How might the human body write choreography into a mask and then, how might the mask write choreography onto human bodies?
In 2018, I approached Bracken Hanuse Corlett (Wuikinuxv/Klahoose) to ask if he would carve me a mask. We then spent a year talking with each other—over coffee, via text messages and emails. These conversations were between two artists getting to know each other. They touched upon our relationship to the land and waters where we live, to art, to traditions, and to our families and loved ones. We talked about our respective relationships to masks in general.
We talked of the mask as a representation of the territory between us: me, an immigrant and him, Indigenous to the west coast of Turtle Island. We would refer to the mask as “The Territory Between Us”.
Artists
acCessibilIty
Is the venue wheelchair accessible?
Yes, the venue is wheelchair accessible including ramps into the building, elevators and wheelchair accessible washrooms.
Will the event be ASL Interpreted?
All live events will offer ASL interpretation (upon request). Please contact us to request ASL Interpretation.
Will the event be described for Blind and low vision audiences?
This performance does not include audio description.
“The Things I Carry” was made despite my resistance at the time to making a solo for myself.
It was during the Migrant Bodies Project – an E.U.-sponsored choreographic project aimed at opening up a civic and artistic reflection on migrations and their cultural impact for European and Canadian societies.
I didn’t want to spend time alone in the studio, for all the usual existential dance/art reasons – self-loathing, loss of faith etc etc. But one evening, while my friend the Italian choreographer Alessandro Sciaronni was encouraging me, I said to him, “OK, I will make a solo if you agree to be in the room with me, if you agree to hold me. Because we can only know ourselves through our engagement with others”.
The work comes from my body in relation to things – people, geography, history, current news.
Concept, Choreography and Performance
Lee Su-Feh
Dramaturgy
Alessandro Sciarroni
Text
Lee Su-Feh, with excerpts from On A Plane by Chris Bose
Sound Design
Junhong McIntosh-Lee and Lee Su-Feh
Song
Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell
Artists
acCessibilIty
Is the venue wheelchair accessible?
Yes, the venue is wheelchair accessible including ramps into the building, elevators and wheelchair accessible washrooms.
Will the event be ASL Interpreted?
All live events will offer ASL interpretation (upon request). Please contact us to request ASL Interpretation.
Will the event be described for Blind and low vision audiences?
This performance does not include audio description.
The Talking, Thinking, Dancing Body is a facilitated conversation about aesthetics, context and artistic process.
Initiated in 2012 by Lee Su-Feh of battery opera performance, it encourages speaking about dance from an awareness of our bodies as well as the world it lives in. It unabashedly interrogates dance through a lens that is concerned with anti-colonialism, anti-racism and feminism.
In this edition of The Thinking Dancing Body (TTDB), Lee Su-Feh and Barak adé Soleil will lead a discussion on “Performing the Dominant Body” and what it means for different bodies in different spaces: the how, the why and the impact on both the space and the bodies within that space.
Food and ASL interpretation will be provided. Dancemakers is a fully accessible space. For the accessible entrance, enter through the doors on the north side of the Case Goods building, up the ramp. The Case Goods building is immediately east of Balzac’s. Take the elevator to the third floor and follow signage to the Theatre Studio 313.
Co-Presented by Dancemakers, the Toronto Dance Community Love-In & the Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists – Ontario Chapter
Artists
Amelia Ehrhardt
From 2015-2019 Amelia Ehrhardt was the Curator at Dancemakers fostering international success for many of the artists engaged in the Incubation Production House model.
Lee Su-Feh
Lee Su-Feh (she/they) is a dancer, choreographer, performance-maker and teacher of voice and movement.
Barak adé Soleil
Barak adé Soleil makes dance, theatre, and performance art.
acCessibilIty
Is the venue wheelchair accessible?
Yes, the venue is wheelchair accessible including ramps into the building, elevators and wheelchair accessible washrooms.
Will the event be ASL Interpreted?
All live events will offer ASL interpretation (upon request). Please contact us to request ASL Interpretation.
Will the event be described for Blind and low vision audiences?
This performance does not include audio description.
A playful, yet also meditative experience.
In her inaugural Residency year, we showed the Toronto Première of Lee Su-Feh’s Dance Machine, a kinetic sculpture that is transformable into multiple configurations.
The public was invited to enter this family-friendly installation and share tasks, play, and work with the artists who act as hosts and facilitators. An embodied experience that has the potential to inspire deep rest as well as mindful play, the Dance Machine is simply a beautiful dynamic object to witness from multiple perspectives.
Dance Machine premiered at Festival TransAmériques in 2017, and it is now being shown across Canada.
Co-produced by battery opera performance
Conceived by Lee Su-Feh
Designed by Jesse Garlick
Assisted by Justine Chambers
With Brandy Leary, Alexa Mardo, Supriya Nayak, Barak adé Soleil, & Brian Solomon
Artists
acCessibilIty
Is the venue wheelchair accessible?
Yes, the venue is wheelchair accessible including ramps into the building, elevators and wheelchair accessible washrooms.
Will the event be ASL Interpreted?
All live events will offer ASL interpretation (upon request). Please contact us to request ASL Interpretation.
Will the event be described for Blind and low vision audiences?
This performance does not include audio description.
In partnership with
