Spoken word performer and writer Taqralik Partridge is of Inuit and Scottish-Canadian heritage and has lived in a number of places across the country, from the Queen Charlotte Islands to Kuujjuaq, the largest Inuit village in Quebec, which she considers her home community. The dynamic of North and South is ever-present in her work.
"I like to write about the land, and people's relationship with the land in the North. When I'm writing about the South I like to write about how people who come from the North experience the South in ways that are sometimes really challenging but are also really interesting."
Paul Serralheiro was a member of the celebrated Montreal free jazz quartet NUDE, and has played guitar and trumpet in various settings, including a group of North African Middle-Eastern musicians during Le festivale du Monde Arab, and the poly-cultural Montreal Musicians of the World Symphony Orchestra. He has recorded with Vancouver’s Carnival Band and appeared as a trumpeter in the HBO film version of the Broadway musical Reefer Madness. He is also a music journalist and poet who currently plays jazz guitar in the Mary Ann Lacey Trio and the Asselin/Serralheiro duo, blues guitar in the Kerkhoven/Serralheiro/Barry blues trio and trumpet in the experimental improv group Shortest Longest Day and as a contributor on a number of other projects. His poetry has appeared in several journals and two anthologies. A collection of his work is scheduled to be published in the Spring of 2015.
Ian Keteku is a poet, musician and freelance journalist. Born as Ian Nana Yaw Adu Budu Keteku, his birth name mimics his diverse talents and interests. Raised in Canada and of Ghanaian heritage, Keteku earned the title of World Slam Poetry champion in France in the summer of 2010.
His poetry and music speak to a universal
audience. Keteku defines his poetry as 'critical oratory', feeling compelled
to speak on the issues he feels are not thought about regularly. He loves
to use his words to inspire messages of peace, action and critical thought.
Keteku
feels that using his voice to speak for the voiceless is an honourable
calling that can never stop.
He has performed all over Canada, and in West and East Africa. In addition,
he had the opportunity to perform his poetry for the Governor General of
Canada, on two occasions.
for body and light is directed and choreographed by Stéphanie Morin-Robert in collaboration with spoken word and music artist Ian Ferrier
This company explors the interface between darkness and light, form and imagination: meditative stillness, then moving shapes, whispered words and the light catching only the ghost of a body as it flashes past
pour corps et lumière / for body and light is multiple dancers lit by a single sometimes moving light source. In darkness, spoken word and music create and project direct on your imagination. The dancers are colour, beauty, motion and touch,
intimacy and solitude.
Performances 2014
March 2014 VerseFest, Knox Church, Ottawa, Ontario
March 2014 Kraine Theatre NYC (5 shows)
February 2014 Tangente Dance Series
Prospero Theatre MTL (4 shows)