Bageshree Vaze
Curator
Bageshree Vaze is an Indo-Canadian dance artist and musician. Raised in St. John’s, NL, Bageshree initially trained in Bharatha Natyam, and studied vocal music with her father, the late Dr. Damodar Vaze in St. John’s. She later trained in Kathak dance with Jai Kishan Maharaj in New Delhi, and studied vocal music with the renowned Veena Sahasrabuddhe. As a vocalist, Bageshree has five CDs to her credit, including Tarana, an album of music for Indian dance, which was released in India by Times Music under the name Khanak. In 2004 Bageshree was named an MTV India ‘rising star’ and in 2010 she was awarded the K.M. Hunter Award in Dance. Bageshree has created/choreographed numerous Kathak dance works, including the multiple Dora-nominated work ‘A Hidden Princess,’ and has performed in major festivals in Canada and abroad. Bageshree has lectured and taught dance through the University of Toronto, Indiana University and the World Dance Alliance. Bageshree has a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Carleton University and a Master’s in Dance from York University. She is the Artistic Director of Pratibha Arts in Toronto and is Dance Collection Danse’s 2022 inaugural Artist Researcher-in-Residence.
Curatorial Statement
As we emerge out of a global pandemic that has claimed millions of lives and unearthed unthinkable historical truths, we as contemporary dance makers must ask ourselves how we can speak to this and how these experiences shape the work we create. In the past two years, we have seen how technology is a vital tool in addressing racial reckoning along with shifting how body-based practices are developed and created.
This curatorial investigation by one of Dancemakers’ 2022-23 Guest Curators Bageshree Vaze seeks ambitious works that utilize image-based technologies (ie- projection mapping and/or other interactive media) integrated with in-the-flesh dance making to reflect and honour this particular moment in time.
Bageshree seeks projects by artists who strive to use technology in meaningful, intentional and aesthetically grounded ways which are in conversation with live and in-person dance that has a focus on rigour and physicality. The work can address lived experience and themes such as: the social inequalities that COVID-19 exasperated, the history of residential schools, Black Lives Matter, climate change, missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people, racial reckoning and the effects of colonialism.
The project must be mindful of the question: why and how can the intersections of dance and digital technology effectively create work in ethical ways that respond to the current moment?
Artist teams should consider how an audience experiences the live/mediated work and will be expected to share the work in a formal presentation or work-in-progress showing. Special attention to trauma-informed practices, audience and artist support and ethics will be considered in the curatorial selection.
