Emergency #13

Running the gamut from modern dance to physical comedy and multi-media performance art, Peterborough’s thirteenth Emergency festival brings to the stage of the Market Hall Performing Arts Centre twelve brave new works of dance and performance. Program X features established artists from the local scene; Program Y presents the work of the up-and-comers.

PROGRAM X features:
• the latest collaboration from cowboys Curtis Driedger and Kate Story, The Streets of Laredo
• two haunting choral/dance pieces, Burdock and Blessed Thistle, from choreographer/composer michael hermiston
• a new work from Millbrook-born, Toronto-based Emma Lu Romerein, DeadLoK, inspired by JRR Tolkien’s Orcs
• Dancing Meridians, a moving meditation ensemble directed by Barbara Stocking
• Shadows Throw Missiles, an edgy work from theatre artist-turned-choreographer Esther Vincent
• I Was a Postcard, a Patrick Walsh poem come to life featuring Patrick Walsh, Kate Story, and a bunch of balloons

PROGRAM Y includes:
• A new work by Jenn Cole inspired by the poetry of William Blake, Of Mothers, Lions and the Desert Wild
• the meditative Ecstatic Wanderings, a powerful delving into sensuality by Tiina Kivinen
• the latest dynamic work from the Trent Dance Club, choreographer Meghan Leadbeater’s, Not Myself
• a serious party piece by Bethany Lifeso and Elizabeth Varty, In a Cocktail Dress
• Susie Magyari’s high-powered Drop

Program X
Curtis Driedger & Kate Story
michael hermiston
Emma Lu Romerein
Barbara Stocking
Esther Vincent
Patrick Walsh & Kate Story

Program Y
Jenn Cole
Tiina Kivinen
Meghan Leadbeater
Bethany Lifeso & Elizabeth Varty
Susie Magyari

PROGRAM X:

For those who have been following the evolution of Peterborough eccentrics Curtis Driedger and Kate Story, we present their latest collaboration Streets of Laredo, featuring once again the haunting choral stylings of the Juanita O’Dang Singers. Several tumbleweeds hunch motionless in the burning dust of the town’s single street. They’ve been stalled there since high noon. Dr. Jenkins’ yardbirds scratch listlessly under the porch, their wings dragging and their parched little tongues hanging nearly out of their beaks. In the distant western sky, great dark clouds are mounting, rising higher and blacker with each long minute. In due time the gale will land with an almighty shudder, lightning will crackle and hail will rattle, but by then the cowboy, at this moment prostrate and gasping in the fitful shade outside the infirmary door, will be dead. A bystander leans intently over him, one eye to the gathering storm, while a passel of h’ants drifts in to greet another of their own.

Blessed Thistle and Burdock are two of michael hermiston’s Botanical Choral/Dance Series, inspired by observations of sprouting things in gardens and parks and woods around Peterborough and in Nova Scotia. The lyrics explore the spiritual and philosophic metaphors found leaping off the pages of Mrs. Grieve’s herbal reference book. The dances are attempts at melding human flightiness with the more rooted and sedentary nature of plants. In Blessed Thistle, choreographed and performed by michael hermiston (who also penned the lyrics and composed the music), michael will be joined by singers Jaylene Mory, Kirsten Addis, Susan Newman, Pamela Barron, Renee Paul, Tina Therieau, Ava Richardson, and Anna Gartshore. Leah Bell will play the French Horn. This haunting work was first performed “in progress” at the Bare Essentials Dance Project in November 2004. Burdock will be danced by Barbara Stocking, Patricia Fenwick, Ray Barker and others, joined once again by the choir, and michael hermiston on the clarinet. The dance incorporates the structure of a traditional English Country Fertility Dance.

DeadLoK, by Millbrook-born and Toronto-based dance artist Emma Lu Romerein, was inspired by the underlying message of the mythical realm created by J.R.R. Tolkien, Good versus Evil. Emergency #13 will feature an excerpt of the piece, the Duet of the Orcs. Characterized by highly physical movement, partnering, and release, and supported by excerpts of text taken from Tolkien’s Orc dialogue, this work focuses on the tension preceeding battle and the actual conflict itself. The confused and narrow-sighted objectives of the Orcs highlight the moment when Good and Evil are deadlocked against each other. Performed by Jennifer Helland and Jonathan Osborn. Text by Jonathan Pinksen. Music by DJ Sleuth.

Artist Barbara Stocking’s Dancing Meridians takes as its starting-point the Market Hall itself. Part One connects the performers’ heart-beat with the planet’s meridian pulse where Market Hall is built; the performers will call forth and celebrate its energy through dance and music. Part Two creates a ley-line inspired sound, dance and visual mandala, embracing the performance space. With Vanessa Ferrari as the musical director, michael hermiston as an artistic consultant, Peter Sawade as a sound and lighting advisor, and dancers and musicians Briagh Hoskins-Hasbury, Emmanuelle Reid, Johanna Laing, Nadine Changfoot, Guinevere Martin, Meghan Leadbeater, Laska Sawade, Catrina Warner, Naomi Schatz, Wolf Kohler, Patti Fenwick, Gary Magwood, Kate Henderson, Peggy Houston, and Tom Logan, this piece is sure to be an intriguing creative journey for audience and performers alike.

Shadows Throw Missiles started with a theatre monologue by writer Patrick Walsh, but in the hands of newly-minted choreographer Esther Vincent it becomes a charged and thrilling dance work. Dancers Stephanie Corrin and Ryan Kerr join actor Matt Gilbert, with music by Gene Vincent and Esther Vincent. “Choreographaturgy” by Dy Gallagher. The bike, the biker, the road. Anger through a footstep. A voice raised. An anthem sung. The one in one thousand crash.

Another poem by Patrick Walsh springs to choreographic life when Patrick, armed with a harmonica, joins forces with Kate Story for the unsettling I Was a Postcard. A birthday party gone wrong – a performance with boots – a poem, with balloons.

PROGRAM Y:

Based loosely on Blake’s poems Little Girl Lost and Little Girl Found, Jenn Cole’s Of Mothers, Lions and the Desert Wild seeks to explore growing up, getting lost and finding security in a surprising place. The girl ventures away from her mother into the wild desert, curious and naive. She meets a lion who is both dangerous and compassionate, and matures beyond her mother’s dreams as she begins to connect with the Blake’s Christ-like beast. Danced by Jenn Cole, Theresa Laing, Bryan Jordan, and Jason Kater, with musicians Amanda Dibbits and Cam Fraser.

Ecstatic Wanderings starts here. Breathe. Imagine: Four women on a meandering magical journey, exploring the pulsating rhythms of the body, redefining sexiness, reclaiming ritual performance space… a return to our vulvic power. Come and Play!!! Performed and created by Tiina Kivinen, Tanya Elchuk, Kelly O’Neill, and Arian O’Neill MacLellan.

Madonna fans take note! Not Myself explodes onto the stage to the pop-diva’s “X-static process” with dancers Kerith Paul, Jenna Tye, Elizabeth Pecchia, Lisa Jensen, Stacey Maloney, Susie Magyari, Lindsay Williams, Alison Roberts, Lyz Tessier, Katie Sangster-Poole, Katie Bowerman, Meghan Leadbeater, and Leah Bally. This new work by the Trent Dance Club is a lyrical jazz piece, which also incorporates elements of modern and ballet. The theme of the piece is questioning identity, choreographed by Meghan Leadbeater and Susie Magyari.

In A Cocktail Dress, choreographed by Elizabeth Varty and Bethany Lifeso and performed by Erin Faye, Katie Felix, and Bethany Lifeso, moves through familiar scenes, exploring the dynamic relationships between three sassy women and their best-dressed selves. Questioning the importance of class with serious party intentions, the dancers push the boundaries of identity in contemporary social context. Music composed and performed by Doug Varty.

Drop is a high energy hip hop number choreographed by Susie Magyari and performed by the Trent Dance Team. Elements of street jazz, break-dancing, and partner-work highlight battling elements where the performers split into groups and compete against each other through the use of movement and much creativity.