Strand (1997)

In 1997 Peggy Baker Dance Projects joined forces with Toronto Dance Theatre - led by Artistic Director Christopher House – and Arraymusic – led by Artistic Director Michael J. Baker – to co-produce and co-present a two-week performance run of dance and live music titled musicDANCEarray. TDT and Peggy each had their own concert program featuring live music performed by members of the Arraymusic ensemble; and Arraymusic’s program included works contributed by both of the dance companies. This week Peggy looks at one of the new works on her program for this season, entitled Strand.

“One of two premieres for me was Strand, performed to a delicate, spare and nuanced piano score by Ann Southam. I had known Ann’s music since in the early 1970s through the repertoire of Toronto Dance Theatre, and I had first danced to one of her electronic scores in 1974 for Anna Blewchamp’s powerful and disturbing Arrival of All Time. When I approached Anne for a solo piano piece, she offered Spatial View of Pond, which had been commissioned by Arraymusic for pianist Henry Kucharzyk, so it was a perfect fit for our shared project.

Strand was choreographed bar by bar to Ann’s music with the movement arising as a response to phrases of text extracted from the writing of American author May Sarton, whose journals eloquently chronicle the way in which our lives arise through the detail of each small act. For the dance, Ann allowed me to have the pianist release the sustain pedal to cut the last note off at the moment that my final gesture completed.

The photographer V. Tony Hauser invited me to dance Strand for his camera, and his portraits – which I love – capture the essence of gesture and unguarded emotion that lay at the heart of the dance.”

Discover more about May Sarton’s journal writing here on newcriterion.com.

Completely unrelated, but awesome nevertheless, read about Ann Southam’s extraordinary contribution to the Canadian Women’s Foundation here at cbc.ca.

Photos of Peggy Baker by V. Tony Hauser