After the great success of Porch View Dances where over fifteen hundred residents and Torontonians alike took to the streets of Seaton Village, moving from porch to porch to watch the stories of a neighbourhood unfold, Kaeja d'Dance presents the second instalment of its Urban Landscape Performance Initiative (ULPI): JUST DANCE J/F (Jane Finch). Conceived by Karen Kaeja and directed by the husband and wife team of Karen and Allen Kaeja, JUST DANCE J/F runs August 24-26 at the Oakdale Community Centre in north Toronto.
The main event runs Saturday August 25 & Sunday August 26. On those days, the dance works, choreographed by professionals, feature non-dancer residents from the community and are about real people, in real time, in real environments, telling their stories through dance. Each presentation culminates in a celebratory, all-inclusive Flock Landing - a group collaboration of individuals where members of the audience are invited to become active participants.
The resident participants are working with choreographers Robert Abubo (Dancemakers), Troy Feldman (currently the Heart of Joey in Mirvish's War Horse), Allen Kaeja, Mariano, Andrea Nann (Dreamwalker Dance Company Artistic Director) and Lua Shayenne (Lua Shayenne & Co.).
On Friday, August 24, there is a community-based Dance Celebration to kick off JUST DANCE J/F where everyone in the community is invited to present short, 2 - 3 minutes works. Expect all ages and all styles.
Five community groups from the Jane/Finch area encompassing youth, new immigrants and lively seniors perform on the grounds of the Oakdale Community Centre as part of JUST DANCE J/F.
As part of these initiatives, Kaeja d'Dance offered free community dance classes leading up to JUST DANCE J/F in the Jane/Finch neighbourhood.
Capturing the legacy for future generations, JUST DANCE J/F also provides opportunities for up to 20 youth to learn how to reinterpret movement through the medium of dance on film, culminating in the production of short films.
Kaeja d'Dance has created a multitude of audience-inclusive site-specific works with professional and non-professional performers across Canada and abroad. Established in 1991, Toronto's Kaeja d'Dance is renowned for creating exceptional award-winning contemporary dance performances, site-specific works with extreme numbers of dancers, acclaimed screen dance and in-demand education and outreach programs. At the heart of Kaeja are husand/wife Co-Artistic Directors, Karen and Allen Kaeja. They break ground, take risks and bring together exquisite dancers and collaborators to create extraordinary experiences both on and off the stage in local and international communities.
Porch View Dances and JUST DANCE J/F (Jane/Finch) are generously supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Hal Jackman Foundation, Carolyn Sifton Foundation, L & J Siegel Family Fund, Havergal College and TD Bank Group. Porch View Dances is produced in partnership with St. Alban's Boys' and Girls' Club. Kaeja d'Dance thanks their family of private donors for their continued support as well as the Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.
"Another example is a new initiative from the Kaeja d'Dance company called Porch View Dances. They made a similar foray into the real in the neighbourhood around Christie and Bloor a couple weeks ago, successfully claiming public space away from cars and impersonal transit to introduce non- professional, home-based dancers who did more to make this a livable city than any property tax freeze in the last fifty years."
Publicado: 13 de agosto, 2012
