Help us present our work in Toronto

Contemporary performers Meri and Joshua are gearing up to premiere their work at New Blue Emerging Dance Festival in Toronto as featured international artists this coming June- and we need your help!


Who are we?

Meri Salmela and Joshua Sailo became friends while undertaking their MA studies at Institute of the Arts Barcelona, and quickly discovered their potential as collaborators in creating contemporary dance performances.

They had the opportunity of working together and touring through Spain as members of Martz Contemporary Dance Company, and have also had the privilege of working with Jasmin Vardimon and Studios Wayne McGregor while questioning and deepening their creative practice as performers and creators.

Coming together under Sailoway to embark on an independent journey as performers and choreographers, we are very excited for this opportunity to present an original work this summer at New Blue Emerging Dance Festival in Toronto and believe that this can be a catalyst for future international prospects.


Why we need your help?

Working and touring as independent artists is extremely difficult, especially to tour internationally! Although we have worked really hard in preparing for the festival and rehearsing for the show, we still have a long way to go and not so much time to secure the means for our travel, accommodation, and seeing this production come to life. We are very thankful for the opportunity awarded to us by New Blue Emerging Dance as performing on festival circuits such as this provides up-and-coming artists such as ourselves, an opportunity to perform, network, and encounter new ideas and artists from different places.


How much will it cost?

Flights: €1400
Travel (within canada): €100
Accommodation: €250
Marketing and Advertisement: €250
Music and Sound editing: €300
Per Diem: €200


We hope some of you will be able to see us perform in Toronto, and we promise that it will all be worth it as we are committed to making critical work that is reflective of social changes that challenge our long held beliefs, assumptions and prejudices. We believe it is important to contribute to the discourse of our times through dance and that  we can extend the range of our human condition and foster empathy for the “other” to create a more open and diverse future.

By helping us to cover some of the costs associated with the tour and production, you enable us to continue a much more sustainable option for creating our work, and ensures the possibility for us to embark on new adventures.  


All of these can be YOURS with a bit of help ;)

€10 - Eternal Thanks
€25 - Social Media Shoutout for our gratitude + all previous incentives
€50 - Special Sitges postcard (where we are currently based) + all previous incentives
€100 - A personalized thank you video from both of us + all previous incentives
€250 - A short and fun dance video choreographed by us just for you + all previous incentives
€500 - Special thanks in our programme + all previous incentives
€1000 - We will share video footage of rehearsal and performance + all previous incentives
€3000 - Producer Credit for this show, heartfelt/tearful gratitude + all previous incentives


Bios:


Joshua Sailo is a dancer from India who investigates movement through a multidisciplinary lens informed by close collaborations with artists across different disciplines and improvisational studies. His playful approach towards performance-making stems from a curiosity in the parallels, juxtapositions and conjunctions that exist within the interaction of different art forms.

Joshua is currently researching how power is shifted, acquired and maintained through the performance of gender.

“I have been looking at gender politics through my MA dance research and I really think that through dance, we can challenge the norms of society to propose a more inclusive future”



Meri Salmela  is a Finnish dancer, performer and a dance teacher. She graduated from Oulu University of Applied Sciences in 2017 with a Bachelor’s degree in Dance Teacher Education. Meri has developed a dance practice that explores the physicality of movement balanced with momentum and ease. Currently she is deepening her practice in her Master’s studies in Dance researching impunity and physical integrity in dance and she is especially interested in touch as a means of power.

“I am currently writing my master’s thesis on impunity and questioning the concept of physical integrity in dance. I feel that it is important to bring up this subject especially after all the horrible things that have come up through the me too -campaign”