my battery is pure love

Like a great number of people I've been able to interview in the last year, Kate Alton has been a hero, an inspiration, a beautiful puzzle of an artist. She's about to open her first show in a few years in which she is dancing. If you haven't witnessed Kate performing, go now. If you have...well you know what I'm talking about then. Kate managed to answer a few questions I sent her way in the flurry of both our worlds -- tours ending, homecoming, children, rehearsals, and the million other occupations that demand our time. I am so grateful Kate's usual candidness and eloquence. Without further ado....Kate, unedited. This interview. LUCY: What motivated you to make this production happen? KATE: Honestly it was the unending desire that dancers constantly have, somehow to keep on dancing. My life with two kids is very full. I feel lucky to have had so much time to dance before they came into my world. But I also long to keep that dancing part of myself al...

flying over Canada, headed home I posed the question "what did you learn on the EUNOIA tour?" to all the collaborators involved in the mounting of this work for touring, thinking the answers would offer amazing insight into the value of getting a chance to revisit a work, tour it....something dance and theatre, especially the indie or small-scale companies, don't get to do very often. My original thought was about the deepening of artistry, the new audiences in new landscapes that take in and give back from fresh perspectives.  I did not anticipate the full spectrum of beauty that would come in their responses.....Read them all, you won't be sorry. (Some have not replied yet and will be added in a later post.) Thanks team for your intelligent, profound thoughts, as if I could expect any less. getting notes in rehearsal in Halifax Claudia Moore (performer, freest of spirits, continual source of inspiration, great sharer of chips and wine): It comes ...

1    Marie France Forcier is the artistic director of Forcier Stage Works, a dancer and new Calgarian. After her very recent relocation from Toronto to Calgary. She made the performance of Fujiwara Dance Inventions' EUNOIA an assignment for her class at the University of Calgary Dance Department. EUNOIA is on tonight at Theatre Junction GRAND as part of Fluid Festival in association with Word Fest. Here's a quick Q and A with Marie France.       photo of Marie France Forcier by Walter Lai       LR: How is the relocation to Calgary going for you?  MFF: There have been a lot of changes in my circumstances this year: I became a mother, I relocated out West after 15 years in Toronto and I started my first academic appointment. When people ask me this question, I find it hard to isolate the Calgary factor in the equation. So, I’ll answer as best I can: well enough! I feel as though I haven’t yet gotten much of a sense of the l...

Please forgive the pun, but our final feature on the Dance TO Showcase artists and presenters is short and sweet on all counts: Yvonne Ng. She may be small, but she is a dynamic performer, thinker, doer, high-energy, witty and compassionate. She is a choreographer and dancer like no other, but also, and importantly, the director of the dance: made in canada/fait au canada festival (d:mic/fac). Don't forget to get yourself out to the opening party of Dance TO Showcase events, tonight September 28th 5-6:30, followed by a free showcase performance with Louis Laberge-Cote, Tribal Crackling Wind and inDANCE.  And here, to finish off our interview series, the succinct and smart answers of Yvonne Ng. LUCY: Why was d:mic/fac founded? How has that shifted over the years? YVONNE: It was founded to give back to the community, my community; as a complimentary platform to DanceWorks and Harbourfront Centre; as a way to expand my dual life. In addition to dancing/choreograph...

Electric, powerful, compassionate, restless soul. Jasmyn Fyffe is like a little sister to me, even though there is nothing little or immature about her. I offer this interview with the full disclosure that I admire and cheer for Jasmyn and Jasmyn Fyffe Dance. I love seeing her flourish artistically, I am delighted by her positivity and "let's make this happen" attitude. photo by Christopher Cushman         LUCY: Why did you want to have a dance company? JASMYN: When I graduated from York University I was hungry and eager to get into the industry as both a dancer and choreographer however my impatience led me to really push towards creating my own opportunities and work.  I wanted to do shows and create choreography and I wanted to do it right away.  In retrospect I didn't have to start a company to make this a reality but I did. I wanted to create a platform to create work with dancers and collaborators who were interested in my vision and ...

He's funny, he's fresh, he's fearless.  Hari Krishnan and his company inDANCE are featured in the upcoming Dance TO Showcase performances. Read on to hear his funny, fresh and fearless responses to my Dance TO Showcase-themed  questions. LUCY: Could you tell me a few things about yourself that most people in the dance community wouldn’t know? Anything racy, funny, bizarre? HARI: I am addicted to the movie ‘Grease’- I’ve watched it at least once a month since I was seven years old! My favorite color is purple. I don’t drink coffee or tea (My Mom knows why!) My very last meal would be a PB&J sandwich. Gay porn bores me. I must squeeze the toothpaste from the middle of the tube every time (it drives my boyfriend Rex crazy!) Rex and I would kill to have Stewart Gilligan Griffin for a son along with bitch-Stewie and evil-Stewie! We still want to kick George Bush Jnr’s ass, for “breaking” the world. I am pissed Justin Trudeau is so bland and ill ...