my battery is pure love

Sarah Stewart is a former marine biologist turned data librarian and PhD researcher studying the impact of open data on scientific research practices in biodiversity. She is also a fan of contemporary dance and visual art, with a strong interest in the exchange of information across disciplines. Sarah appeared on my art-science horizon after the Squash Court Collective show "Mirrors" which I created with Paulina Derbez in the spring of 2019 at the Citadel. She volunteered to work box office for us and we chatted about the science and art connection. Sarah has been a supporter locally, and from afar, of mine for so long that  I couldn't remember exactly how we met.  Was it at Denise Fujiwara's butoh intensives? Was through the theatre world? Lucy Rupert and Paulina Derbez in "Mirrors" photo by Francesca Chudnoff Thankfully Sarah remembered. It was through a classmate and good friend while I was doing my Master degree in History at the University of ...

Katrina Sukola is another scientist with whom I connected through unexpected serendipity. Two summers ago my son came home from summer camp at the High Park Nature Centre rhapsodizing about a kid named Clem who was in his group. They were both into Voltron and Lego and nature and want to be architects or designers of some kind when they grow up! So on the last day of camp I tracked down Clem's father and offered him my email address. Clem's mom emailed me later and told me she remembered me from the University of Waterloo dance program. We had taken ballet classes together at the Carousel Dance Centre -- a dance school that ran out of the Dance Dept. studios in the evenings when university classes were done. Vania, Clem's mom, was in high school and I was taking extra ballet classes to supplement my university classes. Fast forward a year and a half: Pablo and Clem are good friends, still into Voltron and Lego and being architects, and also Star Wars and graphic novels ...

This is the first thing I see when I reach the Cell Biology Lab at the Hospital for Sick Children. After fumbling my way through security and fobs and confusing elevators, I meet the director of the lab in this beautiful lounge. This is actually what we spend the first 15 minutes talking about: the architecture, the way this vista and lounge area connects three floors of research in a communal space of air and light. Dr. John Brumell speaks about watching the Nobel awards, FIFA World Cup and the action of city in this space. How all of this space and light induces collaboration, new ideas, and quick problem solving. Dr. Brumell is Co-director at the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Centre at the Hospital for Sick Children, Head and Senior Scientist at the Research Institute for Cell Biology, a Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto, and the Pitblado Chair in Cell Biology at the Hospital for Sick Children He is also the father of one of my ...

Visiting a rehearsal is like stepping through the looking glass. It is a world of curiosities, peculiarities, frustrations and unripened temperaments, which are all part of the process of honing a wild idea into a wild performance. The resulting production or performance will have all these characteristics, sometimes latent, sometimes frothing over. But where you start is never where you end up.  This is why, of late, I love sitting in on rehearsals and observing before I see a production. And I was honoured when Jesse Dell and Jordana Deveau invited me to sit in on a rehearsal and write about it. The origin or spark of new performance work has a sweet evolution, no matter how painful or painstaking the process is. Sometimes it's a breeze, but those processes are whimsical anecdotes. The real function and work of art and art-making is living in the shit. Artist or not, we all experience that inescapable point of living in the shit. We work hard to create beautiful provocative, ...

In the process organizing Blue Ceiling dance's first Art + Science Evening, I chatted with Carol Walmsley, who works at Swansea Town Hal l where our A+S events are happening. Our conversation started with rental rates and event themes and ranged to local scientists we know. Carol spoke highly of her friend Cindi Morshead, a University of Toronto professor, Chair of the Anatomy department and a most excellent public speaker. Carol introduced Cindi and I through email and several months of arranging our schedules later, Cindi and I finally sat down together.   Inspiring, funny and frank, Cindi is a wonderful storyteller and a formidable scientist. You can join us at Blue Ceiling dance's second Art + Science Evening, June 14th, 2019 at 730pm at Swansea Town Hall, where the company will show excerpts of our new work-in-progress and you'll get the full, glorious impact of Cindi, as she will be speaking about her work. Read on for a taste..... *** LR: I've explai...