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WELCOME TO 2026: 26 Shadowy Valleys I am grateful for

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It’s the time of year when many newsletters and social media posts are rounding up the wonderful moments of the artistic year and it is so inspiring to see all the innovative work that is going on in our communities. However….. Not everyone, not every artist or every arts organization has had a good year, and we shouldn’t be afraid to take note of this as well. Constant ‘success’ is not realistic. The peaks and valleys of our careers are vital, they are mind-, heart- and/or path-changing. Usually around this time of year, I write a list of things I am grateful for and this year I will not shy away from acknowledging the valleys that have caused shortness of breath, panic, paralysis, insomnia and fear. The story of Rumpelstiltskin reminds us that naming the monster takes away its power. photo of Lucy Rupert by Walter Lai 26 Shadowy Valleys I am grateful for, in no particular order 1. I am grateful for every physical, financial, artistic roadblock. I have not consistently met these cha...
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by the kitchen sink

  By the kitchen sink Hollow breath, ranging mind Near the edge  The fields making up everything they are made of nothing they are what makes thing a human body Hollow breath, ranging Staring at raccoon washing paws in snow Wishing to be on that roof Hands numb with crystalized water Fractally fracturing  Time  Body Space  Intersection What am I right now This jaggedness Stopping me without another body nearby to shake the attack Knuckles aging faster than fingertips Heart left behind somewhere Maybe on the subway Not sure Why haven’t I learned it all by now? (Lucy Rupert, February 26 2025)
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THE SPACE BETWEEN US/HOLOBIONT program information

THE SPACE BETWEEN US/HOLOBIONT  at the Heliconian Club 35 Hazelton Ave, Yorkville 730pm Friday November 14, 2025 Opening remarks by Lucy Rupert (Blue Ceiling dance) THE SPACE BETWEEN US  Choreography: Martha Hart  Featuring: Tyler Gledhill, Martha Hart, Chelly Li and Sophie Willett  Music:  Suite no. 4 in G Major, Op. 61 (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)  Nocturne No.2 in C Minor (John Field) Nocturne No. 12 in E Major (John Field) Vesperae solennes de confessore (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) Thank you to the National Ballet of Canada for supporting this work through an Open Space Residency.   Brief Pause HOLOBIONT Choreography: Lucy Rupert with Juan Villegas Performed by: Juan Villegas and Lucy Rupert Original music created by: Lainie Fefferman and Jascha Narveson HOLOBIONT is an ever-changing piece, rewoven for each unique performance situation. The full material for this project includes choreography by Yvonne Ng and Lucy Rupert with contributions from da...
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TECH RIDER INFO FOR BLUE CEILING DANCE TOURING PROJECTS: heat death AND heartless

 TECH RIDER INFO FOR BLUE CEILING DANCE TOURING PROJECTS: heat death AND heartless Technical Specs: All of my touring projects are made to be flexible for theatre and non-theatre spaces. General requirements are a non-concrete floor, ideally a sprung or wood flooring. Some works are suitable/negotiable for outdoors on grass or asphalt. Current touring projects: heat death: made for theatre and non-theatre-spaces (galleries, science institutes, other site-specific settings)  TECH RIDER: audio playback; performance space minimum or 20 x 20  and ideally a non-concrete floor (negotiable depending on the setting) heartless: Premiered at the Citadel Ross Centre for Dance (Citadel + Cie) in Toronto; suitable for black box or similar theatre setting. TECH RIDER: (based on premiere – negotiable depending on space) -the show uses audio playback only, no microphones except potentially for opening remarks if applicable -the show used no masking, and the background was a red brick wal...
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DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE NOISE -- my battery is pure love part 3

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 DON’T WORRY ABOUT THE NOISE  (written by Lucy Rupert) This is an essay in 9 parts for the 9 episodes that make up my solo dance ‘heartless’ which premiered in October 2024. The choreography for this piece started as a meditation on the history and mythology of robots, but burrowed its way into many other personal and cosmic places. (See my first two essays on the project “my battery is pure love” and “babelfish”).  What follows is an account of my experience inside the 9 sections of ‘heartless’ during its opening night performance, tangled noisily with memories and sensations, past and future. 1. My ears grow rabbit-shaped, listening for the sound of rain, the audio cue that begins ‘heartless’. I realize that the audience, even in stillness, emanates a gentle rumble-buzz. I can’t hear my cue to start. But I part the black curtain at stage left and walk on with all the composure I can muster at opening night. I’ve missed the sound cue, but that’s ok. The beginning is an i...
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OGRES OF LIFE: Serge Bennathan and the original cast of "Chronicles of a Simple Life"

 OGRES OF LIFE: Serge Bennathan and the original cast of “Chronicles of Simple Life” written and compiled by Lucy Rupert FIRST STEPS “Because our conceptual systems grow out of our bodies, meaning is grounded in and through our bodies. Because a vast range of our concepts are metaphorical, meaning is not entirely literal.” Lakoff and Johnson, Philosophy of the Flesh, p. 6) Meaning is embodied. This is true for the meanings found by the dancer and by the audience member. Dance strives to reveal something to the audience, perhaps something they didn’t realize they needed to know. In the best situations, this audience experience happens viscerally and invisibly. On November 5, 1993, as a second-year student pursuing a Joint Honours bachelor’s degree in dance and music at the University of Waterloo, I had my first visceral and invisible experience as a dance audience member: Chronicles of a Simple Life, choreographed by Serge Bennathan and performed by the Dancemakers company at the Hu...
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day in the life (written by Lucy Rupert)

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  photo by Zahra Saleki day in the life  The best days begin the morning after a busy day when the body is too exhausted to be self-aware and the exhaustion feels hard-earned in a very satisfying way. Most days begin with a mental journey, like putting your body through the x-ray machine at the airport. Parts of you go in the bin that travels on the conveyer belt through the machine, the rest of you walks hesitantly through the stand-alone arch. You wait to hear the beeping and then take stock: what caused the alarm? It might seem like it’s your foot but your pelvis is actually cause the source of the alarm. The root of the pain. Feet unfurl and uncurl by the time you get to the bottom of the stairs. You make coffee and feed the feral cats and then check the agenda. What is happening today? Are you in charge of directing yourself all day, organizing your training, yourself, your plans? Or are you reporting to someone else? (It’...
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