Aanmitaagzi: Penny Couchie
Dance Style
contemporary Indigenous
Workshop Title
Reflected in the Water
Workshop Description
This workshop, Reflected In the Water, is aimed at exploring relationship to ourselves, each other and our environment. What are we moved by? How do we celebrate the diversity of our bodies and the multitude of ways we express ourselves? Reflected In The Water explores what is gained when we have the opportunity to make more choices, to take responsibility for our development and what happens when there is shared leadership in a dance class. Reflected In The Water is rooted in an historic Anishinaabe story and world-view. We are invited to investigate our ideas and emotionality in relationship to our dancing body. This workshop looks at contemporary dance training informed by Anishinaabe worldview.
Artist Bio
Penny Couchie (Anishinaabe) is a dancer, actor, teacher and choreographer from Nipissing First Nation, Ontario. She holds an Honors BA in Aboriginal Studies and Drama from the University of Toronto and is a graduate of The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. Most recently, Penny was awarded the 2016 KM Hunter award in Dance.
Penny has performed as a dancer and theatre artist in principal roles both nationally and internationally. She has guest taught at universities and colleges throughout Canada and the US, including the Centre for Indigenous Theatre, where she has been a faculty member since 1998. From 1998 to 2003 she participated in the Aboriginal Dance Project at the Banff Centre for the Arts as a student, choreographer and teacher.
Her most recent choreography includes her latest full length dance theatre work, When Will You Rage?, Planet IndigenUs, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Dances of Resistance, Aanmitaagzi’s multi-year community-engaged dance theatre project, Common Ground and You Promised, I Lied, Centre for Indigenous Theatre; Like An Old Tale and A Bridge of One Hair, Jumblies Theatre, Toronto.
In 2001, she co-founded Earth in Motion World Indigenous Dance with Alejandro Ronceria, and produced 9 International Indigenous Choreographer's workshops. In 2007 with her husband, Sid Bobb, she co-founded Aanmitaagzi, an Indigenous arts company creating multi-disciplinary works with professional artists and community. Aanmitaagzi is currently in their final year of a three-year, multidisciplinary project called Serpent People. Most recently, she was the choreographer and a performer/collaborator for Material Witness, a co-production between Aanmitaagzi and Spiderwoman Theatre that premiered in New York, 2016.
Penny has performed as a dancer and theatre artist in principal roles both nationally and internationally. She has guest taught at universities and colleges throughout Canada and the US, including the Centre for Indigenous Theatre, where she has been a faculty member since 1998. From 1998 to 2003 she participated in the Aboriginal Dance Project at the Banff Centre for the Arts as a student, choreographer and teacher.
Her most recent choreography includes her latest full length dance theatre work, When Will You Rage?, Planet IndigenUs, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Dances of Resistance, Aanmitaagzi’s multi-year community-engaged dance theatre project, Common Ground and You Promised, I Lied, Centre for Indigenous Theatre; Like An Old Tale and A Bridge of One Hair, Jumblies Theatre, Toronto.
In 2001, she co-founded Earth in Motion World Indigenous Dance with Alejandro Ronceria, and produced 9 International Indigenous Choreographer's workshops. In 2007 with her husband, Sid Bobb, she co-founded Aanmitaagzi, an Indigenous arts company creating multi-disciplinary works with professional artists and community. Aanmitaagzi is currently in their final year of a three-year, multidisciplinary project called Serpent People. Most recently, she was the choreographer and a performer/collaborator for Material Witness, a co-production between Aanmitaagzi and Spiderwoman Theatre that premiered in New York, 2016.
Artist Website
www.aanmitaagzi.net
Artist Email
aanmitaagzi@gmail.com
