LIFE UNDER MY SKIN
Donation protected
Newton Moraes Dance Theatre 21 Season
LIFE UNDER MY SKIN - World Premiere
Dancemakers Centre
March 12th to 14th, 2020 at 8:00pm
March 15th at 3:00pm
Any donation from as little as $5 will help us to teach our goals!!! Helping us with Theatre costs, artists fees, costumes, rehearsals and so on. All the donations will be acknowledged on our program notes!
Life Under My Skin is envisioned as a collaborative, interdisciplinary and cross cultural dance-theatre project lead by Newton Moraes Dance Theatre (NMDT). It will explore our ever-evolving world in a way that combines different modalities to bring unity of expression. It is a dance theatre work that explores, examines and investigates our similarities and our differences, our deepest emotions, feelings and thoughts using spoken language, sign language, contemporary dance, Brazilian dance, Gaga dance technique and improvisation. “The act of listening to your body before you tell it what to do. It has to do with overstatement, understatement, flow of energy, texture, ability to laugh at ourselves, explosive power, delicacy—all the qualities that connect to the scope of sensation, but then also connect to why we live.” Ohad Naharin, Former Artistic Director of Bat Sheva Dance Company and originator of the Gaga dance training method. Among other things we will use this type of approach of listening to the body and finding the movement and voice that comes out of this exploration as the basis of the creative process for Life Under My Skin Artistic Director, Newton Moraes will collaborate with both national and international artists to create a production that will connect people across the nation and potentially worldwide. We will work together to create new choreography and a new set design and, more importantly, amalgamate the movement vocabulary of a diverse cast of artists from Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Italy, France, Haiti and the Bahamas. The plan is to start locally and expand internationally by using online media to connect with other artists around the world. The goal is to enhance and elevate the way we usually connect directly when we are in the same place through touch, gesture, voice, language, movement, and intention. These days we all are less connected directly with each other and ourselves, but through our voice and actions in this piece we will try to show how we can learn from each other and explore greater fluidity and acceptance of our differences in sexuality, gender, feeling and emotions.
About Newton Moraes Dance Theatre
Newton Moraes Dance Theatre is a company dedicated to the creation, performance and production of contemporary dance works to explore, maintain and develop the links between the arts of Canada and Latin America through the artistic vision and knowledge of its founder and artistic director: Newton Moraes. This includes especially the examination of Brazilian culture and the development of new forms of contemporary artistic expression. History of Newton Moraes Dance TheatreThe Newton Moraes Dance Theatre has mounted regular seasons in Toronto since its creation in 1997. The company has toured extensively to critical acclaim in Canada and abroad. The company has performed in many of Toronto arts venues, including Premiere Dance Theatre, Fleck Dance Theatre, Four Season Performing Arts, Betty Oliphant Theatre, Winchester Theatre, Royal Ontario Museum and fFIDA Dance Series at the Distillery District, the Aki Studio, the Rotunda at the Toronto City Hall, the York University Dance Department, the Mississauga Arts Centre and at the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. The company has also presented its work at Studio 303 in Montreal, Rhetoric Theatre in Saskatoon, Free Flow Dance Centre in Saskatoon, at venues in Vancouver, Kitchener. The company toured several times to Brazil and performed in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Votorantim, Sao Joao da Boa Vista, Jundiai, Dracena, Presidente Prudente, Fernandopolis, Sao Jose dos Campos, Sao Joao do Rio Preto. Newton Moraes Dance Theatre also toured to Germany with performance in Aub, Bonn, Bielefeld, Düsseldorf, Wurzburg, Potsdam, Stuttgart as well as the famous Rococo Garden in Veitshochheim Schloss. Over the years Newton Moraes Dance Theatre received support from Toronto Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, Laidlaw Foundation, Department of Foreign Affairs of Canada, Canadian Embassy in Berlin, Canadian Embassy in Brasilia, Canadian Consulate in Sao Paulo, General Consulate of Brazil in Toronto, City of Sao Paulo, City of Porto Alegre, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, Choreographic Centre in Rio de Janeiro, Makal City Theatre in Stuttgart, Germany.
Newton Moraes Dance Theatre goals
The following list outlines our goals and aspirations:• Inspire and provide role models for young people.• Support dance artists who work with dance forms of the Latin American Diaspora in Canada and bring together dance professionals who preserve the history and traditions of Latin America and who foster an appreciation of its heritage.• Increase the visibility of the sector, and improve understanding by disseminating information.• Raise the level of critical discourse concerning the practice of dance forms of the Latin America diaspora in Canada. This will include creating an awareness of the complexity of Latin American dance and encouraging closer critical engagement with the work of practitioners.• Provide an environment to support artists in the creation of innovative forms of artistic expression to reach the widest possible audience and to be cultural ambassadors, nationally and internationally.
Artistic statement
Art is a most profound instrument of communication—to people and between people. If there is no art, there is no love, there is no inspiration, there is no connection. Art is the deepest way we can reach each other and overcome our differences as they pertain to race, class and language and anything else that separates rather than connects us.
I became an artist in order to understand people more deeply, both those who I already thought I knew and those who came to me as strangers or as “others” from across a cultural divide.
At the root of my exploration is an interest in the cross-connection between the spiritual rituals and dances of the African-Brazilian religions like Batuque, the dances of my Indigenous heritage (Tupi-Guarani) and the influences of western dance traditions. I have trained in all these forms: contemporary dance, dance-theatre, improvisation, modern and butoh and my work reflects this diversity and cultural mix.
My unique background and experience set my work apart and make it distinct. I am inspired not only by a complex family and cultural life, but through my long-term relationship with my late partner, a professional anthropologist Robert Shirley (Bob). We shared a life together for 23 years. I learned to see the world through the lens of anthropology and developed a profound interest in this unique way of looking at culture and society. Our circle of friends grew to include many professionals who were active in the field of anthropology, other disciplines and above all a shared love of study, I came to integrate all of this into my work.
Beyond this base, I love soccer, every type of music, most of forms of art, including my own dance and that of others. Friendship is also a vital part of my life. I love to dance, not only in my professional work but at home or in clubs, alone or with others. To me, dance represent a vast world of communication.
My current project, Life Under My Skin, aims to communicate some of the universal characteristics in the diversity of our world. The choreography draws on Indigenous Brazilian and contemporary Canadian dance as well as improvisations, Gaga technique, sign language and spoken language.
My goal is to communicate the subtleties and cultural complexity in our world while illuminating similarities between Canadian and Brazilian culture. The dancers and lighting designer chosen for this choreography are from multicultural backgrounds and bring life to this aspect of Life Under My Skin.
LIFE UNDER MY SKIN - World Premiere
Dancemakers Centre
March 12th to 14th, 2020 at 8:00pm
March 15th at 3:00pm
Any donation from as little as $5 will help us to teach our goals!!! Helping us with Theatre costs, artists fees, costumes, rehearsals and so on. All the donations will be acknowledged on our program notes!
Life Under My Skin is envisioned as a collaborative, interdisciplinary and cross cultural dance-theatre project lead by Newton Moraes Dance Theatre (NMDT). It will explore our ever-evolving world in a way that combines different modalities to bring unity of expression. It is a dance theatre work that explores, examines and investigates our similarities and our differences, our deepest emotions, feelings and thoughts using spoken language, sign language, contemporary dance, Brazilian dance, Gaga dance technique and improvisation. “The act of listening to your body before you tell it what to do. It has to do with overstatement, understatement, flow of energy, texture, ability to laugh at ourselves, explosive power, delicacy—all the qualities that connect to the scope of sensation, but then also connect to why we live.” Ohad Naharin, Former Artistic Director of Bat Sheva Dance Company and originator of the Gaga dance training method. Among other things we will use this type of approach of listening to the body and finding the movement and voice that comes out of this exploration as the basis of the creative process for Life Under My Skin Artistic Director, Newton Moraes will collaborate with both national and international artists to create a production that will connect people across the nation and potentially worldwide. We will work together to create new choreography and a new set design and, more importantly, amalgamate the movement vocabulary of a diverse cast of artists from Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Italy, France, Haiti and the Bahamas. The plan is to start locally and expand internationally by using online media to connect with other artists around the world. The goal is to enhance and elevate the way we usually connect directly when we are in the same place through touch, gesture, voice, language, movement, and intention. These days we all are less connected directly with each other and ourselves, but through our voice and actions in this piece we will try to show how we can learn from each other and explore greater fluidity and acceptance of our differences in sexuality, gender, feeling and emotions.
About Newton Moraes Dance Theatre
Newton Moraes Dance Theatre is a company dedicated to the creation, performance and production of contemporary dance works to explore, maintain and develop the links between the arts of Canada and Latin America through the artistic vision and knowledge of its founder and artistic director: Newton Moraes. This includes especially the examination of Brazilian culture and the development of new forms of contemporary artistic expression. History of Newton Moraes Dance TheatreThe Newton Moraes Dance Theatre has mounted regular seasons in Toronto since its creation in 1997. The company has toured extensively to critical acclaim in Canada and abroad. The company has performed in many of Toronto arts venues, including Premiere Dance Theatre, Fleck Dance Theatre, Four Season Performing Arts, Betty Oliphant Theatre, Winchester Theatre, Royal Ontario Museum and fFIDA Dance Series at the Distillery District, the Aki Studio, the Rotunda at the Toronto City Hall, the York University Dance Department, the Mississauga Arts Centre and at the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. The company has also presented its work at Studio 303 in Montreal, Rhetoric Theatre in Saskatoon, Free Flow Dance Centre in Saskatoon, at venues in Vancouver, Kitchener. The company toured several times to Brazil and performed in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Votorantim, Sao Joao da Boa Vista, Jundiai, Dracena, Presidente Prudente, Fernandopolis, Sao Jose dos Campos, Sao Joao do Rio Preto. Newton Moraes Dance Theatre also toured to Germany with performance in Aub, Bonn, Bielefeld, Düsseldorf, Wurzburg, Potsdam, Stuttgart as well as the famous Rococo Garden in Veitshochheim Schloss. Over the years Newton Moraes Dance Theatre received support from Toronto Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, Laidlaw Foundation, Department of Foreign Affairs of Canada, Canadian Embassy in Berlin, Canadian Embassy in Brasilia, Canadian Consulate in Sao Paulo, General Consulate of Brazil in Toronto, City of Sao Paulo, City of Porto Alegre, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, Choreographic Centre in Rio de Janeiro, Makal City Theatre in Stuttgart, Germany.
Newton Moraes Dance Theatre goals
The following list outlines our goals and aspirations:• Inspire and provide role models for young people.• Support dance artists who work with dance forms of the Latin American Diaspora in Canada and bring together dance professionals who preserve the history and traditions of Latin America and who foster an appreciation of its heritage.• Increase the visibility of the sector, and improve understanding by disseminating information.• Raise the level of critical discourse concerning the practice of dance forms of the Latin America diaspora in Canada. This will include creating an awareness of the complexity of Latin American dance and encouraging closer critical engagement with the work of practitioners.• Provide an environment to support artists in the creation of innovative forms of artistic expression to reach the widest possible audience and to be cultural ambassadors, nationally and internationally.
Artistic statement
Art is a most profound instrument of communication—to people and between people. If there is no art, there is no love, there is no inspiration, there is no connection. Art is the deepest way we can reach each other and overcome our differences as they pertain to race, class and language and anything else that separates rather than connects us.
I became an artist in order to understand people more deeply, both those who I already thought I knew and those who came to me as strangers or as “others” from across a cultural divide.
At the root of my exploration is an interest in the cross-connection between the spiritual rituals and dances of the African-Brazilian religions like Batuque, the dances of my Indigenous heritage (Tupi-Guarani) and the influences of western dance traditions. I have trained in all these forms: contemporary dance, dance-theatre, improvisation, modern and butoh and my work reflects this diversity and cultural mix.
My unique background and experience set my work apart and make it distinct. I am inspired not only by a complex family and cultural life, but through my long-term relationship with my late partner, a professional anthropologist Robert Shirley (Bob). We shared a life together for 23 years. I learned to see the world through the lens of anthropology and developed a profound interest in this unique way of looking at culture and society. Our circle of friends grew to include many professionals who were active in the field of anthropology, other disciplines and above all a shared love of study, I came to integrate all of this into my work.
Beyond this base, I love soccer, every type of music, most of forms of art, including my own dance and that of others. Friendship is also a vital part of my life. I love to dance, not only in my professional work but at home or in clubs, alone or with others. To me, dance represent a vast world of communication.
My current project, Life Under My Skin, aims to communicate some of the universal characteristics in the diversity of our world. The choreography draws on Indigenous Brazilian and contemporary Canadian dance as well as improvisations, Gaga technique, sign language and spoken language.
My goal is to communicate the subtleties and cultural complexity in our world while illuminating similarities between Canadian and Brazilian culture. The dancers and lighting designer chosen for this choreography are from multicultural backgrounds and bring life to this aspect of Life Under My Skin.
Organizer
Newton Moraes
Organizer
Toronto, ON
