About this Event
Choreographer Maxine Heppner with Oriah Wiersma, Chantelle Mostacho, Junia Mason & Eric Cadesky.
Experience an immersive, site-specific dance performance, conceived by Maxine Heppner, in which her choreography responds to the exhibition .
As you move through the gallery in a small group, you will encounter dancers embodying aspects of the complex tensions between humans’ urbanity, wildness, and precarity in contemporary times. The music’s auditory landscape underscores the fragile balance between civilization and wilderness. This intimate, evolving encounter invites viewers to reflect on their own place within the natural order, highlighting both the beauty and sometimes folly of attempts to shape the world around us—even as it shapes us.
Ticket includes one drink. Cash bar available before and after.
Choreographer: Maxine Heppner, celebrated senior dance & inter-medial artist & educator, is an explorer of collective action, since the 1970’s. Her massive ensemble (audacious) & intimate works (“fresh” “deeply human”) have been honoured by awards, commissions, & citations including 4 Doras, Chalmers Fellowships, & many critic choices & best-of’s, from companies, festivals, organisations, communities & the precious trust of colleagues in Canada, Far East Asia & Europe. Maxine’s multi-heritage, & international career has led to her dedication to somatic intelligence & collaboration as fundamental to human expression & interaction. This dedication spans from grassroots collectives such as IGAC (Intergalactic Arts Collective) to highest profile International festivals like 2024 Olympics, 2006 European Cities of Culture, to co-founder of the Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists & International Network for Cultural Diversity. Her Across Oceans Arts platforms facilitate collaborative art-making for elite artists & community players across viewpoints, generations & heritages. Yet she remains an independent continuously challenging norms while embracing fierceness, honesty, delicacy and the need for beauty. For more, visit: www.acrossoceans.org.
Oriah Wiersma’s multidisciplinary artistry emerges from the soma & finds expression through dance, acting, circus, music, & writing, & is described as “highly visceral”, “beautifully haunting”, & “deeply stirring”. Some of her choreographic/stage work includes:” layers” her multidisciplinary solo commissioned for Young Lungs Dance Exchange festival, the national tour of her solo “isn’t this where”, and “The Spirit Garden” R. Murray Schafer’s epic outdoor musical drama. Oriah can be found performing alongside bands or interpreting for various choreographers. She has worked with Maxine Heppner since 2023. On screen Oriah has appeared in national commercials & music videos: Gone Baby Gone (Aysanabee), Always a Romantic (ZINNIA), Life (Shannon O’Donovan) & Once I Knew (Ptarmigan).
Chantelle Mostacho (she/her) is a Filipino-Canadian multidisciplinary dance artist bridging street dance and contemporary concert forms, with a primary focus on Punking/Whacking/Waacking. Known for her powerful artistic voice across choreography and freestyle, her work extends through theatre, film, and commercial platforms, where she continues to explore innovative forms of storytelling through movement. Select collaborations and presentations include The Bentway, Toronto Dance Theatre, CanAsian Dance, DanceWorks Toronto, TIFF, TEDxWomen and more. A recognized force in the battle scene, Chantelle has also showcased her skills with notable wins and placements across the country, including being a National Finalist for Red Bull Dance Your Style Canada, proudly representing women in street dance. Beyond performance, she is a dedicated leader in Toronto’s Wh/aacking community, actively nurturing both the culture and the next generation of dancers.
Junia Mason is an independent dance/performance artist, arts-educator, writer. In her performance career she has had the privilege of working with local and international dance/theatre artists such as Noémie LaFrance; Maxine Heppner (choreographic marathon); Vincent Mantsoe; Djanet Sears, Weyni Mengesha; Vivine Scarlett; Casimir Nhussi (Nafro Dance, Winnipeg), Guillermo Gómez-Peña (Pocha Nostra), Bill T. Jones, amongst others. She is a former company member and co-founder of COBA (Collective of Black Artists), a Toronto-based Dance company working within a cultural and social Africanist aesthetic. She is an anchor artist in Maxine Heppner’s work and Across Oceans Arts “Choreographic Marathon”. A community arts-worker, she aims to enrich the relationship we have with ourselves and community through creative embodied expression. Dance is life – let’s keep it movin!
Eric Cadesky, over the span of almost 50 years, has composed more than 75 works for ballet and modern dance, collaborating with the National Ballet of Canada, Ballet BC, Lyon Opera Ballet, Mannheim Ballet, Chimera Dance Theatre and leading independent choreographers. including Maxine Heppner. He served eight years as Composer-in-Residence for Desrosiers Dance Theatre, performing live locally and on tour. As a composer for film, television, theatre, the concert stage and experimental projects he has earned critical acclaim and nominations. He is Artistic Director of The Glass Orchestra, designing it’s instruments and touring internationally as the only all glass music ensemble. Cadesky believes in giving back to the community by mentoring and donating his time to arts inititatives.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Koffler Gallery, 180 Shaw Street, Toronto, Canada
CAD 22.90
