POETICS OF MEMORY. Both a dancer of stories and a storyteller in motion, the Toronto choreographer Sarah Chase often speaks as she dances, with the narrative evolving through both speech and movement. She gently and intimately crafts a poetics of memory that is linked to childhood memory, conjuring up her parents or next-door neighbours as she spins her tales of sensitive, emotive experiences, projecting everyday life into a place of enchantment. Watching her pieces is like leafing through a sketchbook of a life rich in anecdotes and observations, of stories and fables recounted as she dances. She dismantles the sheen of movement in order to capture, in the flow of dancing that appears to be nonchalant but which is full of affect, a few precious fragments of reality. With A Certain Braided History, a duo created with Andrea Nann that traces the story of their belated friendship, and The Disappearance of Right and Left, which she choreographed for her former teacher Peggy Baker, she has opened up to a great inner truth of the transient body and the lightness of being.  Far from current trends in choreography, these “miniatures” are exquisite pearls of disarming simplicity, mischievous and malicious.

Conceived and directed by Sarah chase
Choreography, development and performance by Sarah chase, Andrea nann
Costumes: Heather maccrimmon
Musician: Peter elkas
Commissioned by Dreamwalker dance company (toronto)