Emergency Performance Festival #22

From experimental theatre to contemporary dance, aerial circus arts and belly dance, the Emergency festival – now in its 22^nd year – has something for everyone! Feed your adventurous side by checking out one or more of this year’s programs, featuring both newcomers and veterans of Peterborough’s busy performance scene. There are 13 new works distributed over 3 programs in 2 theatres. Enjoy!

For 20+ years, Public Energy has made the Emergency Festival the cornerstone of its support for local artists creating new work. More than 200 performance works have been premiered through Emergency; many of those have developed into full-length pieces by the area’s best contemporary dance, theatre, and interdisciplinary artists. Artists showcased in Emergency are chosen in two ways: through a curatorial selection process and through an open call.

Program A at The Theatre on King

Approximately 70 minutes.
Thursday March 22 at 8pm, Friday at 9:30pm, Saturday at 2pm and 6:30pm.

*Note: A fog machine is used in the final performance of Program A*

Hermione Rivison
Passings and Partings
Many people are bent on learning to live well. Yet each day brings us nearer to our demise. Joy, the clown, explores the art of dying well and plans for that day – whenever it might be. Created with the assistance of Deb Reynolds and her appraising eye.

Sarah Rudnicki
Pulse
Mixing elements of belly dance, fusion, street dance, veil work, and masks, Sarah Rudnicki explores the internal battle caused by the choice to show pain. The beauty of quiet strength, that which is soft can be strong.  With a company of five dancers (4 trained in middle eastern dance) Pulse looks at our public and private faces, of how we wear invisible wounds.

Robyn Smith & Bennett Bedoukian
Unblocking
The hardest part is beginning, as performer Robyn Smith and percussionist Bennett Bedoukian explore the frustrations, discomfort and ultimate joy in the creative process of collaboration. Unblocking considers the risks we take in creating and the roadblocks that keep us from doing so, featuring both improvised and choreographed movement and sound as the artists weave in and out of their comfort zones alone, and together.

Anne White
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is a house, a museum, a set, a family portrait, a fantasy. A current resident of Aberdeen wonders how much longer she can live there. And whether she should be fighting harder to save it.

Opal (Jen) Elchuk & Kayla Stanistreet in Captive:ated. Photo: Erin Hanes

Program B at The Market Hall

Approximately one hour.
Friday March 23 at 6:30pm, Saturday at 8pm.

Opal (Jen) Elchuk & Kayla Stanistreet
Captive:ated
A twist on the Grimms Brothers’ Rapunzel tales, this work of circus theatre employs trapeze and braided silks extending the full height of the Market Hall stage and, through the characters of Rapunzel and her captor the Enchantress, explores themes of control, surrender, attachment, desire, and power struggles in relationships.

Mandy Livings
Fly Away Home
Mandy Livings, a veteran Peterborough dancer and teacher, has created a joyful work reflecting the talents of her diverse group: 14 dancers, aged 8 to 50+, who come from 4 different local dance studios and a high school dance program. As the name implies, Fly Away Home expresses joy and freedom in movement.

Becca Partington & Wes Ryan
The Caregiver
Tapping into their experiences as caregivers and artists, Becca and Wes have created a dance illustrating both the beauty and toil (emotional and physical) of caring for a loved one. With original music by Glenn Pierce, also drawing on his work as a caregiver, the work connects viewers with the conflicting feelings that arise when providing support through life and illness.

Thomas Vaccaro & Ethan Hinshelwood
Parallels
Parallels sees a mentor and his apprentice reflecting on their relationship. One dreams of the future while the other recalls his earlier self, determined to not let his young student down. Employing visual projections by collaborator Patricia Thorne and the circus arts that are at the heart of the teaching – cyr wheel, aerials, rope – the mentor finds that he learns as much from the student as vice versa.

Charlie Petch in The Daughter of Geppetto. Photo: Mona Mousa

Program C at The Market Hall

Approximately 65 minutes.
Friday March 23 at 8pm, Saturday at 6:30pm.
Notice: Program C contains mature content. Active listeners will be available during the performance.

Nicole Malbeuf & Nicole Kelly
Bad Days, Dark Days
Bad Days, Dark Days is a dance and aerial work in two acts with cloth manipulations. It is an attempt describe the impossible – to breathe life into, and give shape to, depression.

Leslie Menagh
Migration Stories
With a series of personal interviews at its core, Migration Stories endeavours to both differentiate and unify the voices of its intrepid cast members. But when narration and navigation are disrupted, movement itself becomes the shared language. Featuring a cast of seven individuals with their own immigration stories, working with creator/director Leslie Menagh and choreographer Sylvie Dasné.

Old Men Dancing
Unfolding
Unfolding is about who we are and what we have done in our lives. It is Old Men Dancing – now performing in their ninth Emergency – unfolding the past into the present, a group initiative created in part with guest artist Jean Bellefleur.

Charlie Petch
Daughter of Geppetto
When Pinocchio finds Geppetto shipwrecked inside The Terrible Dogfish, the marionette realizes his creator cannot recall the days he once called him daughter and together they write the true-life tall tale, The Adventures of Pinocchio. Charlie Petch presents this reimagined story with light, silhouette, animation, music, spoken word, collaborating with choreographer Wes Ryan and projectionist Patricia Thorne.

Kate Story
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0%, choreographed by Kate Story with original music by Steafan Hannigan, is a short dance work performed by five men. It explores the artists’ reactions, emotions, and reflections in response to learning about CoSA, Circles of Support and Accountability, where community members play a direct role in the reintegration and risk management of those who have committed serious sexual offenses.

Nicole Malbeuf performing Bad Days, Dark Days. Photos by Clifford Skarstedt of the Peterborough Examiner.

Show Sponsors

Dave Robertson – Century 21 Canada LP – United Realty Inc. – Peterborough ON