After a busy 2015, I'm heading to Montreal to train for 6 months. Stay tuned for updates and news about a new show for the summer!
Starting this week I'll be teaching acro and circus arts classes at the Kingston School of Dance:
Acro (ages 6-8) - Thursdays 5-6pm Circus Arts I (ages 9-12) - Thursdays 6-7pm Circus Arts II (ages 13+) - Thursdays 7-8:30 *Circus Arts Classes include flexibility, conditioning, acro and aerial work. A two hour adult Circus Arts workshop focusing on aerial silks will take place on Sunday September 20th. This past weekend I had the opportunity to perform in move, a dance installation created by renowned choreographer Peggy Baker at the Tett Centre for Creativity and Learning. This was a beautiful performance experience, and it was truly moving to see Peggy's process in action and connect so deeply with fellow performers through this piece.
Ambrose opens tonight at the Grand Theatre as part of Kingston's inaugural Kick & Push festival. I've been working as part of the creative team at Single Thread Theatre Company crafting this unique immersive theatre experience. The piece explores story of Ambrose Small, the legendary Canadian theatre mogul who mysteriously disappeared after selling several of his theatres (including the Kingston Grand). We're not releasing production photos because we want this to be a surprise, but rest assured that this is by no means a traditional historical drama. If you're curious (and you should be!) shows run into August, with tickets available at the Grand box office. Due to limited house sizes, we expect tickets to sell fast, so act quickly!
This weekend I'll be making an appearance (stilting and dancing) in this beautiful spectacle created by the fantastically creative folks at Birdbone Theatre in collaboration with the grade 7/8 class at First Avenue Public School. The Sunday performance will be a great kick-off to the Skeleton Park Arts Festival. Come check it out!
David and I will be performing three short works from our echolocation series--including a new in-progress silks piece--as part of the Skeleton Park Arts Festival and to culminate our residency at Modern Fuel Artist Run Centre on June 19th at 7pm at the Tett Centre for Creativity and Learning.
This project was made possible by the generous support of the Multi- and Integrated Arts program of the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario. UPDATE: Mark Bergin of Kingston Heritage interviewed me about this and my other work in advance of the performance- check out the article here: http://www.kingstonregion.com/opinion-story/5710095-come-fly-away/ Last week I had the absolute pleasure of participating and performing in Circus Sessions, produced by Harbourfront Centre, Femmes du Feu and CCAFT. Circus Sessions was a week-long creative laboratory and think tank aiming to push the bounds of contemporary circus arts, culminating in performances at the Harbourfront Centre Theatre. I worked with fourteen other incredibly talented artists, under the mentorship of the legendary Fred Deb (whose renown is not for nothing!). It was an incredibly inspiring and energizing week, and I look forward to working further with many of the ideas that came out of the week.
Photo by Dan Huziak. Also pictured are Molly Keczan and Lara Ebata. I'm in St. Catherines this weekend to perform a new piece as part of the echolocation project. We'll be featured as part of the Rhizomes "choose your own adventure"-style tours.
Like the previous iteration of this project, the piece will feature body sensors and field recordings designed and mixed live by David Parker to create a sonic experience based on the movement of my body. This time I'll be on the floor instead of in the air, using flexibility as an entry point in considering embodied intimacy with the audience. Rhizomes is happening in Cor Bloc in downtown St. Catherines, and we were assigned a pretty cool industrial-style space in which to mount the piece. For more info about Rhizomes and In The Soil go to their website: http://www.inthesoil.on.ca/ We're thankful to be developing this project with the support of both the Ontario Arts Council Multi and Inter-Arts Program and Modern Fuel Artist Run Centre. Starting this weekend I'll be teaching public kids, teen and adult silks classes at the Kingston School of Dance, inaugurating their new circus arts programming. Come check it out! In this six week program you will learn basic tricks and skills on the aerial silks, as well as ground-based conditioning and flexibility exercises to prepare you for your time in the air. Contact KSD if you are interested: http://kingstonschoolofdance.ca/
I'll also be starting a community circus and performance arts program funded by the Ontario Arts Council's Arts Education Program for women and girls involved with Kingston Big Sisters on Saturday. I'll be teaching this program with the assistance of Tracey Guptill of anARc Theatre and Aleks Bragoszewska of Birdbone Theatre. It should be a fun weekend! Tonight David Parker and I will be giving an artist talk about our echolocation project at Modern Fuel as part of the Aesthetic Alchemy Project. Come here us talk about our individual and collaborative artistic practices, the bigger context of contemporary circus arts, and our attempts to work through the body/technology divide. As artist talks aren't the norm in either of our disciplines, this will be a first for us, but it should be fun.
And afterwards I'll be helping David facilitate a workshop on audio editing and recording, so you can walk away with some new skills too! It all starts at 7pm at Modern Fuel Artist Run Centre in the Tett Centre for Learning and Creativity. Hope to see you there! http://www.tettcentre.org/events/modern-fuel-s-media-artists-in-residence-artist-talk-and-workshop |
Jane Kirby's Blog
A bit about some of the projects Jane Kirby has been involved in lately. Archives
January 2016
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