#DanceForth was a new NAC Dance Livestream project. Most Thursday evenings during November 2020, live performances were presented by a variety of wonderful Canadian dance artists, both from the NAC Fourth Stage and from various centres across the country, performing a terrific range of styles that embraces a new model to celebrate this rich and dynamic art form.
Neighborhood Dance Works partnered with NAC Dance to present two live streams at the historic LSPU Hall in St. John’s, NL. These programs were shared with local audiences in a social distancing manner, and with national audiences via the NAC’s far-reaching promotional channels. Through these critical partnerships, we were able to activate the City of St. John’s with creative program solutions that impacted within and outside the city limits.
The St. John’s DanceForth consisted of two Programs:
● Long’s Hill: I live(d) here by Louise Moyes: a neighbourhood walking tour by Louise Moyes Docudance, told through those who live and have lived in the Long’s Hill area, in historic downtown St. John’s Newfoundland. In 2016, crisis struck. The Neighbourhood was divided as to what to do. Through dance, photographs, interviews and stories, Long’s Hill Walk reveals our hopes and fears, homes and businesses, our public spaces - and where they intersect. This work brings us face-to-face with the issues that shape a community and how dance, and the act of walking, can express the resilient nature of its people.
Choreographed by Louise Moyes, in collaboration with:
Kelly Bruton (costume designer, assistant director),
Andrea Tucker (dance artist, educator),
Ryan Davis (academic, community programmer, dance artist),
Kim White (disability worker and advocate, artist),
Sophie Angnatok (indigenous throat singer),
Winnie Churchill (musical collaborator), and
Gabriel Moyes-Vaandering (dance artist).
● Oderin, directed by Charlie Tomlinson: a dance theatre creation (currently a work in progress) based on a collection of poems by NL poet Agnes Walsh (Oderin, Pedlar Press 2018). These exquisite poems depict Walsh's mother's difficult early life and her slide into dementia. A tender and raw account of a personal bond between a mother and daughter, this work brings rich and complex human experiences to life through a provocative multidisciplinary collaborative lens.
In collaboration with:
Agnes Walsh (celebrated poet and original co-founder of NDW),
Sarah Joy Stoker (dance artist, past FND Coordinator, NDW board member and Chair),
Andrea Tucker (dance artist, educator), and
Amber Borotsik (dance artist).