9 days until DanceWeekend’20! Today we are featuring Tracey Norman who is one of the recipients of the Dance Ontario’s Commission/Creative Partnership.
Dance Ontario’s Creative Partnership Program provides production/creation support plus a performance fee to each of two choreographers for NEW work to be premiered at DanceWeekend each January. Learn more about applying to the Creative Partnership here: https://danceontario.ca/activity-detail/commissions-creative-partner…
Connect with Tracey Norman:
Instagram: tnorms.dance
Twitter: @teenorms
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tracey.norman.583
Website: www.traceynorman.com
What are showing at DanceWeekend’20?
I’m creating a new work, where we intersect, for 8 performers. At DanceWeekend, I’ll be sharing the first portion of a larger work which will premiere in April 2020.
Who are the performers/collaborators in this piece(s)?
Performers/collaborators: Irvin Chow, Justine Comfort, Jesse Dell, Syreeta Hector, Rufi Oswaldo, Julia Sasso, Denise Solleza
Can you talk about your creative process? What inspires you?
My creative process is highly collaborative. We work together with tasks, games, scores, structured improvisations and highly physical movement material all of which is connected by a theme or jumping off point. I call it a jumping off point because it means the idea can morph and change over time and we are not bound to a theme. Often the outcome is not at all what I could have imagined at the outset which is one of the many reasons why I love making dances. I am inspired by the body as a site of inquiry, science, poetry, my children and most of all my collaborators.
Please share your experience performing in a previous DanceWeekend and/or tell us what you are looking forward to at DanceWeekend’20?
The last time I showed work at DanceWeekend was in 2013. It was a duet called Witness for my collaborators Jesse Dell and Jordana Deveau. It was a great opportunity to prepare the piece for the Fleck space and then continue to research the work and share it in many other theatres and spaces along the way. I love the variety of dance you can see at DanceWeekend and the kind of dialogues you get into with people. It’s an accessible and affordable opportunity to witness high level dancing in a beautiful space. I’m excited that it’s one of the few shows where I can bring both my young daughters along.
Do you have any up-coming performances/events you would like to share?
April 29-May 2, 2020, Angela Blumberg and I are sharing a double bill, Verkörperung. It’s a DanceWorks CoWorks event running at the Citadel. I’ll be presenting the full version of this piece I’m beginning for DanceWeekend.
Photo by Craig Chambers