my battery is pure love

Andrea Nann is sending little voice memos over the course of the afternoon. I am too booked up to interview her in person...and Andrea, well "booked up" doesn't even describe her reality right now. She carves a few minutes at a time out of her technical rehearsals for her upcoming premiere, Dual Light, to answer a few questions I sent her in an email. Below are Andrea's words and my reflections on them. I wish I could include all her beautiful answers (and those of her scenographic animator, James Kendal -- you'll have to go see the show to figure out what that is; it need only be said that James -- dance artist and technological building wizard-- is one of few people who could possibly take this role) but alas time and space are running out. Luckily we have light... photo of Andrea Nann by Chris Randle LIGHT "The word has been with me since the first day in studio four years ago to explore and research a new piece. Two words actually. Light and d...

Melanie Gordon is an old friend. A friend made through art.   She has photographed many of my productions and I have collaborated with her on some of her art projects through photography. One time she built me an exquisite chandelier made almost entirely of branches for a strange and wonderful show I produced   with no stage lights only lamps.  She also photographed my family – Dennes, Pablo and me – when Pablo was just 5 months old. That photo has hung somewhere in our various living quarters ever since and always will. I have always admired her calm and thoughtful presence while she has shot my creative process, amazed at how she captures the moments I didn’t know existed in my choreography or in myself as a performer. Most startling is her ability to walk into a dress rehearsal, neither having seen the work before nor knowing much about its content, and to catch its essence. This interview is long overdue, we sat down for this more than a year ago. ...

Below is an interview with the indefatigable Brandy Leary.  Just read it. It's a good conversation... LR: So Contemporaneity…. I love the word, it has a kind of inclusivity within it. It makes me think of something that I believe Bill T. Jones -- although it may have been someone else -- said about the definition of “contemporary dance” that it’s not a technique, style or aesthetic but a way of approaching art making, and that it encompasses a broad world view, an understanding and curiosity about many things from many places. You are looking at a particular kind of inclusion with this presenting series. How did this curatorial view and Contemporaneity come to be? BL: Part of the thinking around Contemporaneity emerged from Ananadam Dance Theatre's Body Brake series, which we produce in partnership with Theatre Passe Muraille.  I collaborate with a number of performance communities in Toronto through my own work and that of Anandam Dance, and they break down into th...