Tag: Dana Michel

Canada

Dana Michel is a mover. Her training scales tip towards athletics. Before tossing herself into dance at the age of twenty- five, she was competitively involved in track and touch football – pivotal in her constructions. Her work has been presented extensively since 2005 including on Mange ta Ville – a program on ARTV (RadioCanada), at DanceOff! PS122 – New York, at The Proving Ground – Salt Lake City and at The Festival of Choreographic Miniatures – Belgrade, Serbia. Her award-winning solo, the greater the weight was adapted to film by Mouvement Perpetuel and has been touring internationally since 2007.

Recently, Dana performed at the Festival Particules in Geneva (Switzerland) where she presented the first remix performance of her ambitious 1976 / International Musical Chairs project. A relative newcomer to contemporary dance, Dana has already been recognized for her achievements, winning the Studio 303 Best Dance Production prize at the Montreal Fringe Festival and the Montreal Hour’s Best in Dance in 2005. In 2006, she was named Best Emerging Choreographer by the Globe & Mail. By popular vote, she’s been twice listed in the Mirror’s Best of Montreal (2008 and 2009) top ten choreographers. Most recently, the film version of the greater the weight won the jury prize for the best performance at the International Festival of Video Dance and Performance in Lisbon.

Commitment Issues presents the work of five artists and one collective who use their bodies as primary source material to investigate qualities and dimensions of commitment—to ideas, to performance, to audience and to the artists themselves. Through play, risk, intimacy and sexuality, these artists transcend fixed social, psychological, physical and spiritual notions of commitment.

Further confounding the interplay of fixed notions of commitment, the venue for Commitment Issues is Oasis Aqualounge, home to Toronto’s preeminent swinger’s club. Performance sites will include the outdoor heated swimming pool, steam room, hot tub and locker room. Audiences are invited to stay late and enjoy all of Oasis Aqualounge’s amenities that also include a sauna, two bars and multiple lounges. Locker and towel service provided. Bring your bathing suit or birthday suit. Admission restricted to patrons 19+ years of age.

ARTISTS
Cassils (Montréal / USA)
MC Coble (USA / Sweden)
Alicia Grant (Toronto)
Dominic Johnson (UK)
Dana Michel (Montréal)
The Pole Club (Toronto)

Processing: Artist’ Panel & Reception
Studio Theatre, Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse, 4 Glen Morris Street
November 17, 2011 @ 7:30pm

The panel is co-sponsored by the Graduate Centre for Study of Drama at the University of Toronto and the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies at the University of Toronto.