Category: Uncategorized

I am posting to let you know that my showing of Tedd Robinson’s new work is postponed from this Saturday to Saturday, January 9th. I was in a bike accident and sprained my wrist. My amazing physiotherapist, Giana Sherbo, reassured me that I would be physically able to perform, but the injury made it so that we had very little rehearsal time. In order to honour Tedd’s work, Charles’ music, and my dance partner Ian, I have decided to wait till January. See below for details.

Dear Friends, Family and Community,

I would like to personally invite you to a private showing of Tedd Robinson’s latest work, performed by myself and Ian Mozdzen, with music composed by Charles Quevillon.

The showing will be on Saturday, January 9th at 8:00pm-8:30pm at the Nafro Dance studio, 109 Pulford Street, 2nd Floor. Suggested donation is $10. 

This is an especially significant event as this studio is where Tedd created dance for the first 10 years of his career as a choreographer. 

This showing is a special sneak peek, as the actual premiere will be on April 21st to 23rd, part of Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers’ season, as they have generously agreed to co-present this duet. 

I must also thank the Winnipeg Arts Council, Manitoba Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts for supporting this commission.

I very much hope to see you there.

Take care,

Alex

We are having a studio showing of our new work in progress. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S9oP5WK0fE

December 22nd at 2:30pm at the NAfro Dance Centre, 109 Pulford Street. This is a free event.

Gearshifting Performance Works is hosting five open advanced level contemporary dance classes in December, 2015. Classes are 75 minutes in duration. 

Tuesday, December 15, 10:00-11:15am
Thursday, December 17, 10:00-11:15am
Friday, December 18, 10:00-11:15am
Monday, December 21, 10:00-11:15am
Tuesday, December 22, 10:00-11:15am

All classes are at the NAfro studios, 109 Pulford Street.
Cost: $5 per class for drop in’s, payable directly prior to class, cash only please
Teacher: Jolene Bailie
Accompanist: Ian Mikita

Please respect start times. Scent free environment.
Studio will be open 20 minutes prior to start time.
No latecomers please.

Please share this information with anyone and/or invite friends who you think may be interested. 

Background info and more about it: 
Gearshifting Performance Works offers open classes at select times during the season and has been providing open classes to the community since 2004. Classes are most often taught by Artistic Director, Jolene Bailie. 

Jolene Bailie is well-respected for her education activities and teaching expertise, teaching in numerous schools and institutions since 1995. Jolene holds a B.A Honors degree with a specialization in dance from The University of Winnipeg, a Teacher’s Certificate with Distinction from The Royal Academy of Dance and a Master of Fine Arts in Dance through The American Dance Festival/Hollins University. Jolene teaches extensively, including regularly teaching at The School of Contemporary Dancers (1997-present) and at The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Professional Division (2001-2002 and 2013-present). 

Jolene Bailie is a dancer, choreographer, teacher and the Founding Artistic Director of Gearshifting Performance Works. Jolene’s career began with commissioning solo works and touring solo shows extensively. In 2005 she began touring her own self-created solos and her self-created solos, most notably “Bell/Anti Bell” and “Switchback” which toured for multiple years. Her evening length works include: “Everything’s Coming Up Roses”, “Inanimate Jungles Have Clocks”, “Sensory Life, Infinite World”, “Hybrid Human”, “Inspiro”, “Aspects of Alterity”, “Eat All You Want/The Top?” and it’s further development into “All You Can Eat/The Top?”. Additional selected works include: “An Aspect of Alterity”, “Being Outer”, “Inner Being”, “A Lemon For Your Thoughts”, “Set and Re-Set”, “Gloria’s Sensoria”, “A Conception of Mentality”, “A Theory of Machines”, “Give and Take in the Kingdom of Love”, “Hybrid Xi’an”, “Today Solo”, “Are You Having Any Fun?” and “Lost”. Her outdoor durational works include: “Landscape Synergy” and “Mirage on the Muses Plateau”. Her work for bridging professionals/mentorship include: “The Bathing Ya-Ya”, “The Shadow Ya-Ya”, “Solitude”, “The Heart of Wisdom”, “Memory Forms”, “Crowding”, “Fencing”, “Stop Pause Go”, “Gearshifting”, “Yo Shakespeare” and “Hearing the Time”.

As a dancer, Jolene has also worked with Bill Evans, the Bill Evans Dance Company, Bill Evans and Friends, Trip Dance Company, Ruth Cansfield Dance and Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers. From 2001-2010, she worked all over North America on new creations with numerous celebrated choreographers and directors. These include: Marc Boivin, Marie-Josée Chartier, Denise Clarke, Deborah Dunn, Bill Evans, Don Halquist, Joe Laughlin, Jim May, Julia Sasso and Nina Watt. Highlights of her solo performing career includes: full length solo shows at The Joyce SoHo as well as studying, performing and touring seven historical works, including the suite of five solos, “Dances for Isadora”, by Jose Limon as well as “Escape” and “The End?” by Anna Sokolow. In Winnipeg, she has also worked with: Brent Lott, Rachel Browne, Stephanie Ballard and Gaile Petursson-Hiley.

www.gearshifting.org

Dear Friends, Family & Community,

I am thrilled to announce that I have created a new dance piece with the incredible generosity of these four artists as well as designer and mentor David Owen Lucas, and the Nafro Dance studio. This project did not receive funding. We all met and discussed whether or not we would still go ahead with it. We went ahead with it and now we want to share it with you.

The Family Portrait

(Working Title)

By Alexandra Elliott

with dance artists Hilary Anne Crist, Warren McClelland, Ian Mozdzen, and Aaron Paul and designer David Owen Lucas

 

“This piece is about family history. 

What are the secrets behind your family portraits?

Are there any stories you have never shared?

Did you have to eat Mock Duck or Clam Sandwiches? 

I hope not.”

 

Lenore?

Created and performed by Hilary Anne Crist

(more info to come)

 

Tuesday, December 15th to Saturday, December 19th – 8pm-9pm Nightly

Theatre Incarnate

320-70 Albert Street

Limited Seating – Purchase your ticket in advance from the artists

Tickets $20

(This show is not funded, every ticket is split evenly amongst us)

We cannot wait to share the art with you.

SAPIENTIA by Roswitha of Gandersheim

Directed by Mia van Leeuwen

Collectively produced by project roswitha

 

OCTOBER 28-31 @ 8pm

November 1 @ 2pm & 7pm

 

Where:

320-70 Albert Street (3rd floor)

 

Tix: $12/$15 (cash only at door)

 

*With support from The Manitoba Arts Council/ Le conseil des arts du Manitoba

 

Reserve at miavanleeuwen.ool@gmail.com or call 204-960-4451.

 

Martyrdom. Torture. Miracles.

The bounds of FAITH.

A kettle, a flashlight, a mirror and three teacups.

 

Objects + Performers come together to render this object theatre adaptation of the 10th century dramatic text by ROSWITHA of GANDERSHEIM.

 

 

 

Direction:

Mia van Leeuwen (https://outoflinetheatre.wordpress.com/mia/)

 

Featuring:

Brenda McLean (http://www.theatreincarnate.ca)

Chris Sabel (aztec theatre)

Alison Vargo (aztec theatre)

Christopher Sobczak (http://www.theatreincarnate.ca)

 

Text adaptation: Joseph Shragge of Scapegoat Carnivale (Montreal) and the cast.

 

Who is Roswitha?

 

Roswitha of Gandersheim (c. 935 – c. 1002) was a 10th-century canoness, dramatist and poet who lived and worked at the Abbey of Gandersheim, established by the Ottonian dynasty. She wrote in Latin and is considered by some to be the first person since antiquity to compose drama in the Latin West. Roswitha composed legends, plays and epics, many of which focus on the religious empowerment of women.

 

Despite being referred to as the “most remarkable woman of her time” Roswitha’s plays are rarely adapted for the modern stage. Perhaps this is due to the perception that religious plays are often formulaic and repetitive, and lack real artistic value due to their ideological and theological agenda. However, our production of Sapientia proposes that the medium of object theatre as a frame for the content will resonate with contemporary audiences, providing an entry point into the material that questions and critiques aspects of extreme religious practices.

 

What is Object Theatre?

 

Object Theatre (also known as Performing Objects) is a term used to describe a performance style that contains the animation of pre-existing ‘found’ objects rather than those constructed for theatrical effect (such as the puppet). As a result, practitioners of Object Theatre commonly share the anthropomorphic transformation of an object into a subjectified character. For example, a shoe becomes a ship, a collection of spoons become sailors on the ship, and is manipulated for performance. An object’s very object-ness makes it a potent tool for storytelling and theatre.

 

Who is Project Roswitha?

 

“Project Roswitha” brings together a group of artists dedicated to contributing to Winnipeg’s independent contemporary theatre scene and cultural landscape. Members include Chris Sabel and Alison Vargo from Aztec Theatre, Brenda McLean and Christopher Sobczak from Theatre Incarnate, along with Mia van Leeuwen, co-Artistic Director of out of line theatre. The ad hoc was initiated by van Leeuwen and came together based on the mutual interest of exploring the form of object theatre inspired by the “captivating otherworld” of Adhere & Deny, the avant-garde object/puppet company founded in Winnipeg, Canada, under the artistic vision of Grant Guy. Also, in a time of scarce and highly competitive funding opportunities for independent theatre companies, “Project Roswitha” has pulled together for the benefit of many. All members of this group have a history of producing independent works and are dedicated to maintaining independent practices from commercial theatres. Our association with the three companies hopes to strengthen our outreach to the community, providing them the unique cultural event that is Sapientia.

 

 

 

Feast on World Premieres by Brent Lott, Johanna Riley
& 2 Manitoba Premieres by Calgary’s acclaimed Helen Husak

GORGE showcases the work of three prairie artists, WCD’s Artistic Director Brent Lott, WCD dancer Johanna Riley & Calgary’s Helen Husak. 

Lott ‘s work CHASM (a World Premiere) is a new solo created for WCD apprentice Brett Owen that seeks to take you back to the vulnerability of those first movements toward intimacy. Lott’s other work on the program is the remount CENTRE OF GRAVITY a duet performed by WCD dancers Brianna Ferguson and Jasmine Allard.

Riley’s World Premiere (De)face Me is an exploration of complex dynamics within an intimate relationship, of the shift between tenderness, aggression, carelessness, and connection. The duet features WCD dancers Sam Penner and Warren McClelland

The two Manitoba premieres are new solo works by choreographer Helen Husak, and both oriented toward the darkness and beauty of humanity, one focusing on the performer’s psychological environment and the other zeroing in on our natural surroundings. MISE EN ABYME, created with performer Kate Stashko, takes inspiration from eastern European nesting dolls and the work of M.C. Escher to explore ideas of infinity, femininity and confinement. STASIS, a collaborative exchange between installation artist Peter von Tiesenhausen and performer Helen Husak, inhabits the power and vulnerability of the wild, where vast spaces continuously become smaller and smaller microcosms of themselves.

For tickets please call 204-452-0229

http://www.thedancepost.org/training-calendar/2015/11/30/dance-post-professional-community-class-alexandra-elliott

Dance Post Professional Community Class 

Monday November 16 – Thursday November 20

time: 9:30- 10:55am 

location:  Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers Rachel Browne Theatre

cost: $7 drop-in or $5 when using your class card  *More info on class card t.b.a soon!

Alexandra Elliott – Biography

Born and raised in Winnipeg Alexandra Elliott is a dedicated contemporary dancer and choreographer. At the age of four her family knew this dance form was right for her and she was enrolled at The School of Contemporary Dancers. This is where she stayed until graduating in 2004 from the professional program and received a BA Honours Degree from the University of Winnipeg. Fresh out of school Alexandra was a company dancer for four years with Ruth Cansfield Dance before joining the Young Lungs Dance Exchange to pursue choreography. After seven years of constant support from this organization she has taken an important step and is now the Artistic Director of Alexandra Elliott Dance. She has had the incredible opportunity to self present her own production and will continue to do so with the supportive community she lives in. With over ten original works under her belt, her dances have been produced in Winnipeg, New York, Toronto, and Edmonton. Alexandra remains humble with a commitment to learn from her seniors and peers. She has studied choreography with Susie Burpee (ON), Marie- Josée Chartier (QC), Susan Rethorst (NY) and Peter Bingham (BC) and has sought out rewarding mentorships with Burpee and Brent Lott (MB). She cycles to her studio every week, year round, to make work that is physically demanding and emotionally charged, and not one day is taken for granted. 

http://www.thedancepost.org/training-calendar/2015/10/19/dance-post-professional-community-class-johanna-riley

Dance Post Professional Community Class taught by Johanna Riley

Monday October 19 – Thursday October 22

time: 9:30- 10:55am 

location:  Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers Rachel Browne Theatre

cost: $7 drop-in or $5 when using your class card  *More info on class card t.b.a soon!

Teacher info:

Johanna Riley

Having worked as a professional dance artist for almost a decade and a half, Johanna Riley brings diverse and deeply-considered influences into her teaching. In her ten years as a company member of Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers, as well as in her independent work as a performer and choreographer, Riley has gathered knowledge from teachers and choreographers from across Canada and abroad. She is a faculty member atthe School of Contemporary Dancers, and has also taught professional community classes for over a decade. Riley offers a contemporary dance technique class combined with elements of athletic training and release technique. The class will emphasize efficiency, versatility, postural alignment and core engagement, while also engaging the intellect and the imagination.

http://nafrodance.com/whats-on/

The Apes is a full-length evening new dance creation by NAfro Dance’s Artistic Director Casimiro Nhussi. This will explore affects of human bad actions to our own being and our own environment. It is a call for change of our own behavior.

November 6-8

The Gas Station Arts Centre