Get into the groove

How often do you let loose and dance like no one’s watching? Dance, or more generally, movement, is not only a form of physical activity; it’s an outlet for creativity, emotional release and social connection. On March 19, in partnership with Dancing with Parkinson’s (DWP) and the Koffler Centre for the Arts, the AGO presents Golden Groove: Lightning in a Bottle – Part 2. This virtual dance workshop, inspired in part by the Studio 54: Night Magic exhibition, is designed for seniors confronting social isolation and loneliness.

Founded in 2007 by professional dancer Sarah Robichaud, DWP offers daily classes for those living with Parkinson’s disease, helping enrich their lives with the cognitive, physical and emotional benefits of dance. Since the early days of the pandemic, classes have been virtual and remained as important as ever for the DWP community. In February 2021, electronics giant LG and the Toronto Raptors selected Robichaud as an outstanding community leader.

Guided by Robichaud, participants of Golden Groove: Lightning in a Bottle – Part 2 will weave together improvisational movement with writing prompts provided by Toronto-based poet Fan Wu. 

In anticipation of what promises to be an energizing event, Wu shared the inspiration behind his writing prompts and the parallels we can find between writing and movement. Read on and get into the groove.

AGOinsider: You explore concepts surrounding authenticity, façade and language with your writing prompts. What drove you to choose those themes, and how do you envision them being expressed through movement?

Wu: For me, the question of authenticity is something that is always in process. Our bodies cannot help but be authentic, even when we're in our most grandiose performative mode there's latent truth that's being expressed, and vice versa, when we're moving in a way that feels authentic to ourselves, it's shadowed by the gaze of a real or imagined audience that transforms us into performers. This interplay is fascinating to me, and I use language as a way to coax the processes of authenticity into spaces of exploration and reflective spontaneity.

AGOinsider: As tools for expression, writing and movement can seem worlds apart. Can you explain how they might support each other?

Wu: I resist the notion that writing is disembodied, cerebral, a matter solely of the mind. The body, breath, and nerves are all intimately interwoven into the writing process, and even as listeners words mark themselves onto and into our bodies. Language is charged with vital spirit, with depths of associative resonance: the word heron, for example, conjures up such a surging somatic response in me. And dance is rich with symbolism, metaphor, and lyricism in its gestural vocabularies: all the fundamental concerns of writing. I see the two as mutually affectionate practices that have endless points of possible dialogue.

AGOinsider: What was significant for you to consider when creating your writing prompts? What was your creative process like?

Wu: Writing for movement is such a thrill because the poems exist in two dimensions, as standalone writing and as a score to become embodied. These prompts are heavily imagistic in the descriptive sense; sonic, as sounds form images in a more subliminal fashion. A major point of reference for me is butoh-fu, a Japanese avant-garde tradition that draws inspiration from plant life, the animal kingdom, and the natural oddities of the human body. My creative process involves entering an imagined landscape—for example, an old dance club overgrown by swampland, teeming with alien ecosystems—and feeling my way around this foreign space with writing as a guiding light.

AGOinsider: What’s one thing you hope participants take away from this workshop experience? 

Wu: I hope participants will come out of this experience with a sense that they can write with movement in mind, that their writing can also be an interpretive score for performance; and that different forms of writing—poetry, essays, memoirs, prose—can inspire their movement practices.

Golden Groove: Lightning in a Bottle – Part 2 is happening on Friday, March 19 at 1 pm. Join Fan Wu and DWP’s Sarah Robichaud by registering in advance here. Previous dance experience is not necessary for this free virtual event. All you need is a desire to get moving.