Extravagant Signals: Shapes in Sound

Since February, drummer Ben Brown (Pugs and Crows) has been hosting a weekly dance & music workshop called Music and Movement. I’ve been priviledged to get to participate in a few of these, making improvised music and dance with some very talented colleagues and collaborating with some equally talented dancers. These workshops are also an amazing opportunity to discuss the collaborative process, using improv as composition, and finding common language between dancers and musicians. On June 17th, Ben hosted the first performance from the workshops at Barbara Adler’s Extravagant Signals festival at Gallery 1965. The night was composed of short improvised pieces between different pairings of musicians and dancers of all kinds – MCs, jazz musicians, classical musicians, tap dancers, break dancers, modern dancers – it was very exciting! Really, one of the most engaging, quality nights of entertainment I’ve had the privilege of seeing (and being part of!) in a long time. I got to perform in an exhilarating piece with Shanto Acharia (cello), Ben Brown (drums) and tap dancer Dayna Szyndrowski. It was really magical! Having the percussive aspects of both the drums and the tap made for a really driving, exciting ride. We got called up at the end of the night to do a reprise as an audience pick, and this time I was joined by not one but two (!) tap dancers as well as bassists Colin Cowan.

Here’s a little taster of how it all went down:

By far, my favourite piece to watch was a hip-hop trio (drums, bass, and MC) with an absolutely phenomenal break dancer. I’ve wanted to learn how to break dance my whole life….and I think this might have been the inspiration I needed to get over my fears. World watch out…break-dancing harpist extraordinare coming your way soon!