The Magic of Assembly

Back by popular demand!
November 7-9, 2024
7:30 PM ET at the Winchester Street Theatre, Toronto
Saturday November 9 Matinee at 2:00 PM ET Winchester Street Theatre , 80 Winchester Street, Toronto (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.

Following 5 Dora nominations, including best Outstanding Production in 2023, TDT remounts The Magic of Assembly with four performances in Toronto before embarking to Montreal for the international dance platform CINARS.

The Magic of Assembly is a choreographic conversation between Street Dance and Punking/Whacking artist Ashley ‘Colours’ Perez and experimental dance artist Andrew Tay. Blending elements of Punking/Whacking and unapologetically queer performance, the work is set to an emotional electronic score from Polaris Prize nominated duo LAL (Nicholas Murray and Rosina Kazi) who perform live alongside the TDT ensemble.

The Magic of Assembly makes the invisible threads that connect us as a society visible and is a powerful statement on what’s at play when we gather together in collective movement, in sound, in ritual, and in performance.

Advisory: This presentation contains mild adult content (partial nudity), loud noises, and the use of fog.

Creators

Photo by Sam So

Ashley Perez

Ashley Perez is a Teacher, Dancer and Choreographer. She is the co-artistic director of Mix Mix Dance Collective. Mix Mix has showcased work at Toronto Fringe (2013/2017), Next Stage Theatre Festival (2014), Fall For Dance North (2017), Contemporaneity 3.0 (2019), and represented Canada at the Jeux de la Francophonie (2017) in Abidjan. Ashley was awarded the 2018 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Performance, Ensemble in the Dance Division for Floor’d presented by Holla Jazz in 2018. Since the pandemic, Ashley has completed her MA in Dance at York University, a co-collaboration with Toronto Dance Theatre’s Magic of Assembly (2023). She recently co-produced and performed her first solo work Generating Danse in Montreal commissioned by Danse Cite (2024).

Her research focuses on the popular dance style known as Waacking and its original name, Punking. It highlights alternative contributors, creators and practitioners of the Punking/Whacking/Waacking dance form, including the last living Original Punker and dance artist Viktor Manoel.

Photo by McKenzie James

Andrew Tay

Andrew Tay (Artistic Director, Choreographer) is a performer, choreographer, DJ and performance curator. In 2005 he co-founded Wants&Needs danse with Sasha Kleinplatz, producing the wildly popular events Short & Sweet and Piss in the Pool which take place in non-traditional venues throughout Montreal. Tay was awarded the DanceWEB scholarship (Impulstanz, Vienna), and was nominated for a Quebec Notables award for Arts&Culture. In 2017, he was named the first Artistic Curator of the Centre de Création O Vertigo (CCOV) in Montreal and in August 2020 relocated to Toronto to become the Artistic Director of Toronto Dance Theatre. Tay actively thinks about community, irreverence and resistance in both his performance and curatorial practices.

Photo by Calvin Hudson Hwang

LAL

Rosina Kazi and Nicholas Murray are LAL (Composers), the Toronto-based protest electronic duo that has built a career out of daring audiences to be their best selves, loudly. Coming from the worlds of hip hop, punk, electronic and experimental music, LAL blends those influences into the smoothest, richest shake that will enliven the mind, body and soul. Their beats and melodies can charm the most cynical club head, softening them up so that the lyrics of anger, sadness and possibility can worm their way deep inside.

Production Credits

Artistic Director: Andrew Tay

Rehearsal Director: Rosemary James

Production Manager: Aden Altamirano

Stage Manager: Caitlyn Albanese

Assistant Stage Manager: Rosalind Saunders

Technical Director: Tanya Bregstein

Choreographers: Ashley Colours Perez, Andrew Tay

Performers: Camil Bellefleur, Millina Fletcher, Megumi Kokuba, Ryan Kostyniuk, LAL (Rosina Kazi and Nicholas Murray), Erin Poole, Devon Snell, Roberto Soria, Elizabeth Yip
Original Cast: Yuichiro Inoue, Peter Kelly, Megumi Kokuba, Ryan Kostyniuk, LAL (Rosina Kazi and Nicholas Murray), Erin Poole, Devon Snell, Roberto Soria, Siwar Soria

Composers: LAL (Rosina Kazi and Nicholas Murray)

Lighting Designer: Gabriel Cropley

Costume Designer: Angela Cabrera