Since taking up hand stitching again in 2016, I discovered I needed something simpler to work on in the evenings and on weekends than my very intricate embroidery pieces. I discovered Visible Mending through some embroiderers on Instagram and it’s become an excellent hobby.
I started with some simple sashiko mends on my son’s jeans which got more intricate the more I learned about sashiko techniques. Susan Briscoe’s excellent book—The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook—has been a great resource for this.
This dance opera is a project I was still hard at work on when I became ill in August 2015. I’m pleased to say that La Caravan Dance Theatre continued the process despite me needing to attend to my health.
If you or anyone you know is in Calgary, please pass this information on to them.
Kindred spirits Lewandowsky met the production’s composer, Lia Pas, in a workshop at the Banff Centre. The two discovered that they both were fans of Rumi’s work. Pas composed the music to fit the poetry. “It’s not Middle Eastern, it’s not a Far-East kind of sound,” says Lewandowsky. Instead, it’s contemporary, blending the classical with electronic music. “(Lia) can breach between the two worlds unbelievably.”
Lia Pas has taken 13 poems by Rumi and created a musical composition and libretto. The company then “experimented in the studio with the lyrics,” Lewandowsky explains. “We saw what sounds would come and we performed different exercises.” The company improvised as well as they worked through the poetry and created a narrative around the poetry. Some poetry was expressed purely through movement and some through singing and musical composition.
La Caravan Dance Theatre Presents World Premiere of Fihi Ma Fihi (It Is What It Is)
New artistic work draws inspiration from 13th century Sufi mystic and philosopher Rumi
Calgary AB – La Caravan Dance Theatre presents the world premiere of Fihi Ma Fihi (It Is What It Is) at Theatre Junction Grand, June 8-11, 2016. Tickets range from $40 – $75 and can be purchased at lacaravan.com.
– I am still ill with whatever hit me August 2015. Ill with severe fatigue, paresthesias (tingling — mine without numbness), and myalgias (muscular pain).
– I do not have a diagnosis. I have a few theories from various doctors, but no real diagnosis.
– I am still unable to do my usual work: voice teaching, singing, piano playing, composition.
– I am slightly better than I was, and there are theoriesfor that as well.
I’m excited to announce that my composition a small piece of sky will be performed at the Ritornello Chamber Music Festival in Saskatoon on 30 May 2015.
The festival runs from 29-31 May at three different venues. Carissa Kolopoushak and Jaqueline Woods have been producing this festival for seven years and always have an exciting lineup featuring a number of local musicians as well as musicians who have grown up in Saskatchewan and studied and worked around the world. Continue reading →
The action takes place in the 18th century. The benevolent Thomas Coram has recently opened a Foundling Hospital in London called the “Coram Hospital for Deserted Children”. Unscrupulous men, known as “Coram men”, take advantage of the situation by promising desperate mothers to take their unwanted children to the hospital for a fee. The story follows a range of characters, focusing on two orphans: Toby, saved from an African slave ship; and Aaron, the deserted son of the heir to an estate, as their lives become closely involved with this true and tragic episode of British social history (from Wikipedia)
I’m very proud of the cast and choir learning a number of very difficult pieces of music for this play and want to thank Robert Grier for being an excellent assistant music director and conductor and Natasha Martina for her directing and holding it all together.
Coram Boy previews on March 18, opens on March 19, and runs until March 28 (no performance on Sunday, March 22).
I’ve been working on a collaborative piece with new media artist Ellen Moffat for the past number of months and am very excited to announce the premiere this November 7 & 8.
Book. Chair. Table. is a three-movement work based on three poems from Gertrude Stein‘s Tender Buttons. I’ve been calling it a new media chamber music theatre piece. I’ve written the music for voice, oboe, double bass, and new electronic instruments. Ellen Moffat has created new electronic instruments which integrate amplified sound, recorded texts, and video projection.
Book. Chair. Table. will be performed by Lia Pas on voice, Erin Brophey on oboe, Richard Carnegie on double bass, and Ellen Moffat on electronic instruments.
Book. Chair. Table. was composed with the support of a grant from the Saskatchewan Arts Board.
PERFORMANCE:
CORE Series V – In Transformation
Friday, 7 November 2014 – 7-11pm – buy tickets here
Saturday, 8 November 2014 – 7-11pm – buy tickets here
Tickets $15.00
at PAVED Arts (424 20th Street West, Saskatoon)
***These performances consistently sell out so please get your tickets quickly!***
On September 20, 2014, I’ll be premiering a new piece at La Caravan Dance Theatre‘s fundraiser, La Soirée. Please join us if you can. Tickets are available through La Caravan.
On Thursday, 22 May 2014, I will be performing my new interdisciplinary piece ossa . ora at the Cathedral Village Arts Festival’s GET LIT CABARET in Regina.
ossa . ora is an imagistic interdisciplinary piece that begins with finding a child’s baby teeth in a jar and goes on to explore through object collage, haiku, text animations, and song what perceptions are evoked by this discovery. Continue reading →
I’ll be showing my new piece-in-progress – ossa ora – this Sunday in Regina as part of New Dance Horizon’s Blueprint Series. I am creating this piece to be shown in late May as part of the Cathedral Village Arts Festival (also in Regina).
Blueprint Series #2
When: Sunday, April 13 at 2pm
Where: New Dance Horizons (2207 Harvey St)
Tickets: $15, available at the door.
For further information, please call (306) 525-5393 or e-mail events@newdancehorizons.ca Continue reading →
