DOUBLE
(Lilia Leon Arts)
Mainspace Theatre
Genre: Dance
DOUBLE, is a multidisciplinary duet (work-in-progress) that follows two explorers in their quest to understand their own existence, how everything is connected, and ultimately, how to love. Through multiple experiments they come to face their own flaws and gifts, adding magic and humour to their quest.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Leon Arts is a new dance-theatre company founded by Lilia Leon for the purpose of creating and presenting new multidisciplinary performances. We are drawn to working with artists that challenge conventional hierarchies and practices, in order to explore the full range of human experiences—from the surreal and absurd to the intimate and mundane. DOUBLE is our first production and it celebrates our commitment to bringing together artists across disciplines and languages to create unique works of art that highlight mixed identities and bilingualism.
Sharon Moore: Sharon creates as a choreographer, director and writer for dance, theatre, film and circus. A former member of Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers under the direction of Tedd Robinson, she was the first Canadian to receive a Bessie Schonberg Choreographic Residency at “The Yard” on Martha’s Vineyard. In 2012 she was appointed Atelier Artist in Residence at Princeton University where she ran a lab in narrative and movement. Alongside Canadian composer/director Derek Aasland, she runs Cinetic Creations, a company which serves the film industry as a specialty movement/choreography design and direction unit creating large-scale, picture-wide movement worlds on features such as Sony Pictures/ Impact Films/ Davies Films Resident Evil; Apocalypse.
Lilia Leon: Lilia Leon is a Mexican-Canadian performing artist with Mestizo heritage, whose artistic practice is deeply connected to her experience as a Latin American immigrant, living in Canada for over a decade. She holds a BA Degree in Dance from York University and is a graduate of the Professional Training Program at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. Her work is multi-faceted and includes performance, choreography and education in dance and theatre. She thrives when working in multi-disciplinary and collaborative creations and has worked with remarkable Indigenous, Canadian and Latin American artists.
Irma Villafuerte: Irma Villafuerte is a Tkaronto based dance artist, educator, choreographer and first- generation daughter of refugees from Nahuat Territory Kuskatan, post-colonial El Salvador. Irma is the Program Director of Native Earth’s Animikiig Creators Lab and a Toronto Arts Foundation 2021 Emerging Artist Finalist. She is a co-founder of CinnaMoon Collective. She’s been part of works by Kaha:wi Dance Theatre, Jaberi Dance Theatre, Kaeja d’Dance, Victoria Mata, Aria Evans, Alejandro Ronceria, Diana Lopez and Michael Caldwell. Since 2017, she has led a journey nurturing her choreographic development through residencies with Dance Makers, TDT’s Emerging Voices, Kaeja D’dance KAIR and Aluna Theatre. www.irmavillafuerte.com
Alejandra Higuera: Alejandra Higuera is a queer multidisciplinary visual storyteller focusing on creating poetic visuals through different mediums: illustration, animation, embroidery, and projection. One of her main interests is designing imagery for performances focusing on the dialogue between the image, the piece, the performer[s], and a specific site. She was recently part of the Aluna Theatre’s learning lab, where she explored interactive projections and video mapping using Isadora. Her work focuses on themes of migration, feminism, memory, grief, ritual, and being a solo parent by centering the intricate stories of immigrant, queer and BIPOC resilience and exploring how healing leads us to re-imaging ourselves.
A.J. Morra: Based in Toronto, A.J. is a graduate of the Technical Theatre Program at Ryerson University, and has enjoyed an active career as a Technical Director, Production Manager, and Stage Manager for contemporary dance, circus, and theatre. Selected credits include work with Toronto Dance Theatre, Groundling Theatre Company, Zero Gravity Circus, Dreamwalker Dance Company, Zata Omm Dance Projects, Soundstreams, and Signal Theatre.
Theo Belc: Theo Belc is a production freelancer based in Toronto. They graduated from the Performance Production Program at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson), where they focused their studies in lighting design and scenic arts. Their motivation lies in using their multi-disciplinary interests to engage, support, and create meaningful stories that contribute to the Toronto arts scene. Recent works: Technical Director, “I Love the Smell of Gasoline” (2023); Assistant lighting designer, Fall for Dance North (2022); Assistant Lighting Designer, “Svaha” – Nova Dance (2022); Lighting Designer, “Winchester Prize Showcase” Summerworks Festival (2022).
Edgardo Moreno: Edgardo Moreno has been commissioned for projects in Canada, Venezuela, Mexico, Sweden, Argentina, England and USA. He has written scores for films produced by CBC, Bravo, City TV, NFB, OMNI, Ontario Arts Council, History Channel, TVO. He has worked extensively with contemporary dance choreographers creating sound design and musical scores. He is presently working in creating video and live sound pieces that are part of his Fireflyproject. Edgardo has worked with Indigenous contemporary dance choreographers and artists including Penny Couchie, Alejandro Ronceria, Rulan Tangen, Muranko Starr, Carlos Rivera, Sara Roque, Clayton Windatt, Justyn Manyfingers, Tasha Faye Evans.
CREDITS
Sharon Moore: Choreographer, Director, Writer
Lilia Leon: Performer, Producer
Irma Villafuerte: Performer
Alejandra Higuera: Projections designer
Theo Belc: Lighting designer
A. J. Morra: Stage manager
Edgardo Moreno: Composer
Sarah Doucet: Costume Designer
DOUBLE has been funded in part through Toronto Arts Council- Long Term Dance Projects. DOUBLE was first presented as a work-in-progress at the 2023 SummerWorks Performance Festival in the SummerWorks Lab. Special thanks to the on-going technical and creative support of Aluna Theatre
Learned Behavior
Studio Theatre
Genre: Performance Art
Learned Behaviour illustrates the internal conflict of both belonging and longing a deeper connection to the people, land and practices we call our home.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Golboo Amani is a multi-disciplinary artist, educator and curator working with performance and social practice. Golboo produces sites for aesthetic intervention by utilizing ready-made and familiar social engagements as a point of entry in their practice. Golboo’s work often examines their relationship to learning by addressing the conditions of knowledge production that render epistemic violence as invisible, insignificant and benign. As a result, Golboo’s works often experiment with collective agency and egalitarian epistemology by producing sites where one gets to play with the conditions of learning and knowing.
Golnesa Amani (aka. Ola Minou) is an artist and educator working with dance and movement practices informed by Iranian folk, classical ballet, and performance art. Golnesa’s choreography and performances blend burlesque with contemporary dance elements, theatrics, as well as traditional Iranian mannerisms, music and narratives as an embodying act of preservation. Golnesa transforms the stage into a space for learning, a platform for reclamation, reconfiguration, and communing for Iranian diaspora/Canadian settlers who may also intersect with marginalized social identities.
CREDITS
Golboo Amani and Golnesa Amani: Creators
12 Litres 8800 steps
Mainspace Theatre
Genre: Theatre
12 Litres 8800 Steps is a story about love. It is a story about endurance. It is a story about those who have loved and lost someone to addiction. A multi-disciplinary odyssey incorporating text and movement that invites the audience to take a deep dive into the inner sanctum of a Woman who is grappling with her partner’s addiction. In this 20-30 minute work-in-progress, one day she encounters a Horse, and together they journey through the dualistic worlds of addiction/mental health, and Magic Realism where dreams, memories, and possibility take flight.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Anita La Selva is an award-winning director, dramaturg, actor and creator. Her focus as an artist is in creating interdisciplinary, inter-cultural work that reflects the world we live in today. Her unique style of combining text with movement, dance and music has made her a popular director, co-creator, and consultant, on numerous interdisciplinary projects. She is the 2019 recipient of the Gina Wilkinson Award for Emerging Female Director, holds an MFA in Directing from York University, and has been an artist mentor through the Toronto Arts Council and The Buddies Emerging Creators’ Unit. Anita teaches regularly in the York University and Seneca College Acting Programs.
CREDITS
Anita La Selva: Writer/Performer
Brad Cook: Collaborator/Performer
Martin Julien: Dramaturg
Victoria Mata: Choreography
Camila Diaz-Varela: Sound Design/Stage Management
Maria Paula Carreño-Martínez: Outside Eye
Cabaret
FREE EVENT
Studio Theatre
Start Time: 9:45pm
featuring Dainty Smith, Boyband the Boyband, Maria Paula Carreño-Martínez
with DJ Sofia Fly
CHICHO
A mundane pimple on the day of Chicho’s University grad photos hurls him down a chaotic spiral of hallucinations that triggers an identity crisis. CHICHO is a surreal, experimental short film that depicts the impact of the Venezuelan crisis on its diaspora, where displacement, survivor’s guilt, and religious surveillance collide.
Credits:
Augusto Bitter: Writer/Performer/Co-Producer
Arlen Aguayo Stewart: Director/Co-Producer
Roger Galvez: Director of Photography/Editor
Deanna H. Choi: Original Music and Sound Design
Claren Grosz: Assistant Director/Co-Producer
Production/Post-Production/Accessibility credits can be found on pencilkitproductions.com/chicho-film
Beloved ghost daughters
by Dainty Smith, Irma Villafuerte, Steff Ivory Conover
An intersection of stories between three women and how they are bound together by womanhood, love, magic, and loss. A performance piece for unruly and resistant women.
Soy Hija
by Maria Paula Carreño-Martinez
To my parents. An attempt to do what they could not, but my way, on a stage, and doing things my grandmothers would not approve of. Special thanks to Paz Jurado – artistic collaboration, Andrés Felipe Moreno Molano – costume, my sister Maria Angelica – consulting.
Rhythm Is Gonna Get You
by Boyband the Boyband
Boyband The Boyband is ready to hit the stage at the Caminos Cabaret! Join Papi, H&M and Baby Face as they sing and dance their way to your hearts…with consent, of course.
DJ Sofia Fly
Sofia Fly is a Toronto based DJ and producer, who is the co-founder of club collective Veneno. She is an open format DJ that centres her sets around her own original productions, exploring house, Latin, and techno rhythms with a sprinkling of up-tempo club edits featuring cleverly curated hip-hop, reggaeton, and pop music samples.