11 days until #DanceWeekend21!
Meet Robyn Bedford: a Toronto-based independent dance artist and registered trauma informed Yoga teacher with reiki healing attunment. In addition to furthering her healing practise, her passions live in contemporary modern dance, experimental improvisation and most recently, dance filmmaking.
Watch the film We’ll Be Alright as part of the DanceWeekend21 film series presentation on Apr 30. #ComeDanceWithUs Read more here:
Can you tell us little bit about yourself/your company/collective/school?
I am an Independent Dance Artist currently based out of Toronto! My passions live in contemporary modern dance, experimental improvisation and most recently dance film-making. Health, wellness and mental wellness are very important to me! I am a registered trauma informed Yoga teacher with reiki healing atunement, and currently working on furthering my healing practise! Artistically, I have recently been enjoying the exploration and experimentation in personal film projects and community-based interdisciplinary dance projects.
What will you be sharing at DanceWeekend’21?
I will be sharing a short dance film that I made in the summer of 2020! This Film was created from found footage of an experimental photo and video-shoot. Justin and I had been exploring the possibilities of light, shadow, projection and containment with our set and coupled it with free from movement.
What interests about film as a medium and how does it differ from a live performance?
Film is a very exciting medium to be working with! I appreciate the possibility of directing focus and attention of the audience in film that I find can only really happen in this form. In live performance, typically you will receive the entire frame from one direction, with film these boundaries are completely different. You are able to direct elements outside or inside of the frame, experience an angle you wouldn’t otherwise experience then create an emotional response that would not otherwise inspire. Dance created for film also offers a living record of the final product of performance. Dance being one of the most fleeing art forms you are unable to truly experience the same performance twice or witness the same improvisation again, but dance created for film can capture these moments in a more tangible record. Film also can serve dance in a very unique way, by allowing the stretch of reality and the creation of a world where anything can happen. During live performance ‘magic’ elements have the potential of being lost through scene changes, technical difficulties, the visibility of entrances and exists etc… sometimes then causing us to be pulled from the world that has been created on stage. I truly believe that there is nothing like experiencing a live performance, but with my exploration of film over this past year I think we can create similar experiences and be in connection in different ways.
How has the pandemic shifted your work as a professional dance artist?
The pandemic has created a major roadblock in my professional training and in my performance work that has been very difficult mental hurtle. I have shi[ed my focus to community based interaction and film experimentation! I have been trying to be creative in how I reach an audience through social media and how to keep my artistic practise going. I am still sortng my way through this shifed work, finding my footng, my voice and how I will show up!
Please share what you are most looking forward to at Dance Ontario’s first virtual DanceWeekend?
Connection and inspiration have been feeling farther and farther away as the months go on in this Global Pandemic and I am eager to witness the works of the creatives in my community and experience inspiration. I am also very interested in how this virtual weekend will impact the community and the audiences!
Do you have any up-coming performances/workshops/events you would like to share?
1. Dancing is the way my soul speaks to me, it’s the way I understand myself.
2. Its like coming home, when i’m dancing I feel the most safe and absolutely free to be me.