A Community Piece From North Kensington Working With Indigenous Dance Artists As Part Of Origins Festival 2019

Westway Solstice a performance work created in response to the ground we stand on, the people who live on it, and the lives that live with us. brian solomon//ELECTRIC MOOSE is an Anishinaabe dance artist from Canada, resident at the Origins Festival with his collaborator Mariana Medellin, to create Westway Solstice with a large, mixed cast of community members in North Kensington.

Solomon is of Anishnaabe and Irish Heritage, born and raised in the Northern Ontario community Shebahonaning. He still calls this community home, along with Toronto among other places. Multiple Dora and Gemini Award nominated, Solomon has presented his works across Canada, Australia, Europe and throughout South America. As a creator his work is multidisciplinary, raw, challenging and present. He has created community centred works with over 40 interpreters, solos in trees, and animated installations of landfill. Solomon has performed for a multitude of choreographers, directors and companies across Canada, the US and Europe. He is a graduate of the School of Toronto Dance Theatre, and holds an MA of performance from the Laban Center (UK).

Solomon is interested in engaging with unusual spaces in communities and nature. He is inspired by collaborating with all the individuals that comprise a community, whether trained artists or not, and guiding them to interact with their own life story. Solomon is passionate about helping people relearn about their forgotten bodies, and taking back the space those bodies occupy. Westway Solstice will also involve an orchestra of local kids from North Kensington called The Nucleo Project, which works on the methodology of El Sistema from Venezuela.

They are also presenting their piece The NDN Way, a piece of dance theatre that re-imagines, remixes and interprets philosophies about medicine teachings, pipe ceremonies, sweat lodges and death in a highly theatrical, visual art-warp, at the Playground Theatre on June 17th.

Border Crossings' ORIGINS Festival is a multidisciplinary festival showcasing the very best artistic work from First Nations communities across the globe, including indigenous Australians, Native Americans (North and South), Maori, Pacific Islanders and Inuit. The festival will bring theatre, dance, music, ceremony, visual arts, workshops, screenings & talks, as well as an extensive programme of participation & learning to London, with a strong emphasis on reaching new, diverse participants & audiences.