Humber River Dance  

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*click photos for a closer look

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10 minutes or so, improvised solo dance

Healing Power Picnic,

Humber River at South Humber Park (Toronto)

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Saturday May 28, 2011

one o'clock until Dusk

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I arrived at the chosen site on the early side. Wolfgang Nessel had graciously invited me to perform at the

always uplifting Healing Power Picnic for the second time. I played a set of music in the shade under the white arc of the Humber River Bridge on a hot day in the Healing Power Picnic 11 (in 2010).

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This time, the picnic was further up from the lake, near the river, in South Humber Park. I had biked to the spot a few times since Wolfgang had invited me --  casing the joint. 

 

I was determined to not go into the cold water. And as such, had chosen a performance spot near the 1970's semi-circular cement shelter, based on an combination of sight lines, safety, and the desire to be warm.

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But, perhaps inevitably, the day of the gathering, just as I arrived to prepare, the river called to me through a narrow, short, easy path, which lead to a calm small bay where an intrepid audience could stand or sit in the grasses and sand. I loved the short walk they would take from the meeting spot, down a hill, into the narrow path, opening up to see the water alive with vegetation and light.

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I called a friend, thankfully she hadn't left her house yet. "Hey, could you please bring me a towel and a pair of underwear and maybe a T-shirt?".

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Later, people told me they loved the walk to the site, and apartment buildings in the distance. Later, I felt I had, when mucking about in the river, glimpsed the sensations waterfowl might have while navigating shoreline, the safety and danger of marsh. Temperatures, saturation, sensations on the feet.

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At some point, Renée Lear pulled a toy camera from Tokyo out of her pocket and shot parts of the performance. In 2011, we had the pleasure of screening this footage on Hanlan's Island (Toronto) at SPANE, curated by Johannes Zits.

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