Masterclasses

Arrivals Legacy Voice

in partnership with Fountain School of Performing Arts, Dalhousie University

Monday, October 21st to Friday, October 25th, 2024

2nd Years: Oct 21st & 23rd | 1:35 – 3:55 PM
3rd Years: Oct 21st & 23rd | 10:05 – 12:25 PM
4th Years: Oct 22nd & Oct 24th | 2:35 – 4:55 PM
Cumulative: Oct 25th | 1:05-2:25 PM

Studio 2, Dalhousie Arts Centre
FSPA students, Open to Local Artists

Join Arrivals Legacy Project’s Founding Artistic Director Diane Roberts and co-facilitators Gerry Trentham and Lopa Sircar in this workshop for those interested in discovering their culturally storied bodies in a dynamic dance between self and other. This is an opportunity for performers, writers, singers, educators, change leaders, and artists of all disciplines to come together in a collaborative space for cross-cultural exchange and performative story-making, exploring where their ancestral histories meet.

About Diane Roberts (Facilitator) :

An accomplished director, dramaturg, writer, and cultural animator, Diane Roberts has collaborated with innovative theatre visionaries and interdisciplinary artists for over 30 years. Her directorial and dramaturgical work has been seen on stages across Canada and her reputation as a mentor, teacher, and community collaborator is nationally and internationally recognised. The roots of storytelling and multidisciplinary art forms (mixing of ritual song, dance, storytelling, live art, and theatre) drive her arts practice as a director, dramaturg, and cultural animator. Her intuitive style of facilitation draws on specifically crafted creative engagement tools that inspire artists of all disciplines and cultural backgrounds to unearth their authentic creative impulses.

About Gerry Trentham (Co Facilitator) :

Gerry Trentham (he/they) is an inter-arts creator, writer, performer, teacher, and producer. His lifelong dedication to the art of performance has directed his company pounds per square inch through three decades of production and led to the creation and presentation of over 50 original works for stage and screen. Their work has garnered international performance acclaim and accolades, including numerous Toronto Dora awards and nominations. They have been invited for international directing, producing, choreographic, teaching, and mentoring opportunities on four continents, including within major performance training institutions across Turtle Island. Their MFA in theatre and graduate diploma in Voice from York University lead to a core faculty and producer role at Canada’s National Voice Intensive (now the Moving Voice Institute), over a decade with Denise Fujiwara in creating Butoh / Voice, and with Diane Roberts in the development of her Arrivals Legacy Voice practice. Sustaining a performance career still fluid into its fifth decade, Gerry has honed his approach and practice in his own creation and while originating roles in the works of some of Canada’s most renowned choreographers.

About Lopa Sircar (Co Facilitator) :

In 2005, Lopa had something to get off her chest. A story that lived somewhere deep in her, in her blood. It was the story of her grandfather but she had no idea how to (re)(un)(dis)cover it until she met Diane Roberts. The Arrivals Legacy Project’s methodology was a perfect fusion of embodied exploration with solid research; it complimented Lopa’s previous training and was a great support to carry her through such a deep exploration of her roots. Lopa received an Intersectional Initiatives Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts in 2008 to begin work on The Vermillion Project with Diane and the first draft was presented in 2009.

Lopa’s work as a performer has taken her to stages across Canada, Dublin, and to Kolkata, India. She has a great love for contemporary storytelling that unearth truths across generations. A voice coach at heart, Lopa earned her MFA in Acting and teaching Voice at York University in 2010. She has taught at York and Humber College in Toronto and through her company Lopa Sircar Voice.

Weaving New Legacies of Knowing

in partnership with Fountain School of Performing Arts, Dalhousie University

Public Lecture: Oct 25th | 10 – 11:30AM

Room 406, Dalhousie Arts Centre
FSPA students, Open to the Public

Join Arrivals Legacy Project’s Founding Artistic Director Diane Roberts for a public lecture about her research related to guiding artists to discover their culturally storied bodies through dynamic embodied explorations between self and the larger world. This is an opportunity for performers, writers, singers, educators, change leaders, and creatives of all disciplines to learn how collaborative space can allow for cross-cultural exchange and performative story-making that explores where ancestral histories meet.

Interdisciplinary Creation

Thursday, October 3rd, 2024 | 2:30PM – 4PM
Studio 2, Dalhousie Arts Centre
FSPA Students – Theatre 4801, Open to the Public

As an artist, Ahmed Moneka is driven by many aspects of his life and experiences, such as his family’s musical traditions and cultural identity, a sense of global connection, and his love for creation across disciplines. Ahmed’s hybrid work, King Gilgamesh & the Man of the Wild, grew organically and collaboratively, weaving together theatre, an ancient Mesopotamian epic, and Arabic-maqam fusion music to tell a story that resonates beyond borders, labels, and genres.

Join Ahmed in exploring how our personal narratives, artistic passions, and collaborative relationships can all come together to shape the way we tell stories. Ahmed collaborates with amazing artists in Canada to deliver love and inspire togetherness and hope.

About Ahmed Moneka :

Ahmed Moneka is a multidisciplinary artist specializing in acting in theatre / film and Afro-Middle Eastern music. Originally from Baghdad, Iraq, he was raised by a musical family, who honoured and preserved their Afro-Iraqi culture and traditions. His primary purpose as an artist is to spread love, peace, acceptance, and a sense of a “global community” by connecting cultures, consequently countering the negative, stereotypical perspective of Arab culture. Ahmed’s hybrid theatre-music production, King Gilgamesh & the Man of the Wild, premiered at Soulpepper in 2023 and will be co-presented by Prismatic Arts Festival and Neptune Theatre in Fall 2024.

Immersive Performance

Friday, October 4th, 2024 | 2PM – 4:30 PM
Alderney Landing Theatre
FSPA Students Only

Theatre Conspiracy offers an inside look into the creation and mechanics of Foreign Radical, an intriguing theatrical game that explores security, profiling, freedom of expression, and privacy in the age of cybersurveillance. After the performance, Theatre Conspiracy will lead students through a technical talkback and show and tell, demonstrating the elements involved in this participatory, immersive work of experimental theatre.

About Theatre Conspiracy :

Founded in 1995, Theatre Conspiracy is an experimental performance company and registered charity whose critical inquiry and aesthetic curiosity contributes to a public dialogue on vital contemporary themes in the international conversation.

Solo Performance

in partnership with Acadia University

Photo credits: Ramin Barzegar

Performance: Monday, September 23rd, 2024 | 7PM
Acadia University – Lower Denton Theatre

Masterclass #1: Tuesday, September 24th, 2024 | 2:30PM – 3:50 PM
Masterclass #2: Wednesday September 25th | 11:30AM – 12:20PM
Acadia University – Beveridge Arts Centre, Room 229

Ritual Music to Cure a Lover is the story of today’s Iran. It is the story of youth, rising up against their fathers’ choices. It is the story of love overcoming hate; of light destroying darkness.

Ritual reflects the cultural revolution taking place in the streets of Iran, right now. The play culminates in a traditional exorcism ceremony, intended to rid a young man of the “sickness” of his love for an outcast woman, which ultimately reveals his father’s long-buried secrets. The creator of Ritual, Shahin Sayadi, seamlessly shifts between multiple characters and temporalities, weaving together inter-generational perspectives that provide a panoramic viewpoint into the struggles of a community transitioning from a traditional village to a modern society. Fighting darkness to step back into the light.

This Masterclass will be one part performance, one part guidance.

About Shahin Sayadi :

Shahin was born in Abadan, Iran. He is the founder of Onelight Theatre and Prismatic Arts Festival in Halifax, and Onelight Theatre and Media Arts in Los Angeles. He is a lifelong fan of Bruce Lee.