Dancing the Neighbourhood

Dr. Kathryn Ricketts has characters that she inhabits for the purpose of creating kinaesthetic provocations towards emancipatory encounters. Her 15 year old character LUG, donning an old overcoat and felt hat and always ‘lugging’ and old leather suitcase, dances stories of displacement, longing, belonging and in-betweeness. In this period of isolation, LUG and Dr. Kathryn Ricketts wandered her neighbourhood; the warehouse district of Regina, Saskatchewan and each week they created a very brief improvisation inspired by a site that resonated with them. The works are in dialogue with fierce winds, new grass and blooms, ever changing graffiti and general grit and rust akin to this area. The themes that arose; islands of isolation, tunnels of despair, desperately needing rest, not wanting to be just another statistic, longing for touch. These LUGS were shared with 5 other Dance artists across the world and they shared similar studies. They then created digital postcards in response to these. This presentation will show examples and theoretical and methodological breakdowns of all of these components.