Jan 24/28: P. Megan Andrews
Class Description:
Exploring practices of perception and disorientation. Drawing from her movement research practice and background in experimental contemporary dance, movement analysis and somatics, Megan will offer a series of prompts for exploration of perception, disorientation and relationality. Sessions will include a travelling-based pedestrian movement warm-up. Sounding, spoken-word and writing practices may also be integrated into the sessions. Participants will be invited to enter through an “improvisational” approach and make autonomous choices throughout. Folks are invited to bring a notebook and pen (for analog writing if possible), and if interested, 2 short quotes that are somehow related.
“I participate in a subfield within contemporary/experimental dance that asks about the function of the choreographic and expanded choreography, and engages with questions about embodiment, perception and relationality. My work takes shape through scoring, multidimensional tasking, practices of perception, extended vocalization, spoken word and conversation. I construct (choreograph) situations that shift sensory-perceptual experience, disrupt habits and patterns of action and disorient experiences of identity, to open the possibility for experiences of ethical relationality. My work follows in the lineage of Euro-American post-modern dance practices and is informed by my practice-based-research in solo work by iconic American choreographer Deborah Hay.” – Megan
P. Megan Andrews, PhD, (she/her) is a settler dance artist and scholar, movement educator and writer/editor, gratefully living and working on the unceded, traditional, ancestral territories of the Qayqayt, Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Her artistic research queries the aesthetics of ethics through practices of movement, voice, perception and relationality, and through critical-poetic writing and dialogue.
A dynamic and versatile performer, Megan has worked with many contemporary/experimental choreographers across Canada and has presented her own work at venues and festivals in Toronto and across Canada. Also an accomplished writer and journalist, Megan has contributed essays, reviews and reporting to print/digital platforms in Canada and internationally, and she has chapters in several scholarly books. An advocate and community organizer, Megan was founding editor, publisher, executive director and board member of The Dance Current magazine for 20 years; a member of the founding board of the Canadian Dance Assembly; and instrumental in the publication of the Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists’ first Basic Dance Agreement and Professional Standards for Dance.
Megan has taught at universities, colleges and dance training programs across Canada. As a Certified Laban Movement Analyst, Registered Somatic Movement Educator and Therapist and 3D Workout™ Instructor, Megan coaches private clients and groups in somatic awareness. She holds a PhD in Communication and Cultural Studies.
*Photo credit: Alexandra Pickrell