Molly McDermott; photo: Ahmed Khalil; design: Deanna Peters
Get to know your CADA/West
July 2013 Member's Newsletter...
This edition features our upcoming AGM; some Suggested Summer Views, a profile of Member Dario Dinuzzi & our monthly dance citizenship challenge.
You're invited to our AGM Summer Party:
July 28, 2013; 3pm
Marcuse Studio, 7th floor, 677 Davie St
We'll be welcoming in our new Program Coordinator Jessica Wadsworth and saying farewell to Kristina Lemieux.
We would love to see our members there for a meet and greet.
Please RSVP: email us
Twitter Highlights: Videos
Summer dance research time?! Looking beyond our town, city, province, country, the dance community is massive. Dance on film/video is a great way to see what is going on in our field across the world. Here are some Suggested Summer Views from our recent tweets:
photo: Michael Slobodian
Member Profile: Dario Dinuzzi
Where are you from?
I am from a medium size town in south Italy called Barletta. It's a beautiful place on the eastern coast where most of spring, summer and fall look like the sunniest day of the year in Vancouver.
When and how did you begin dancing?
I started to study dance when I was four years old. My mother says I asked for it, I don't really remember. But I do remember being very excited about karate and soccer…
What are you currently working on in dance?
I'm coming out of a knee injury that is still giving me a hard time. And, honestly, there are other parts of my body that are not currently doing very well either. I'm working on reestablishing the right connections within my body. It's an incredible learning process that is teaching me how to listen to my instincts using consciousness and awareness.
As you are in the midst of an exciting touring season with Ballet BC, as well as your having worked in a number of cities, what grounds you in your self and in your dancing when you are in unfamiliar territory?
There isn't any familiar territory or viceversa. When you are making art, you are always exposing yourself. And, it's always your choice, no matter where you are. You'll always find people who agree or disagree, understand or don't understand… So as long as you believe in what you are doing there is no reason to hesitate.
Is there an aspect of your career, outside of the studio, that you are developing? If so, why?
Five years ago I used to say:" …when I'll be older they are going to kick me off of the stage but I'm not going to quit dancing…". Now I still believe I belong to the dance world and I don't think I'll ever leave it. But I'm not sure anymore about being kicked off of a stage. I'm actually starting to enjoy more and more to be on the other side. In the last few years I discovered that I love choreographing and teaching. I like to share and these two activities are perfect tools for me. I enjoy to see my movement on other bodies and I love to see my ideas translated in movements.
What is good dance citizenship to you?
I believe the concept of dance as art is to be all one.
It is the expression of ideas, thoughts, feelings, numbers, geometry, culture, history, architecture, etc., through the movements of the beautiful human body.
All the rest: cities, countries, styles, dance companies, dance communities, dance projects, etc. are little parts of a bigger picture. We need to recognize dance as one. We need to learn from each other. And, most of all, we need to be open and not forget the values behind the art of dance which, as any art, starts as a need for self-expression.
Speak With Your Feet, Repeat
This challenge is from our May 2012 edition. We are repeating it as a reminder to:
Speak to someone, everyday, about your art. Talk about dance with those you love, as well as to complete strangers.
How often are you confronted with questions about what you do as a dancer?
How do you respond? Are you quick to change the subject?
As professionals working in a time of severe marginalization of the arts—cuts to funding, arguments in the media and political arenas that they do not significantly impact on society—we are at risk of losing income, infrastructure and audiences.
If we do not talk about dance, who will?
To raise the general awareness of dance, and all of the arts, we need to speak passionately and articulately about what we do and how it contributes to society.
Through speaking about our art at a grassroots level we can deepen the larger community's understanding and enjoyment of it; making the arts an issue that a greater number of Canadians deem is important to support and to vote for.
Next time someone wants to hear about what you do, engage them with all of the conviction that you put in to your work in the studio.
CADA/West and its Members,
ensuring dance remains vital to our culture.
designed, written and built by Deanna Peters, CADA/West Communications Officer
