Kaeja d'Dance Welcomes Return of PORCH VIEW DANCES, Now thru 7/20

Kaeja d'Dance has announced the return of its award-winning Porch View Dances community dance project to Seaton Village, an artistic initiative that shares the stories of everyday families' lives through dance on the porches and in the gardens of their own homes. Its inaugural 2012 presentation was named Best Site Specific Work by the Globe and Mail, and was bestowed the I love dance/J'aime la danse Community Award by the Canadian Dance Assembly. Porch View Dances 2014 will run today, July 16-20.

Four award-winning, professional choreographers will partner with four families (many who have never danced or performed before) residing in the Annex to create dance works that will animate the neighbourhood. A unique and inclusive endeavour, Porch View Dancesgarners audiences of 300+ per evening, and turns the area's front porches, streets, alleyways and park into a stage, culminating in a celebratory, all-inclusive Flock Landing finale where members of the audience are invited to become active participants. Take a peek at the terrific official trailer for Porch View Dances here: http://youtu.be/2S1msR_IKIM . Choreographers and other details for Porch View Dances 2014 will be announced shortly.

Kaeja d'Dance is also thrilled to launch its first crowd-funding campaign with Projexity - a new local crowdsourcing platform created by a group of architects, landscape architects and urban designers that focuses on improving our urban environments. Previous successful projects from Projexity have been a new public patio for the shipping container market at Scadding Court Community Centre and information kiosks for the Artscape Wychwood Barns. Kaeja d'Dance's Projexity campaign can be found at: https://projexity.com/porchviewdances#/

Porch View Dances celebrates diversity; enhances community spirit; and bridges the gap between youth, the elderly, and their communities. Porch View Dances offers a vital model for future partnerships between public space and the arts, and Torontonians can help Porch View Dances 2014 happen. All donations are welcomed and there is an exciting range of benefits and perks for investments over $10.

Engaging real people, in real time, in real spaces, Porch View Dances has not only been a runaway success in Seaton Village but has also challenged the way arts organizations and funders are looking at community engagement and participatory arts practice across the province, with several communities interested in adapting the model for their own city.

"Rarely has such ordinary public property been so wonderfully converted to artistic use. City sidewalks became seats for kids to watch, back alleys were opened up and became cultural corridors, and the local neighbourhood park was transformed into a performing arts centre. The boundary between what was public and what was private, what was ordinary and what was special, was danced into a beautiful blur." - Adam Vaughan, Former City Councillor, 2012 "There is community outreach - and then there is Porch View Dances [Š] the poster child of how to do everything right." - Paula Citron,The Globe and Mail, 2012

Kaeja d'Dance gratefully acknowledges the supporters of PVD: TD Bank Group, The Rotary Club of Toronto, Havergal College, The Department of Canadian Heritage, and our continued support from the Bulmash-Seigel Fund, the Canada Council for the Arts, The Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council.

About Kaeja d'Dance: Established in 1991, Toronto's Kaeja d'Dance creates award-winning contemporary dance performances, site works with extreme numbers of dancers, acclaimed screen dance and in-demand education and outreach programs. Living fully at the heart of Kaeja are Co-Artistic Directors Karen & Allen Kaeja. They break ground, take risks and bring together exquisite dancers and collaborators to infuse extraordinary experience both on and off the stage in local and international communities. www.kaeja.org. Kaeja d'Dance presents Porch View Dances: July 16-20 Wed-Sat at 7pm, Sun at 4pm. Audiences will be led to four different dwellings (starting location TBA), culminating in a celebratory Flock Landing finale in Vermont Square Park. PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN. For more information, visit www.kaeja.org.

Photo Credit: Diana Renelli

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