Theatre & Performance Studies

The ��Ƶ’s Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies (CDTPS) recently announced four new scholarships for Black, Indigenous and other racialized students.

The two undergraduate Equity and Academic Achievement Awards – valued up to $7,500 per year and renewable for up to three years – are awarded upon a student’s acceptance into a specialist or major drama program. The two graduate Equity and Excellence Scholarships are entry awards for new PhD students, valued at $5,000 each. 

“These awards reflect the centre’s ongoing efforts to making the CDTPS a more inclusive space for students, faculty and staff,” says Tamara Trojanowska, the outgoing director of CDTPS and the current vice-dean, faculty and academic life in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

Here are the four inaugural recipients of the new scholarships:

Funmi Cole

A first year PhD student, Funmi Cole is passionate about the research and practice of applied theatre and performance activism. Her research focus is on personal storytelling as a way of understanding the experience of acculturation among first generation African immigrants in Toronto.

Cole’s master of arts degree in drama from U of T explored the effects of studying abroad on international students who studied from outside Canada due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

She also holds a master’s degree in drama therapy from Kansas State University, a bachelor’s degree in theatre arts from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Nigeria.

Cole has created and managed drama therapy projects in Canada, the United States and Nigeria. Some of the projects include puppet shows to develop emotional intelligence in preschool-aged children, theatrical performances in a Nigerian correctional facility and drama therapy for psychiatric patients in a Nigerian hospital.

“I’m deeply honoured to be awarded this scholarship and I’m grateful to the centre and U of T for this recognition and commitment to excellence,” she says.

Amir Haidar

Originally from Lebanon, Amir Haidar is a first year PhD student who has enjoyed performing since childhood. That led him to be a part of several theatrical productions and concerts in Lebanon before earning his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the American University of Beirut.

He moved to Canada in 2009, earning his bachelor of fine arts degree in music theatre from Sheridan College. Since graduating, he has worked in acting in Canada, performing in productions such as Sweeney Todd, Rent and Oklahoma! He was most recently a cast member of the Toronto production of Come From Away.

His master’s degree, completed at the CDTPS, explored partial identity performance in Lebanese-Canadian queer immigrants. His research is now focused on the Lebanese Rahbani brothers musicals of the 1960s and 1970s, particularly on their effect and use during the Lebanese Civil War of 1975-1990.

“I’m honoured and grateful to be receiving this scholarship,” says Haidar. “Aside from the generous financial help, it’s a humbling source of validation that my work is being understood and recognized.

“It’s also a testament to the path the centre, as well as U of T, are taking towards celebrating and giving space to not just queer people of colour, but also to new and different perspectives that are slowly evolving how scholarship and academia are written, submitted and received.”

Abigail Lewis

Abigail Lewis is a fourth-year drama specialist and French literature major and a member of Woodsworth College. Throughout the past three years, she has taken an interest in costume design through her work in campus theatre.

She recently made her directorial debut with Bare: A Pop Opera last year with the Trinity College Dramatic Society, overcoming the challenge of putting on a theatrical production during the COVID-19 pandemic. She was also involved in the CDTPS’s productions of Constellations and Shape of a Girl last year.

“I’m so grateful to the CDTPS for nurturing my growth as a student, artist and person,” says Lewis. “I was incredibly shocked to get the email stating that I will be the recipient of this award – a lot of screaming was involved. With this award, I’m hoping to complete my studies and move on to teacher’s college and share my love of learning and theatre with new generations.”

Angel Tak

Angel Tak is a second-year student majoring in drama, theatre and performance studies, minoring in Latin and anthropology, and is a member of University College.

In addition to her studies, Tak is deeply passionate about performing music. She believes there is an ambiguity in the empathetic connection that music builds with its listeners that is simultaneously universal and personal.

“Through this emotional link, singers and songwriters are given the power to make people feel, heal and to teach people,” she says.

“I couldn’t believe it when I got the email that I had won this scholarship. I had not expected to get such great support from the university and was immensely grateful for the assistance that this scholarship would offer so that I can better focus on succeeding academically.

“This scholarship is the evidence of a changing reality that people from all backgrounds and races have the chance to be seen and supported, and I am grateful for the chance it has given me.”

U of T dance scholar searches for art that captures the beauty of ballet

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 17:12:18 +0000

U of T dance scholar searches for art that captures the beauty of ballet

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 07/06/2021 - 13:12

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A PhD candidate at U of T's Centre of Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies, Anna Paliy says visual art is a window into dance that can show otherwise overlooked details of its transformations across cultures and generations (photo courtesy of Anna Paliy)

Sean McNeely

Topic

Our Community

Centre for Drama

Faculty of Arts & Science

Global

History

Humanities

Jackman Humanities Institute

Theatre & Performance Studies

Anna Paliy grew up loving Isadora Duncan, an American dancer who dazzled audiences throughout Europe and Russia in the early 1900s – not only for how she moved, but for what she said: “It has taken me years of struggle, hard work and research to learn to make one simple gesture, and I know enough about the art of writing to realize that it would take as many years of concentrated effort to write one simple, beautiful sentence.”

“I just love that,” says Paliy, a PhD candidate in the ��Ƶ’s Faculty of Arts & Science and a former competitive gymnast who views dance as a form of communication.

“This quote inspired me to apply to the Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies for a PhD. I feel it expresses the parallels I’m trying to explore between dance, art and language.”

Paliy is currently researching the connection between dance and visual art. Her dissertation examines art inspired by traveling eastern European ballet dancers in the early 20th century, with a focus on the period between 1910 and 1930.

“A group of dancers came to western Europe from primarily St. Petersburg and Moscow, though many of them were born in Poland, Ukraine, Georgia and other surrounding countries,” says Paliy.

“As the situation became more and more unstable in the Russian empire, many Slavic dancers toured, were exiled or defected to cities such as Paris and London. Coincidentally, so did those emigrating from North America, such as Duncan. They formed a cross-cultural hub of creativity.”

Paliy is now on the hunt for artwork that celebrates the dancers’ encounters, and she hopes to learn more about the performers themselves as well as the artists who depicted their movements through sketches, prints and paintings.

“To me visual art is a window into dance which can show otherwise undiscernible details of its transformations across cultures and generations,” says Paliy. “The artists demonstrate this moment in the history of dance. Their works are so dynamic and they seem to have so much intention behind their craft … and many of them are women.”

Most of these women artists are not terribly well known – nor is their art included in what Paliy calls “the larger encyclopedias of ballet.”

“And that’s why I feel the need to study them, to make them known,” she says.

Paliy is especially intrigued with a collection of sketches that are now scattered around the world – from Australia to Russia.

“These artists drew in ways that were really funky – that's the word I think of,” says Paliy. “It was very experimental. The artists liked to try different things, and they didn't take themselves too seriously even though what they created was aesthetically pleasing.”

Before becoming a dance scholar, Anna Paliy was a competitive gymnast (photo courtesy of Anna Paliy)

With Toronto as her home base, Paliy hopes to become somewhat of a global art hunter now that pandemic restrictions are easing. She has plans to travel to New York, London and Paris to find more sketches. Some pieces are in art galleries or museums, while others may be collecting dust in family attics.

Some of these archives are passed down by children and grandchildren of the dancers who settled there, she says.

While pursuing her research, Paliy’s fondness for dance and dance-related artwork has taken her to a new and unexpected direction: She was recently selected as the Jackman Humanities Institute (JHI) Amilcare Iannucci Graduate Fellow for the 2021-2022 academic year. She will join a group of scholars working in diverse ways on the theme of pleasure.

“This fellowship will allow me to view my dissertation project in a new way, expanding my view of the sketches created by women artists specifically in their capacity as dance spectators,” says Paliy.

She believes there's a misconception around artists’ appreciation of ballet, which is often regarded as an elitist, aristocratic form of entertainment.

“The scholarly value of the work of the women artists that I've found is very serious,” says Paliy. “I believe they need to be considered in a serious way in terms of their contribution to the wider field of dance history.

“But then I thought to myself: there's something so joyful about the things I'm studying, there's something so playful about the sketches. They make a solid artistic corpus, but also reveal an energetic history of having fun – of spectators just enjoying themselves and then demonstrating their passion and pleasure for the things they saw on stage.”

Spectators derived such pleasure out of ballet, says Paliy, that they themselves felt inspired to pursue their own creative, artistic outlets that celebrate and reflect the joy of their viewing experiences.

“These artists proactively used their intuitive visual abilities to interpret dance,” she says.

“They didn't necessarily try to create impressive grand scale works of art from the outset, though many of their sketches later became paintings now living in museums. They just went with their gut. And I think that's where the pleasure aspect comes in. These women artists came to the ballet and just genuinely loved and enjoyed what they saw, translating pleasure into art.”

Beyond the stage: U of T's Seika Boye on what we can learn from dance

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 17:41:15 +0000

Beyond the stage: U of T's Seika Boye on what we can learn from dance

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 03/12/2021 - 12:41

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Seika Boye, an assistant professor, teaching stream, at U of T's Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies, is pictured dancing in Vancouver in 2001 (photo by Albert Normandin)

Sean McNeely

Topic

Our Community

Centre for Drama

Faculty of Arts & Science

Theatre & Performance Studies

The ��Ƶ’s Seika Boye has performed and presented her choreography across the country with the nation’s top dance companies and worked alongside some of Canada’s most respected artists.

But in addition to being an artist and writer, Boye is also a teacher and scholar. An assistant professor, teaching stream, at the Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies and director of the centre’s Institute for Dance Studies (IDS), Boye’s research explores Blackness and dancing in Canada, as well as embodied learning and pedagogy.

She recently spoke with Arts & Science writer Sean McNeely about the magic of dance, its ability to reveal and uncover elements of history and social justice and its potential to elevate interpersonal connection.

What do you find so unique about dance?

Trying to describe dancing as an experience is like trying to describe life. I stopped performing professionally over 15 years ago, I was 30. At first, I thought my dancing life was over. In truth, so many of my realizations about dance came after this.

Dancing shaped who I am as a person, not because of what I can – or could – do physically, but because over a lifetime of training and moving together in space with other humans for hours and hours every day for decades, it taught me how to connect, to fall into rhythm with and sense the world around me – to notice connection between human beings and other creatures, to be carried by that connection, to experience life through movement — in joy, sorrow, protest, gratitude and love.

What draws you to the historical side of dance, particularly Black dance history?

I had been teaching 20th-century dance history and I had students asking me about the history of Black people dancing in Canada. There was a complete lack of resources, especially pertaining to before 1970. I wanted to fill that gap.

My first son was also born in 2007 and I was thinking deeply about Black history in Canada. I’m first-generation Canadian – my father was from Ghana and my mother is from New Zealand. I knew very little about the history which is also my children’s history. Performance studies was a place where my background in dance studies and literary theory, and work in arts journalism could come together.

I started with where Black people were dancing in Canada. What dances were they doing? Where were they allowed to dance? Where was it safe to dance? Then there is the question about what we can learn about Black communities, populations, about the legislation of bodies whether pertaining to immigration or who is permitted into a nightclub or hired into a company when we ask questions through dance. What does dance reveal about a society and its values – and not just about Black people, but all people.

You’re the director of the Institute for Dance Studies, can you talk about the research done there?

The institute is dedicated first and foremost to building community for dance and movement-focused researchers across disciplines, providing platforms and bridges for connecting with one another, and for advocating for the value of dance-focused research in the academy.

There’s a vast range of research happening – some focused on contemporary performance, historical and archival research, social justice and education, ethics in training, archival methodologies, stroke rehabilitation and physiotherapy, skills transmission.

One of my favourite things that we do, in addition to workshops and lectures, is in collaboration with my colleague [Associate] Professor Xing Fan, is called the “Practice Pop Up” that invites graduate students and faculty to ask questions that can be answered through choreography, using props and trying movement experiments which are then followed by discussion. This serves as wonderful preparation for research studies and for developing research questions.

This has supported research about gender and identity in 19th-century Victorian England (Heather Fitzsimmons Frey, MacEwan University); “what dance is” in preparation for a researcher's time at an EEG lab (to record brain wave patterns) for research about movement and Alzheimer’s care (Rebecca Barnstaple, York University); and exploring the relationship to apparatus in rhythmic gymnastics (Anna Paliy, U of T PhD candidate).

Are there parallels between being a performer and an academic instructor?

There are so many parallels and they continue to unfold for me. Here are just a few:

Attentiveness to your surroundings – people, place, things – simultaneously on an ongoing, durational basis with your body and mind
Lateral thinking and relationship
Ongoing discipline, practice, preparation and repetition
Respect for the reciprocity between performer and audience, student and instructor
Acceptance that things will go wrong and honing skills to recover in the moment
Managing your nerves, staying the course, pacing yourself
Awareness of self as a member of an ensemble or community that is dependent upon one another

What’s a misconception about the academic study of dance?

That it’s only about dance for the stage and virtuosity and critical analysis. That its value is contained to dance studies itself and not relevant to our overall well-being and relationships to one another as human beings. IDS and Hart House are co-hosting a series this year called Moving Dancing Knowledge that is working to dispel these misconceptions.

The misconceptions are often also connected to the devaluing of embodied knowledge and what it has to offer us as a species. I think we’re all considering questions about connection and touch and moving together as essential parts of our human experience. This connection is something that dancers and people who dance in all and any aspects of life know deeply.