Toronto’s Kaeja d’Dance returns for its 12th year in Toronto’s historic Seaton Village with the award-winning Porch View Dances: Real People Dancing In Real Spaces.
The idea behind the Porch View Dances project is to pair non-professional dancers with professional choreographers. After spending some time rehearsing, the new cast eventually invites neighbors to watch the result, paying what they can. People interested to perform have to answer a short questionnaire about themselves and why they want to be involved but no dance background is required: it’s about creating movement and pleasure.
Porch View Dances mingle ordinary lives and artistic expression through dance and brings dance out of the theatre literally into the streets likes to say Karen Kaeja, Co-Artistic Director of Kaeja d’Dance and Founder of Porch View Dances. It seems everyone is found of the award winning project. The City of Toronto even recognized the impact and contribution of Porch View Dances by renaming a Seaton Village laneway – Porch View Dances Lane. The chosen laneway was the first-ever to host the Porch View Dances.
Every day people living in the Seaton Village area of Toronto team with choreographers to create dances on their own front porches. Picture credit: Porch View Dances.
Celebrating everyday life
PVD celebrates the stories of people in a neighbourhood, sending the powerful message that art is for everyone. This summer, drag queen Mary Moonshine will lead the 90-minute walking/wheeling tour will be that will feature four new works created by choreographers Victoria Mata and Irma Villafuerte, Heryka Miranda, Ashima Suri, and Kinaj (Kin Nguien and AJ Velasco).
The one of a kind dance festival features a full load of collaborators. The First Nation creators Jim and Owen Adams, a father and son with roots in the Swampy Cree, Innu, Mohawk and Welsh communitie, are resident performers at Porch View Dances over a four-year journey. Jim Adams grew up listening to stories of the land, shared by his relatives. He now shares the stories that shaped his work as a multi-disciplinary artist. The team will complete this summer their expression of the Medicine Wheel – closing a cycle of honouring the four directions, elements, and colours.
Porch View Dances bridge dance, art and the public, with people of all ages, identities and challenges. The focus is personal, socially relevant, relational, physical and opens imagination and it celebrates the universal qualities of everyday life, connecting audiences to intimate and emotionally resonant content. So, get ready, the streets are yours to dance.
Tickets are ‘Pay What You Wish.’ August 9 to 13, 2023, Toronto’s historic Seaton Village https://www.kaeja.org/upcoming
