Eyes on Beginnings: Spring 2024 Edition

Saturday April 27 at 2:00 PM ET
Free gathering | RSVP is Recommended Winchester Street Theatre , 80 Winchester Street (VIEW MAP)

Accessibility Info: Unfortunately the Winchester Street Theatre is not currently wheelchair accessible. There are three steps outside of the front entrance, a small platform, and then three more steps to the lobby (a straight hallway that then leads you to the theatre). To access the private gender-neutral restrooms, there are five additional steps at the end of the lobby. The seats in the theatre are on risers with stairs; please contact info@tdt.org if you have any questions regarding accessing our space.

It is always an inspiring moment when creative ideas spark! With our Works-In-Progress Series: Eyes on Beginnings, you can discover fresh choreographic propositions throughout the season. Through dialoguing with the choreographers, audiences like yourself can play an important role in the development of artistic works in our community by offering feedback and perspectives.

Join us on Saturday April 27th at 2:00 PM ET for a fun and informal afternoon featuring dance experiments by 4 talented local artists: Angela Déiseach, Juliette Coleman and Arin Aron, Ranganathan Rajan, and Rumi Jeraj.

Doors open at 1:30 PM ET. Light refreshments and conversation will be served!

About Eyes on Beginnings

Eyes on Beginnings is designed for artists who are experimenting with something new and are in the beginning phases of development. Artists have up to 10 minutes to share their explorations followed by a feedback session with the public led by Andrew Tay and Meryem Alaoui. Learn more

Spring 2024 Artist Participants

Photo by Drew Barry

Rumi Jeraj

Rumi Jeraj is an Ismailli muslim hailing from Sherwood Park Alberta (the world’s largest hamlet). A Graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University Rumi has worked for dance artists including Daryl Tracy, Heidi Strauss, Hannah Kiel and Eilish Shin-Culhane. Recently Rumi has presented works at Dusk Dances and with Fermented Dance at Hamilton Fringe. His collaborators include drummer Aidan McConnell on a project called Space and Spectra which aims to create collaboration between contemporary dancers and musicians. Rumi is also using his Tap Dance knowledge to create a work with Purawai Vyas (a Bharatanatyam dancer) which brings their forms together. He aspires to create and be a part of work which mixes forms in order to better tell stories. He believes there is a perfect balance between words, music, and movement which can communicate intellectually, emotionally and viscerally all at once. He aspires to find this state on stage.

Photo by Kirthikumar Barik

Ranganathan Rajan

I am Ranganathan Rajan, born in India and currently based in Toronto. I am an emerging contemporary dance artist, with training in Kalaripayattu, Bharatanatyam and Contemporary dance techniques. I graduated with a Diploma in Movement Arts and Mixed Media from Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts Bangalore, India in 2021. Currently, I am a second year student of the Professional Training Program at Dance Arts Institute Toronto, Canada. Additionally, I also completed two performance intensives at Play Practice Artist Residency Bangalore, and a Documentary theatre course from Serendipity Arts Foundation Delhi, India. I have worked as a dancer with Attakkalari Dance company in two of their productions- Sthavara Jangama and Transitions. I have also been a part of the first production of We All Have an Expiry Date by Asha Ponikiewska. In Canada, I was part of the project WOODS by Clarice Lima, presented at the Beyond concrete at Bentaway. I volunteered for the festivals, Attakkalari India Biennale 2022 and Prakriti Excellence in Contemporary Dance Awards. I was also a member of the production crew for a film project East of Eden by Joshua Sailo and Anishaa Tavag. I am always engaged in independent creation and recently presented my solo choreography I Will Judge Myself as part of the Parahumans show, The Unveiling, mentored by Dave Wilson, Phase colloide: a solo durational multimedia performance performed at the Rhubarb Festival at the Buddies in Badtime Theatre. And I am in the process of creating a performance piece titled The Running Project.

Photo by Arin Aron

Juliette Coleman and Arin Aron

Juliette Coleman (She/Her) is an interdisciplinary artist / master of none based Tkaronto. While training at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre (now Dance Arts Institute) she began curating and producing multidisciplinary art events and concerts under the name Not a Collective and now continues this work as the Studio Manager of Tibet Street Records. In 2020, she stepped away from dance and began studying film and has since studied at TMU, UCLA Extension, The Sundance Institute, LIFT and The Berlin Art Institute. After believing she had quit dance for the third and final time, she began to move again. Driven by curiosity, she is investigating how all of her creative practices, endeavors and interests can inform one another and is very excited by this ongoing exploration.

Arin Aron (she/they/he) From Edmonton, AB a bountiful city created in favour of the unfavourable I jumped at chances and went crazy at dances and got tied up in so many fictions that I had to run from the hills. Trying to make amends with polarising forces. A Gemini caught between two sides – finding comfort in the in-betweens and nowhere nears. Making the most of the leftovers, generating material, gathering forgotten thoughts.

Photo by Alex Usquiano

Angela Déiseach

A dynamic and engaging performer, Angela Déiseach (choreographer/dancer) is a prominent figure in the Toronto flamenco community. Trained in Toronto, Madrid and Seville, Angela began her performance career as a featured member of the acclaimed Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Company, with whom she danced for many seasons. In 2016 she co-founded Illumina Flamenco, a collective dedicated to performing traditional and contemporary flamenco. Highlights from her time with Illumina Flamenco include the full-length production Amor Flamenco and the site-specific Resonance for the Frost Bites Winter Festival. As an independent artist, Angela’s work has been featured in Toronto dance festivals Dance Matters, The New Blue Festival, and Night/Shift and with musical projects Clic-Clac Flamenco and JDT and the Vamps (Flamenco/world music). Angela is a regular guest artist with leading Toronto flamenco presenters Tablao Flamenco Toronto and FabCollab – La Cueva.