Peggy Baker Dance Projects to Present World Premiere Project, PHASE SPACE, 1/22/16

Toronto (November 9, 2015) - Peggy Baker Dance Projects proudly announces the world premiere of Phase Space, a rich and surprising full-evening work choreographed by Peggy Baker, one of Canada's most acclaimed dance artists. Playing with time, memory and transformation, Phase Space features six extraordinary dancers in a surreal and elegant fusion of contemporary dance, live music, and stage design that runs January 22 -January 31, 2016 at Toronto's Betty Oliphant Theatre.

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Phase Space extracts choreographic fragments from across the impressive spectrum of Baker's repertoire, and then expands, compresses, and reassembles these moments to create thoroughly new and unique choreographic episodes. Actions that were originally unrelated fold in on one another in striking, startling, and fascinating new ways.

"Having embarked on making this new work, I encountered the concept of phase space, in which time and space are stretched and squeezed in different directions, creating a structured but chaotic rearrangement of events. It struck me that this was analogous to the process I've been exploring with my own body of work since creating a dance for Nuit blanche back in 2011. Phase space, and the altered outcomes that result from it, is a potent image for me," says Baker.

Named Best Choreographer by NOW Magazine's Best of Toronto Reader's Choice for two years running (2014, 2015), Baker is affirming her reputation as a choreographer of distinction, her work characterised by complex systems of movement and gesture, rooted in emotional response and reflection.

Working with Dora-award winning lighting designer Marc Parent, and set designer Larry Hahn, Baker is transforming the formidable Betty Oliphant stage for the four chapters of Phase Space. "Each episode is situated in a distinct and completely altered world," says Baker, "we're using a variety of set elements, and every corner and ledge that the Betty O has to offer."

The extraordinary cast for Phase Space is Ric Brown, Sarah Fregeau, Kate Holden, Sean Ling, Sahara Morimoto and Andrea Nann. Peggy Baker expands and intensifies her creative relationship with Berlin/Toronto based composer and pianist, John Kameel Farah, who creates and performs a unique soundscape for every performance, while esteemed singer and voice director Fides Krucker enhances the production as Vocalographer.

Curious audience members are invited to arrive 30 minutes prior to the curtain time of each performance to hear Baker's free pre-show chat about the genesis of the work, highlighting some of the recurring motifs that they'll see throughout the evening.

Peggy Baker has been a vivid presence in contemporary dance for four decades, performing internationally in the work of Lar Lubovitch, Mark Morris (with Mikhail Baryshnikov's White Oak Dance Project), Doug Varone, Tere O'Connor, Molissa Fenley, and Charles Moulton (NY); and with Fortier Danse-Creation (Montreal); Dancemakers and Toronto Dance Theatre. 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), the 2006 Premier's Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario, five Dora Mavor Moore Awards, the Toronto Arts Council's 2002 Margo Bindhardt Award, the 2010 Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts, a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, most recently the George Luscombe Award for Mentorship

John Kameel Farah is a Toronto-based composer and pianist who studied composition and piano at the University of Toronto, where he twice received the Glenn Gould Composition Award. A recipient of the 2011 K.M. Hunter Artist Award for music, Farah performs regularly in Toronto, and has toured internationally across the UK, Europe, USA, the Middle East, Brazil, South Korea and Mexico. Performing with Peggy Baker Dance Projects since 2010, Farah has been featured in Baker's recent Toronto concerts the sound and feel of it,Stereophonic he:she. and locus plot.

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