End of Year Newsletter 2024
Dear All,
We hope these first few days of 2025 have been gentle and nourishing for you. As we reflect on the year past and the year to come, we are feeling deeply grateful for the many relationships we are tending together. We are branching deeper roots, between Tkarón:to (Toronto) and Vancouver and Taipei, and new roots between Tkarón:to and Copenhagen, Venice and London. We are cherishing the time we get to spend together, breathing, listening, moving, resonating and joyfully connecting. As we deepen into the Winter months, we send all good wishes for wholebeing renewal and full-hearted expressiveness in the upcoming year.
UPCOMING - TKARÓN:TO (TORONTO)
JL² exchange (Juolin Lee & Judy Luo)
We are thrilled to support two artists very dear to Dreamwalker, Vancouver-based Juolin Lee and Tkarón:to-based Judy Luo, in beginning an artistic exchange to connect and learn with one another and each other’s respective communities! JL² exchange begins with Juolin in Tkarón:to January 8-24, 2025, and continues with Judy travelling to Vancouver in the Spring!
We are so excited for this connection, and so excited to be welcoming Juolin to Tkarón:to so soon. Juolin will be working on a personal project (supported by TDT Plug-N-Play Residencies), collaborating with Judy, and connecting with the dance community in town.
“Dear Toronto and the beautiful Dreamwalker community! I cannot wait to visit your city in January 2025! I am a curious soul, a foodie with vibrating excitement for the arts and culture. I see the world through the lens of movement and dance. I aspire to ride the different currents in life with presence and openness. I’d love to get connected!”
Follow us on social media for more information about Juolin’s time in Tkarón:to and the JL² artistic exchange in the months to come.
Duet: Andrea Nann & Judy Luo
Over the course of the past year, Andrea Nann, Judy Luo and Sarah Chase have been exploring and developing a new duet for Andrea and Judy (for those of you who joined us at LEAP WITH US last February, the first iteration of this work was shared there!). In Summer 2024, further exploration took place in so-called Vancouver and on Hornby Island, BC. In Winter 2025, the work will continue to spiral – with more dreaming and development happening in Aurora (supported by Brevik Creates! artist residency at the newly renovated Aurora Cultural Centre), in Vancouver (at Morrow), and in Tkarón:to (supported by The National Ballet of Canada’s Open Space programme).
Firehorse & Shadow
After a profound and joyous time in Vancouver, Firehorse & Shadow will be making its Tkarón:to debut in Spring 2025. 𝑭𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒆 & 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒘 is a performance autobiography charted in gesture, storytelling, ink painting and shadow puppetry co-created by performer/choreographer/writer Andrea Nann and performer/shadow artist Annie Katsura Rollins in collaboration with director Sarah Chase and dramaturge Cindy Mochizuki. This dance memoir works against and alongside the hearsay of family stories, internal organ and body clock cycles, and zodiac animal signs, unfolding the yin and yang elements expressed within the bodies, lives and choices of four generations of Chinese Canadian women.
We will be sharing more about the “when” and “where” soon. For now – thank you to our Vancouver community for holding this story so tenderly, and for sharing your stories with us. To our Tkarón:to community, we cannot wait to fold you in.
UPCOMING - VANCOUVER (M.S.T. TERRITORY)
PinWen at PuSh + More
We are thrilled to welcome our colleague and International Choreographic Interlink collaborator, acclaimed Taiwanese performance artist Su PinWin. PinWen will be in Vancouver this Winter for PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, and is offering a Workshop and an Artist Talk! We are so thrilled to be supporting him, in partnership with our friends at Odd Meridian Arts.
WORKSHOP INFO: My Nude Self by Su PinWen
“Tactility, skin, and nudity. In this workshop, I will share my practice that began with tactility in 2013, expanded into the study of skin experiences, and progressed towards nudity as the form of artistic expression, with a focus on embodied experiences. This workshop aims to guide participants in exploring non-visual dominant bodily methods, re-evaluating their personal sensory experiences, and approaching a holistic presence. Through this, we respond to feminism’s critique on the ‘gaze.’”.
🗓️ Saturday January 25th, 1:30PM-5:30PM at Morrow (#204 - 910 Richards St, Vancouver)
This workshop is more suitable for artists with experience in body performance, including art students. The process may trigger discussions related to feminism, gender, race, and culture, thus requiring participants to be sensitive and inclusive regarding body politics. Considering that there may be nude practices during the session, participants are advised to be adults who can exercise personal discernment and take responsibility for their decisions.
ARTIST TALK INFO:
🗓️ Sunday January 26th 3PM-4:30PM at Morrow (#204 - 910 Richards St, Vancouver)
Join us for an Artist Talk with Su PinWen in conversation with Michael Caldwell, artistic director of SummerWorks – discussing themes from PinWen’s work (including feminism and challenging heteronormativity) and learning more about PinWen’s creative practice, and what work looks like for him in Taiwan. We will also have a chance to engage in a shared dialogue around performance art and its capacity for activism, self-connection and queer expression.
PuSh OPENING NIGHT
PinWen will also be performing at PuSh Opening Night Party at the Fox Cabaret! Catch them there Thursday January 23rd from 9pm onwards! PinWen will be sharing “a playful interrogation of desire and consumption.” The event is free – more info on the PuSh website!
Lunar New Year
Stay tuned for more information about our special Lunar New Year Gathering in Vancouver! We will be posting more information on social media, later in January 2025.
One Nigh Choir
Throughout 2025, Dreamwalker will continue hosting a monthly One Night Choir embodied singing night, where sheet music is provided, no prep is required, and Dreamwalker Kelsi James leads all participants through an evening of group singing (the format is: arriving together, orienting in the space, warming up together, and then learning a piece of music in multi-part harmony!).
All updates and registration links for One Night Choir can be found through our Facebook and Instagram. The next choir is Monday, January 13th at 7:30pm!
RELFECTING ON THE PAST YEAR
Tkarón:to (Toronto)
Our work in Tkarón:to in 2024 brought us into Circle with many beloved colleagues and collaborators. For Leap Day 2024, we hosted LEAP WITH US, connecting with community members and sharing work by Andrea Nann, Andy Maize, Judy Luo, Sarah Chase, Peggy Baker, Elysha Poirier, Naishi Wang, Yuichiro Inoue, Henry Mak, and the Conscious Bodies Core Ensemble.
We continued International Choreographic Interlink: Toronto/Taipei, and were overjoyed to collaborate with adelheid and SummerWorks to welcome back Fangas Nayaw & I-Fen Tung [Fist & Cake Productions]; WuKang Chen and dancers [HORSE]; PinWen Su & Naceku [KuaBo Dance Theatre]; Wen Huang to share work, talks and workshops adjacent to and as part of SummerWorks 2024 and TAIWANFest Toronto and Vancouver. Thank you Steph Harkness, Santee Smith/Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, the Taipei Cultural Center in New York and the Citadel in Tkarón:to.
This Fall Toronto Biennial of Art and Art Gallery of Ontario partnered to present performances by Andrea Nann and Jennifer Dahl for the exhibition, Sonia Boyce: Feeling Her Way. Performances continue at the AGO in 2025; at 7pm on February 5th, Jennifer Dahl and Andrea Nann will be performing together. Andrea Nann also performed as a guest artist for: MabelleArts’ Nuit Blanche grand opening of The Belle; and multiple dates for Laila Biali’s popular Wintersongs Tour.
The Conscious Bodies Core Ensemble (Phil Davis, Danielle Denichaud, Michelle Silagy, Isaiah Gilson, Kelsi James, Classic Roots, Andrea Nann) continue to meet and resonate together, connecting over Zoom from across lands. Dreamwalker also continues its close relationship and collaboration with Wild Soma and Returning River.
Andrea Nann was named 2024 recipient of the Pat and Tony Adams Freedom Fund for the Arts, along with Richard Feren, Oliver Dennis and Maria Vacratsis.
Vancouver (M.S.T. Territory)
In Vancouver, we started 2024 with Firehorse and Shadow: In Community, the culmination of two years of community activations and story-sharing in and around Vancouver’s Historic Chinatown. With support from plastic orchid factory, we screened four story poems made from the activations, with live performances at Left of Main by Lynda Sing, Juolin Lee, Kay Huang Barnes, Lance Lim and Mermaid Li.
Andrea Nann, Judy Luo and Sarah Chase travelled to Vancouver (and then to Hornby Island) to continue their exploratory work for Andrea and Judy’s duet. Dreamwalkers Kelsi James and Sid Ryan Eilers met and practiced “Landscapes of Sensation” together at Vancouver’s Morrow.
In the Summer, Fangas, I-Fen and Wen (from International Choreographic Interlink: Toronto/Taipei) travelled to Vancouver, and together with Chimerik we shared work, attended events and hosted gatherings and studio tours, visiting joyously on the West Coast.
In the Fall, we supported Kelsi James’ Art For Ace Week Festival, and launched the first of 12 monthly One Night Choirs, with support from Odd Meridian Arts.
In November, we continued our collaboration with Sammy Chien and Caroline MacCaull from Chimerik, and presented a double bill at Heart Of The City Festival: Chimerik’s Ritual-Spective–RE: turning 迴融: 迴歸 and Dreamwalker’s Chinatown Stories Audio Tour: Roving Conversations Between Intergenerational Pairs. The Audio Tours feature Bev Nann, Owen Maize, Lance Lim, Jasper Sloan Yip, Lynda Sing, Carolyn Matthews, Ryan Iu, Lori Chong, Alger Ji-Liang, and Shon Wong.
INTERNATIONAL
Jennifer Dahl, Laura Colomban and Andrea Nann 'Embodying Listening' at the Saturn Walk.
In 2024, Dreamwalker went international! In April, Andrea Nann continued her work with China Blue and Saturn Walk, travelling together to Italy to share Saturn Walk: Embodying Listening at Venice Biennale along with Jennifer Dahl (CAN/ITA) and Laura Colomban (ITA/UK). The artists continue an online monthly practice. Watch for future events in Vancouver and London.
In May, Conscious Bodies Core Ensemble member Danielle Denichaud travelled to Copenhagen to represent both Dreamwalker and her own academic work at the First International Conference on Embodied Education.
In Loving Memory
Richard Nann October 20, 1930 - December 8, 2024
On December 8th, Andrea's father Richard Nann passed away peacefully. He leaves a legacy of love and dedication to making the world better. You can read about Richard’s extraordinary life here accompanied by this gallery of images. Richard is featured in Dreamwalker web performance experience allofourdreaming.com. He leaves a legacy of love and dedication to making the world better. We love you, Richard. You are in our hearts forever.
We are so grateful for the last cycle of seasons we’ve shared, and excited for all that is to come. Thank you to each of you for Dreamwalking with us and a very special thank you to our long time friend and supporter Jane Deluzio who is stepping down from the Dreamwalker Board of Directors after a wonderful 10 years.
Wishing you a restorative Winter season and a Happy New Year,
Dreamwalker
Commentaires