Jillian Peever Dance to Premiere THE MYSTERY OF MR. LEFTOVERS

Jillian Peever Dance Creations proudly announces the world premiere of The Mystery of Mr. Leftovers, a contemporary performance piece that merges dynamic dance with outrageous theatrics - and the first ever, full-length solo work performed by Jillian Peever. Acclaimed dance artist Sharon B. Moore (K.M. Hunter Award nominee, triple Dora nominee) choreographs and directs, while dance icon Peggy Baker (Governor General's Award for Lifetime Achievement) acts as Peever's solo-performance mentor.

Both of these highly esteemed veterans will guide and challenge this emerging dance artist as she inhabits this extraordinary creation. The Mystery of Mr. Leftovers runs Thursday, February 25 to Saturday, February 27, 2016 at 8pm nightly at the Winchester Street Theatre in Toronto's Cabbagetown area.

Peever first publicly incarnated Mr. Leftovers in Fantasies and Other Poisons (2012) which blossomed out of Moore's work with four students from the graduating class at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, Peever being one of them. Both Moore and Peever were compelled to go deeper into Mr. Leftovers' quirky and mysterious nature and see what transpired. Later that year, Peever joined Moore for a portion of Moore's Creative Residency at Princeton University in New York where much of the creation took place. The solo is complex: the movements fast and precise, layered with text and theatrics.

The Mystery of Mr. Leftovers is a desperate and uncomfortable plea for companionship and love. In a series of odd circumstantial adventures, Mr. Leftovers searches through the echoes of his own history leaving him somewhat unassembled. His interior world is made up of leftover thoughts: thoughts he did not communicate but wanted to, the thoughts of others, stuttering recapitulations of self-commentary, analysis and extreme - sometimes socially unacceptable - behaviour. He seeks to build himself up by discovering, readjusting and fulfilling his own legend of himself, whether true or false. He survives his past traps and illusions by creating new ones. After all, we are what we create.

"Will audiences understand the states of being that Mr. Leftovers exists in? Will they see themselves reflected in his strange world? Will they recognize parts of his unassembled self? As an artist, I am constantly attracted to the theme of the human condition. What defines us? What makes us happy, or balanced? The Mystery of Mr. Leftovers inherently asks these questions - but with a side of ridiculousness," says Peever, excited by the challenge.

Jillian Peever graduated from The School of Toronto Dance Theatre in 2011 and performed with TDT for a year. As a dancer, she has worked with such lauded choreographers as Peggy Baker, Lina Cruz, Danny Grossman, Christopher House and Sharon B. Moore. Recently she performed for Lemi Ponifaso of New Zealand company MAU in his staging of R. Murray Schafer's opera Apocalypsis for Luminato where she shared the stage with such great Canadian contemporary dance artists as Denise Fujiwara, Claudia Moore, Sylvie Bouchard, Susanna Hood, Kate Holden and others. Recently, she performed in Fujiwara Dance Inventions' Eunoia as an understudy on tour to Calgary. This season, Peever is also working with Michael Greyeyes' Signal Theatre for the first stage of creation of a new work as well as with Angela Blumberg on her new work. www.jillianpeever.com

Sharon B. Moore is a choreographer, director and movement coach for dance, film, theatre and circus. Her latest work, The Thirst For Love and Water - a multi-disciplinary, large scale, site-specific show created and produced in collaboration with director Derek Aasland for Panamania Live! - was seen in July 2015 by over 80,000 people. She is a 2015 K.M. Hunter Award nominee, triple Dora nominee, the first Canadian honoured with a Bessie Schönberg Choreographic Award Residency at The Yard at Martha's Vineyard, and was an atelier resident at Princeton University in 2013. Recently named a choreographer in residence at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, she is a former member of Contemporary Dancers of Canada under the direction of Tedd Robinson. She is a choreographer sought after for her highly textured and intensely magnetic theatre of movement. www.loveandwater.org

Peggy Baker has been a vivid presence in contemporary dance for four decades. She established Peggy Baker Dance Projects in 1990, and for the first 20 years she dedicated herself to solo performance, winning rapturous praise for the eloquence and depth of her dancing, and accolades for her collaborative partnerships with extraordinary musicians and designers. Since 2010 she has focused her choreography on works for small ensemble. Ms. Baker is Artist-in-Residence at Canada's National Ballet School. She has been honoured with numerous awards for her extraordinary achievements and contributions including the Governor General's Award for Lifetime Achievement (2009). peggybakerdance.com

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