ARTIST BIO

Allie is a dancer, musician and Death Doula currently living on the traditional land of the Erie, Neutral, Huron-Wendat, Mississaguas, and Haudenosaunne people. Colonial known as Hamilton, ON. Allie graduated from Concordia University in 2013 with a BFA in Contemporary Dance, as well as a Minor in Religious Studies. Their current praxis is rooted in understanding how landscapes shape the human experience and proprioception. Their explorations in presences, challenges the way dance is commonly expressed and experienced. Allie is a founding member of Tkaronto (Toronto) based dance collective Open Fortress who explore collaboration through the use of different types of technology, sound and movement to create non-traditional and subversive atmospheres.

STATEMENT

The purpose of this project is to dive into these innate concepts within the lens of history, industrialization and present day modernity. The landscapes and environments in this current exploration of the work reside in Mexico City (Mexico Tenochtitlan). What would it look like to move with a landscape rather than on? Using all of the senses to respond to a particular environment encourages us to become rooted and impacted by our surroundings. Being embodied means being immersed in an ever evolving environment. This technique, or system of moving, investigates the relationship of being embedded in a landscape. It is a way of being mindful in the body as well as being mindful of a space and its happenings. This can be used as a tool to help forge different ways of being in relationship to ourselves, surroundings and each other. Mirroring as a type of embodiment reflects an adaptive explanation & utilization of one’s neuroception, body and environment. We are not an exclusive body travelling through life unaffected by time and space. We are a part of it and by recognizing patterns within our surroundings we can learn to engage with the natural patterns and rhythms inside our own bodies. (Keleman, S. 1985). 

Breathing is a primitive function that informs somatic and emotional movement. How our bodies respond to the changes around us is an important tool in understanding how we navigate through difficult times. How do our surroundings inform how we interact with people and places? It is important to be reminded of how our bodies move us through our daily activities. How our bodies navigate community efforts and how our past moves through our future. The majority of people often rely on sight to help them make sense of experiences, but we rarely take into account how what we see can influence us physically. As a dancer and somatic movement practitioner, I am interested in what happens when we embed ourselves into an evolving landscape or environment.

This score fluctuates between the different layers of the body as presented by Stanley Kelman in the book Emotional Anatomy; the inner, middle and outer layers of the body. These layers allow the mover to simultaneously shift between intrinsic and extrinsic movements. By using our kinesthetic awareness to engage with our surroundings, the mover is allowing themselves to be driven by the circumstances while at the same time embracing intuitive instincts from a biological place.