Kevin A. Ormsby and his company
KasheDance (Toronto) will be performing at our three In the Park shows on
Friday, June 2, 6 pm at Hanlon Creek Park, and on Saturday, June 3, and Sunday,
June 4 at 12 pm at Exhibition Park. The piece the company will be performing is
“FACING Home: Love and Redemption,” co-choreographed by Kevin and his colleague
Christopher Walker. We asked Kevin to tell us more about the piece and about
his work with KasheDance. What you’ll read here will shed light on the work
you’ll see during the Festival.
Thoughts on Dance in An International and Provincial Context
The speech was written at an event hosted by KasheDance and the previous Lt. GG of Ontario –Michael Onley at the Lt.GG Suite at Queens Park.
As Artistic Director of KasheDance and Co-Choreographer of “FACING Home: Love and Redemption,” my story is like that of many Ontarians. The stories of immigration fostering change, fuelling industries, lives and the demographics of Ontario; it is for me the movement of Diasporas, the dance and cultural sensibilities that informs my work. I have to understand this relationship as an artist in relationship to indigeneity and the indigenous peoples of this land which we as settlers call Home.
KasheDance
creates its works in sensitivity to
the international influence indicative of the city,
province and country I have come to call home. Dance possesses more than
the physical capacities that it has come to be known for. It is a catalyst not
only for expression but also for understanding, civic engagement and
social activism. In providing a space for expression, dance transcends into the
hearts of its practitioners and its viewers to highlight our culture,
society and inner being. It can at times, with the
aide of other mediums unite form, content and context,
which leads to unique perspectives of who we are as a people. The power of
the art form in Education, Community and Social enterprise highlights
possibilities for engaging stories, empathy, inclusion
and diversity; important characteristics I believe, required by
our consciousness and humanity. It supports creativity, imagination
and ultimately innovation.
Dance is
a human expression seen in and through the historical depictions
of time and in Ontario, dance is an ever-present reality of
our province. Internationally, dance in Canada offers many examples of
this country’s lasting impressions to the world. Ontario is a gateway
to many artists’ adjustment in Canada. Many cultures live here
and the smorgasbord of international cultural expressions makes dance
in Ontario filled with untapped riches for further exploration,
collaboration and appreciation. KasheDance is passionate without a
doubt about the possibilities that lie in the conversations of cultural
influence at the crossroad. As we celebrate Canada’s 150th
birthday, Ontario and Canada are poised for such focused and progressive
conversations because dance is one of those catalysts for the engagement
of civic societies of the contemporary future. The boundaries
then, of cross-cultural engagement steeped in
local and international experiences, places the arts in Ontario at
the forefront of cultural potential and currency.
As a
creator, I choose not to forget the contributions made by many
cultures, ethnicities, races and also persons from international
boundaries on the Arts in Ontario. Such international and local
influences have supported the socio-cultural, artistic and economic
milieu of Ontario. Dance moves, it ignites, creates
potential, insurmountable possibilities for civic and cultural
progression. Notwithstanding, civic engagement and community
building. Said community-strengthening starts here with the
presentation of many artists from diversity backgrounds at the Guelph Dance
Festival.
…….............................
We had a few more questions for Kevin.
Why did you make the piece
you'll be performing at the Festival?
Three years ago Chris Walker (co-choreographer) and I
embarked on separate creative research projects. Kevin was investigating the
global impact of Marley’s music, while developing a movement language for his
company rooted in Jamaican/Caribbean language of the body. Chris had been doing
research on contemporizing Caribbean dance and was invited to work on the
project with KASHEDANCE as dramaturge/co-choreographer, with a focus on
translating the history, philosophy and cultural information embedded in the
movement vocabulary. During this same period, Kevin provided artistic support
for Chris’ research project, “A Yard Abroad” which evolved into “Facing Home:
a phobia.” This project investigated the potential that dancehall and urban
popular movement vocabulary has, as language, to engage in conversations around
the stigmas of homosexuality and homophobia in Jamaica and the ability to rise
above. We recognized the conversation that both projects were having with each
other and decided to combine and collaborate to create Facing Home: Love
& Redemption.
Over three years, our process included interviews,
community discussions, feedback sessions, movement development workshops,
performance workshops with audience talkback sessions, conference presentations
and publications on process and project, and curated performances of excerpts.
We wanted to dig deep into the consciousness and value system that informed
Marley’s work and explored movement vocabulary steeped in the cultural nuances
of dances of the Caribbean. In copying tradition we used synchronicity in the choreography.
Traditions of masking and subversive texturing also reflect the realities of
living as LGBTQ in the Caribbean and in many cases, where Caribbean cultures
migrate. Queer Caribbean bodies morph as they are often forced through
machinations to get through the day - these expressions provide a dance
language palette suited to our curiosities about having contemporary physical
conversations with the past, present and future.
Bob Marley’s music galvanized generations with
sentiments like “Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights” —“I wanna love you
and treat you right, I wanna love you everyday and every night” — “Emancipate
yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds - “you
can’t run away from yourself” —“Africa unite” —”No woman no cry” — “I say fly
away home to zion “ — “Exodus, all right! Movement of Jah people!” — “One love,
one heart.” This contemporary dance concert investigates the global impact of
his music and his message—its expression of humanity’s struggle and inspiration
toward love, redemption and hope—and the simultaneous, deep-rooted
homophobia in Jamaican/West Indian Culture that results in, for many, a forced
exodus from their country and the reconstruction of their identities as a
means of survival.
“FACING HOME” is meant to impact migrant populations,
generate change and ignite the LGBTQ community, it’s supporters, and service
workers everywhere it’s performed and beyond. We hope, with this work, to
initiate an ongoing conversation with you and provide spaces for the LGBTQ
narratives of displacement from home.
What was the creative
process like?
The piece involved a creation / exploration phase, second
phase creation
process and then a production phase both in Toronto and Madison, WI. Given
it was a bi-national work we spent many time over social media and
technological platforms discussing, documenting and rehearsing the work.
Research also occurred in Jamaica and New York between the choreographers
and in Toronto and Wisconsin with the dancers and lighting designers.
The company is steeped in creation, research
and presentation and so we demanded that every artist be
invested where the research facilitated the creation and then how those
elements could and would be shaped in presentation. All our work requires this
framework of artistic engagement by our artists. The investment they have
made in the processes been the most humbling experience. The process
has been long, emotional and transformative. We had to ground and be psychologically
conscious of not just our sexually identified but also heterosexual
cast members as well.
How does your piece relate
to cultural trends or other works of art or current events or history?
I would be
curious to hear from audience members, presenters and participants what
and how they think this piece is relevant. Our diversity framework as
a company has always been reflective of the Jamaica in which
both co-choreographers grew up and still practice. It’s about the
diversity of not just the techniques from which we create but also the
artists with whom we create with. It’s live experience that one-day Canada will
come to appreciate and understand fully. We are
a contemporary company forged in the interplay of many dance
techniques, rooted in the African Diaspora.
What is something you'd
like to tell the audience about your piece that they won't be able to find out
in the program?
Dear Audience Members,
The work you will experience is created with the sensibility
that you too are experts in what you see and feel!
You BREATHE,
FEEL, and in turn DANCE. (KasheDance’s
Philosophy)
Your
thoughts, emotions and expressions during the work is equally important to it.
Dance and
the Arts can change society…it starts with you.
Every
nuance, look, smile, is rich with the celebration that you are here with
us.
Our last
piece “ONE" was written as a speech by Haile Selassie's address
to the United Nations, 1963.
Then made popular
by Bob Marley, the version you hear is by a Caucasian Jamaican.
If indeed as
Alvin Ailey say "dance came from the people and it should be given
back to the people” If so,
Then “
this is my message to you oo oo” - Bob Marley
Hoot,
Holler, Let us know that you are moved by what you experience; it’s a small
portion of what we want to give back to you
You mean the
world to us because we are the world right here, right now…
Why
is dance important to you? Why should it be important to others?
I feel the speech at the beginning speaks to this and now we
have gone the full circle of life…
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Dance outside the box here!