Ephemeral Artifacts

ĀNANDAṀ creates and presents dance shaped by values of presence and collective inquiry; inclusive of diverse bodies and movement practices; and receptive to a multitude of viewpoints on the dancing body. Our aesthetics and ethics are cultivated through curiosity, intimacy, and responsiveness. Learn more at www.anandam.ca.

DaNcE is a cryptic use of the word dance that is meant to expand the definition of Tap Dance. As it stands now, understanding of what is meant by the term ‘tap dance’ is wildly different from person to person. Contemporary Tap dancers who would have referred to themselves as ‘hoofers’ yesteryear, refer to it as ‘The DaNcE’ today. The term removes the limitations of public expectations, removes the limitations of show business conventions, and elevates the ‘searching’ inherent in the esoteric approach to the form.

Travis Knights is a Tap Dancer. Born in Montreal, Canada, Travis was introduced to the rich oral tradition of Tap by his teacher Ethel Bruneau at age 10. He went on to travel the world spreading his love of rhythm across 4 continents, touring with Tap Dogs, Tapestry Dance Company, and the self-produced Tap Love Tour.  In 2019 Travis finished a two year community development residency at the Tranzac Club in Toronto hosting the Jazz United Jam, a weekly jazz jam session aimed at reconnecting live musicians with dancers.  He is the 2020 recipient of the Jaqueline Lemieux Prize for outstanding contribution to dance in Canada.  He currently lives in Brampton, Ontario and hosts The Tap Love Tour Podcast, available on spotify, soundcloud and apple podcasts, (make sure to subscribe) featuring interviews of a myriad of inspiring tap dance artists.

Brandy Leary creates contemporary performances with an artistic practice informed by dance, martial arts, circus, and theatre. Her works have been produced and performed in Canada, Europe, India, the Arctic, South Africa and the USA in theatres, urban environments, festivals, museums, art galleries and isolated landscapes. She is active as a performer, choreographer, collaborator, curator and Artistic Director of ĀNANDAṀ.

Brandy holds a degree in Theatre from York University. She is a triple Shastri Indo-Canadan Fellow in the performing arts (2003,06, 09) and a Chalmers Arts Fellow in choreographic research (2020). She is a disciple of Padma Shri Guru Kedar Nath Sahoo (Seraikella chhau) and Guru Janmejoy Saibabu (Mayurbhanj chhau). She began her kalaripayattu training with Vijayan Gurukul at the CVN Easthill Kalari in Kozhikode (Kerala) and continues as a senior student with his son VM Vikas Gurukul. In addition she has trained with Phillip Zarilli,Kaite O’Reilly,Frey Faust, Jennifer Lacey (Ponderosa), Kevin O’Connor, P.A. Binoy, Usha Nangiar, G Venu and Kapila Venu (Navarasa Sadhana). As a dancer Brandy has performed in the works of Gitanjali Kolanad, Lee Su-Feh, Jenn Goodwin, Chandralekha (posthumous remount), Denise Fujiwara (The WITCH, film, dir. Robert Eggers) and is currently working with choreographer Padmini Chettur.

She has been called “a heart stopping dancer” (Toronto Guardian) and her works have been described as “phenomenological interventions” (Canadian Theatre), “soulful and sensuous” (NYTimes) and “embodying a hallucinatory, dreamlike state” (NOW).

The work she develops considers aesthetic and structural inquiries for the body, performance architectures and customs of audience/performer relationships. She has lived between Canada and India for the past 18 years; training, collaborating and creating.

To schedule an interview with the artist, or staff members at Theatre Passe Muraille regarding this production, please email Emily Jung at emilyj@passemuraille.on.ca. We will try out best to accommodate your media requests, however they are not guaranteed.

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