Thread Bound- a new dance-theatre work by Suzanne Liska and Kathleen Rea
DESCRIPTION:
Kathleen Rea, also a former psychotherapist, explains inherited ancestral trauma: "We pass on biological information to our children. Stress, trauma and malnutrition modify our genes, sending chemical signals turning them on or off. This changes the way we see, feel, taste and hear and deal with stress through up to five generations, getting less and less until the effect fades. The imprint of our elders and all they experienced before we were born lives inside us."
As a creator and dancer in Thread Bound, Suzanne explores the impact of the forced internment of her Japanese Canadian family during World War Two. Kathleen explores her family’s Eastern European World War Two experience. Both Kathleen and Suzanne have been engaged in the life-long project of inhabiting these stories to better understand their impact. Thread Bound is the culmination of this process. Both artists are bound together in the search for these thin yet powerful threads. Thread Bound brings these stories and the imprint they still have on us into the public consciousness.
“How can we process embodied knowledge from our ancestors who have experienced transnational traumas? Suzanne and Kathleen embark on this internal journey as a way to connect with each other. They have created a love letter to their matriarchal lineage that speaks to global experiences of fighting for life and dancing in celebration of inter-generational survival.”
Lo Bil Performance Artist, M.A.
INTERGALACTIC ARTS COLLECTIVE (STUDIO 103), Artscape Young-place, 180 Shaw Street, Toronto, ON M6J 2W5
8:00 pm Thursday October 3, 2019
8:00 pm Friday October 4, 2019
8:00 pm Saturday October 5, 2019
7:00 pm Sunday October 6, 2019 (RELAXED SHOW - print out of text provided ahead of time, music played slightly lower, description of possible triggers done prior the show, people can come and go as they please).
After each show, the audience is invited to sit in a circle with Suzanne and Kathleen and talk with them.
http://ThreadBound.eventzilla.net
$25 Artist rate advanced sales
$35 at the door (cash, debit and credit cards)
SUZANNE LISKA (performer and co-creator) is a dancer, choreographer, teacher, and researcher specializing in dance improvisation and somatics since 1998. Suzanne has originated in roles for choreographers Rebecca Bryant, Maxine Heppner, Pam Johnson, Karen Kaeja, Susan Lee, Kathleen Rea and Takako Segawa. Suzanne has choreographed and performed works presented by DanceWorks CoWorks, Dusk Dances, Dance Matters, DARK, and Harbourfront Centre. As a company dancer for Kathleen Rea’s REAson d’etre Dance Productions, Suzanne danced in the three times Dora Award nominated “Long Live”. Upcoming projects include co-creations with celebrated dance artists Susan Lee and Takako Segawa, JJ Lee (visual artist), and Sabrina Budiman (videographer). Receiving Bachelor Degrees in Arts and in Education, Suzanne has been a teacher since 2001. She teaches professional dancers, actors, community dancers, and high school and elementary school students. Her main classes include Conditioning, Somatics (Alexander Technique), Solo, Contact, and Ensemble Improvisation/Composition and advanced partnering. Suzanne has taught workshop intensives for Collective Gulp in Ottawa, CCDC in Calgary, CINN in Tokyo, and Leviathan studio in BC and for Ryerson University, George Brown and Humber College in Toronto. She has been a faculty teacher at the Randolph Academy for Performing Arts College program and a course director in York University’s Dance department. Funded by a SSHRC award, she received her MFA in Choreography at York University. Investigating Contact Improvisation and the Alexander Technique within the choreographic process, she conducted her research in Tokyo and Toronto.
KATHLEEN REA (performer and co-creator) danced with Canada's Ballet Jorgen, National Ballet of Canada & Tiroler Landestheater (Austria). Kathleen is a certified instructor of the Melt Method (Hand and Feet) and teaches Contact Dance Improvisation at George Brown Dance. She has choreographed over 40 dance works and been nominated for five DORA awards. Her film Lapinthrope, co-produced with Alec Kinnear, won the Gold Award at the Festival Der Nationen (Austria). Kathleen is also a recipient of a K. M. Hunter Choreographic Award. Kathleen is a published author (“The Healing Dance”, Charles C. Thomas). She has a Master’s in Expressive Arts Therapy and is a Registered Psychotherapist (CRPO) with over fifteen years in private practice. In January 2015, Kathleen became a candidate teacher of the Axis Syllabus. Recently Kathleen graduated as a Brain Advancement Coach (Pyramid of Potential Method). She is the director of REAson d’etre dance productions, which produces both the Wednesday Dance Jam and the Contact Dance International Film Festival.
TRISTAN R. WHISTON (Dramaturge) is a multi-disciplinary artist who has worked in Toronto’s arts community for over 25 years as a director, dramaturge, writer, performer, and community artist. Tristan has written and directed five audio documentaries for CBC; most notably, his work, Middle C, won the 2007 Premios Ondas Award for International Radio. As the Artist-in-Residence at Central Toronto Youth Services (2004 to 2010), Tristan directed Gender Play, a theatre project working with LGBTQ youth exploring experiences of gender identity. Tristan recently collaborated with Moynan King on an integrated art and sound performance piece called trace, which toured Canada in 2015. In 2016, Tristan travelled to England where he was dramaturge and performer on Hush, a new musical written by Alex Bulmer which was presented at the London International Festival of Theatre and at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.
REAson d'etre dance productions is a not-for-profit, charitable dance company founded in 1999 by Kathleen Rea. Its mandate is to teach and inspire people about contact dance improvisation, dance/theatre and the axis syllabus through the creation and production of classes, workshops, dance jams, performances and festivals that explore current themes in a manner that enables people to benefit from the enlivening powers of expression through movement. REAson d'etre dance productions brings movement-arts to as many people as possible through accessible programming and holds the belief that every person has an artist within them. Since inception, the company has been nominated for three Dora Mavor Moore Awards, produced five main stage performance evenings, founded the Wednesday Dance Jam and the Contact Dance International Film Festival, and run over 100 dance workshops.
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FUNDING
The creative phase of this project received project funding from the Toronto Arts Council. REAson d’etre dance production currently receives operation funding from the Toronto Arts Council which has also helped to support this project.
