DanceWorks to Present 'JACKIE BURROUGHS IS DEAD'

DanceWorks, Toronto's longest running contemporary dance series, proudly presents the world premiere of Jackie Burroughs is Dead & and what are you going to do about it?, a highly physical work performed by three exceptional dancers - Danielle Baskerville, Luke Garwood and Robert Kingsbury - that explores sensorial and energy exchange, choreographed by the renowned DA Hoskins and produced by Baskerville. An exploration of how energy reverberates and grows through exchange, echoing forever as it permeates the present, Jackie Burroughs is Dead & what are you going to do about it? runs Thursday April 7 to Saturday April 9 at 8pm at Harbourfront Centre Theatre as part of NextSteps.

The work explores energy between people and how we observe, absorb and ultimately respond at every moment of existence. It is about what makes up the self and it speaks to the residuals of loss.

"I want to celebrate the physical - the living matter that becomes electric when danced," says Hoskins, artistic director of The Dietrich Group whose This Is a Costume Dramaearned a 2015 Dora Award for Outstanding Performance - Ensemble. "Motion, touch and most integrally, energy, is the essence of the work. Jackie Burroughs is Dead & what are you going to do about it? is an acknowledgement of what has been and what has been lost. Two days prior to our first rehearsal in 2010, I learned that Jackie Burroughs passed. I was also caring for my mother, who was battling terminal cancer. It was important for me that I retreat from making emotionally-based work. For this project, I wanted to explore the physical in physicality outside of an emotional or cerebral realm. The call of mortality changes how you live. It changes the sensations of life, of your awareness to the outside world. It has been important not to get trapped by the emotional connotations in the work's title, which for us has always been more of a statement about the act of moving forward."

"Having worked with Darryl for years, I wanted my first shot at producing to be for one of his works," says Baskerville, 2014 K.M. Hunter Award recipient for dance. "The fact of my being one of the dancers in the piece has made the role of Artistic Producer both more and less challenging than it may have otherwise been. The title is, of course, about loss, but we are not trying to convey the sadness that is part of a death, but rather the vitality that we have in life, in the act of moving forward, and in the memory of a life gone by."

An award-winning Canadian stage and film actor, Jackie Burroughs was also a highly dedicated contemporary dance enthusiast whose enduring presence inspired many dance artists throughout her lifetime.

DA Hoskins is artistic director of The Dietrich Group but remains an independent choreographer and a critic of the conformism that, in his opinion, holds sway in contemporary dance training and performance. Finding in a mingling of disciplines an excellent means of not being confined to such strictures, he has long joined forces with all sorts of artists. Among them are composer and long-time colleague Gilles Goyette, and filmmaker Nico Stagias, who have been involved in several projects with him including Death of a Serious Clown, commissioned by the Old Men Dancing Company. He is the recipient of the Clifford E. Lee Award from the Banff Centre for the Arts and the K.M. Hunter Award for Dance. With an eye to taking more risks in choreography, in 2008 D.A. Hoskins founded The Dietrich Group, a platform for interactive exchange.http://www.thedietrichgroup.com

DanceWorks began as a collective of independent dance artists in 1977 and has grown to become Toronto's leading presenter of independent dance. DanceWorks offers seasons of eclectic, exhilarating choreography programmed to intrigue, challenge and enthrall; and adds to the theatrical experience with Carol's Dance Notes and post-performance conversations with artists. DanceWorks is the administrator of the CanDance Network and Dance Ontario Association. www.danceworks.ca +https://danceworksblog.wordpress.com/

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