Pilot Episodes Open Rehearsal

Friday March 14 at 4:30-5:30 PM ET with Nyda Kwasowsky
Friday March 21 at 4:30-5:30 PM ET with Andrea Spaziani
Friday March 28 at 4:30-5:30 PM ET with Be Heintzman Hope 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 need assistance during your visit.

Curious about Pilot Episodes and the creative ideas and questions that spark during these residencies? Folks are invited to join us in the studios to get a glimpse of the artists working and to hear the choreographers speak about what they have been focusing on during their time at TDT.

As this is an informal open rehearsal, finished work will not be presented. These gatherings are great for those who are intrigued by the creative process seen in residencies and the artistic questions that arise, while learning more about the choreographer and their own practices. There will be an opportunity to share reflections with the choreographers or ask questions from what’s observed in the rehearsals.

Please arrive 15 minutes early

In person at the Winchester Street Theatre, 80 Winchester Street.
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.

About Pilot Episodes

Three choreographers will have their first experience collaborating with the TDT ensemble, in this fifth edition of Pilot Episodes. An immersive residency series, each creator has one week to experiment in their practices, receive mentorship from Andrew Tay, and take artistic risks in the studio without any pressure of producing a finished work.

About the Choreographers

Photo by Miki Frances

Nyda Kwasowsky

A multi-disciplinary artist and emerging choreographer of Indo-Caribbean, British and Ukrainian ancestry. She orients towards abolitionist approaches rooted in experimentation, improvisation and community. Libratory practices motivate her creative senses beyond representation and strive for practices that are transformative and embodied, without erasing her identity both present, past and future.

Her work centers around grief, hybridity and belonging in racialized diasporic experience. Studied in somatics and trauma informed practices, a practitioner in TCM cupping and Auricular Acupuncture and training in Harm Reduction, Restorative Justice, Polyvagal Certified, craftworks, Earthwork and studying as a Birth Doula. Her most recent explorations look at the intersections of cultural materiality and the moving dancing performing body.

Photo by Alejandro Fargosonini

Andrea Spaziani

Andrea Spaziani (she/her) records improvised moving and talking to create choreographic scores with interdisciplinary artists. Since 2019 she has been researching dance as spatial sound in collaboration with the CNIB and individuals living with vision loss, questioning how the rich perceptive experience of dancing might be conveyed in ways that decenter visual primacy. With support from the Canada Council for the Arts they created DoppelTone.com, an accessible web prototype for the creation of spatial sound dances.

Other recent projects include “Crisis of Froth” at the Emily Harvey Foundation in Venice, Italy, “AGGRO INFINITUM: estrogen amnesia” the gonzo dance mockumentary film tryptic on femme aggression with Alicia Grant, and “BADLANDS: A Dance in Time” sound-choreography for LOBE 4D in Vancouver with Matt Smith / Prince Nifty, made in collaboration with Julia Male, Germaine Liu, and Sofi Gudiño.

Be Heintzman Hope

Moving between sound and performance, Be Heintzman Hope is a facilitator of music, dance and embodiment ritual based between Tio’tia:ke/Mooniyang, colonially known as Montréal and the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (musquem), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Wateuth) peoples.

Their practice bridges dance training with conflict resolution, healing and community arts. They hold workshops in transitional spaces, dance institutions, universities, DIY contexts and festivals.
On a physical level, their body is engaged in experimental, erotic and expressionist dance making, meditation, daoist martial arts, gyrokinesis, and a shit ton of physio.

Their studies in eroticism, energetic boundaries, meditation, medicine, illness, and death are tentacles of ongoing research and curiosity. A larger part of this work is a quest to co-create alternative economies, spaces and ways of relating to one another through performance and facilitation practices.

Pilot Episodes Open Rehearsal

Friday March 14 at 4:30-5:30 PM ET with Nyda Kwasowsky Friday March 21 at 4:30-5:30 PM ET with Andrea Spaziani Friday March 28 at 4:30-5:30 PM ET with Be Heintzman Hope Winchester Street Theatre , 80 Winchester Street (VIEW MAP)

*Please arrive 15 minutes early*