Wind in the Leaves Collective with Allies and Friends
The wind in the leaves collective engages in the choreographic creation of movement and poetic syncretism to develop and perform collaborative work involving diverse artistic disciplines. The collective’s approach provides for a unique view into a dialogue amongst artists on contemporary issues where each artist is able to collaborate, create and share, bringing her/his creativity to the collective’s work as an outlet for artistic exploration rarely seen in Toronto.
More information:www.windintheleavescollective.com
Featuring the performance of 'whispers' - poetry by charles c. smith, composition by judith manger with musicians harvey weisfeld (guitar), walter maclean (percussion), evan lamberton (cello) and dancers/choreographers lilia leon and kevin a. ormsby; with readings by lena recollet, nisha ahuja and pushpa acharya.
Doors open at 7pm
Bios:
Lena Recollet is Anishnaabe from Wikwemikong. After she released her EP “Soul Speaking” in 2011, she had gone on to receive a mentorship with Buffy Sainte Marie and opened for her at ImagineNative “The Beat”! Lena’s full album “I Am Woman, Kwe” released in March 2012, which was triple nominated for Aboriginal People’s Choice Music Awards in the same year. Lena Recollet is a winner of the Best Spoken Word Recording from the Native American Music Awards, 2013. You can catch her on and episode 6, of “She Kills Me” aired on APTN and still viewable online. Her first stand up set was at Caminos Festival, followed by showcase Comedy Bar on November 24th.
Pushpa Raj Acharya has published two poetry books: Dream Catcher (Vajra, Kathmandu, 2012) and Chhayakal (Fine Print, Kathmandu, 2006). In 2015, he collaborated with an artist and two other poets for a collection, Somnio: The Way We See It, which received the Cultural Diversity in the Arts grant from the Edmonton Arts Council. He grew up in Pokhara, Nepal – a lake city on the foothills of the Himalayas. He is pursuing a PhD in Comparative Literature and South Asian Studies at the University of Toronto.
Nisha Ahuja shares Attmic Energy Medicine, Reiki, Holistic Yogic Practices, and Ayurveda, and is also an actor, physical theatre creator, writer, singer/songwriter, and art, wellness, and justice educator/facilitator having performed and created classical, contemporary, and original work across Canada, the USA, the Netherlands, and India. She is dedicated to dissolving the boundaries between art, traditional/ancient medicines, spirituality, and politic, and believes healing practices are revolutionary and fundamental to our collective liberation.