Mocean Dance: 2013

Friday 18 October 2013

My Mother's Kitchen - Choreographer's Musings

In the name of Sarah Bonnemaison's installation and performance exhibition entitled: My Mother's Kitchen, the Exhibition Hall in Dalhousie's School of Architecture has become a creative hotbed for explorations in technology, furniture moveability, movement, and costume design.

As the choreographer for this project I am thrilled to be working with Susanne Chui, Sarah Rozee and Jacinte Armstrong of Mocean Dance alongside architect and art director Sarah Bonnemaison, media artist Lukas Pearse, costumer/ textile artist Robin Muller and computer programmer Ben Swinden. Thanks to Sarah Bonnemaison for her generosity of spirit and her intellectual rigour, and for giving me the space to explore my own ideas so thoroughly with the dancers. I am enjoying the integration of conceptual, historical and practical investigation. I am excited by the intellectual level of conversation that the dancers are prepared to have as part of our explorations. These dancers are intellectual movers and thinkers with a ''can do" attitude that supports the depth of research that layers this project. More importantly is their willingness to experiment with physicalising concepts as part of the transposition into movement ideas. We are finding some wonderfully appropriate and sophisticated movement ideas that support the underlying concepts of the project.

Then there is the active interdisciplinarity of the project in the room. Over the past two weeks we have made great progress in bringing the research together. It is easy to separate off and work in discipline-isolation on a project. Arguably that is how most collaborations go. However, it can't work effectively to do that in this case (or in any really, in my opinion.) Mocean Dance and I are working towards a 30 minute performance that will take place in an existing installation exhibition and so it is crucial that part of the process includes discussion about the elements of interaction already expected to be established in the installation components, and as a continuation of that discussion those expected to be used in the performance by the dancers. I am not interested in duplicating the existing interaction experience for the viewer in the performance. By establishing a time frame on the performance of 30 minutes I want this interaction to be adventurous, creative and rigorous, enhancing less apparent aspects of the research while revealing both our discipline-specific and our interdisciplinary collaborative process(es) in performance.

We are working with 5 kitchen zones that span decades and countries- each zone has its own kitchen design and specific interactive components. It has been rewarding to locate the different research ideas across disciplines within each of these kitchen zones. We now feel like we are working towards a common goal and this will allow us to explore ideas together, informed and influenced by each other. The time working independently of other disciplines was of course important, however the heart of the work is in bringing these ideas together- to animate the exhibition and to build connections between design, motion, and interaction across the entire exhibition site.

We opened the doors on our experiments on Wednesday 16th October. Fresh eyes brought useful and passionate perspectives and we are able to continue these explorations knowing that the connections are reading to people outside of our immediate working environment, and supporting Sarah Bonnemaison's core ideas. I look forward to the rest of this process. I am so happy that we get to develop this further for the premiere in May 2014. I can look forward to spending more time in Halifax, which has stolen a piece of my heart as has the gracious and talented Mocean!

Balancing Hats on for Mocean, Hats off to the D:MiC Festival!

We had our opening night performance at the Dance: Made in Canada Festival in Toronto and we were received with warm enthusiasm and delight. It's exiting to be apart of such beautiful dancing on stage at the festival in the T dot!

We are thrilled to be sharing Canvas 5 x 5 with such a striking program curated by dance photographer Cylla von Tiedmann. Performing alongside us at the Betty Oliphant Theatre is an intimate duet by Louis Laberg-Cote and a fierce solo by Lucy Rupert of Blue Ceiling Dance.

Von Tiedmann's cutatorial selection and program notes read with strength and sophistication, seen in both the choreography and performance of all three works.

.... the sublime ability of dancers to tell a narrative through movement, projecting their ideas into the depth of their bodies as much as into emotional and ephemeral worlds. The body becoming, the brush, the word, the instant of expression....

- Von Tiedemann

This time around settling in and warming to the stage has been a breeze and I am sure it has contributed to the stunning performance by our ladies of Mocean Dance.

Helping us transition back to the vast Betty Oliphant stage was supported by "Sarge," Mocean's TD Marcel Boulet who flew in with us to oversee and produce the quickest cue building around, the lovely festival stage manager Jeff Morris, the highly organized and bubbly festival producer Yvonne Ng, and of course all the amazing technical team and support staff.

Touring Canvas 5 x 5 regionally this year, the piece has expanded and contracting, and gone through the wringer of all possible parameters for performance. So now back on the big stage the dancers have felt the ceiling lift and have room to breath and play again, finding a welcomed similarity to our Halifax premiere at the Dunn!

The dancers have a few more steps and a bigger thrust in intent to traverse the broad width of the stage, but they can also feel the support of the space above as they balance their hats.

Our tech run and smooth transition to the vast Betty Olipant theatre

Sarge on site with his fancy new T dot tech boot purchase!

Unable to join us, Tedd has still managed to be with us via his "new choreographer" techniques, on call and receiving reports via texting. The photo below is my text to Tedd keeping him in the loop about the T dot booms and seeing the lighting results.


Comparative techniques in the tech: video below, live lx checking above!

True to the Maritime mafia style we found a hometown local piper in Toronto to add to our Celtic force.

Piper Rob Noble joined us on stage in Toronto. Taking a quick break from his technician schedule, this Fredericton piper was pleased to pull out his pipes and feel his maritime roots again, a contrast to his normal T dot rhythm.

Bagpiper Rob Nobel goes through the "P Bragh" notes with Susanne

"I have chosen these three choreographers because of their skill, elegance and profound voice. There is simplicity and honesty here, combined with sophistication and intelligence. I sincerely hope you share the enthusiasm for this program."

- Von Tiedemann

We love Dance: Made in Canada!

Thank you Yvonne for such a great festival! Warm, organized, and stunning programing in every series!

-Sara

Thursday 8 August 2013

Out like a Lion!

dance: made in canada/fait au canada
Mocean is pleased to announce our participation in this year's dance: made in canada festival in Toronto, where we'll be presenting Tedd Robinson's masterful Canvas 5 x 5, August 15-17. Visit the festival producers' website: Princess Productions, to learn more.

You can also be part of the festival from afar by contributing to the festival’s Audience Choice Awards, and then vote for your favorite show -- Mocean Dance of course!

Save the Date: September 14-15 for Burnwater
A major collaborative project that you won't want to miss, Burnwater is shaping up to be a multidisciplinary extravaganza. In partnership with sound artist Erin Donovan of Hear Here Productions, and Chris Little and Theo Pitsiavas of lohifi Productions we're creating an outdoor, site-specific work involving percussionists, puppeteers, and blacksmith/sculptor John Little. The performance will take place on Little’s dazzlingly scenic property in East Dover (just outside the city of Halifax), and will feature his monumental sound sculptures, which provide a visual and audio backdrop as dancers Rhonda Baker, Jacinte Armstrong and Susanne Chui weave their magic. There will be two shows (3-4 PM & 7-8 PM) each day; but spaces are extremely limited, so contact us as soon as possible if you're interested in attending.

On the "set" of Burnwater with Susane Chui, Darcy Gray, Jacinte Armstrong, John Little & Rhonda Baker

New work: body abandoned launched

Closing the season in late June, we were treated to a sneak-peek early into the creation process for our new work body abandoned, created by Artistic Associate Sara Coffin. This new piece will explore the body's relationship to technology and our sense of self that stretches beyond the skin’s border. Sara was joined by Vancouver-based multimedia designer Andrew Hawryshkewich (thanks to funding by Arts Nova Scotia), who is working with her on the tech side of this complex and fascinating piece. Dancers working on the project include Rhonda Baker, Jacinte Armstrong, Mocean co-founder Sarah Rozee, and our Fresh Tracks program mentee, Vivika Ballard. We look forward to its official premiere in Halifax in April, 2014 at the Sir James Dunn Theatre, where it will be unveiled by Live Art Dance Productions (contact them to buy your season subscription ticket -- they're available now!).

Sarah Rozee, Jacinte Armstrong and Rhonda Baker working at Halifax Dance Studios on Sara Coffin's body abandoned

Swell: Contact Improv Workshop

Mocean recently organized and presented a well-attended contact improvisation workshop, which was open to movers of all levels of experience. They came from near and far to take part in an "eco-poetic" creative learning opportunity, which included an open contact jam. Internationally acclaimed teachers, artists and improvisers, Chris Aiken and Angie Hauser from Smith College, Massachusetts lead the group from June 20-23. Many heartfelt thanks from Mocean Dance and the community to the Nova Scotia Department of Communities, Culture, and Heritage's Cultural Activities Program, whose support assisted in our workshop presentation; to our venue sponsor, Dance Nova Scotia, who assisted in hosting this great event; and to our generous accommodations hosts Catherine & John Lazier (for billeting Chris, Angie and Ruby!).
To receive notices of our future workshops, company classes, and other opportunities, drop us a line.

Swell Improvisation Workshop in full swing

Rite of Spring Fling!

Dancers throw their Rite of Spring shadows behind painter Holly Carr's silk panels

Thanks to all who attended our first Rite of Spring Fling! fundraiser on June 8th. We not only raised funds, we had a lot of fun . . . and we hope you did too! Be sure to check out the event photos on our website. We couldn't have done it without painter extraordinaire Holly Carr, and the stellar dance artists who generously donated their time and talent: Jacinte Armstrong, Rhonda Baker, Vivika Ballard, Kathleen Doherty, Ruth-Ellen Kroll-Jackson, Sarah Rozee; and musicians Doug Cameron and Tim Crofts. Poet/spoken word artist Shauntay Grant rounded out the artistic offerings with her incredibly sensuous poetry, and swing band Jack's Cats played us out the door and into the warm spring evening.

Heartfelt thanks also go out to:

Our MC Norma Lee MacLeod, and our hard-working fundraising committee; sponsors: Joan & Jack Craig; corporate sponsors: InnovaCorp; in-kind: etc.press, The Coast, Woozles Children's Bookstore; our Cakewalk Ringleader, the inimitable Ben Stone; and DJ Regalia, our soulful in-house DJ.

Silent Auction donors:
Aerobics First
Bishop's Cellar (Kevin Schwenker )
Terry Chisholm
Pam Scott Crace
Adrian Fish
Wally Fraser
The Goatworks African Drums
Human Landscape Dance (Susan Cook)
Jack's Cats
Jane's Next Door
Lakeland Plant World
Larry Hayes & Sharon Nicolle
Live Art Dance Productions
Hydrostone Osteopathy (Elise Vanderborght)
Interface Carpet
Susan Malmstrom
My Mother's Bloomers
Anne Muecke
Neptune Theatre
NSCAD Art Supply Store
Victoria Parker
Lynn Rotin
Snazz (Michele Chui)
Thumpers Salon
You Two Can Tango
Urban Retreat Massage
Marjorie Willison
Woozles Children's Bookstore

And more: Cakewalk donors: Fruition, Gingerbread Haus, Elise Vanderborght, Layers, Judy Fraser, Nancy Bessette; other fun stuff included: Jewelry Table by Sacha Hanarahan, origami station by Nicole Arsenault & Marla McLeod; Spring Forecasts (tarot cards read by) Madame Tabia. Our Photographer: Martin Grahovski; and the beautiful decorations were created by Susan Warr.

Rite of Spring Fling! at the Dalhousie University Club, June 8

End of Season Thanks

Even as we look forward to our 2013-14 season, we also want to look back at what a fantastic 2012-13 we just had, thanks, in part, to the generosity of our individual donors.

A big round of applause to:

Margaret & David Fountain
Joan & Jack Craig
David & Colline Perrier
Dr. Thomas & Gloria Chui
Ewa Jachimowicz-Quinn
Maria Jachimowicz
Anne Muecke
Charles Baxter
Larry Hayes & Sharon Nicolle
Donald Sinclair
Fraser & Hoyt
James Rogers
Donna & Dwain Corbin
Pamela Scott Crace
Cassidy Bankson
Sacha Hanarahan
Catherine Lazier
Chris & Dianne Coffin
Barbara Richman
Kam Chung/The Chung Group
Nancy Spencer
L. Robert & Jean Shaw
Marcella Abugov
Dr. Harris & Holly Crooks
Bradford Productions
Kevin Schwenker
Thomas Fitzgerald
Donald Blakeley
Paul Caskey & Elise Vanderborght
Gay Hauser & Stephen Osler
Mr. & Mrs. Carl Yates
Nadine LaRoche
Anonymous

Choreographers' Circle Members:
Catherine Lazier
Alex MacLean
Sue Leblanc

Did you know that the largest expense incurred here at Mocean Dance, by far, is paying dancers to dance? We are proud to say that it is! We also contract other artists, such as choreographers, composers, musicians, lighting designers and technicians, costume designers, and more. But we can't do it without you. Please donate today by clicking the CanadaHelps button above. Any amount is appreciated, and we are happy to provide you with a charitable receipt.

Photo credits for this emocean newsletter: Header (dancer Rhonda Baker) by Holly Crooks; Rite of Spring Fling! images by Martin Grahovski; all others by Mocean Dance staff & friends

Out like a Lion!

A photo capture of our end of season activities

Andrew Hawryshkewich & Sara Coffin working on body abandoned

Jacinte Armstrong on the site of Burnwater (photo by Holly Crooks)

Sara Coffin directs as dancers work on body abandoned

New media technology and dance come together

Silent auction bidders hard at work at Rite of Spring Fling!

Dancer Kathleen Doherty performs at Rite of Spring Fling!

Jacinte Armstrong, Ruth-Ellen Kroll-Jackson perform an excerpt from Lisa Phinney Langley's Beside Myself Gasping at Rite of Spring Fling!

Origami lesson at Rite of Spring Fling!

Wednesday 19 June 2013

Influences from the outside in

More writings from Fresh Track Mentee Vivika Ballard:

Hello again everyone,

The artists at Mocean Dance have now moved into the third week of creative work on a new piece by Sara Coffin. In the studio we have been exploring ideas of how technology affects us by playing with the boundaries of our ‘edges’ and discovering our bodies in fragments. In my last entry I described my experience with our first ‘out of body’ improvisations. Sara allowed us to take our movement discoveries to a new level with a facilitated somatic experience, taking our centre of weight way off axis through an exercise in the round, know as the ‘trust circle’.

Your first experience in the moon walking floating stretch machine is sure to be a new one! In the circle with your eyes closed and surrounded by your ‘trusted’ fellow dancers, you begin to transfer weight to the bodies around you, gently at first and working up to the furthest extent of your edges and beyond with the support of the dancers guiding you through space. With my eyes closed I found it easier to give into the guidance given by the other dancers. It’s a very sensory experience and almost a release and flow through movement as though you are being manipulated by some giant amoeba with many appendages. Sometimes we even left the floor! As the experiment furthered the supporting dancers were asked to move away from the person experiencing ‘the ride’ and the subject attempted to maintain the feeling of being extended beyond their edge. It’s never quite the same once the trust circle dissipates. The sensation of letting something outside you make your movement decisions is hard to recreate and certain moves are impossible without your friends. The resulting dance however can be very beautiful and unpredictable.

When it was my turn to improvise the sensation Sara challenged me by asking for quicker changes of weight or pivots. I found this prompt forced me to move in ways that surprised or shocked my body into more distorted and off balance places. I imagine the visual outcome was more what Sara was looking for and the movement journey became less about remembering positions and more about recreating the sensation.

The concept for this experience is parallel to our relationship with technology and the idea of its influence from the outside in. It was challenging, exciting, and very liberating going for ‘the ride’ and the movement outcome has been a staple for the piece thus far.

Here are a few pictures from week three. Sara and visiting media designer Andrew work together to find the most poignant combination of physical material with media support, looking for the poetics of the two merged into one.

Tuesday 11 June 2013

Navigating the Edge and Beyond...

New Fresh Track mentee Vivika Ballard reports from the studio:

This past week was the first of my three weeks working in the studio with Mocean Dance and Sara Coffin as she began her creative process for a brand new work, very exciting! There is something both so energizing and so overwhelming about beginning a new process, even for those who are not the 'creators'. For me this is a very new experience, mainly for the reason that I am coming from a background focused in classical dance. The way that Sara draws so much material from our improvisation is a very organic technique for the dancer as we can draw on our own bodily sensations to find the authenticity in the movement. She gives us many liberties but not without some parameters to make for an exploration with intention.

Dancers L-R: Rhonda Baker with Fresh Trak Mentee Vivika Ballard, and Sarah Rozee with Jacinte Armstrong

Sara has been guiding us in movement exploration focused around an 'out of body' sensation and has challenged us to play with with idea of the 'edges' of ourselves. This concept has led us to consider the physical edges of our body dissolving which I find intriguing as movement becomes very shapeless when you think of yourself without an edge. Letting yourself go to this place really heightens the sensory aspect of movement as oppose to creating shapes.

We also discussed images of a universal fascia binding everything together. For me this image both expands the mind and makes the body vast but at times I felt spread thin or undefined. I have worked with Sara before and we did an exercise in visual focus. We imagined seeing through the walls and seeing the landscape beyond. When I practice this I achieve a funny sensation of taking in a greater picture, having a wider focus, and at the same time feeling quite small. I think over all however, this kind of focus brings me some kind of stability or perhaps just a false or imaginary sense of being rooted in something bigger. Overall, the 'out of body' experience made me feel like some kind of rubber chicken in outer space; a sort of nebulous creature with a picture or relative grasp of my surroundings but also an overwhelming sense of vastness. I always find it the most challenging and productive to work in the realms that are the most uncomfortable and rewarding to find yourself in these worlds.

Dancers L-R: Rhonda Baker with Fresh Trak Mentee Vivika Ballard, and Sarah Rozee with Jacinte Armstrong

In this 'brainless state', as Sarah Rozee dubbed it, also comes a heightened sense of the present moment. I enjoyed the idea of imagining the universal fascia. It sort zips you right into the present moment when you consider being connected to everything else. Sara shared with us some philosophies from Erin Manning. In the text Manning explains the theory of technicity. I drew from it that this heightened sense of presence we felt from the 'out of body' exercise can create a sort of channel where creativity can flow and gain momentum. My interpretation is that the more we can both release or give into the physical task and maintain our awareness and intention the more easily creativity will flow from us almost as though we are puppets being driven by this kind of momentous force driving us into the coming dance. It's more of a focused release than a rigid command to the body to do something. This was a new and exciting place for me!

Stay tuned to the blog as Sara gives you a glimpse into our incredible imaginary movement adventures and the beginning of our new journey!

Mocean Dancers for the new Coffin project: Sarah Rozee, Jacinte Armstrong, Rhonda Baker

Friday 1 March 2013

Making Fresh Tracks in Miramichi

Scenic view from our hotel

I was lucky enough to join Mocean on their tour to Miramichi as a part of the Fresh Tracks! Mentorship program. The company was presented by Conseil communautaire Beausoleil, a French presenter located within a small francophone area of Miramichi. The building was multipurpose to the extreme, containing a theatre, a primary to grade 12 school, art galleries and even the local French radio station. You could sense the pride of the people working in the building upon entering, and that feeling seemed to fuel the dancers even more to deliver a fantastic show.

View of the theatre from on stage

Mocean performed Tedd Robinson’s work Canvas 5 x 5 and a duet recently premiered in Halifax by Lesandra Dodson, A Leash for two Hounds. The show was part of a dance festival, the first one to ever take place in the city, so it was very exciting to be a part of that important step for the community.

The first stop upon arriving at Carrefour Beausoleil was to lead some dance workshops. Susanne and I led an adult beginner level class, with Rhonda assisting. We all had a fantastic time sharing our love of dance with the beginner dancers, exploring different qualities of movement and different ways to travel through the space. Next a local dance school stopped by for a workshop, and Rhonda took the lead on this one. The 20 dancers, aged 10-17 did an incredible job listening to Rhonda’s instruction and trying new movement such as floor work, improvisation, personal groove and group exercises. CBC Radio Canada visited while the workshops were taught; they interviewed Jacinte about the upcoming performance, and also spoke to some adults who took the beginner workshop. They also got some great footage of both workshops which was aired on the CBC TV and the CBC website.

Students from Valley High School

Our second day in Miramichi brought us to Miramichi Valley High School, where Jacinte and Ruth led workshops for some grade 9 and 10 French immersion classes. The students were very energetic and eager to give dance a try, which made it all the more fun for us to teach. Ruth created a dance piece with different traveling patterns that the students performed for each other at the end, and we were happy to see the teachers getting involved as well!


L-R: Kathleen, Rhonda, Ruth, Susanne,	Darryl, Jacinte

That evening, the Canvas 5 x 5 crew headed to the theatre for a technical rehearsal. Watching the dancers work with the canvases on stage is always interesting. Every new space creates a new way for the canvas to behave, if there is a breeze or draft on stage that can work either for or against the dancers. The group of four all seem to have the handling and adapting down by now, a skill I believe I started to improve upon, but I always welcomed helpful tips and advice from the dancers. The wooded frame around the stage seemed to create a picture frame type image while the dancers were performing, almost recreating some of the photos taken at the Dunn Theatre over a year ago by Holly Crooks. The clean, crisp white canvas soaring through the stark black space was beautiful, and made the images stand out quite a bit more than in the studio. Darryl and Lesandra arrived in the evening, and dropped by the theatre to say hello and check out the space. It was nice to have the whole Miramichi team together!

Susanne & Darryl having fun during tech

Show day found the company starting off with a lovely warm up class led by Darryl. I joined in on the warm up, as I love taking Darryl’s class, and also because taking a class on stage always reminds me of the times I have done that for my own performances, which is such a nice feeling. Susanne and Darryl started teching A leash for two hounds with Lesandra. I hung around to watch the process, as did some students from the school we were hosted in. The students were extremely well behaved, and really seemed engaged in what was happening on stage. I had seen the duet performed in Halifax a few weeks prior, but I always love getting to see works again -- you always find new things within the choreography that you missed the first time. It was nice watching Susanne and Darryl communicate with each other and work together, you could tell their easy-going relationship made the choreography between them flow that much more easily.

The rest of the day carried on, and before I knew it we were just about at show time. Lesandra and I headed out into the audience to watch the performance together. First up was A leash for two hounds. We decided to sit further back in the theatre than earlier in the day, and sitting in a different location changed some elements of the piece for me. I can’t put my finger on exactly what, but it’s interesting how the same audience can see a work differently depending on where they are sitting. Because of the wooden frame outlining to the stage, it almost looked like the dance was playing out on an old television set, and with the black costumes it felt like an old 1960s black and white version. After a very brief intermission (must have been just enough time for Susanne to get her costume changed), Canvas 5 x 5 began. Those initial notes in the first piece of music always twinge a bit of excitement in me; I think it brings me back to the short excerpt performance I did of the piece at the Creative NS Awards Gala in the fall. The dancers looked absolutely beautiful floating and gliding through the space, and the moments when the canvas would be thrown up into the air were magical in the big black space. The audience rose to their feet as the dancers stepped forward for their bow -- Miramichi’s first contemporary dance festival was very well received.

The final adventure of the trip was the drive home. Everyone opted to leave right after the show in hopes of beating an incoming snow storm. We were on the road by 10:30pm and everyone got home safely -- into the wee hours of the morning, however.

Another session of my Fresh Tracks! learning is over, and I really had an amazing time traveling with the Company. The trip to Wolfville earlier in the year had only been for a day, so this opportunity to see how a company works and operates on a longer road trip was extremely interesting. I had a great time being in the space, stepping up on stage when those times came during tech rehearsals, and really felt as a part of the group. It’s been amazing to get to know these dancers better and watch their processes, both in the studio and on the stage -- what an amazing group of people to learn from.

-Kathleen Doherty

Tuesday 29 January 2013

Notes from the Trilogy Project Deep Freeze Tour 2013

Driving back to Fredericton after the Halifax shows we are wowed by the spread in the Telegraph-Journal about Lesandra's process and the show. The piece was written by Kate Wallace who spent a day with us in the studio a few weeks back when we were in rehearsal. She really got at the heart of the the work (the creative nucleus as she put it) and it was the perfect set-up for the hometown show. Lesandra has recently taken a big role in Fredericton as Executive Director of the Charlotte Street Arts Centre, and the impact of her vision and gusto for dance and arts in palpalable in the community, who came out with bubbling anticipation for the Jan. 23rd show.

The playhouse was a beautiful setting for the three pieces, more formal than the Dunn in Halifax, but also more intimate, with the red seats curving around hugging the stage. While performing I could feel the warmth and attention radiating from the house. A very sensitive yet electric exchange with the audience occurred, as Lesandra peered on from backstage, not wanting to sit in the house.

It was so nice to be able to share Lesandra's work with this community, which she has become a part of in the last seven or so years.

Her blameless mystery was particularly special for me to perform in Fredericton since it was made there in 2010, in the winter, with many images, such as this image of the frozen Saint John River, and wartime housing in Minto, taken from the Fredericton area. It was also the first time our collaborator, film maker Chris Giles, got to see the work on the stage.

After my icy solo, Ric & Darryl warm-up the stage with their desert duet

The boys duet, In two days a man can change, was a hit in Fredericton, with Darryl and Ric taking their dancing, taunting and hilarity to another level, and the audience right there with them.

L to R: Susanne Chui, Chris Giles, Lesandra Dodson, Ric Brown, Hannah Burrows, Darryl Tracy, Vicky Williams

We said goodbye to our amazing technical duo, Vicky Williams, lighting designer who really brought the works to life, and Hannah Burrows who did an incredible job learning the million and one sound, light and video cues while also making us feel completely taken care of every step of the way.

Then it was off to Winnipeg, with Darryl steeping in as props coordinator, making sure the rugs made it safe and sound.

Darryl (despite the late night and jet-lag) taught an early morning class to a stellar groups of young dancers at the School of Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers, who really know how to move! Smiles and laughs filled the room.

We arrived in Lesandra's old stomping ground; having gone to the school herself and danced with the company, this performance was another kind of homecoming for her. It was so nice to finish the tour here, in the intimacy of the Rachel Browne Theatre, surrounded by old friends and fans of Lesandra, who know her work well. It was also the first time that Christine Fellows saw A leash for two hounds performed with the final music which she composed for the work. We were worried at first with the changes we made, but Christine was very pleased, shining a great big smile from the seats every night. Opening night we were washed with a wave of applause and a standing ovation from the Winnipeg audience. With the pieces, and our performances having become richer and more nuanced over the tour, it was so great to finish on this note.