COMPOSING

COMMUNITY

Creative Residency with Ontario Culture Days

Join Ontario Culture Days Creatives in Residence,
Vik Mudge and Skye Rogers (retrograde: dance in motion) in the Niagara Region as they activate community
through public workshops and collective creation for
the premiere of a new dance work, “Community Garden.”

Join a Workshop!

We’re offering a diverse range of workshops for the duration of the festival!
Each workshop is unique, so join for just one, or all three, to gain new skills and new friendships,
and be a part of the creation of a new community-owned dance work, “Community Garden”.

Cultivating the Soil

Saturday, September 21st, 1:00-3:30pm
Robertson Theatre (at the FOPAC)
FREE participation (registration required)

  • Join retrograde: dance in motion as we lay down the foundations of embodied movement, collective attunement and the physicalization of images and ideas.  

    Participants will engage in mindfulness and focus-based activities to tune into their sense of self, movement explorations to develop basic dance vocabulary, and group composition activities as we begin to explore our overarching theme of “Community Garden.”

    All programming is free as a part of Ontario Culture Days, and all workshops are open to all! 

    We encourage participation in both workshops this weekend, but it is not mandatory. Folks do not need to identify as artists, dancers or movers to participate.

    Refreshments will be provided thanks to Ontario Culture Days.  If you have any questions or require any accessibility accommodations, please feel free to email retrogradedanceinmotion@gmail.com.  

Planting the Seeds

Sunday, September 22nd, 1:00-3:30pm
Robertson Theatre (at the FOPAC)
FREE participation (registration required)

  • Join retrograde: dance in motion as we continue to develop an understanding of the structural elements of movement composition and create choreography as a collective.    

    Participants will engage in much more group movement exploration as well as more structured individual idea development through writing exercises and visual exploration. As a throughline from the previous day’s workshop, participants will dive deeper into the theme of “Community Garden.”

    All programming is free as a part of Ontario Culture Days, and all workshops are open to all! 

    This workshop is an extension of the previous day’s explorations, but you do not need to attend both! Folks do not need to identify as artists, dancers or movers to participate.

    Refreshments will be provided thanks to Ontario Culture Days.  If you have any questions or require any accessibility accommodations, please feel free to email retrogradedanceinmotion@gmail.com.  

Community Movement Lab

Sunday, October 6th, 11-1:30pm, 2-4pm
The Niagara Falls History Museum
& The Exchange (Niagara Falls)
FREE participation (registration required)

  • Join Ontario Culture Days Creatives in Residence, Vik Mudge and Skye Rogers (retrograde: dance in motion), for a creative practice workshop and open jam in celebration of Culture Days! 

    Over this two and a half hour workshop in the Sherman Zavitz Theatre, we will explore accessible and collaborative approaches for mindful embodiment, generating ideas, writing poetry, and creating gestures and movement phrases through the theme “Community Garden.”

    Join us afterwards in Drummondville Square for an open jam and work-in-progress showing of the collective's new piece-in-development, “Community Garden” and get a sneak peek before the premiere at the Niagara Artists Centre in St. Catharines on October 13th!

    All are welcome! Participants do not need to identify as artists, dancers, or writers to participate.

    Refreshments will be provided thanks to Niagara Falls Culture.  If you have any questions or require any accessibility accommodations, please feel free to email retrogradedanceinmotion@gmail.com.  

COMMUNITY GARDEN

Dance Performance.
October 13th, 2024 @ 7:00pm, doors at 6:30
The Niagara Artists Centre (354 St. Paul St.)
Free admission. (registration required)

Community Garden is a new dance work by retrograde: dance in motion, premiering at the Ontario Culture Days Festival 2024.

Featuring an ensemble of local movement artists and ideas cultivated from our community workshops, come and witness the fruit of our explorations around creating flourishing communities.

The evening will be accompanied by audio and visuals by Mike Enns and Joel Galenkamp, and feature a post-show artist talk.

This event is free as a part of retrograde’s residency with Ontario Culture Days, but ticket reservations are required. Reserve yours today!

See the show program here.

Interested in joining our performance collective?

Applications due September 14th, 2024.