The Cyborg Circus Project. Image: Stanley Omar/Facebook

Aeris Kőrper Contemporary Dance is hosting an evening of dance and discussion. PROSPECTS brings together dancers and choreographers to present creative interpretations of ballroom dance, disability dance, Bengali folk dance and works charged with powerful content. Each performance will be followed by a discussion with the choreographer, giving the audience a unique opportunity to ask questions, provide feedback and explore themes.

“Having produced six successful editions of PROSPECTS, we are excited and motivated by the enthusiasm and positive feedback we received from participants and community members,” said Lisa Emmons, artistic director for Aeris Körper.  “We believe our approach to dance is unique and that all movement is expressive and powerful. Our show is created with the intent of presenting multicultural and diverse dance in an informal, warm environment in order to create connections within our community.”

Faith from Faith Dance fuses together belly and Bollywood-style dance with K-pop music. Her performance, “Obscurity, explores an artist’s journey through a mental health crisis, examining how the loss of energy, focus, cognitive processing and lack of desire for being physically present with others can obscure the artist’s creative process and arrest inspiration.

Mushtari Afroz trained in Kathak, a form of North Indian classical dance. In 2016, the dancer and choreographer established Kathak Bandi Dance Collective which celebrates universal human stories and experience.

Me is a window into Afraz’s private time inside the studio. In those personal moments, Afraz is tempted to break rules to explore new possibilities within her art form. While her body relates to the space and time, her mind challenges the way the audience connects with a performance by exposing the artificiality of the stage.

Project Oswald is the fresh, ethnographic dance company founded by Rufi Oswaldo. The company produces heart-felt and humorous dance-theatre works whose themes most often emerge from liminal social and cultural spaces in Canada.

Oswald’s performance embodies the uncomfortable comparison of love to bullfighting. Gentle(hu)man sheds light on the messiness of human vulnerability complicated by societal expectations of masculinity, while offering a silver lining through gentle courage.

The Cyborg Circus Project, created by Shay Erlich and Jenna Roy, specializes in original contemporary disability dance that reflects the reality and everyday experiences of disabled people for the enjoyment of audiences with divergent abilities.

Safe ​Words explores what it means to have no choice but to appear hyper-competent in everything we do. The work questions the limits these expectations place on bodies and minds, and how in utilizing trust, risk taking, vulnerability, and community, these expectations can be subverted.

Thea Sachade, a professional dancer from Burlington, is currently a freelance artist showcasing her talent throughout Canada and the U.S. 

Sachade’s performance, 20+, embodies a collection of moments of personal healing and growth through the exploration of self-compassion.

PROSPECTS is showing on Saturday, February 22 at 7:00 p.m. at the Burlington Student Theatre. More information can be found here.

Doreen Nicoll is a freelance writer, teacher, social activist and member of several community organizations working diligently to end poverty, hunger and gendered violence. This article originally appeared in The Burlington Gazette on February 14, 2020 and is reprinted here with permission.

Image: Stanley Omar/Facebook

Doreen Nicoll

Doreen Nicoll is weary of the perpetual misinformation and skewed facts that continue to concentrate wealth, power and decision making in the hands of a few to the detriment of the many. As a freelance...