This weekend is Emergency #19, the annual Peterborough Public Energy show of new performances/work in progress and I will be presenting Maeve's Intoxication. This 12 minute piece is the first in a series of "teaching dances" I am developing as part of my Sophia Lecture Series, and Emergency is a venue for me to gather some feedback. I hope you tell me about your reactions, critical or positive, if you see the piece.
When I am not dancing, I am a human rights educator, and the Sophia Lecture Series is a combination of performance and theory, or what I am calling "teaching dances". I have a great belief in the ability of theatre and dance to express concepts at a much deeper, experiential level than what a lecture alone can convey. As I explore transformational and embodied learning in my Masters of Adult Education program, I am reflecting on new ways to share my ideas. These short dance theatre pieces are followed by dialogue and a presentation of ideas and images on a range of social and environmental issues from a feminist, anti-racist lense. I hope to present them in small venues around town (the term 'salon' comes to mind - would a contemporary format be 'house concert'?).
Maeve's Intoxication
In this first piece, I am calling upon an ancient Celtic goddess to speak to a foundational problem in Western society - its over-reliance on rational thought and loss of connection to body and soul. Maeve is the name I give to the voice who often speaks within me when I dance the chaos rhythm at Dance Your Bones. You will see how I embody her in this piece.
Maeve is also an interesting character from the Ulster Cycle tales of ancient Ireland, a fierce Queen who may have taken her name from an older sovereignty goddess. Sovereignty goddesses are those that confer the right to rule, and in this pre-patriarchy period in the British Isles, a king would ritually marry a priestess serving Maeve in order to take the throne. Her name comes from the sacred drink "meade", and hence she is also known as goddess of intoxication, as well as sexuality. Others say Maeve was the daughter of the Morrighan, a fearsome dark goddess who could shapeshift. Maeve was faster than a horse, and when she urinated, she created rivers. When she led her army to war, fighting would stop while she menstruated. Her colour is red and she carries a two-handed sword.
Dark goddesses represent the night before sunrise, winter before spring, or the death that comes before rebirth. Their energy is healing, as they clean away the psychic waste that accumulates around our souls, the way a powerful thunderstorm clears the dust and humidity from the air. There can be no new beginning without them and their fearsome form reminds us that growth is sometimes painful but in the end so worthwhile.
Maeve also calls the Celtic peoples (Irish, British, Scottish descent) to account for the monolithic empire of reason that they have constructed around themselves since the Enlightenment, and the post-colonial legacy that empire has left in its wake. She is the wild female stamping her foot, shaking the foundations of patriarchy until it tumbles.
"Emergency #19" is an opportunity to showcase new work, but it is not a format where I can present the theory, so you will only see the performance. Let me know if you are interested though and when the full event is ready, I will invite you to one of my 'salons'.
Show times:
Friday March 30th at 7:30 pm & Sunday April 1st at 2:00 pm
Market Hall, Peterborough
$15
