Finding Your Story Through Movement

(A Common Threads Collective Workshop)

Friday, February 26 @ 6:00 – 9:00 pm – SOLD OUT
REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED!

The Common Threads Collective is excited to offer their third workshop series in their Land(ing) project, supported through the Public Energy artist in residence program and the Ontario Arts Council.

Workshop Description:

This workshop is a unique opportunity for exploring personal stories, combining movement and artmaking in a safe group setting.

What to Expect:

Dance artist and therapist Mithila Ballal and writer and theatre artist Kate Story will lead the group as we explore a “crossroads” incident in our personal lives, using drawing, movement, and choreography to allow participants to see, hear, share, and move through moments of transformation from our own experiences.

Take this opportunity to get inspired and enjoy a sense of community after a long period of isolation and lockdowns.

This workshop is to be delivered via Zoom. However, if lockdown restrictions are lifted, the workshop will shift to an in-person model.

Requirements:

• This workshop is free and open to all ages 16 and up.
• Open only to City of Peterborough residents as art materials will be delivered pre-workshop
• No experience in either dance or art-making is required.
• We can accommodate those living with disabilities. If you breathe, you dance! Let us know if you have special needs when you register and we will do our best to accommodate you.
• Wear comfortable clothes you can move in. As it is winter, bring indoor shoes you are comfortable moving in, or if you prefer, work barefoot.
• An internet connection and a device such as a computer, laptop, iPad etc. for Zoom
• Room where you have some space to move.

Registration is Required

If we are able to gather in person, the workshop location is The Theatre on King, 171 King Street West (directions available on registration). If COVID-19 restrictions prohibit in person gatherings, the workshop will take place over Zoom.

Delivered by: Mithila Ballal and Kate Story

Instructor Bio:

Mithila Ballal is a trained Bharathanatyam dancer. She has performed in India, the USA, and Canada, and teaches children and adults as well as creating original choreography. Her passion and love for dance led her to pursue her Masters in Dance/Movement Therapy and Mental Health Counselling at Lesley University, Cambridge, USA in 2010.

Mithila moved to Canada in 2013. Apart from being a dance instructor, she also is a Registered Psychotherapist and Dance/Movement Therapist. Mithila works with various populations with mental health issues – autism, trauma, anxiety, depression, etc. As a dance/movement therapist it has been important for her to break it down to simple terms: “breathing is movement.” With the support of the community, Mithila has had the pleasure to choreograph and perform for various events to showcase the unique art form of Indian dance, including Bharathanatyam in Peterborough.

She runs her own dance school: Ukti – Centre for Movement and Arts. Mithila serves as a board member of Public Energy, and the Dance Movement Therapy Association of Canada.

Instructor Bio:

Kate Story is a writer and theatre artist. She is a recipient of the Ontario Arts Foundation’s K.M. Hunter Artist Award in theatre, and as part of Peterborough’s centennial celebrations she was named one of the region’s 100 most important performing artists.

Artistic director of three month-long multi-arts festivals in Peterborough, the Precarious Festivals saw Kate work with a wide array of arts and non-arts community partners to deliver workshops, learning and mentorship opportunities for youth, panel discussions, and original performance, music, visual art, literary, and media works. She is the director of Public Energy’s Alternating Currents program, for the past 4 years facilitating creative processes for wildly diverse artistic projects.

Kate is an active supporter of local arts organizations, previously serving as vice-chair of Peterborough’s arts council the Electric City Culture Council, and currently chairing the advisory committee and Board of The Theatre on King. She also sits on the Theatre Trent Executive.

Kate’s first novel Blasted received the Sunburst Award’s honourable mention, and her third novel This Insubstantial Pageant was tipped by the Toronto Star as a top SF pick. 2018-19 saw the publication of her first young adult fantasy, the Antilia duology, identified as a best new work for children by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre, and a new Young Adult novel is coming out in the fall. Her short fiction has been published in World Fantasy Award and Aurora Award-winning collections, and has been shortlisted for the Sunburst Award and the CBC Literary Award.