August Newsletter
- adinaherling
- Aug 4, 2025
- 8 min read
Updated: Dec 17, 2025
Firehorse and Shadow - Closes Sunday!
We joyfully started our 20th anniversary season in June with Firehorse and Shadow at The Citadel: Ross Centre for Dance. Thank you to everyone who attended and was part of sharing the work. It was a joy to gather with you.
We write to you, now halfway through Summer, with invitations to practice, community offerings, and a feature of our friend and colleague Sahara Morimoto.
Volcano Conservatory- this week!
The Volcano Conservatory is happening this week at The Theatre Centre! Andrea will be guiding a morning class daily from 10am-10:55am. Join Andrea as she weaves some of the spiralling spinal motions and breath work from her Gyrokinesis practice supported with Conscious Bodies embodiment practice!
When: August 4th-8th, 10am-10:55amWhere: The Theatre Centre (1115 Queen St West), Toronto, ONCost: $25 (drop-in) or $135 (full week of morning classes)* *If finances are a barrier please reach out to Malika Daya at malika@volcano.ca
![Image from the Vancouver Art Gallery: [from left to right, top to bottom] Heidi Strauss, Photo: Jeremy Mimnagh; Wu-Kang Chen; Michael Caldwell, Photo: Ömer Yükseker; Fangas Nayaw; Andrea Nann, Photo: Alex Christus; 蘇品文 Su PinWen, Photo: 黃煚哲 Huang Jyongjhe; Wen Huang, Photo: Ars Association; Sammy Chien-MacCaull 簡上翔, Photo:Lucille Liu, Keedan Magazine; Caroline Chien-MacCaull, Photo: Carla Alcántara](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ac9e2e_6c28338d6e92423f8aa6b77bb45482ff~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_953,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/ac9e2e_6c28338d6e92423f8aa6b77bb45482ff~mv2.jpg)
TvT Interlink: International Choreographic Symposium
Since 2020, we have been deeply immersed in the Toronto/Taipei Interlink, a long-term artistic exchange. Across diverse geographies and long distances, we are practicing actions of reciprocity and connection; generating opportunities for embodied relational exchange and shared community experiences.
This September, we are thrilled to bring the exchange again to Vancouver, culminating in a two-day symposium, presented in partnership between The Dance Centre and the Vancouver Art Gallery, and generously supported by National Arts and Culture Foundation (Taiwan). The symposium brings together artists, curators and producers to reflect on the evolving intersections of choreography, cultural exchange and transnational collaboration, with panels, workshops and work-in-progress sharings.
Presenting artists include Michael Caldwell, Wu-Kang Chen, Caroline Chien-MacCaull, Sammy Chien-MacCaull 簡上翔, Wen Huang, Andrea Nann, Fangas Nayaw, Heidi Strauss and 蘇品文 Su PinWen.
When: Friday September 5th, 1pm-10pm | Saturday September 6th, 10:30am-8pm
Where: Scotiabank Dance Centre and Vancouver Art Gallery (Vancouver)
Tickets (until Aug 14): $85/$75 Dance Centre & Gallery Members
Tickets (after Aug 14): 105/$95 Dance Centre & Gallery Members
Spotlight: Sahara Morimoto
We are thrilled to feature Sahara Morimoto and her practice of the Ilan Lev Method (ILM). Sahara offers her practice through 1:1 in person treatment sessions, in person, online and recorded movements classes, and also shares via her YouTube series.
As Sahara shares:
My approach is simple yet deep: I don’t assess or assume - I listen, move, and together, we uncover something greater than either of us could imagine. Transformation unfolds in surrender to the unknown.
Our own Andrea has been supported in the physical, mental, spiritual and emotional realms by Sahara’s practice, opening pathways for flow, nuanced awareness, and building capacities for resilience and wellbeing.
Andrea shares:
"I had the sublime pleasure of dancing with Sahara for over 15 years in multiple works by dance artist Peggy Baker, and in Dreamwalker repertoire. I would say Sahara’s musicality is exquisite, her dedication to practice is unwavering (hence, her technical prowess is fierce), and she brings deep sensitivity to partnering work. Over the years I also witnessed Sahara rapidly absorbing choreography and information, often in high stress situations, and what became evident is that Sahara has extraordinary capacities to notice, and to move with clarity into action.
When Sahara shifted her career as a professional dance artist to become an ILM practitioner, I became a dedicated client, growing with her as she evolved from an ILM student to the fully expressive advanced practitioner she is today! In this past year in particular, Sahara’s ILM technique has blossomed into full expression and I feel in awe of the nuanced and growing collaboration between us as we ‘dance together again'.
ILM is not just for physically active people who are seeking to maintain states of wellness and flow. ILM treatment also supports injury and illness recovery and prevention. Sahara describes an attuning to the frequencies and vibrations that are present, and she works with these frequencies to create a dialogue between the client and herself Sahara says, “The role of an ILM practitioner is to support individuals without diagnosing or treating specific conditions. We focus on the whole person rather than treating localized physical symptoms or medical conditions. In ILM training, the general guidance is to listen, lean (connect), and to let go, especially the effort. It is important that I drop all expectations and let go of personal ambition so I can have full capacity to be listening and responding when I’m treating."
Two years ago Sahara started to treat my then 92 year old Dad, Richard. In the experience I learned so much from witnessing Sahara and receiving her post-treatment reports. Sahara always offered full presence and highly sensitized, skilled touch, while deeply listening. When she began treating Richard, although he was experiencing progressive dementia, he was still mobile and I witnessed their treatments supporting Richard’s self-confidence, balance, vitality and sense of well-being. Last year, during Richard’s final year of life, when very little movement was available to him, Sahara continued weekly treatments and the impacts of their time together are immeasurable. Sahara celebrated the person Richard was in every moment, rather than focusing on his decline. Through ILM, Sahara attuned to Richard's frequencies and to gravity so he continued to experience the profound relationships between his physical and emotional body, his spiritual self, and the Earth. I truly believe this supported Richard’s willingness and ability to expand and surrender during his final passing which was completely natural, gentle and swift. He remained fully aware of his body, perhaps because he could so tangibly sense what he was letting go of…and what he was surrendering to.
I continue to see Sahara once a week as part of my ongoing self-care practice. I highly recommend Sahara as an expert practitioner and ILM as a method to improve quality of life for everyone."
Su Pinwen 蘇品文 at Summerworks!
Our dear friend and colleague Su PinWen 蘇品文 will be performing Leftover Market 剩女經濟 and sharing a workshop as part of this year’s SummerWorks Festival!
When: Thursday August 14th 6pm, Saturday August 16th 9pm
Where: The Theatre Centre, Franco Boni Theatre (1115 Queen St West), Toronto
Tickets: $15 / $30 / $45
PinWen’s solo dance performance Leftover Market 剩女經濟 is inspired by the term, “剩女Shèng Nǚ”, meaning “Leftover Women”, used to classify women over twenty-seven who are still single, a notion that pervades Chinese-speaking cultures around the world.
Featuring Taiwanese Mandarin and English pop music, this performance invites audiences into an immersive and participatory space populated with so-called waste and a figure that refuses to conform. Leftover Market interrogates how we judge things to be favourable or useless, and who gets to decide.
PinWen will also be offering a workshop, Forbidden, Moved! 禁歌熱舞, exploring:
With a feminist curiosity: How is freedom socially constructed?
This dynamic workshop designed for movement-based practitioners, invites Taiwanese pop songs that were banned during Martial Law into an embodied creative process, examining and exploring the intersectional relationship between will, survival, gender and the body — reflecting on how Martial Law has shaped generational understandings of how bodies live, adapt, and endure.
When: Saturday August 16th, 10am
Where: Theatre Passe Muraille, Backspace (16 Ryerson Ave), Toronto, ON
Registration: PWYC, $15, $30, $45
Forbidden, Moved! 禁歌熱舞 is co-presented by SummerWorks, adelheid and Dreamwalker Dance.
One Night Choir
Only two One Night Choirs in Vancouver left: August 18th and October 20th!
We invite you to join us for the last of our monthly embodied drop-in choir! One Night Choir, facilitated by Kelsi James, is a two-hour event, where strangers come together to “land,” connect, warm-up, and learn a surprise piece of choral music together (often around 7-10 pages of music, in four part harmony!). Thank you Odd Meridian Arts, Morrow, and Ziyian for generously subsidizing the cost of space for our use.
When: August 18th and October 20th, 7:30pm
Where: Morrow (910 Richards St), Vancouver
Registration: By donation
Conscious Bodies: Sharing Embodied Stories
Our monthly embodied Zoom practice continues! Gathering every New Moon, members of the Conscious Bodies Core Ensemble (Andrea Nann, Isaiah Gilson, Danielle Denichaud, Michelle Silagy, Phil Davis, Classic Roots, and Kelsi James) facilitate a 90 minute embodied practice, following the Cycle of Activations. Our next gathering is centering Naming!
When: Every New Moon (next up: August 23rd at 1pm PT / 4pm ET!)
Where: Zoom
Registration: Free
Summerworks
We are so excited for this year’s SummerWorks Festival (35th anniversary season!), curated by our friend and TvT Link colleague Michael Caldwell. With 40+ projects and over 200 artists, SummerWorks 2025 is a space to gather in curiosity, conversation, and complexity — to mark the past, anchor in the present, and move collectively into imagined futures.
Dates: August 7-17 2025
Location: Theatres, public parks, galleries, transit hubs & more (Toronto, ON)
More info: HERE
This year’s Festival theme, Back to the Future | Forward to the Past invites reflection, imagination, and disruption with bold creative expressions that dive deep into temporality, exploring and questioning the past, present, and future, with a gentle curiosity and a critical ferocity. Inspired by the words of Dr. Elder Duke Redbird, and curated by Artistic Director Michael Caldwell, the 2025 edition features works that dive into our memories, our legacies, our bodies, and our relationship to time.
Discover Your Body's Dance
Wei-Chia Su co-founded HORSE with our beloved TvT Interlink colleague Wu-Kang Chen. Wei-Chia Su will be at SummerWorks offering a special workshop on August 8th, open to all ages 15 and above. Discover Your Body's Dance invites participants to explore movement through fun, imaginative exercises inspired by Su’s FreeSteps project. No prior dance experience is necessary - just bring your curiosity and willingness to move. Su’s FreeSteps project, described as a “succession of shocks that drive the imagination into obscure and delicious depths” (Tai Kwun), invites participants to let go of expectations and embrace the freedom of movement.
When: Friday, August 8th 11:00am - 12:15pm
Where: The Citadel: Ross Centre for Dance, 304 Parliament Street, Toronto
Registration: PWYC, $15, $30, $45
Cookie!
As some of you may have seen at Firehorse and Shadow in June, a Giant Fortune Cookie was created to coincide with our upcoming 20th Anniversary season!
Through this year, ‘Cookie’ will travel with us, engaging and inviting community members to make a wish to put inside Cookie, accessing that place in the soul where dreams, hopes, and possibilities live. Cookie will tour with us for the season, collecting wishes and eventually will be opened for the wishes to be released, flooding the universe with positivity and shifting our collective fate, if only for a moment.
(Cookie had her first outing this month with Returning River!)
Cookie was lovingly created by Janet Morton.
May this second half of Summer offer rest, nourishment and joy. We hope that you can stay safe and cool, and that we may see each other again soon.
With deep warmth,
Dreamwalker
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