Northern Arts Project Grant Funds a New Solo Dance Performance With Motherhood and Nature at it’s Core

Throughout the last several months, a team of artists gathered by The SPACE Upstairs has been coming together to support the creation of a solo dance inspired by my personal story of motherhood, a deep connection to the natural world, and the precarious and beautiful existence of human life.

Thanks to funding from the Ontario Arts Council, professional artistic work like this can exist even in tiny communities like Burk’s Falls. It was important for me to approach this project with care at the root, because a majority of the collaborators identify as mothers, or had had the experience of being caregivers in some form. What this meant was slowing down.—and honestly that can be a bit scary in a world that wants more content, more accomplishment… But I think we arrived at an understanding that this project was more than the created performance, it was the intention to reach outwards and ask “what is your story of mothering, of caring, of loneliness, of transformation?”

During the project there was much inspiration to go around. Those on the artistic team made meaningful artistic work available in our community: artists with loads of artistic schooling and experience live right here in Almaguin! They got to share their knowledge and skill with a team of both artists and community members who admired and appreciated the experience. Emerging artists took in new ideas, mother-artists of adult children connected with mother-artists of younger children, and together we all looked ahead at possible futures for ourselves and our families. As I write this, I am reflecting on the potential ripple effect the project has…one can really never know how far something like this can reach.

As part of the movement generating process I found myself embodying movements that reflected to me the multitude of physical influences I have had over the years. I started to think of all my connections to movement, my dance teachers, my family members, sports coaches, friends, choreographers and dancer's I’ve worked with. I felt like I could access all of these people in a tangible way through my body memory. I questioned: If I am physically connected to these multitudes of people, then does this physical connection also moves outwards exponentially across time and space? My teachers were influenced by there teachers and families and friends. And we influence young people of today through our ingrained and practiced physicalities too. Nature also has a connection here, because for thousands of years humans have been representing nature in our art, including dance. This all brought me back around to the gratitude for all the human connections, and natural connections I have made in my life. To the land of rocks, water, and trees where I spend my childhood, to the place I now call home, and the people I call family. For all the experiences that have brought me here, the hard times, and the beautiful times.

One of those hard times propelled me into this creative journey: my mother’s life changing experience of stroke. My first teacher of movement and dance has become a reminder of how resilient we are. Training as a dancer can teach much about determination and grace. My mother started dancing at about age 16, and she poured her heart and soul into her love for ballet. She exercised and stretched and showed me what dedication looks like. She shows me still, even though now the movements she practices are much more limited. And while this time continues to be a challenge for her, and for all of us who are with her, there are silver linings. There are new discoveries. There is a realization that the depth of knowing someone is endless, and that love and beauty and laughter can be found in unsuspecting places. A friend can be made in a shared hospital room, a piece of art can be made with a grandchild, a person can grow, a community can open.

These stories of human resilience are ultimately what I seek in my art making. When the opportunity to work on the piece in full stage lights came up through an offer of residency at the Orillia Opera House with the support of Arts Orillia, this search for more connection continued. Arriving at the Opera House brough a full circle moment as I remembered my childhood performances there in the Kiwanis Festival, my mother by my side, making sure I was warming up, and mentally prepared for the challenge ahead. Here, more stories wove into my world in discussion with artistic director Kate Hilliard, and others on her team as conversations drifted from deceased family members, to fertility challenges faced by intended parents. These conversations and reflections are what is most important about the art-making. We make art to help us make sense of life, to help us see life in new ways. As a dancer, I process these things best through movement, I feel the humanity through my body whether I’m on stage, or in an audience. The hope is that I can bring that sense with me everywhere I go, to be present and honest in my interactions.

I am eternally grateful to my family and friends for supporting me in this work and in all my artistic efforts.
Thanks to my mentor Susie Burpee, who supported me through suggested reading materials, discussions, and advice about balancing time. Thanks to the team of collaborators who remained flexible with me on this journey, Jordana Deveau, Christine Charette, Corinne Penstone, Anne-Marie Hood, Darren Copeland, John Varcoe, Maeve Gallagher, Tammy-Lyn Cowan, Marcia Keuhnen, and April Liu. Thanks to The SPACE Upstairs board of directors. Thanks to all my teachers and mentors who’s inspired me to dance and make art, especially Sasha Ivanochko and Denise Fujiwara, as well as so many other teachers of dance and life!

Thanks of course to my mother and to my husband. Thanks to anyone reading this, for taking the time to know why we think is so important! This is just one of many ways we are bringing contemporary dance and culture to rural Ontario in hopes of opening up ways of thinking and being in the world.