Frog in Hand - April Workshops
The Fifth is delighted to host four workshops led by Frog in Hand members each Friday from April 12th to May 3rd.
April 12th: Clowning for dancers with Andrew Gaboury
April 19th: Noir Repertoire with Abby Silvera and Clarke Blair
April 26th: War of the Worlds Reimagined Repertoire with Ryan Lee
May 3rd: Stage Combat for Dancers with Alice Cavanagh and Colleen Snell
PACKAGE OPTIONS
Individual workshop: $35+HST
2 workshops: $60+HST
4 workshops: $80+HST
ABOUT FROG IN HAND
Frog in Hand is a dance-theatre company based in Mississauga, Ontario. We are curious about human nature and the spaces we inhabit. Our mission is to uncover, make, and share stories through dance. We contribute to community by sharing resources, knowledge and experience through creation, performance and education.
We carefully attend to what we make and how we make it. We craft innovative work reflecting our passion for movement as a medium to transcend language. We are committed to engaging spaces in ways that recognize and honour diverse stories and storytellers. We create site-specific experiences as platforms for artistic exchange, collaboration and social change.
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS
Clowning for dancers with Andrew Gaboury
About Andrew
Andrew Gaboury is a performer, writer and educator based in Port Credit, Mississauga. The desire to bring a sense of wonder and joy to the everyday is central to his practice. As a performer, he employs techniques from theatrical clown, collective creation, dance, puppetry and community arts. As a writer, Andrew has explored a variety of mediums, including playscript, poetry, and recently a video game. Andrew is a company member with Mississauga-based, site-specific dance-theatre company Frog In Hand. He is Acting Executive Director and a therapeutic clown practitioner with Red Nose Remedy – a company founded by award-winning clown Helen Donnelly.
Bodies are awkward. Life is difficult. Failure is icky. Let’s share these tragedies with one another.
Clowning for Dancers is an exploration of personal joy, play and presence designed for dancers, movers & physical artists. In this workshop, we will unlock the ridiculous, embrace the weird and come to terms with the realities of the present moment, flops and all! Clowning as a training tool for dancers can help us get out of our heads and back into the room; it helps us relate to one another while giving us permission to try without worrying. Plus: we’ll be dancing!
When: Friday April 12th
Where: The Fifth’s Main Studio 366 Adelaide East | Unit 120 | Inside parking lot
Time: 12:15 PM-2:15PM
Investment: $35+HST
Noir Repertoire with Abby Silvera and Clarke Blair
About Abby
my name is abby silvera (any pronouns) and i am an interdisciplinary artist currently living on the stolen land that we call Toronto. i’ve been dancing since i was four years old, and strive to maintain a deep connection to my body and impulses in all the work i do. i revel in finding spaces that combine my love of theatre and dance, and work that takes elements of both to create something exciting and experimental. i am also a musician, playwright, poet and songwriter. i am drawn to strange work, unsettling work, silly work, and work that leaves you with more questions than answers; whether it is through music, theatre, film, dance or something outside of these categories. recent credits includes: Cairo in Noir (Frog in Hand), Olivia in Sugar Plum (Nightwood Theatre), a creator/performer in this is our religion (snork mimimi collective, with support from nightswimming and the OAC), Alex/Ensemble in War of the Worlds (Frog in Hand, 2022)
In this workshop Clarke and Abby will teach duet repertoire from 'Noir' — an argument between Cairo (a wily criminal) and Tom (a dirty cop).
Noir description:
Frog in Hand's newest site-specific show, "Noir" puts a supernatural spin on a timeless classic. This sensational production brings film noir to life. The 2023 premiere was held at Stonehooker Brewing Company in Mississauga, immersing audiences in the ambiance of the brewing hall.
This production premiered with three unique casts, so a different group of artists interpreted the classic archetypes of femme fatale, detective, cop and criminal each night.
When: Friday April 19th
Where: The Fifth’s Main Studio 366 Adelaide East | Unit 120 | Inside parking lot
Time: 12:15 PM-2:15PM
Investment: $35+HST
About Clarke
Clarke Blair (she/her) is a queer emerging dance and dance-theatre artist based in Toronto. She has worked as a collaborator and performer with Frog in Hand (Colleen Snell & Noelle Hamlyn), Social Growl Dance (Riley Sims), Naishi Wang, Adehleid (Heidi Strauss), and Susannah Haight, and she was a company member with the Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre from 2011 – 2015. Her choreographic work has been presented in Toronto, Barrie, Edmonton, Calgary and Auckland, New Zealand. Clarke “practices performance” as a science educator at the Ontario Science Centre, and she holds a BSc in cell biology from the University of Toronto.
War of the Worlds Reimagined Repertoire with Ryan Lee
About Ryan
Independent Dance Artist Ryan Lee graduated from Toronto Metropolitan University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. He has been fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Emily Molnar, Guillaume Côté, Kevin O’Day, Stephen Pier, D.A. Hoskins, Darryl Tracy, Sharon B Moore, Julia Sasso and Menaka Thakkar. Ryan has worked for such companies as Human Body Expression, ProArteDanza, Toronto Dance Theatre, Kaeja d’Dance, Anandam Dancetheatre, inDANCE, Larchaud Dance Project, Transcendance, The Chimera Project and TOES for Dance. Ryan has toured internationally and has been nominated for Dora Mavor Moore awards for outstanding ensemble performance – 2011 In between by Roberto Campanella and Robert Glumbek and 2018 for Chasing the Path by Hanna Kiel.
Ryan has been commissioned to make works by ProArteDanza, Anandam DanceTheatre, ACE DanceTheatre, The Emerging Artist Intensive, Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, Toronto Metropolitan University, George Brown College, Centennial College, Dance Ontario, Etobicoke School for the Arts and The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. In 2019 Ryan co founded The Platform, a Toronto based collective focused on artistic creation and collaboration.
In this workshop, Ryan will teach a solo from Frog in Hand’s War of the Worlds Reimagined :
Frog in Hand’s newest site-specific production, War of the Worlds Reimagined, was brought to life at the Port Credit Memorial Arena for 8 performances in July 2022. We performed to a collage of radio plays and music.
When: Friday April 26th
Where: The Fifth’s Main Studio 366 Adelaide East | Unit 120 | Inside parking lot
Time: 12:15 PM-2:15PM
Investment: $35+HST
Stage Combat for Dancers with Alice Cavanagh and Colleen Snell
About Colleen
Colleen Snell is the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Frog in Hand. She works with a broad range of dance and movement organizations in a variety of roles including educator, choreographer, collaborator, outside eye, fight director, and performer. Colleen’s choreographic tendencies lean toward large-scale ensemble work and stories inspired by science fiction. Her collaborative choreographic process and work are highly regarded, as is her work in improvisation and site-specific production. Colleen is a certified Advanced Actor Combatant with Fight Director's Canada, and has created immersive stage combat sequences for Frog in Hand and the TranscenDance Project (A Grimm Night, Eve of Saint George), among others.
About Alice
Alice is an Australian movement coach, movement director and actor. She’s now based in Toronto where she works with artists and clients to unpack their physical patterns and build pain free movement.
Stage combat is an art form designed to create the illusion of violence without causing physical harm. Join Alice Cavanagh and Colleen Snell, both certified advanced actor combatants with Fight Directors' Canada, as we introduce you to basic unarmed techniques. We'll cover slaps, pushes, punches, chokes, and how to fall to the ground safely (creating the illusion of impact). We will build a sequence at the end so you can experience these techniques in the context of a short scene. It's about good partnering and communication - being safe, and having fun. Throughout the workshop we will draw parallels with dance, and talk about the way a dance practice can inform sequences of fight choreography.
When: Friday May 3rd
Where: The Fifth’s Main Studio366 Adelaide East | Unit 120 | Inside parking lot
Time: 12:15 PM-2:15PM
Investment: $35+HST