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Dancer Jen

jennifermcleishlewis

About Me


Dance Artist, Yoga Instructor, Event Producer
Co-Artistic Director of The Tomorrow Collective

My Interests

Performer - Producer - Choreographer - Teacher

Jennifer McLeish-Lewis is a Vancouver based contemporary dance artist working internationally. She has performed in Brussels at Danse en Vol Festival with MACHiNENOiSY’s Body/Building (2003), down the west coast of the United States with Karl Frost’s Axolotl (2005), in Berlin with Felix Ruckert’s United Kingdom (2006), and participated in Spring Board Dance/The Banff Centre's Interarium residency (2006). In May 2007 she assistant-directed a remount of Urban Ballet by Martha Carter at Skola suvrmenog pleas Ane Maletic in Zagreb, Croatia.

Jennifer trained across Canada at The Alberta Ballet School, The School of Toronto Dance Theatre and at Main Dance, which she graduated from in 2002. Her training in contemporary techniques, ballet, contact improvisation and yoga, along with experience in club/rave culture has made her a versatile interpreter. She has performed works by Peter Bingham, Martha Carter, Susan Elliott, Karl Frost, David Pressault, Felix Ruckert, Helen Walkley and Daelik. Jennifer has been a company member of mmHoP since 2002 as a performer in stage and film work and at times as rehearsal director or choreographer’s assistant (martamartahop.com).

Jennifer is one of three co-artistic directors of The Tomorrow Collective; a company that produces the interdisciplinary performance series Brief Encounters. The “artistic blind date meets creation under the gun” showcase has created a buzz in the Vancouver arts community as a platform for accessible and inspiring interdisciplinary work. Funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, The Tomorrow Collective has produced eight installments of the series with number nine scheduled for April 2008.

Jennifer has had her work presented at Dances for a Small Stage, Dancing on the Edge, Signal and Noise, The Dance Center’s Dance Lab Series and Lucky Trimmer (Berlin). In July '07 she premiered a new solo at The Dancing on the Edge Festival as part of a program with the two other members of The Tomorrow Collective.

Jennifer is a certified Hatha Yoga instructor who has taught in Vancouver and Calgary since 2004. As an advanced contact improviser, she leads workshops, classes and jams in the form.

I'd like to meet:

the inspired

Movies:

some of my past performances ;

Heroes:

Istvan Kantor
Karl Frost
Radix Theatre
CSS

My Blog

guarded heart

there is a new feeling in my heartit has been growing with each disapointmenta little piece falls awaya little more scard, a little less willing to trustto falli want to be open to give over, to give ...
Posted by Dancer Jen on Tue, 24 Jul 2007 06:42:00 PST

it's a matter of choice

There is a deep hole in my bellyFilled with ropes tied in knotsYou live thereWith a few of your friendsI tied you thereOne after anotherMaking me weak and sick and hungryPretending to be wholeBut you ...
Posted by Dancer Jen on Mon, 28 May 2007 06:48:00 PST

Not quite Rumi

All I want to do is danceFuck off if you think I can'tYour wrongAll I want to do is fuckFuck off if you think I'm a slutI think you're the slutAll I want to do is loveFuck off if you aren't around to ...
Posted by Dancer Jen on Fri, 11 May 2007 05:54:00 PST

A few things I find interesting at the moment: (written a few months ago)

Good writingParticipatory/interactive performanceSite specific performanceDance not on a stageGolden heelsGolden bikinisFurry coatsMetallic everythingS/MFetishCostumeSexCelibacyHumorIronyWitCleverness ...
Posted by Dancer Jen on Fri, 11 May 2007 05:47:00 PST

Anais Nin

"For you and for me the highest moment, the keenest joy, is not when our minds dominate but when we lose our minds... Ordinary life does not interest me. I seek only the high moments. I am in accord w...
Posted by Dancer Jen on Wed, 09 May 2007 04:18:00 PST

Felix Ruckert - BDSM and Dance

I lived and trained in an intentional community directed by Felix Ruckert last fall in Berlin. The project was called "United Kingdom". For more info on U.K. specifically, check www.unitedkingdom/be...
Posted by Dancer Jen on Fri, 04 May 2007 07:59:00 PST

BOOM

this energycould destroy citiesseduction focusedin the right directionlike an atomicbomb
Posted by Dancer Jen on Sat, 14 Apr 2007 02:46:00 PST

gentle man

i first noticedyoublindfoldedtalldarkindian chiefbossed you aroundthe way i do withthe big oneswe rememberedtogetherwhen we satlatersounds likelyi said...
Posted by Dancer Jen on Sat, 14 Apr 2007 02:44:00 PST

Love Poem to Turquoise

Not blue Not greensomewhere in betweennot this or thatbut all and everythingsoothing and calmpeaceful and serineI want to be you, TurquoiseWhen I leave this strange dream...
Posted by Dancer Jen on Sat, 14 Apr 2007 02:28:00 PST

Fatal Strep Throat Anti-Love Poem

Yesterday I almost died of a coldBut no one was there to save meToday I bleed without being cutAnd I saved myself with a towelSometimes I wish I were a smokerTo embody the tortured artist clichéAnd fo...
Posted by Dancer Jen on Sat, 14 Apr 2007 02:26:00 PST