Friday, January 17, 2014

2014 Beginnings: Dance, Writing, and Conferences

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday break. It's already over two weeks into 2014, so I figured it was time for an update! Here's what I have coming up:

1) "Body Brake" at Theatre Passe-Muraille! (January 24th, 10:30 pm, Theatre Passe-Muraille)

 This is an exciting and fun new dance series in an intimate and informal setting, for Theatre Passe-Muraille After Hours programming, and is curated by the wonderful Brandy Leary of Anandam Dance Theatre. January 24th is the innaugural evening of this, and I am excited to be performing there. The lineup features many incredible Toronto-based dancers from diverse dance genres, and I'm dancing a duet with Amber of Ekakshara Dance Creations. I look forward! More information about this event can be found here, and we would love if you could join us in this celebration of diverse dance forms:
https://www.facebook.com/events/522318684533675

2) Between the end of December and middle of January, I have two dance-related publications:

Firstly, the book "Geographies of Dance Vol. I: Corporeal Negotiations" featuring my article "Modernity, Post-Modernity and the Paradigmatic Mudra: Corporeal Negotiations in the Works of Toronto's Bharatanatyam Choreographers" as the first chapter was released in late December 2013. Here is more information about the book:

http://www.amazon.ca/Geographies-Dance-Movement-Corporeal-Negotiations/dp/0739171844

Also, I've been working on my first bellydance-related article (based on Egyptian Golden Age cinema bellydancers and the courtesans of Bollywood films), for the Zaghareet Magazine, and its scheduled to appear in the upcoming issue of the magazine.

3)  The new year also brings a flurry of dance activity. Amber and I are performing our first 2014 Ekakshara Dance Creations gig on this Sunday, January 19th, and then "Body Brake" on January 24th, followed by a performance with The Saucy Tarts on January 25th in Kitchener. Ekakshara then performs again on February 1st and the 15th.

4) Conferences: I've been working on a new dance ethnography and research project recently, and will be presenting this in an upcoming Toronto conference. I continue to work on the research towards this project, and will post more information on this conference soon!

5) Finally, I am excited to return to teaching this year. I've been on a brief hiatus from teaching dance, in order to work on the PhD dissertation and the Fringe production last year. I will be teaching my regular students as well as some new ones this year, and I look forward!

Alongside all this, I am still completing a few revisions to my dissertation post-defense, and look towards turning it in for the final submission soon. I guess those are all my updates for now!