Djata: Conversations of the Manden
2023-05-06 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Halifax) | The Bus Stop Theatre Coop, 2203 Gottingen St, Halifax, NS, Canada
By Aly Keita
Presented in partnership with Prismatic Arts Festival in association with Live Art Dance

Friday, May 5th @ 7:00pm
Saturday, May 6th @ 7:00pm
With opening performance of Unfold by Reequal Smith
Location: Bus Stop Theatre Co-op (2203 Gottingen St)
Duration:
Unfold by Reequal Smith – 10 mins
Djata: Conversations of the Manden by Aly Keita – 20 mins
(15 mins intermission between performances)
Tickets: $5/$10/$15/$20 (For both shows – Pay what you can)
BUY TICKETS HERE

To create my piece, I drew inspiration from the Epic of Soundjata, one of the most significant foundational stories from 13th-century African oral tradition. It features Soundjata Keita, whose exploits have been transmitted through song and kora music played by lyrical poets from West Africa, known as griots. I was especially interested in the part of the legend known as “The Awakening of the Lion” to address themes of oppression, courage, metamorphosis, passage and liberation, all explored through rhythm, sound and movement.
Born from an alliance between the buffalo and the lion, Soundjata Keita, the long-awaited child whose birth was foretold by soothsayers, is unable to walk. After years of humiliation, against all odds, he stands up, walks across the village and uproots a baobab. This marks the beginning of his awakening, which will lead him to found the great Mandingo Empire, unifying the regions of West Africa, including Guinea, my home country.
Credits:
Artistic direction, choreography and dance: Aly Keita Music: Lasso Sanou and Aly Keita Rehearsal director and production manager: Raffaela Siniscalchi
Description et synopsis
Pour la réalisation de mon œuvre, je me suis inspiré de l’épopée mandingue, l’un des récits fondateurs les plus marquants des traditions orales africaines (XIIIe siècle), et de son personnage-clé : Soundjata Keita. Entre histoire et légende, les griots – des poètes lyriques de l’Afrique de l’Ouest – nous ont transmis, par le chant et les notes de leurs koras, les exploits de ce personnage emblématique de l’Afrique occidentale. Dans mon processus de création, je me suis surtout intéressé à la partie de la légende connue sous le nom de « Le réveil du lion », pour aborder, tout en rythme et en mouvement, les thèmes de l’oppression, du courage, de la métamorphose, du passage et de la libération.
Engendré par la puissance du buffle et du lion, Soundjata Keita, l’enfant que tous attendaient et dont la naissance avait été prédite par les mages, est incapable de marcher. Le prince, déchu, apprit à mettre un pied devant l’autre et trouva la force de se relever. Sous les regards stupéfaits de son peuple, Soundjata marcha vers un baobab qu’il arracha du sol. Ce fut le début de son éveil qui l’aurait mené à unifier les territoires de l’Afrique de l’Ouest et fonder, ainsi, le grand empire Mandingue.

Unfold
2023-05-06 19:00 - 20:00 | The Bus Stop Theatre Coop, 2203 Gottingen St, Halifax, NS, Canada
By Reequal Smith
Presented in partnership with Prismatic Arts Festival in association with Live Art Dance

Friday, May 5th @ 7:00pm
Saturday, May 6th @ 7:00pm
Followed by Djata: Conversations of the Manden by Aly Keita
Location: Bus Stop Theatre Co-op (2203 Gottingen St)
Duration:
Unfold by Reequal Smith – 10 mins
Djata: Conversations of the Manden by Aly Keita – 20 mins
(15 mins intermission between performances)
Tickets: $5/$10/$15/$20 (For both shows – Pay what you can)
BUY TICKETS HERE

The burden of misty dreams. An assortment of feelings. Of Loss & Love. A deep rooted nostalgia of home in every crevice of being manifested by the full existence and experience of body to land. Land connecting to my soles of souls.
Inspired by the sweet infectious Ghanaian Blues, this performance is fused with the essence of Afro Cuban movement, embodied with a fusion of jazz, African and funk styles. Rooted with the vibrancy of old tropical Caribbean motion, stemming from euphoric connection in the swish in our hips and the fluidity in our strides.
Reequal Smith is the Founder and Artistic Director of Oshun Dance Studios. A dance artist originally from the Bahamas, now based in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

NEW DATE: Possibilities of Dialogue
2023-12-13 20:00 - 21:00 | The Bus Stop Theatre Coop, 2203 Gottingen St, Halifax, NS, Canada
NEW DATE! – December 13th

Inspired by the parallels between making a dance and having a conversation, Possibilities of Dialogue is an abstraction of a collaborative creative process; with moments of listening, curiosity, disagreement and spontaneity unfolding through movement and text. The work is a participatory, experimental dance performance rooted in lineages of western contemporary dance and is co-choreographed and performed by David Norsworthy and Marielis Garcia.
Presented in collaboration with Kinetic, Live Art Dance and Votive Dance with support from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

Resting Space
2024-05-05 13:00 - 16:00 | The Bus Stop Theatre Coop, 2203 Gottingen St, Halifax, NS, Canada
A Workshop by Becoming Old Growth
What is your relationship with rest? Our personal experiences with burnout led us to global rest movements and the anti-capitalist rest manifesto of “Nap Bishop” Tricia Hersey. What changes when we recognize exhaustion as a collective issue rather than a personal one? In this three-hour workshop, we invite participants into a guided, communal resting space. Through gentle, unstructured opportunities to listen, write, draw, move, and make sound—or simply rest—the artists will guide participants to reflect on these questions, emphasizing the role of rest as a natural and necessary balance to labour.
Participants will be invited to share their ideas and experiences with the artists following the workshop session. Cushions and blankets will be available and you are welcome to bring your own comfort items to use during the workshop.
Registration Details
Please register in advance via this registration form:
>>REGISTER HERE
Age:
Workshop geared for adults and mature youth. No arts experience required.
Accessibility:
Please indicate accessibility needs in the registration form by Monday, April 29th.
Note:
We will try to accommodate accessibility requests, however we cannot guarantee as all requests can be met. We will email you if we cannot fulfill your request.
Childcare:
On site childcare available upon request, please fill out child care info in the registration form above and submit by Monday, April 29th.

About Becoming Old Growth:
Becoming Old Growth is a multidisciplinary, participatory trio that uses sound, listening, movement and poetry to encourage a deeper inhabitation of place, awakening our selves and senses to the future already enfolded within past and present. BOG’s kinetic name, inspired by a provocative article by Dan Longboat and Joe Sheridan, reflects our shared desires to learn, evolve, and deepen our understandings, as non-Indigenous residents of Mi’kma’ki, of “the relationship between where one is and what one thinks”. In their article, Longboat and Sheridan write that “Old growth minds…build an ecology of mind that stands in the middle of the temporal arc to see future and past synchronically in equal bending horizons.” Contemplating the rhythms and cycles of the living earth through our work, the histories of this place and its possible futures, we take the first steps along a path to Becoming Old Growth—shifting away from disconnection and placelessness towards “recovering the necessary relationship between healthy ecologies of land and human minds.”

Left: Susanne Chui (Photo credit: Béatrice Schuler-Mojon)
Centre: Erin Donovan (Photo credit: Courtney Mac Photography)
Right: Basma Kavanagh (Photo credit: James Arthur MacLean)
Social Media Tags:
@BOG_collective
@chui.susanne
@hearhereproductions
@basma.kavanagh

Altération
2025-05-03 20:00 - 21:00, 2025-05-04 16:00 - 17:00 | Breaking Circus, 2164 Amalamek Wy, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3K 2WB3K 2W4, Canada
Kira Arts / Aly Keita
Co-presented with Live Art Dance
How do our lives intertwine? How do we manage to form prosperous balances? What happens when they break down?
ALTÉRATION addresses the transformations that punctuate our lives and our ability, as human beings, to influence both our own destiny and that of others. Aly Keita depicts a humanity that oscillates, on an intimate and societal level, between stability and uncertainty, anchoring and uprooting, change and resistance, renewal and repetition. The relationship with the other and the complexity of ties lead to the need to hear and rebuild our relationship with ourselves and with our environment. Exploring the meaning of relationships in our society in a wide-ranging way, both interpersonal relationships and those with other-than-human beings, this work opens the way to the construction of possible new links that are formed through ecological and spiritual dimensions. Here, life takes the form of a cycle of transformations. Memories of past experiences and scars – in other words, alteration – are transmuted into a vital breath through reactivating movements, both individual and collective, that revitalize our bodies and rekindle our inner power.
“Aly Keita’s artistic proposal finds its strength in the originality of its non-temporality, its immediacy, its treatment of identity, which is defined by the idea of encounter, of encounters, breaking down the realistic and formal framework linked to a single art form. In this sense, this multi-arts work is as much a choreographic piece as a circus piece; a musical work as well as a work of visual art in movement.” – Martin Bellemare – Note d’intention

Kira Arts
Kira is a word in Sousou, the language of Guinea, meaning “path“. It evokes the idea of life as a path we walk, where we gather and unite. Founded in 2023, Kira Arts creates stage works that bring together different artistic practices on an equal footing and promote intercultural dialogue between artists. In this way, we cultivate an inclusive and diverse practice environment based on knowledge sharing and collaboration. Our artistic approach focuses on mediation as a field for research and creation. We select our collaborators based on their affinity with our shared interests and their artistic vision. For us, it is essential that artists possess a deep understanding of the body, rhythm and movement. We believe in the uniqueness of each body and the value of each individual, elements that can mutually enrich a shared creation. We encourage artists’ autonomy, advocate their freedom of expression and value their authenticity in interpretation. Our approach is not to reproduce exactly what the choreographer experiences; we invite artists to embody the multiple possible interpretations of a single event.

Workshop!
Come dance with us after the show! Join Aly for his workshop on May 4th:
> African Rhythms and Melodies in Action – A Bodily Experience

Credits
Choreography: Aly Keita
Composer: Aly Keita
Music: Karine Bouchard & Ricardo Angel Soriano
Sound: Aly Keita
Dancers:
Nicolás Áravena Miller
Rameez Karim
Aly Keita
Evelyne Laforest
Anna Protsiou
Production Manager: Raffaela Siniscalchi
Technical Director & Lighting Designer: Manon Pocq-Saint-Joan
Visual & Dramaturgical Consultant: Monia Abdallah
Dramaturgical Consultant & Advisor: Martin Bellemare
Outside Eye: Mistaya Hemingway
Producers: Kira Arts | Aly Keita

Co-Presented With

With support from

African Rhythms and Melodies in Action – A Bodily Experience
2025-05-04 17:15 - 18:15 | Breaking Circus, 2164 Amalamek Wy, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3K 2WB3K 2W4, Canada
Come dance with us after the final showing of Altération! Join Aly for his workshop at Breaking Circus
This rhythm awakening workshop emphasizes the bodily experience of rhythm through movement, singing, melody, and physical coordination.

Led by multidisciplinary artist Aly Keita, this workshop invites participants to explore the fundamental relationship between body and rhythm using a selection of recorded soundscapes and musical tracks. It offers an immersive experience in West African cultural elements, helping participants develop rhythmic awareness through voice, movement, and guided exercises.
Through singing, dancing, and coordination exercises, participants will sharpen their ability to feel and express rhythm physically. They will explore the dialogue between movement and music, focusing on rhythmic precision, play, body posture, and expression. The workshop encourages a deep connection to rhythm through improvisation and group dynamics.
Participants will also experiment with creating rhythmic patterns in groups, responding to recorded African rhythms, and engaging with the music through dance. The workshop will conclude with a collective expression circle and a question-and-answer session.
Drop in registration at the door.

Offert en français et anglais! Offered in French and English!

Banner photo by Tee Porter.

Archive of Loneliness
2025-05-09 20:30 - 21:00, 2025-05-10 20:30 - 21:00 | The Bus Stop Theatre Coop, 2203 Gottingen St, Halifax, NS, Canada
Archive of Loneliness brings light to the isolation of seniors and how the end of life deserves our attention just as much as the beginning. Drawing from first person audio recordings of a family member living isolated in long-term care, Archive of Loneliness embodies the spatial and corporeal tones of loneliness.
The sound score and audio story arranged by Jackson Fairfax-Perry dances throughout the space alongside two performers to create a deep thoughtful swim into the waiting and in-between spaces of loneliness, amplifying the sub-linguistic states of despair and the desire to connect.
Discounted tickets are sold as a Double Bill with Flower Bed

Creative Team
Creative Direction/Choreography Sara Coffin
Composer and Sound Design Jackson Fairfax-Perry
Performers and Movement Contributions Darryl Tracy and Matthew Lumley
Audio Stories the late John Paterson
The creation of this work was supported by Eastern Front Theatre/Early Stages Festival, Arts Nova Scotia, studio hours through Mocean Dance and Olga Milosevich. Thank you to Brian Riley for the initial voicemail sound extraction and a deep gratitude to the Paterson family for their support and blessing to carry Uncle John’s voice forward into this new artistic expression.
ASL interpretation will be provided for the May 10th performance.
Childcare will be provided for this event. Please use this REGISTRATION FORM.

Biographies
Sara Coffin, Dance Artist, Choreographer
Sara Coffin is an award winning dance artist, choreographer, dance educator and Co-Artistic Director of Mocean Dance. Coffin has been teaching and creating interdisciplinary contemporary dance work for over twenty years. She received the NS Established Artist Award in 2018, her MFA in Choreography (Smith College), BFA in Dance (Simon Fraser) University and BSc Kinesiology Science (Dalhousie). Coffin has created over 30 dance works, her choreographic work has been presented in many prominent Canadian dance festivals and in the United States. Her research interests include interdisciplinary collaboration, technology as an extension of the body, contact improvisation and emergent frameworks for composition/ performance, and the poetic junction between vulnerability, resiliency, and courage. www.saracoffin.ca
Darryl Tracy, Dance Artist
Darryl Tracy is a Toronto-based artist who loves human movement and expression. He is involved in dance, choreography, movement facilitation, conditioning and teaching. He has performed with many Canadian and European choreographers over the last 25 years and has also created 42 works through commissions and self-productions. He was on faculty at School of Toronto Dance Theatre (now the Dance Arts Institute) for over 18 years under the artistic direction of Pat Fraser. Currently, Darryl teaches Anatomy at the National Ballet School Teachers Training Program. He is a neurological rehabilitation physiotherapist in Toronto in the private and public sector. Most recently Tracy co-created a new solo alongside Marie-Josee Chartier entitled “six ways to peel an orange” (premiere date pending).
Matthew Lumley, Actor, Movement
Matthew Lumley is a Kjipuktuk/Halifax-based actor, grateful to work with this wonderful group of artists! Recent theatre work includes Becca (Théâtre populaire d’Acadie), Wood Buffalo (Theatre New Brunswick) Schoolhouse, Macbeth, Elapultiek, Frankenstein, In This Light, Animal Farm, North Mountain Vanya (Two Planks), The Realistic Jones, Heaven Above/Heaven Below (KAZAN Theatre), Hamlet (Below the Salt/Neptune Theatre), The Little Years (Matchstick Theatre), This Is Nowhere (Zuppa Theatre). TV/film work includes Aversion (Emotion Pictures) Sullivan’s Crossing (CTV; upcoming) Normal Scotia (Bell TV1), Extant (HDM), Look At Me (Afro Viking Pictures), Hopeless Romantic (Northeast Films), Polaroid (Dimension Films), Weirdos (Shadow Shows), Mr. D (CBC). Matthew wrote and performed in First Weekend and Surf Gods (airing on CBC). Matthew studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse (NYC) and York University (Toronto). Many thanks to Sara Coffin for inviting me to dance, and to the amazing Mayworks Festival!
Jackson Fairfax-Perry, composer / sound design
Jackson Fairfax-Perry (he/him) is an award winning African Nova Scotian composer, sound designer, musician and musical director living in Kjipuktuk, Mi’kma’ki (Halifax, Nova Scotia). For years, Jackson has honed his skills as an in demand saxophonist and keyboardist both on the road and locally with artists such as Hillsburn and David Myles, among others. He collaborates frequently with local hip hop and r&b artist Aquakultre, co-writing songs and working as the musical director for his live band. A prominent collaborator with local theatre and dance artists, Jackson has composed and created sound designs for companies such as 2b theatre company, Eastern Front Theatre, Ship’s Company Theatre, and Mocean Dance among numerous others. Recent credits include Matriarchs (Aquakultre, Nocturne), Dance Nation (Keep Good (Theatre) Company, Heist), Sea Unseen (Mocean Dance, The Sable Island Institute), Deepwater (The Villains Theatre) and Downed Hearts (Ship’s Company Theatre, Eastern Front Theatre, Matchstick Theatre).

Banner photo: Daniel Wittnebel

MAYDAY: Confession Publique
2025-11-14 19:30 - 20:45, 2025-11-15 19:30 - 20:45 | Alderney Landing Theatre, 2 Ochterloney St, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, B2Y 4W1, Canada
Confession Publique

“ A sensually complex work, Confession Publique leaves us enthralled before Angélique Willkie’s breadth of talent and her fruitful encounter with Demers’ world.” – Alexie Legendre, Revue JEU

MAYDAY
Tiohtià:ke/Montreal – Kanien’kehá:Ka Territory

November 14th & 15th, 2025. 7:30PM
Alderney Landing Theatre
General Seating – $65.00 Dance Advocate; $45.00 Adults; $35.00 Seniors; $20.00 Students / Arts Worker; Group Discounts Available
Run Time – 75 Minutes
Content Warning: Nudity, 18+ suggested. An Active Listener will be available on site if needed.
This show tackles experiences of racism, sexual violation, and living in an aging body, as well as the power of transformation. It contains nudity and mature content.
Traffic Note: The Parade of Lights is taking place on Nov 15th at 5pm. Please allow time for potential traffic on your way to the show.

Its title serving as a promise, Confession Publique explores ambiguity and paradox, probes the noble and the vulgar, oscillates between grace and brutality. Choreographer Mélanie Demers turns her trusted collaborator Angélique Willkie into her muse. Together, these two kindred spirits explore the act of telling others about yourself without reserve. The result is a hard-hitting solo show, where anecdotes become painful secrets and the body reveals as much as words, if not more.
In this work, the protagonist concentrates on the margins as she takes a deep dive into herself and ourselves. The connection is intimate, intimidating. The performance becomes the setting for questions asked a thousand times over: our relationship to the world, how the environment holds our destinies in its hands, and the power others have to dictate and dominate our life-choices.

MAYDAY
Since its foundation in 2007, an array of charismatic and eclectic artists working with Mélanie Demers has been drawn to MAYDAY as a hub for creative exchange and reflection. Each MAYDAY work is thus the fruit of a collective effort. And not only between the artists: the public enters into the creative process as well, since the physicality, imagery, and sense of rhythm characteristic of MAYDAY’s unique approach only come together as a coherent whole before an audience. Drawing on creative energies from around the world, MAYDAY’s unique works testify to both a spirit of artistic freedom and a deep-seated concern for contemporary issues. Demers’ fascination and the relationship between words and gestures crystallizes in WOULD, a work which won the Prix du CALQ for Best Choreography at the Prix de la danse de Montréal in 2015. WOULD will be followed by the choreographic relay Danse Mutante in 2019, then in 2021 by La Goddam Voie Lactée, MAMA and Confession Publique, and finally in 2022 by Cabaret Noir. Mélanie Demers won the GRAND PRIX de la danse de Montréal, which recognizes her unique mark on her era. MAYDAY tours frequently and has collaborated with many international partners. It is proud to be one of the few Canadian companies to have performed in both North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.
MAYDAY tours frequently and has collaborated with many international partners. It is proud to be one of the few Canadian companies to have performed in both North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Credits

Ideation, Direction and Choreography
Mélanie Demers

Performers
Angélique Willkie with the participation of Anne-Marie Jourdenais

Direction of Rehearsals
Anne-Marie Jourdenais

Dramaturgy
Angélique Willkie

Set Design
Odile Gamache

Sound Composition
Frannie Holder

Additional Music
Excerpt from The Fairy Queen, composed by Henry Purcell and sung by Angelique Willkie

Lighting Design
Claire Seyller

Technical Director
Emmanuel Bossé-Messier

Costume Design
Elen Ewing

Production Management
Alec Arsenault

Special Notes of Thanks
Éléonore Loiselle

Teaser Production
Stefan Verna

Co Presented By

and so we dance
2026-05-02 19:30 - 20:00 | The Bus Stop Theatre Coop, 2203 Gottingen St, Halifax, NS, Canada
By I’thandi Munro and Kay Macdonald
ONE TICKET FOR TWO INCREDIBLE PERFORMANCES!
$10 in advance and $15 at the door.
**Ticket includes admission to BE ETERNAL**

If cost is a barrier, please reach out to info@mayworkskjipuktukhalifax.ca and we will accommodate you.

Childcare available on site for free. Please register in advance.
Please be advised that the show addresses mature subjects.

Archiving and exploring movement through the cultural lenses of African Nova Scotian identity.
and so we dance explores the contemporary realities and historic contexts of moving/movement through time and place. Specifically looking at the realities of being African Nova Scotian within the broader context of Black + African American performance traditions. We explore cultural themes of tension, relation, freedom and love through the creative modalities of improvisation, contemporary dance and vocalization.
Credits:
Creators:
I’thandi Munro, Kay Macdonald
Performers:
I’thandi Munro, Kay Macdonald
Special Thanks:
Syreeta Hector, Sara Coffin, Liliona Quarmyne, Reequal Smith
Funding Credits:
Mocean Dance – CLEaR Forum Residency, The Khyber Centre For The Arts – KREAM Residency, Live Art Dance – CanDance Showcase
Music Production and Mixing:
Carmel Farahbakhsh, I’thandi Munro, Kay Macdonald and Jordan Farmer
Lighting Production:
Louisa Adamson

I’THANDI MUNRO is an award winning dancer, performer, visual artist and educator, who has reached International recognition. She incorporates her lived experiences of her own cultural understanding within her artwork. She has a double major in Photography + Jewellery Design and Metalsmithing from NSCAD University. Munro has been facilitating within dance studios, Halifax Regional Arts, artist centers, and community programs for over a decade. Munro continuously seeks to learn new ways of making, teaching, collaborating, and continues to educate herself in a multitude of techniques. She has spent her entire life pursuing art but dancing is the constant base of creating throughout her professional career. Movement is at her core of making. When Munro became a mother, her exploration into uninhibited linework and freedom of creation was sparked by watching her two young children draw effortlessly and with confidence. These inspirations from her kids showed her new pathways, and taught her that you can make your own. This naturally led I’thandi into the research behind improv and freestyle dance. Munro uses the representation of line and lineage as underlying concepts in her art. Her work has become an ever-changing body of work that can be explored and realized in many different ways. Munro is the founder of Drifted Collective as well as Scotian: The Collective. She has collaborated with many professional dance and theatre companies primarily based out of Mi’kma’ki and the Atlantic regions such as The Woods Professional Hip Hop Company, Mocean Dance, Kinetic, Rooted Dance(Votive) Nestutasi Story Telling, Home Economics Collective, and KasheDance.

KAY MACDONALD (they/them) is an African Nova Scotian, Acadian, Queer, Trans community educator, artist, activist, facilitator, and performance based artist born and raised in Kjipuktuk, Mi’kma’ki. Macdonald’s artistic practice has roots in interdisciplinary methodologies. Gathering and curating scores of improvisational movement, dance, sound, and visual arts culminating in various forms of performance. Their work explores themes of observation, culture, ancestral lineage, connection, community and place. Macdonald’s work seeks to unravel restrictive concepts of identity, belonging, liberation, and societal constructs. Macdonald views the intersection of advocacy, community building, and artistic processes as a means to disrupt and intervene in harmful colonial and white supremacist narratives. Currently, Kay is working as the Program Coordinator at The Youth Project, a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to providing support and services to 2SLGBTQIA+ youth ages 12-25. As well as, currently holds the role as Co-Artistic Director at Kinetic, a contemporary dance organization based in Kjipuktuk.

Event photo by Reequal Smith
I’thando Munro headshot by Cavell Holand
Kay Macdonald headshot by Matt Downey

everything i wanted to tell you / tout ce que j’avais envie de te dire
2026-05-07 19:30 - 20:30, 2026-05-08 19:30 - 20:30 | Breaking Circus, 2164 Amalamek Wy, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3K 2WB3K 2W4, Canada
everything i wanted to tell you (but couldn’t, so here it is now)
By Vazari
Presented with support from / Présenté avec le soutien du Conseil Communautaire du Grand-Havre et Live Art Dance

$10 in advance and $15 at the door | Venue: Breaking Circus (2164 Amalamek Wy)

If cost is a barrier, please reach out to info@mayworkskjipuktukhalifax.ca and we will accommodate you.

Cette présentation est bilingue – en anglais et en français. La description en français suit ci-bas.
ASL interpretation will be available for the May 7th presentation

This athletic and empathic work of dance theatre lifts a glass (and then smashes it) to love, loyalty and the difficult things we hope never to escape.
everything I wanted to tell you (but couldn’t, so here it is now) is an adventurous, no bullshit look at the ties that bind. Two dancers are locked in a liminal space of shared memories, imagined incidents, and the difficult things left unsaid. Together they set off on an athletic journey traversing the tangible and illogical as they learn to navigate change without letting go – because family is forever, right?

Winner of three Dora Mavor Moore Awards:
Outstanding Choreography
Outstanding Production
Outstanding Performance by an Individual
Also nominated for Outstanding Original Sound Composition and Outstanding Achievement in Design

Credits:
Concept and Direction Jessie Garon
Choreography by Jessie Garon in collaboration with Sully Malaeb Proulx, Jarrett Siddall, Guillaume Biron and Pulga Muchochoma
Performed by Demetri Apostolopoulos and Jarrett Siddall
Sound Design by Stephen Joffe
Lighting Design by Simon Rossiter
Costumes by Jessica Mak and Brayden Cairns
Outside Eye Tia Kushniruk
Statement from the creator, Jessie Garon

The inspiration to create this work came from reconciling the friction and sense of duty in my own family. I come from a homestead farm where siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, parents and grandparents have lived and worked together for six generations. In a time when establishing boundaries and cutting ties is more encouraged, what has to happen if we choose to engage with the tension instead? I hope the audience will leave thinking about the listening, empathy and flexibility required to evolve with people over time.
NOTE: Jessie is offering a dance workshop on May 9th. Find details at WORKING IN UNCERTAINTY.

tout ce que j’avais envie de te dire

everything i wanted to tell you (but couldn’t, so here it is now) est une œuvre de danse-théâtre virtuose et empathique qui lève son verre (avant de le briser) à l’amour, à la loyauté et aux difficultés auxquelles nous espérons ne jamais échapper.
Avec cette pièce, Garon s’interroge sur la souplesse de nos relations les plus proches et sur la tendance culturelle à établir des frontières rigides.
Lauréat de trois prix Dora Mavor Moore:
Meilleure chorégraphie
Meilleure production
Meilleure performance individuelle
Également nominé dans les catégories de meilleure composition musicale originale et meilleure réalisation en conception

Équipe:
Concept et direction par Jessie Garon
Chorégraphie par Jessie Garon en collaboration avec Sully Malaeb Proulx, Jarrett Siddall, Guillaume Biron et Pulga Muchochoma
Interprété par Demetri Apostolopoulos and Jarrett Siddall
Composition musicale  par Stephen Joffe
Éclairage par Simon Rossiter
Costumes par Jessica Mak et Brayden Cairns
Regard extérieur Tia Kushniruk
Déclaration de la créatrice, Jessie Garon

L’inspiration pour créer cette œuvre m’est venue en conciliant les tensions et le sens du devoir au sein de ma propre famille. Je viens d’une ferme familiale en Alberta où mes frères et sœurs, cousins, tantes, oncles, parents et grands-parents ont vécu et travaillé ensemble pendant six générations. À une époque où l’on encourage davantage à établir des limites et à couper les liens, que doit-il se passer si nous choisissons plutôt d’accepter les tensions? J’espère que le public repartira en réfléchissant à l’écoute, à l’empathie et à la flexibilité nécessaires pour évoluer avec les gens au fil du temps.
NB: Jessie offre un atelier de danse (en anglais) le 9 mai. Visitez WORKING IN UNCERTAINTY pour plus de détails.

Working in Uncertainty - Dance Workshop
2026-05-09 11:00 - 13:00 | Breaking Circus, 2164 Amalamek Wy, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3K 2WB3K 2W4, Canada
With Jessie Garon of Vazari
This workshop is geared towards professional artists from any medium with a performance practice, as well as students in pre-professional programs.
Working In Uncertainty plays with agency, togetherness, and uncertainty through a group improvisation structure. We explore uncertainty as a rich creative state without ego and look for ways to embrace it. This workshop encourages a playful approach to build skills as an interpreter and improvisor. Participants practise following impulses, supporting fellow performers, and diving into their own creativity. As a group we question; what is required for us to retain full agency while participating completely in heightened togetherness? How can safety and negotiation be built into the practice so we all take part?
Admission by donation. Please RSVP here:

JESSIE GARON (Artistic Director of Vazari Dance Projects) is a queer performer and choreographer working in contemporary dance theatre. Originally from a homesteaded family farm in Alberta, she is now based in Tkaronto/Toronto. She is a graduate of Dance Arts Institute after which she interned for Ate9 Dance Company (Los Angeles) under Artistic Director Danielle Agami studying Gaga Movement Language daily. Since 2014, she has participated primarily in collaborative processes blending performative forms. Her work incites the potential of dance virtuosity, rigor and spectacle as materials to craft spirited, athletic and abstract dance theatre. She has worked with artists such as Brandy Leary/Anandam Dance Theatre, Jennifer Dallas/Kemi Contemporary Dance Projects, Serge Bennathan, Lemi Ponifasio/MAU (New Zealand), Clarice Lima/Futura (Brazil) and Sara Porter. Garon is the founder and Artistic Director of Vazari Arts. As a creator she is nominated for the 2024 Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize. Her work has been shown across Canada, including the Theatre Centre (ON), Pumphouse Theatre (AB), Refinery Theatre (SK), Édifice Wilder Espace Danse (QC) and Salle Bernard-LeBlanc (NB).
