Public Energy launching season with workshops
Public Energy’s latest season kicks off Wednesday with a sixweek workshop that aims to turn ordinary Joes into performers.
The group’s artist-in-residence Brian Solomon is hosting a series of dance workshops for his upcoming production, Nogojiwanong Rite of Spring.
The piece will re-envision the original Rite of Spring, a 1913 ballet and orchestral concert through an Indigenous lens.
Solomon plans to combine up to 40 community members and professional dancers for two outdoor performances in October.
“This is something Brian is pretty passionate about, working everyday people into performance and having them rediscover their bodies in new and imaginative ways,” said Bill Kimball, the group’s artistic producer.
Solomon is running workshops for the public at Artspace on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 7 to 9 p.m. They start Wednesday and end Oct. 18.
Meanwhile, pro dancers will train with the choreographer at the Nozhem First Peoples’ Performance Space in Gzowski College at Trent University.
Trent has donated to the space to Public Energy through a partnership with the Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies. Solomon will also be leading workshops at Trent for students in Indigenous studies courses and cultural studies. Nogojiwanong Rite of Spring will be performed Oct. 19 and 20 at 6 p.m. at 190 Brock St. It’s an Anishnaabe burial site.
The production is part of [in] Sites, a new site-specific performance series presented by Public Energey, Artspace, the Art Gallery of Peterborough and ReFrame Film Festival. It’s the first time the four groups have teamed up to host a series.
[in]Sites features eight public events, three performances, a film screening, two artist talks, a panel talk and an artist workshop. Events are free and take place downtown, at Trent and Curve Lake First Nation.
Public Energy’s first stage production of the season is Sept. 21 at Market Hall. It’s a double bill multimedia dance by Vancouverbased company Hong Kong Exile. They’ll be performing Nineeight and Room 2048, starting at 7 p.m. Nineeight explores the feeling of anxiety in Hong Kong during the British handover of the country to China in 1998. Room 2048, Nineeight’s sequel, looks at the uncertainty of a future beyond Hong Kong’s transition to China.
“They’re really adept at creating new ways of projecting images and interacting with live action and projected images and multimedia. The effect is like you’re watching a movie at times instead of a performance,” Kimball said.
After the show, the group will engage in a post-show talkback session with the audience.
The next day, Remy Siu, a member of Hong Kong Exile, will lead a workshop, Integrating Digital Media in Performance, at Artspace from 2 to 4:30 p.m.
After 24 years in operation, Public Energy hired its first new staff member this season. Victoria Mohr-Blakeney has joined as the performance curator. The group is a presenter and animator of contemporary dance, theatre, performance and interdisciplinary work.
By hiring Mohr-Blakeney, Kimball said it allows for Public Energy to grow.
“It expands the reach of our programming and it expands the ideas for our programming and for the ways we can interact with the community,” he said.
NOTE: To register for a workshop with Public Energy, contact admin@publicenergy.ca.