my battery is pure love

Another artist in the upcoming Dance Matters Series 1: A Woman's Work is the incomparable Andrya Duff. I had the pleasure of working with Andrya for the first time last year in Theatre Rusticle's Dinner at Seven Thirty,  but I have known Andrya for years and felt like I've worked with her many times.  Andrya Duff and WIlliam Yong in Dinner at Seven-Thirty (Theatre Rusticle 2013). photo by Dahlia Katz If you know Andrya, you know she eludes definition as an artist, challenges herself and her views at every turn. She is adventurous and relentless on her own path. Here are my questions to Andrya, a collection of curiosities that we never got to cover during our pre-rehearsal chats last year. What is your favourite childhood memory? I have so many! I'm extremely fortunate.  I grew up outside of St.John's, next to a farm so my days were primarily spent playing with neighborhood kids in the woods. I wasn't allowed much tv or to be inside if it was ...

Here's the latest "Do you know?...." installation, this time covering one of the dynamic women involved in Dance Matters' first show of the 2014-15 season. Since I did not know much about Sharon myself when I started out to create this interview, below are my questions to get to know more about this unique and powerful performer. You have a varied experience as a performer/artist/mover -- can you tell me a bit about your history in dance — where you trained, where you work, what kinds of things you work on? I started my professional dance performance career while doing my under graduate studies at York university where I met my mentor Dr. Zelma Badu-Younge-Badu Dance Theatre an African-modern dance company. Performing and travelling with her open my eyes to a deeper understanding of black contemporary dance and style that were not available to me at the time of in my training, styles such as Horton, Dunham technique, few styles of South Asian, African dance ...