A Message from Alison Keery

Hello again! Today’s blog is written by someone near and dear to me, Alison Keery. Alison has been my friend since our first year at York University. I asked her to be a part of a piece that I was choreographing for Dances of Offering and she was incredibly supportive and performed the piece beautifully. I had the pleasure of working with her again for last year’s Benefit Concert, when we performed a very emotional duet together. I feel blessed to be able to collaborate with her again this year and am glad to have shared this experience with her. So without further ado, Alison Keery!

Alison Keery
Photo credit: Andrea de Keijzer

In 2008 I moved to Toronto from a small town in Northern British Columbia to study dance at York University. I didn’t know very many people but quickly befriended Jessica Houghton who was also studying at York. We became fast friends and eventually she asked me if I would be interested in performing in a group she was creating for her studio’s annual benefit concert known as Dances of Offering. I was touched and agreed to be her third dancer. Rehearsals took place at Pegasus Studios. I come from a very family oriented studio and coming to Pegasus was a little like coming home for me. Their arms and doors were opened and I felt very welcome and comfortable among the faculty and students. At the dress rehearsal I was treated with compassion and professionalism and it felt so wonderful to be a part of such a spectacular show. Again in 2010 I was asked by Jessica to be in another piece she was creating for the same concert and though most of our rehearsals took place at York for convenience sake, when we did take them to Pegasus so that both Jane Davis Munro, the studio director, and Janice Pomer, Jessica’s choreographic mentor, were able to see the piece, I again felt welcomed as a member of the Pegasus community.  Janice - who had never taught me technique - was supportive and encouraging in how I had grown as a performer from when she last saw me.  I was touched that she had noticed and felt she was able to compliment me on it in a familiar and “teacher-like” way.  Back stage at the show I truly felt this time like a member of Pegasus Studios and was surrounded by the generosity that permeates the mentality of all the faculty members, in particular Jane.  This is reflected in her continuous and annual dedication in creating this beautiful performance for multiple different charity organizations.  However, Dances of Offerings is not only an offering to these various organizations but also to lonely dancers who have found their way to a safe haven in a large and sometimes overwhelming city.  I will forever be grateful to Jane and Janice for being so supportive and to Jessica for welcoming me to her home.  

Alison Keery
Photo credit: Andrea de Keijzer

I hope you all enjoyed hearing from Alison! Look forward to seeing her perform in Dances of Offering on February 12th at the Betty Oliphant Theatre. For tickets go to http://www.dancesofoffering.myevent.com/

An Interview with Janice Pomer

Photo credit: Barry Prophet

Today’s blog takes a closer look into the choreographic process that goes into creating the beautiful performances in Dances of Offering. After one of her rehearsals, Janice Pomer, our modern dance teacher at Pegasus, allowed me to interview her about a piece she is choreographing this year. Here's what she had to say:

Jessica: Hi Janice, could you tell us a little bit about your dance background and what you're up to now?

Janice: I've been a performing artist in dance, theatre and music since the mid 70's. For the first 15 - 20 years, from the mid 70's to the early 90's, there was a lot of scepticism about people being multidisciplinary and now it's wonderful seeing how many people are multidisciplinary performance artists. As a performer I've embraced many different performance disciplines and in the last 12 years or so I've been focusing on teaching modern dance and also on a lot of writing. I write about the creative process, creative and dramatic movement, and choreography, and those books are published internationally and used by educators and dance artists around the world.

Jessica: What is the title of your piece for the Pegasus Performance Group this year?

Janice: This is a piece about the brain and brain overload. The title is "Sometimes I think I think too much"

Jessica: What is the concept for the piece?

Janice: It's a human experience. We’ve all experienced what it’s like when your brain is buzzing while you're lying in bed at night trying to sleep and you start thinking about all the things that you didn't do or need to do, or when you're trying to focus on one job and you keep being distracted by your brain's interest in something that is totally mundane and wonderful, like looking outside and seeing the clouds. It's a very human experience and it’s fun for the kids because they're going through it. They've got exams, they've got their dance stuff, they've got responsibilities at home. Some days in class kids come in and say, "my brain is going to explode", so I know they can relate personally to the situation.

Jessica: Why did you decide on this concept?

Janice: It was an interesting process. I have not worked with this group of young dancers before, and they're all from a number of different dance disciplines. I was looking for something that could help make them a cohesive ensemble and that's when I decided to go for a more theatrical piece that I could use as a catalyst to introduce certain modern concepts and to let them have some fun exploring a whimsical and humorous aspect of human nature.

Jessica: What has been the biggest challenge that you've faced so far in this process?

Janice: I think the biggest challenge was that once I established what I was interested in exploring thematically, I knew that it would require a special sonic composition to accompany it. My partner, Barry Prophet is a composer and percussionist. He works with experimental music, sound art and computer assisted music. Barry was happy to create a piece for me but he's busy with a number of other projects. There was only a short period of time that he could work on the composition so the challenge for me was to articulate all of my ideas to Barry before I started rehearsing with the dancers. Barry reached into his incredible array of sound files and created a fabulous piece. He manipulated voices so they sound like beautiful watery music, he has voices that sound really rough like they're being heard over a weak cell phone connection, and he included some great percussion. The music was the biggest challenge. Barry did it and it’s phenomenal!

Jessica: Why did you want to be involved with the Benefit Show and the performance group?

Janice: I love the benefit. I love the idea that the dancers are dancing for others and not for themselves. I love the fact that it resonates to what I believe is the essence of dance. Dance for me is a way of connecting to the world. Dance is a kinetic art form, it's not a sport where the goal is to win. Dance is art and art is communication. It is a gift to be able to dance and gifts are for giving. In this day and age with the popularity of so many competitive dance shows on television young dancers can lose sight of the joys of dancing with others and for others. That’s not to discredit competitive dance programs. A lot of hard work and dedication is involved in competitions, and there can be great value in competing, but there is also great value and great merit in dancing for others.

Jessica: What does this cause in specific mean to you?

Janice: For the past ten years Dances of Offering has been alternating between global and local charities. Last year we reached out to support children in Haiti and this year we’re focusing on something that impacts directly on the Pegasus community. A large portion of our students were born at Toronto East General and when I see kids come to class with stitches or taped rotator cuffs I know they've probably been to the ER at East General. So raising money for TEGH is fabulous -there's a real connectivity for the students. They can say, “Hey, I am raising money for the people and the organization that has helped me, my friends and my family."

Thank you Janice for an amazing and enlightening interview! Come to Dances of Offering on February 12^th at the Betty Oliphant Theatre to see Janice’s piece and many more! To buy tickets visit www.dancesofoffering.myevent.com

An Introduction

When you meet someone new, how do you introduce yourself? Say your name, what you do, where you’re from, a bit of your history. Well, I’m new to blogging, this is the first I’ve written, so I guess I should introduce myself. Hi, my name is Jessica Houghton. I am currently in my fourth year at York University in the BFA Honours Dance Program. I am 21 years old, living and dancing in Toronto, and am proud to say that I am a part of that special community that is Pegasus Studios.

The Pegasus graduating class of 2008
Photo credit: Katherine Aczel

Growing up with a dance studio as your next door neighbour is something that few people can lay claim to, and I am one of those lucky few. I never used to get away with being late for class. What could I say? “The traffic on the sidewalk was terrible!” But who would want to be late anyway? Dance class was always the best part of my day. Starting dance classes at the age of three meant that as I grew up, my love of dance grew with me. It was nurtured by supportive teachers and family, tested during times of hardship, burnt out almost completely by broken dreams and injuries, and rekindled over and over by that undying desire to move and express. That is true love, a love that has lasted my whole life and a love that will never die. I would have never found that love without Pegasus.

Jessica Houghton - age 5
Photo credit: Katherine Aczel

At Pegasus there was never a question or a doubt about whether or not you would be accepted. Everyone was welcome and everyone felt they belonged there, and it is still the same today. The teachers are more than just teachers, they are friends and mentors. The students become a part of the family as well, knowing that they can turn to any family member in times of need and find solace. Everyone contributes to making the studio what it is, a home.

Jessica Houghton - age 20
Photo credit: Jay Crews

Since leaving Pegasus, I have spent the past three and a half years at York University, studying under amazing and inspiring teachers and learning as much as possible from them. I have performed and choreographed at York and have been performing with a community theatre company for three seasons. I have been accepted into the National Ballet School’s Teacher Training Program, and will be starting there in the fall of 2012. No matter where I go though, I am always drawn back to my first dance home. I have choreographed for Pegasus’ Benefit Concert, Dances of Offering, for the past three years, and am choreographing another piece this year. I am also taking a more active role in the planning this year by organizing the social media aspects of the show. Moving forward, I know that wherever life takes me, Pegasus will always be a part of me, and I am glad to finally be able to give back and contribute to making this year’s Dances of Offering the best one yet. I look forward to sharing more with you in the future, goodbye for now!

Romeo and Juliet

On Friday I attended the National Ballet's production of Romeo and Juliet... in the standing section! What an experience!  

But I promised to talk about theatre/literature and the ballet. This season the National Ballet has two Shakespeare plays and a Chekov play. Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and the Seagull are all being adapted into ballets. This is an interesting thing for a dance company to do, especially since these three plays are considered classics in the theatre world and are often taught in high school english classes. The great part about seeing these stories in this format is that the story is distilled to it's basic plot and emotional content. No "to be or not to be" to contend with here! Language in classics like these can often be a big hurdle, especially if the story is a new one, which is why seeing the ballets can really help understanding. By getting simply the plot and an exagerated emotional portrayal the plays quickly open up to new readers and difficult language becomes a lesser issue.

Student Post - "The Studio"

Last month our student blogger, Dryden, went to see The Studio at the Young People's Theatre. This was an interesting show that used a contemporary dance style to explore the visual arts, inspired by the work of artists such as Jackson Pollock and Jean Dubuffet. The show used a variety of mediums, from traditionally structured dance pieces to pieces that intergrated puppetry and video technology to literally and figuratively paint a picture. Here is what Dryden had to say about the show:

I recommend “The Studio” with four stars for sure! It was an incredible performance! I absolutely loved it!
The show was mostly about dances that were completely based on pieces of art work! In the whole show there were only four dancers.
It was a great show, and I love how the choreographer combined dance and art to come up with this great show. It was incredible! I overly recommend it!
 
 
After seeing the show, Dryden and I discussed the use of Ballet technique that we saw in the dancers, even though it was not a strict Ballet show, the use of space they used - including the backstage space and the use of video to show different perspectives - and how nice it was to see a cast with boy dancers as opposed to all girl dancers.
 
YPT has some great shows this season, including Seusical starting next week.
 
Check back later in November for more discussion of using dance to explore and learn about other art forms. We will be talking about the National Ballet's new Romeo and Juliet.

Dusk Dances

Meet Ava, our student correspondent extraordinaire! Ava has been a Pegasus student for years and years. She brings joy to each and every dance class and we are so happy that she will be writing for our blog. Ava not only works hard in her dance classes but she is one of our dedicated Pegasus Performance Group dancers as well. Ava has a wonderful attitude and commitment in everything she does and we are excited to read her blog posts.

Dusk Dances 

By: Ava

The weather at Dusk Dances on Saturday night definitely DIDN’T put a damper on things. Even though it rained, many people came out to Withrow Park to watch 5 SPECTACULAR dance pieces.

The night started with music from contemporary string band “Moonshiner’s Daughter”.  The music got everyone on their feet, and grooving along. Lots of the little kids attending were running around, and dancing their hearts out.

After the music had finished up, our host Ryan Egan guided everyone to our first venue in the park to watch the world premiere of the piece “The Horlogium”. It consisted of a woman playing the accordion, dressed in a long, flowing white dress. Under the dress were four dancers who were actually ATTACHED to the dress. The concept of the piece was these four dancers trying to convince a businesswoman to join their dance. The piece had lots of humour, and the movements were staccato and jerky, which made you not know what was going to happen next.

The next piece was called “Strathcona High, Class of ‘56”. This piece was about three girls at their prom. At one point two girls grab two guys from the audience and dance with them as their dates. This leads to the other girl being upset that she doesn’t have a date. Overall, this piece was very comical and entertaining. This dance SCREAMED fun! The dancing and music were perfect! This dance was GREAT!

A piece called “Eugene Walks with Grace” was next. It was a reinvention of a piece from 1995. It was truly a BEAUTIFUL duet. I loved how the two dancers seamlessly moved from fluid to sharp movements. This piece was FANTASTIC!

The next piece was called “BoxSet”, and it was my personal favourite. The three dancers used 5 boxes of different sizes in their routine.  They had lots of acrobatic moves in the dance. For example, jumping off the top of one of the boxes! The thing I loved was that they were so in sync, and so rhythmical. It was WONDERFUL!

Last but not least, was the piece “Bao”. It was an African Rhythm dance that was full of energy. The four dancers were accompanied by African drummers, who were AMAZING! The choreography had lots of intricate hand and foot movements that were very intriguing. This was a GREAT dance to end the night.

Overall, Dusk Dances was FANTASTIC, and I highly recommend that everyone attends next year!