Toronto dance community.<br />
<br />
Yves Candau has a background in science and was doing a PhD in Cognitive Sciences when he discovered dance. Gradually, his interest shifted from the abstract to a more embodied research, which he has been passionately pursuing ever since. As a movement artist he is fascinated by how internal dynamics of mind and body give rise to manifested external movement. He aims to share his fascination with others through performance and teaching. He has performed solo work in France, Italy and Canada. As an interpreter Yves has worked with a number of choreographers in Toronto: Rebecca Todd, Eryn Dace Trudell, Malgorzata Nowacka, Newton Moraes, Holly Small, and most frequently Peter Chin, for whom he has had the pleasure to dance over a span of 10 years and six different pieces. Yves’ teaching has been nourished by a number of past and present practices: Vipassana meditation, Steve Paxton’s Material for the Spine, and most importantly the Alexander Technique. Yves has taught Contact Improvisation since 2001, giving classes and workshops in France, Italy, Germany, Canada and the USA. He is also an overtone singer and a teacher of the Alexander Technique.<br />
<br />
<br />
After earning her Honors BFA in Film/Video/Performance and Sculpture from California College of the Arts (San Francisco and Oakland, CA), Eroca Nicols artistic practice shifted to dance and movement. She studied in the professional programs at both Ballet Creole and The School of Toronto Dance Theatre before pursuing further training in release-based and improvisational dance forms. She is currently a Toronto-based dance artist and educator. Her choreographic work through her company, Lady Janitor, has appeared at: Nuit Blanche, Toronto, The Cube (Bristol, UK), Dance in My Backyard, Toronto's International Dance Day, Dance Matters Performance Series, Fresh Blood, Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival and The Young Centre for the Performing Arts. In addition to her own work, Eroca also performs in the work of others among these artists are Pam Johnson, Les Imprudanses, Kaeja d'Dance and Andrea Nann. Eroca is Co-Founder of the Toronto Dance Community Love-In, with fellow dancer Amanda Acorn. She teaches contact and contemporary dance as well as Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga. Eroca’s teaching and training are deeply influenced in her continued study of the Axis Syllabus.</span></div></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><div id="contentArea" role="main" style="float: left; margin-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 20px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 493px; word-wrap: break-word;"><div id="pagelet_event_wall"><div id="event_profile_wall"><div class="eventsWhiteComposer"><div id="feedwall_with_composer" style="padding-top: 2px;"><div class="pbm" style="padding-bottom: 10px;"><div class="uiComposer uiComposerHideContent stat_elem uiComposerTopBorder uiComposerOpen uiComposerHideContent uiComposerWhiteMessageBox" id="u908780_18" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: initial; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px;"><div class="focus_target" style="padding-bottom: 10px;"><div class="showWhenOpen mutableContent" style="display: block !important;"><form action="http://www.facebook.com/ajax/updatestatus.php" class="attachmentForm" method="post" rel="async" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></form></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16194445993594121514noreply@blogger.com0