Geometry of the Circle (1993)

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Now well into the third year of Peggy Baker | Solo Dance, Peggy is generating much of the new work herself, collaborating largely with Toronto-based musicians and composers. This early period of her work as a choreographer established live music as a distinguishing feature, with the musician not present as an unseen accompanist, but as an equal performance partner alongside her onstage.

“For this second work together, Ahmed Hassan and I started by reversing the rules we’d established for Sanctum, in which we were set far apart, each confined to our own small rectangle of space, and for which Ahmed’s music was comprised purely of percussive sound. For this new work, we had sculptor Janet Morton create a set of three objects to define the circumference of a circle, and Ahmed and I discovered and pursued one another within this miniaturized world. We thought of ourselves as entities with distinctly different modes of expression and communication: Ahmed a creature for whom sound was primary, and me a creature of gesture and action. Wearing a wireless mic, Ahmed careened about the space in his manual wheelchair while I bounded and scampered away from him and toward him, finally meeting face to face, stepping inside the footrests of his chair, grasping him by the shoulders, and lowering myself to squat back on my heels while we met eyes and he “sang” to me.

An invitation to revive Geometry of the Circle for performances as part of the cultural celebrations for the 2010 Winter Paralympics in Vancouver led to a decade of rich collaboration with the vocalist Fides Krucker. First interpreting and reconstructing Ahmed’s extraordinarily eccentric vocal score, Fides then taught it to performer Mark Brose, coaching him in the intricacies of a virtuoso performance that he shared with two exquisite dancers: Alison Denham and Sahara Morimoto.

Geometry of the Circle is as dear to me as a love letter, inscribed with the disappearing ink of live performance.” PB

"Hassan...earthbound...confined to a wheelchair... (Baker) his velvet-jointed sylph...a celebration of mutual power, and of constructive differences." - Robert Everett-Green / Globe and Mail

Read about Janet Morton knitting a cozy for an entire house on Ward’s Island here on Torontosavvy.com. For a more academic analysis of Janet’s work, read Emily Jane Rothwell’s Master’s Thesis here.

Non Coupable (1982/1990)

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Peggy’s connections with Paul-André Fortier, the ground-breaking choreographer from Montreal, are many but they begin with the acquisition of his solo Non Coupable early in her company’s history. Paul-André writes:

“This solo first premiered in 1982, masterfully performed by Susan Macpherson. The piece was later performed by three other remarkable dancers: Michèle Febvre, Manon Levac and Peggy Baker. Each drew upon their background, experience and physique to plumb the depths of this work in a unique way. Peggy embraced this solo body and soul, crafting the darkest, most nuanced portrayal of a woman caught between her fears and her desires.” PAF

Peggy adds: “I learned Non Coupable from my friend and teacher Susan Macpherson before being coached by Paul-André, and from the first moment he and I were alone in the studio together, a particular mix of responses arose in me that have held true over the years since: awe and some intimidation in the presence of a great and uncompromising artist; intense attraction to Paul-André as an extremely intelligent, funny, physically charged, and outspoken person; fascination and respect for his provocative work; and a direct confrontation with my vulnerabilities and limitations as a dancer.

I performed Non Coupable for the first time as part of my solo debut in Winnipeg in 1990, and I continued to come back to it for another 17 years. The shock and charge of the actions, acts, and images that drive the choreography remain as vivid sensory memories for me: the rumble, scraping strum, and metallic hammer strikes of the prepared piano in Henry Kucharzyk’s searing score; the tight wrap of the costume against every contour of my body, and the binding of the rope on my arms; my vision distorted by the mask; the tremendous weight of the stones, and baring my breast to suckle one; sitting over my heels, knees open, the crack and thud of one stone slamming the other against my crotch. It is an intense piece for both the viewer and performer, but one that stands out for me as an incredible work of art.” PB

Tying together the Creation Catalogue blog posts since late May is the brief critique of Peggy’s 1991 solo show for NYC’s Danspace Project by James Sewell in Ballet Review. Covering Non Coupable, Sanctum, This Isn’t the End, Inner Enchantments and The Volpe Sisters, this review has provided the Peggy Baker Dance Projects’ management team over the years with one of the best pull quotes an arts manager could dream of: “There are good dancers. There are great dancers. And then there is Peggy Baker… From the essence of gesture to the unrestrained explosion in space, Baker moves with eloquence and force. It’s like seeing the human body for the first time.”

The first - and iconic - photo below, taken by Cylla von Tiedemann, supports Mr. Sewell’s thoughts.

From more information on the reviewer, visit James Sewell Ballet here.

Sanctum (1991)

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We’re in 1991 now, with Peggy living and working in Toronto under the moniker Peggy Baker | Solo Dance, the precursor to today’s company, Peggy Baker Dance Projects, creating her first collaboration with composer and musician - and now her husband! - Ahmed Hassan.

“Sanctum holds a very significant place in my creative life. It marks new commitments: to Ahmed Hassan and his daughter Shireefa; to Toronto; and to a mindful and devoted practice as a solo dancer. Sanctum proposes artistic practice as spiritual practice, and delineates a tightly circumscribed space for each performer: the dancer standing in a rectangle of light marked at the corners with short dowels; the musician, cross-legged on a carpet, his instruments arrayed within reach. Even as I describe this, I feel myself falling into the measured tempo of ritual, within which each gesture and sound arrives with purpose and immediacy.

During the creation of Sanctum I had vivid memories of being in the presence of Martha Graham as an aspiring dancer – one in which she dared us students to declare, “I am a dancer, now,” and another in which she offered my name to me anew by inscribing in a book about her work, “For Peggy Baker, best wishes for her life and work, Martha Graham”. I felt the indelible influence of her technique in the shapes and dynamics of the choreography. I felt myself as a dancer whose work arises through the echoes and imprints of legacy as well as through the complexities and details of a unique life.“ - PB

Peggy gifted Sanctum to Nova Bhattacharya and Helen Jones as part of her Choreographer’s Trust project in 2002/03. Read more about the Choreographer’s Trust here.
For insight into Ahmed Hassan’s work as a composer, watch this 1986 video of Blue Snake, commissioned by the National Ballet of Canada from Robert Desrosiers, Ahmed Hassan and John Lang.