I don’t talk about my contemporary dance life on this blog much since overwhelmingly my days are spent building my textile work, and mothering. It’s a big shift, but my interest in fibre art waxes of late and it’s not so much that my interest in dance wanes, but she’s had the front seat most of my life and it’s time for someone else to ride shotgun! So my dance commitments are fewer and farther between, but they are still precious to me. Dance is simply a part me, stitched inextricably into my fibres, a fundamental communication form.
That said, I’m happy to report I’m working on a dance project this month! It is so lovely to spend some time in the studio. Along with my friend and collaborator Brittany Duggan, we are reviving a solo we choreographed together for the 2010 Dance 2 Danse Festival called Mountain Girl. We’ve been invited by Simcoe Contemporary Dancers to perform it on a shared program they are presenting as part of Barrie’s Winterfest in the first weekend of February.
Brittany is the dancer, the interpreter for Mountain Girl. I’m the costume and set designer. The original concept for the choreography was our consideration of how geography effects the development of our physical and emotional selves and influences our relationships with space and place. We’ve had fun working in Studio B, the basement studio of Toronto Dance Theatre’s soulful old church building in Cabbagetown. We’re resuscitating Mountain Girl, breathing life back into her choreographic bones and it never ceases to amaze me how kinetic memory works – our muscles remember so much with the smallest cues. Plus Brittany kept excellent notes, thank goodness.
Here’s an excerpt of Mountain Girl in our first re-mount rehearsal a couple of weeks ago. That glacial skirt is not easy to dance in!
If you’re around or accessible to Barrie come enjoy Winterfest, the glorious expanses of snow we have here, and some contemporary dance at the MacLaren Art Centre on Sunday, February 2nd at 2:30pm — admission is free and it’s family friendly art! Click here for more info.
—
Photo credits: top: Lindsay Zier-Vogel; centre: Ömer Yükseker
I’ve been tossing around the idea of doing a series of interviews with some lovely creative types I want to share with you. Since I’m heading to Alberta this summer maybe I have gold rush on my mind, but truly, each of the women I’ll feature here is a golden nugget of excellence in the career she’s carved out for herself! Therefore, I am delighted to present the inaugural:
Pocket Alchemy Nugget of Awesome Interviews: eight interviews with eight inspiring, artistic, self-starting women over the eight weeks of summer. I am proud to call each of them friend and am delighted to share them and their work here. Please note that I am replacing my regular Rearview Fridays posts with these interviews over the summer.
THE INTRODUCTION
Susie Burpee. Photo by Omer Yukseker.
SUSIE BURPEEis someone I knew as a performer first. I remember her joining Dancemakers (a contemporary dance company in Toronto) in about 2000 while I was still at dance school and being mesmerized by her performances. The intriguing lady with the blond bob, gorgeous calves and insane technical and interpretive skills. In 2005 we presented dances on the same program at the Atlantic Fringe Festival. I was totally intimidated to meet Susie having kind of totally revered her for her stage work. Yet she turned out the be the most lovely, down-to-earth lady ever! I loved watching her work on the very beginnings of the fussy, hilarious, heartbreaking character who would grace her work The Spinster’s Almanac. In fact I often ignored my own studio time to quietly tuck in beside the piano and take in her thoughtful creative process, the best kind of education. Since then we vaguely knew and circled each other in the Toronto dance community until we managed, conveniently, to be pregnant at exactly the same time and to have the same midwives, fortuitous coincidence all around! So we decided we should start hanging out. And it’s been the best. Our 11-month-olds play in one another’s vicinity and occasionally grab the other’s ear while we share parallel motherhood victories and woes, ideas and hopes.
THE BIO
Susie Burpeecreates “fully human characters, struggling for connection” (The Toronto Star). Her work has received Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Outstanding Choreography and Performance, and she is a recipient of the K.M. Hunter Artist Award for Dance. Her performance works have been commended for their skillful use of contemporary movement to transform individuals on stage and showcase human complexity.
Susie Burpee in her own work “The Spinster’s Almanac.” Photo by Deborah Hickey.
Susie Burpee was a company dancer for Dancemakers, Le Groupe Dance Lab, TRIP dance company, and Ruth Cansfield Dance. She now performs in her own works and continues to work closely with innovative choreographers Serge Bennathan, Lesandra Dodson and Tedd Robinson. She completed her professional training at the School of Contemporary Dancers (Winnipeg), augmented her studies at the Limon and Cunningham schools in New York, and trained in character and Bouffon at L’Ecole Philippe Gaulier (Paris). She teaches technique classes and workshops for professional dancers and students across the country, notably, 10 Gates Dancing La B.A.R.N. Summer XIntensive, Canadian Children’s Dance Theatre, and Dancemakers.
THE INTERVIEW
Pocket Alchemy Question: Tell me about your artistic work.
Susie Burpee: I work in contemporary dance. It’s been 20 years now. I started in ballet as a kid, and by the time I was 12 I was doing ‘modern dance’ at Winnipeg’s School of Contemporary Dancers. So I’ve been rolling on the floor, running in circles, and falling (purposefully), for a very long time. I did professional training, danced for some great Canadian contemporary dance companies and choreographers, and now work as an independent dance artist. What does that entail, you ask? Well, I wear a backpack and ride a bike, which gets me from pilates to dance class to the studio. My studio work varies from contract to contract. Sometimes I choreograph commissions for other dancers; sometimes I teach dance class or a workshop. Most recently, I’ve started to work in theatre, choreographing and sourcing movement for contemporary plays. I also perform in my own choreographic works.
PAQ: what is currently sparking your imagination?
SB: I have a new full-length production called Road Trip,which premieres October 18th, 2012 at Enwave Theatre in Toronto. It is created in collaboration with my longtime colleague Linnea Swan, and the two of us perform the work together. What sparks my imagination about the work is the fact that our longtime-colleague-ness means that we can do things other performers can’t.
Linnea Swan and Susie Burpee in their work “Road Trip (je ne regrette rien).” Photo by David Tilston.
We can anticipate each other’s actions, and respond in a way that elevates the work to a place of intimacy that is rare. And it means we can do weird and wonderful things that make people laugh. There are few things I enjoy more than making people laugh. It’s really difficult and really easy at the same time.
PAQ:How do you structure and manage your days/weeks/months to get it all in? Do you have micro/macro plans that you stick to?
SB: I have an almost-1-year-old now, so organization is key. Being an indie dance artist is already full of multi-tasking and planning. Adding Alice in the mix has actually clarified things and made me streamline what I do. I have lessened my activity because I’d like to stay home with her more than less. I am fortunate to have the option to do this.
Susie Burpee in her own work “A Mass Becomes You.” Photo by Omer Yukseker.
Macro: I think about what projects are desirable and feasible and might have an extended life. If they are self-initiated projects, I think a couple of years ahead and organize funding strategies, as well as potential partners, well in advance. I have a part-time administrator that I pay out-of-pocket/project to help with things. Other projects that I’m hired for usually come to my door a couple of months to a year before they take place. Training is difficult to fit in these days. I have worked up my “kitchen barre class,” and head off to Pilates before the girl wakes up. I have never been that great at MACRO MACRO. I’ve never been one of those people who could say “In 10 years I want to run my own company”. I’m not sure anymore if that’s because my personality is a bit go-with-the-flow, or if I’m too scared to dream like that. It’s funny because I AM a big dreamer.
PAQ: What is a current favourite resource or material?
SB: People. People watching. Thinking about the people I’m watching. Always has been. I am just so interested in people and what they do and why they do it. Ask my husband. We’ll pass someone on the street, and when we’re out of earshot he’ll turn to me and say, “Ok, so what’s his story?” I think I would have been a great hire for CSIS. My work has always been about people. A lot of people call it “character work.” I find there’s still great value in illuminating humankind through live performance.
Susie Burpee and Dan Wild in “Fidelity’s Edge” by Burpee. Photo by Omer Yukseker.
PAQ: What about your work keeps you up at night (for good or ill!)?
SB: One quality about myself that’s not so compatible with creating work for audiences is that I really love to please people. And when you make work, you can’t please everyone. A small but big vulnerable part of me always wants to make people happy. So the nights I’ve laid awake all night are the nights I’ve felt that somehow, through performance, I’ve let people down.
PAQ: How has your aesthetic evolved over the years?
SB: Oh jeez. Well, let’s look at the two ends of the spectrum. My first performed piece, at 14, was choreographed to Dead Can Dance, and had lots of running and drama and bum rolls. And this latest piece, Road Trip,has, let’s see … lots of running and drama and fainting. I’ve evolved from bum rolls to fainting.
THE WRAP UP
Susie Burpee and Linnea Swan’s show Road Trip is being presented by DanceWorks in Toronto from October 18th to 20th. For more info on that you can check out DanceWorks site, I wager it’ll be a worthy show to attend! For more info on her performance and teaching work, check out Susie’s website, she is a gem.
I’ve been tossing around the idea of doing a series of interviews with some lovely creative types I want to share with you. Since I’m heading to Alberta this summer maybe I have gold rush on my mind, but truly, each of the women I’ll feature here is a golden nugget of excellence in the career she’s carved out for herself! Therefore, I am delighted to present the inaugural:
Pocket Alchemy Nugget of Awesome Interviews: eight interviews with eight inspiring, artistic, self-starting women over the eight weeks of summer. I am proud to call each of them friend and am delighted to share them and their work here. Please note that I am replacing my regular Rearview Fridays posts with these interviews over the summer.
THE INTRODUCTION
Jennifer Dallas. Photo by John MacLean.
JENNIFER DALLAS is true colleague and friend — for nearly a decade now. For instance, she danced in a show I choreographed and co-produced in April of 2008 for 4 nights, then (because of course I went into labour on closing night) she stood with me through the 30-odd hours of labour and delivery for my first son Rudi. She is simply above and beyond in my life professionally and personally. Jen is a profoundly dedicated artist, she has stamina and curiosity to beat the band! She’s a prairie girl who’s found artistic truth in a number of African countries. She travels, creates, performs and teaches between Canada and Africa regularly. I think she is courageous yet delicate, serious and silly, an artist to the core. Full disclosure: I’m on the board of her company. I really believe in the work and art and intention of this woman. Jen is also a champion knitter, sweaters and blankets and scarves, oh my! And I think I helped her fall in love with pedicures and bright toenail polish this spring, we may or may not already have a spa date for the fall, ahem.
THE BIO
Jennifer Dallas is a Toronto-based dancer, choreographer, teacher and costume designer. Hailing from the Canadian Rockies, she began her formal dance training at a very young age in ballet and contemporary dance and is a graduate of the School of Toronto Dance Theatre. Jennifer is the artistic director of Kemi Contemporary Dance Projects, which she founded in 2008 after her first trip to Lagos Nigeria. Since then, trips to Africa have been a focal point of her dance research and include teaching and creating in Nigeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Ethiopia.
Jennifer Dallas and Bienvenue Bazie choreographing together in Burkina Faso, July 2012.
Jennifer’s dance work has been presented by the Nigerian festivals Truefesta and Dance meets Danse. In Toronto she has been co-presented by DanceWorks and has presented numerous productions of her own. She has created commissioned dances for the Scream Literary Festival, The Crazyfish Collective and The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. Jennifer has performed in dance works by Tedd Robinson, Marc Boivin, Susie Burpee, Adedayo Liadi and has created two works with dancer/choreographer Bienvenue Bazie of Burkina Faso. She performed solo with the Juno-nominated afrobeat band Mr. Something Something from 2005 to 2009 and has presented movement workshops coast to coast. Jennifer is the resident costume designer for The School of Toronto Dance Theatre and has done costume design for Kaeja d’Dance, Princess Productions and Blue Ceiling Dance. She currently sits on the board of directors for the Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists – Ontario Chapter.
THE INTERVIEW
Pocket Alchemy Question: Tell me about your artistic work.
Jennifer Dallas: I am a contemporary dance artist, which for me right now means that I am a dancer, choreographer, teacher, arts administrator and a costume designer.
Jennifer Dallas in her solo “Zetetica”. Photo by Andréa de Keijzer.
PAQ: what is currently sparking your imagination?
JD: People in their habits, idiosyncrasies, languages, relationships and physicality as they move through the world.
Sound natural and created. Currently I am interested in the sounds of peoples’ voices and the different intonations within a personality and a voice. The changes in tone when communicating with different people reveals relationships, histories, desires etc. As I write this I am in Burkina Faso, West Africa, where the European language spoken (French) is not my mother tongue. I have learned to hear and understand the language through tonal nuances. Often the conversation shifts to a native tongue such as Mossi (most commonly spoken on the streets of Ouagadougou) I find myself following threads of speech to hear the song of the words. I try to stay awake to these nuances which reveal and inspire at the same time.
Jennifer Dallas. Photo by Anthony Taylor.
Spontaneity and physical reactions, habitual and instinctual are also filtering through my sieve of creative input. How does one’s culture affect the way they walk into a room, the physicality they present, the rituals of greeting and social generosity. Alternately, if I present you with a cold glass of water on a hot day – what does your body naturally do. What moves first? Your face your hands? Is it that you lick your lips, salivate, or do you reach for the glass immediately? Do you hold it in your hands for a while and feel the cold on your skin before you drink? I like to draw a parallel between the instincts we use everyday and new movement research [for dance creation], new language. They overlap more than you might guess.
The French language, and playing with words to find clarity. As a person learning a new language I often use the same, safe word choices (also because I still get so tongue-tied on conjugations…) but this uncertainty can translate to the studio too. The body is comfortable with certain movements, now I’m talking about words, even this movement is part of what gives a choreographer a signature. It is important to have a signature but I am currently shaping the dialect of my physical language while I am finding my way with an entirely new voice, a French one.
Improvisation, life is full of it. I almost always use it as a starting place when I am researching a new idea. I will give myself parameters to work eventually, but I always film my improvisations because the freshness of that moment can sometimes contain so much information. Occasionally I look at the film to see if something interesting has arisen or I look at it later in the process to remind me why I have chosen an image or where I might like to go with that image.
Jennifer Dallas teaching and choreographing in Burkina Faso, July 2012.
PAQ:How do you structure and manage your days/weeks/months to get it all in? Do you have micro/macro plans that you stick to?
JD:I have just finished a rough draft of a 3 year plan. I am learning that the dance world works at least 1 year in advance with bookings and funding applications etc, so instead of running alongside it I am trying to get in front of it. This is a great challenge for me as I am an improviser. I have been assured by various people that a 3 year plan still has room for improvisation!
Generally my work is structured on a project to project basis. I have 1 or 2 major projects each year, usually the creation of a new dance work and/or mounting a full-length production. Of late, my projects have been structured so that I have a creation period that is all-consuming and requires me to block off a specific period of time. I may not have very much time in the studio prior to or after the fixed period. Most administrative work and slotting-in of commissions or costume design happens around the major projects. I think of it like a pond of lily pads, including the balancing act involved in crossing it.
I have come to accept that I need a lot of processing time in my life. I used to think of this as procrastination but now I revel in it.
Irit Amichai and Erin Shand in “Knot” by Jennifer Dallas. Photo by Krista Posyniak.
PAQ: What is a current favourite resource or material?
JD: Music of all kinds though generally I return to some old faves to get the engine going. I feel strongly about the connection between music and dance. I almost always work with music first then the dance. Hmmm, maybe this is a challenge for my next research period: sans music a la debut!
Photographs of people and places that I know and don’t know.
Fabic and clothing: I love to work in costume as soon as I can. I like to see how the costume informs the work, to allow it to become fully integrated in the work.
PAQ: What about your work keeps you up at night (for good or ill!)?
Jennifer Dallas and Bienvenue Bazie perform in Toronto, spring 2012. Photo by Omer Yukseker.
JD: If I am creating I generally sleep very little. I like the tired energy that it produces. My mind is open somehow and I have less energy to spend on filtering and questioning. The energy and ideas come from an instinctual place when I am tired. What it is exactly that keeps me up I can’t necessarily pin-point. Images of where to go next with the work is something.
PAQ: How has your aesthetic evolved over the years?
JD: While I still like to work with line, rhythm and timing, I have stopped placing so much importance on finding and reproducing exact steps. Dance is a living art and I seek to create and enjoy an experience on stage rather than something constrained.
THE WRAP UP
Jennifer Dallas returns soon from a trip of teaching and creating dance in Burkina Faso and Israel. Her company Kemi has an event in Toronto in November where you can check out her latest work in progress. Jennifer will also return to her costuming work at The School of Toronto Dance Theater so watch for her thoughtful work, both textile and choreographic, coming soon!
I’ve been tossing around the idea of doing a series of interviews with some lovely creative types I want to share with you. Since I’m heading to Alberta this summer maybe I have gold rush on my mind, but truly, each of the women I’ll feature here is a golden nugget of excellence in the career she’s carved out for herself! Therefore, I am delighted to present the inaugural:
Pocket Alchemy Nugget of Awesome Interviews:eight interviews with eight inspiring, artistic, self-starting women over the eight weeks of summer. I am proud to call each of them friend and am delighted to share them and their work here. Please note that I am replacing my regular Rearview Fridays posts with these interviews over the summer.
THE INTRODUCTION
Siobhan Topping and her son Liam.
SIOBHAN TOPPINGis the woman who is most new to me in this series of interviews. When I started blogging and working towards being an independent crafter in January this year, a mutual friend told me I had to meet Siobhan and set up the introduction. And I’m so glad to have met her, Siobhan is truly a kindred spirit, the full-on Anne of Green Gables variety. She’s been making and selling her natural soaps and products for years now and has been so generous in sharing her experience and survival tips with me. We have spent many hours over lunch and little boys playing (her 1 son and my 2 little guys, so yes, it gets loud!) discussing pros and cons of craft fairs, etsy, online sales, relationships with stores, ideas about product development, scheduling and so on. And I’m in love, LOVE with her soap. I shamelessly stand on my blog-soap-box and declare that you gotta try it. And her room spray. And her cleaning scrubs. Dang. I’m so glad to include her here!
THE BIO
Siobhan Topping is the owner of Sacred Lotus, a natural product company. She is also the editor of naturalmommy.com, a free natural resource for moms and caregivers. Siobhan studied Aromatherapy and holds an honours-specialist degree in Women and Gender Studies from the University of Toronto. Her academic research focuses on midwifery, natural childbirth and women’s history.
THE INTERVIEW
Pocket Alchemy Question: Tell me about your artistic work.
Siobhan Topping: I create natural products through my company, Sacred Lotus, to help people live naturally and feel well. My work is centered on the environment. I express that through Sacred Lotus and with my other endeavors at naturalmommy.com. Naturalmommy.com was born from a personal realization that I had: Parenting is an environmental issue because the sustainability of our planet is connected to the sustainability of our children. I want to explore this and other natural parenting topics with other moms.
I have a passion for mom-and-baby care and for limiting toxins in environments where children live and play. Sacred Lotus has a full line of natural baby care products which are free from preservatives and synthetic fragrances.
I am also the smitten mother of a toddler and I often think of motherhood as an artistic work in and of itself.
PAQ:what is currently sparking your imagination?
ST: My son, who is magic to me, my family, friends, nature and other moms who share their experiences. I have also been spending a lot of time organic gardening this year. I really love playing in the dirt! It is good for the imagination and the soul. Planting and watching things grow is like a meditation for me. I love that I am giving my son the opportunity to be in nature and to just have fun outside.
PAQ:How do you structure and manage your days/weeks/months to get it all in? Do you have micro/macro plans that you stick to?
ST:With a young child, I have come to understand that structure requires some flexibility. For the most part I have learned to pick my top 1 or 2 goals for the day in regards to my work and I try to only work on those things when I can. That way, I feel as if I have really accomplished something. I also work when my child sleeps, like right now for example!
PAQ: What is a current favourite resource or material?
ST: I love, love, love essential oils and always have. I believe they are one of the keys to our environmental sustainability. They have so many helpful properties, such as being anti-bacterial or anti-fungal. All you need to clean and rid your home of toxic cleaning products is essential oils, organic liquid (castile) soap, baking soda and some white vinegar. I am not kidding! Cleaning naturally with homemade toxic-free cleaning products can easily save your family hundreds of dollars per year. Natural cleaning products are especially important when one realizes that most store bought “cleaning” products are major contributors to indoor air pollution, which can, alarmingly, be anywhere from 2 to 100 times higher than outdoor air — not safe for children, not safe for anyone!
PAQ: Give me 4 great songs to work to!
ST: The joy in music is in its variety, so this is a hard question for me. I have to say, anything by Simon and Garfunkel. I am also a big Lhasa De Sela fan, a former Montreal resident who sang in English, Spanish and French. My favourite album of hers is The Living Road, which I like to put on and just let play. I also took a few classical music courses in University so I am drawn to having classic music on in the background while I focus on other things.
PAQ: What about your work keeps you up at night (for good or ill!)?
ST: It saddens me to think of babies and families living in extremely toxic conditions without even realizing it. I truly believe that so many health issues can be prevented from living a more natural life. People have been bombarded with toxic substances, unknowingly, and I am on a mission to help people to have healthier options. I also love making products, writing and coming up with new ideas, so it is not unlike me to be too excited over something to go to sleep.
PAQ: How has your aesthetic evolved over the years?
ST: Naturally, my aesthetic has evolved as I have grown as a person. I started making natural product more than 10 years ago. In some ways my focus was really narrow but ironically broad in the beginning: Make natural products which help to make people feel good and live naturally. Sounds easy? Not! I realized there were so many skills and things which went along with that. I had to create not just the products themselves but to also market them, package them, put them on-line, etc.
It has been an amazing growing experience. Along the way, I gained many skills I didn’t know I needed and I have learned how to apply the skills I already had to everything that I do. My husband once wrote on our fridge with fridge magnets “courage and hope indeed.” I try to enact that in my businesses and in my life. Running a business makes me push myself outside of my comfort zone.
THE WRAP UP
Siobhan Topping has 2 websites for her work; you can find her products at Sacred Lotus and her resources at Natural Mommy. I am obviously a big fan of the Sacred Lotus products, natural, gentle yet get-the-job-done and made here in Ontario, Canada. Order some if your cupboard is low!
I’ve been tossing around the idea of doing a series of interviews with some lovely creative types I want to share with you. Since I’m heading to Alberta this summer maybe I have gold rush on my mind, but truly, each of the women I’ll feature here is a golden nugget of excellence in the career she’s carved out for herself! Therefore, I am delighted to present the inaugural:
Pocket Alchemy Nugget of Awesome Interviews: eight interviews with eight inspiring, artistic, self-starting women over the eight weeks of summer. I am proud to call each of them friend and am delighted to share them and their work here. Please note that I am replacing my regular Rearview Fridays posts with these interviews over the summer.
THE INTRODUCTION
Michelle Silagy. Photo by Michael Haas.
MICHELLE SILAGYtaught pedagogy to me at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. She has a magical ability as a dance educator for children, I remember her commanding a huge gym full of grade 3s without hollering, extraordinary! Michelle makes delicate, thoughtful dances and immerses herself in the work of an artist. I think she has a backdoor pass to fairyland as her work on stage and in the classroom often seem dusted by something intangible and delightful, wild and beyond reach for the rest of us. Once I graduated from school Michelle hired me as a teacher in the School’s Young Dancers’ Program. She is a mentor who has become a loyal friend, she manages to be my boss yet works with me so collaboratively she feels like a colleague — it’s a fine, rarely achieved balance. Michelle is deep and wise-cracking and an enduring champion of dance and art and joy, she is a quiet gem in Canadian dance.
THE BIO
Michelle Silagyhas her BA (Hons) Drama from San Diego State University, California and is a graduate of The School of Toronto Dance Theatre’s Professional Training Program. She has been active in Toronto as an independent choreographer, dancer, and teacher since graduation. She began teaching in the School’s Young Dancers’ Program in 1989 and is currently its Program Director.
Michelle Silagy in her own dance, “Time Folds.” Photo by David Hou.
Over the past 23 years, Silagy has received many awards through the Ontario Arts Councils Artists in Education program to bring dance to schools throughout the province where her kindhearted approach to working with children has been lauded by educators and parents alike. Michelle has also taught dance to youth at the Canadian Opera Company, the Institute of Child Study and in schools across Ontario. As a mentor artist with The Royal Conservatory of Music’s Learning Through the Arts program, Michelle has worked across Canada and abroad as a creative movement specialist.
Michelle’s dance work has been presented across the country in galleries and theatres, and at Series 8:08 — a monthly Toronto choreographic workshop — which she co-founded 1992. Michelle travelled to Vienna this summer on a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to take the Danceabilities Teacher Certification Course as taught by Danceabilities founder Alto Alessi within the ImpulsTanz 2012 Festival.
THE INTERVIEW
Pocket Alchemy Question: Tell me about your artistic work.
Michelle Silagy: I am a Contemporary Dancer who loves/seeks collaboration with contemporary artists from other arts backgrounds. My work is largely influenced by nature and by a curiosity in the human form in all its stages of development. This is what makes up the guts and viscera of my movement vocabulary. I work extensively within Ontario’s numerous communities through education with a vast range of ages and abilities. The nature of this experience allows me to reflect on how I wish to create within a dynamic, malleable society. This influence finds its way into the dances that I make since my intent is always to cultivate a unique expression with the overarching goal of portraying the beauty of the human form, of humanity itself. Each time I venture into the studio to create anew, I revisit my vision for dance. I invest together with interpreters and collaborators, the most valuable catalysts, since the work unfolds through them. It is through this collaboration, I feel, that intimacies within a given work are revealed, accented and brought forward for the viewer to receive.
PAQ:what is currently sparking your imagination?
MS: Nature, people, garden lettuce and books. | The garden – and how life seeks water and light and a place to grow. | Working with Dancers in the Young Dancers’ Program. Having the privilege of working with Patricia Fraser and with all the people who make the Young Dancers’ Program sing. | Being in the studio and finding where the light is landing in the studio that day. | Working with Jennifer Lynn Dick on any day in the studio. | The thought of going to Vienna soon to study for 4 weeks with Alto Alessi and learn everything I can about DanceAbilities. | My family always. | Any and all conversations with the ever-brilliant Sarah Chase. She remains an extraordinary influence in my life and in my aspirations to make something that someone else will love and remember.
Jennifer Dick in “HOME/WORK.” Choreography by Michelle Silagy and Jennifer Dick of The Identity Project. Photo by Ecstatic Photography.
PAQ:How do you structure and manage your days/weeks/months to get it all in? Do you have micro/macro plans that you stick to?
MS:You are the third person who has asked me this over the past 2 weeks. The other 2 presumed that I had this one figured out – how I wish it were true. Still I love trying to make it all balance.
Regarding a plan. My Macro Plan includes – getting enough sleep, sweating every day and eating home made organic food grown as close to home as possible. I am most balanced when the doing of dance is driving the day – when I am rested and not slogging away at the computer too much. As an independent dancer balance is hardest. When trying to do too much myself, it doesn’t work. Working with a creative administrator who knows dance and knows how I work is essential. Beyond that: knowing when to ask for help, when overwhelmed, combined with my own commitment to finding simples/elegant solutions makes for more balance. I also know that reciprocating the generosity extended to me by helping others get things done when ever possible (hard to do with a full schedule) is a lovely and absolutely necessary part of my survival as a practicing artist. Consistently keeping the daily function of my home life as light and simple as possible helps a great deal – as does giving loved ones plenty of notice when work demands more attention than usual.
Michelle Silagy teaching at Kimberly Public School in Toronto. Photo by Sheena Robertson.
Regarding scheduling a career pastiche together with a selection of varied projects and 3 annual contracts, priorities are made easy by being clear and knowing what can be achieved within the timeframe given. I am a big fan of careful and fun planning with whomever I am working with. That goes a long way in keeping things in balance energy and time wise. Having said that, when left to my own devises I still come way too close to the wire regarding deadlines. And so now that I’ve got my e-box cleaned up and files almost cleaned up, the new goal is to bring things to completion before the eleventh hour.
Teaching makes up the majority of how I make my living in dance. It is important to me that I only teach where I can joyfully contribute – no one benefits from a teacher who isn’t happy in their environment. I am always making dance work with people who inspire me from process to performance. Any excesses in my dance life fall away, in the presence of being in the studio and working hard with people who I admire and enjoy. Lastly, each part of my life has to feed and nourish the other. If it doesn’t, then a change has to be made. I know that seems cliché, but truly that is how I keep things in balance.
PAQ: What is a current favourite resource or material?
MS: Sun, Water, Dirt and Love. | Music from all eras, all corners of the world. | A beautifully sprung floor with light spilling onto it. | Anatomy of Movement by Blandine Calais-Germain. | The Poetics of Space, again, read and purchased long, long ago. | The Name of the Tree. A Bantu Tale retold by Celia Barker Lottridge. | Roots to Fly by Irene Dowd (still). | A hoola hoop given to me just last week.
PAQ: Give me 4 great songs to work to!
MS: Songs, okay, you mean with words. Hmmm – so many. Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday | Smile by Charlie Chaplin | Stranded or Steady On by Shawn Colvin | I Paint My Sorrow by Stephanie Martin and Chad Irschick
PAQ: What about your work keeps you up at night (for good or ill!)?
MS: This is hard since my days are full, making sleep come easily. There are so many artists and there are so many people who help artists whose work is still undervalued. Progress is being made but not nearly enough. And though carrying on against all odds remains second nature, still, I find this a hard reality.
Megan Andrews, Andrea Nann and William Yong in “Necessary Velocity” by Michelle Silagy. Photo by John Lauener.
PAQ: How has your aesthetic evolved over the years?
MS: I am even more interested in creating works for interesting environments in addition to creating work for stage. Collaboration with extraordinary artists in other mediums changed the way I work. Meeting and working with Kai Chan, a senior visual artist who creates incredibly unique realities with textiles and found objects, altered the way that I view collaboration with artists in other disciplines. Kai is the one that insisted that he respond to and interpret the dance work that I was developing on his own terms rather than acting as a craftsperson who was hired to realize what I was imaging his contribution might be. And since He was not at all interested in crafting a set based on what I was imaging the set could or should look like, through him I embraced a new way of communicating with partners during the making of work. I am also trying to work with live music whenever possible. I feel it monumentally changes the nature of a dance performance – for the better. In terms of my aesthetic evolving, I have always aspired to foster a process where the interpreter is respectfully revealed to the audience as much as is possible within the comfort and willingness of the interpreter to do so. I wish to continue along these lines and become increasingly fluent at doing so.
THE WRAP UP
You can always find Michelle Silagy at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre’s Young Dancers’ Program, of which is is Program Director. She is also part of The Identity Project with Jennifer Lynn Dick. She presents her dance work regularly in Toronto and teaches in schools across Ontario through the Ontario Arts Council’s Artists in Education program and Learning Through the Arts. If you are a school teacher, I highly recommend getting her into your classroom to share her passion for dance with your students!
Brittany is the dancer, the interpreter for Mountain Girl. I’m the costume and set designer. The original concept for the choreography was our consideration of how geography effects the development of our physical and emotional selves and influences our relationships with space and place. We’ve had fun working in Studio B, the basement studio of Toronto Dance Theatre’s soulful old church building in Cabbagetown. We’re resuscitating Mountain Girl, breathing life back into her choreographic bones and it never ceases to amaze me how kinetic memory works – our muscles remember so much with the smallest cues. Plus Brittany kept excellent notes, thank goodness.
