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Our Global Dance Connections series starts with Agrimony, a collaboration between choreographer Sophie Dow and composer/musician Laura Reznek. We sat down with Sophie to discuss the inspiration behind the piece.

Briefly describe your dance career to date. How did you come to dance?

I’ve been dancing from the day I was born.  I spent most of my pre-walking days rolling across the floor & in my jolly jumper. My formal training began at age 3 and continued in the styles of ballet, modern, contemporary, jazz, lyrical, hip hop and acrobatics; until the age of 19 both competitively & professionally.

I completed my BFA Hons in Dance Performance & Choreography at York University in Toronto from 2014-2019, with a focus in contemporary dance, and expanded practice/studies in: breaking (break dance), West African & contemporary-Indigenous forms. Most recently, I’ve been practicing my ancestral traditions of Métis jigging, under the mentorship of master jigger: Yvonne Chartrand.

Tell us about the inspiration for Agrimony.

The core inspiration for Agrimony stems from the plant: agrimonia eupatoria and its ancient uses as a medicine.  As a flower remedy or homeopathic, agrimony is for dissolving the masks we layer onto ourselves over time.  As a tea or tincture, it works as a digestive, antimicrobial & for balancing blood sugars. I shared the flower remedy with Laura just after she finished recording 8 songs that were about to become an album. Each of the 8 songs & their lyrics reflected several elements of the flower & its medicine and so the album took on the name: Agrimony.  All of these teachings, filtered in to how the choreography emerged as well.

How did you meet your collaborator Laura Reznek? Why did you choose to work together? 

Laura and I were introduced by our dear mutual friend/filmmaker/dancer: Vitantonio Spinelli. Vita and I filmed a short segment of artistic footage for fun in 2018, which he passed on to Laura to use for a music video (before Laura & I knew each other).

The following year, Vita asked me if his friend (Laura) could come and stay with me in Toronto for a few days and in that time, we became instant best friends and deep catalyst/inspirations for each other.  From that time, we collaborated on several smaller projects – song writing challenges, dance/music films, composition for pieces of choreography, etc.

The masks in Agrimony are very striking, can you tell us more about them?

The masks used on stage for Agrimony were created by visual artist Christian Borrego. He made the Spiral Ram mask as an independent project years before we met.  (Perhaps it was just a fluke that it fit my face like a glove and that he randomly had the inspiration to bring it to the forest in 2018 when Vita & I came together to film.)

The Rabbit and Owls were commissioned in 2021, for the creation of the music video for Laura’s song: Rattling Chains.  The narrative of the music video was all about confronting and facing our fears.

The Coyote was commissioned in Spring of 2023, after 4 weeks of creation process and that particular animal and its teachings coming forward through Tavia (the dancer embodying Coyote character).

In October 2023, Christian shared a 3-day mask making workshop with the dancers, Laura and I.  The process of casting our faces, layering & gluing paper maché, shaping and then decorating/adorning became a choreographic tool, with some of those embodied actions woven into the choreography of the show.

What is your next project(s)?

I have several projects unfolding for this season, including Prince Edward County’s Flight Festival of Contemporary Dance, Inverso Dance Production’s Performance Research Program and  V’ni Dansi’s remount & tour of La Mitchin di Mitchif.  In my personal creative research, I will be working on two new pieces: Eggsplorations (solo) & The Sewing Room (new collaboration with Laura Reznek).
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The Dance Centre presents the Global Dance Connections Series
Sophie Dow + Laura Reznek
Agrimony
Friday-Saturday September 20-21, 2024 | 8pm Saturday September 21, 2024 | 2pm
Tickets $37/$28 students & seniors (+ $1 facility fee)
Details

Photos: Vitantonio Spinelli and Audrianna Martin Del Campo

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