Sanctum (1991)
Sanctum holds a very significant place in my creative life. It marks new commitments: to Ahmed Hassan and his daughter Shireefa; to Toronto; and to a mindful and devoted practice as a solo dancer. Sanctum proposes artistic practice as spiritual practice, and delineates a tightly circumscribed space for each performer: the dancer standing in a rectangle of light marked at the corners with short dowels; the musician, cross-legged on a carpet, his instruments arrayed within reach. Even as I describe this, I feel myself falling into the measured tempo of ritual, within which each gesture and sound arrives with purpose and immediacy.
During the creation of Sanctum I had vivid memories of being an aspiring dancer in the presence of Martha Graham – one in which she dared us students to declare, “I am a dancer, now,” and another in which she offered my name to me anew by inscribing in a book about her work, “For Peggy Baker, best wishes for her life and work, Martha Graham”. I felt the indelible influence of her technique in the shapes and dynamics of the choreography. I felt myself as a dancer whose work arises through the echoes and imprints of legacy as well as through the complexities and details of a unique life. - PB
related links
Peggy gifted Sanctum to Nova Bhattacharya and Helen Jones as part of her Choreographer’s Trust project in 2002/03. Read more about the Choreographer’s Trust here. Year Two DVDs and booklets that feature Sanctum are available for loan from Dance Collection Danse.
For insight into Ahmed Hassan’s work as a composer, watch this 1986 video of Blue Snake, commissioned by the National Ballet of Canada from Robert Desrosiers, Ahmed Hassan and John Lang.
credits
choreography, performance and visual design:
Peggy Baker
original music and performance:
Ahmed Hassan
lighting design:
Marc Parent
subsequent performances: Peggy Baker with Debashis Sinha; Nova Bhattacharya with Ed Hanley; Helen Jones with Debashis Sinha
premiere
Winnipeg
May 15, 1991
Walker Theatre
7th Winnipeg Dance Festival
subsequent presentations
media links
See 2003, 1999, 1996, 1993, and 1991 in the media and awards archive
photography
As credited.
