Dancers in the Library

(posted Sept. 4, 2016)

Join us on Friday, September 23 at 4:00 pm for a unique event, Dancers in the Library, with live performances by Colleen Quigley and Candice Pike.

Dancers in the Library is a freepublic event that will showcase two dance performances which explore literacy and archival preservation issues.

Colleen Quigley is the Manuscripts Librarian and Acting Head for the Performing Arts Collection at the Archives and Special Collections at Memorial University’s QEI Library in St. John's. She also holds a BFA in Dance from York University. She has worked as a performer, dance instructor and choreographer worldwide and has participated in Canadian think tanks, panels, and exhibitions on the preservance and other aspects of the performing arts. Her piece, Dancing Documents, addresses a myriad of issues relating to the archiving and preservation of performing arts material. This 20-minute dance is light-hearted, informative and sparks much audience discussion.

Candice Pike’s 21 Love Poems in Motion is comprised of movement vignettes, each connected to one of Adrienne Rich’s poems. Each vignette is based either on the emotional theme, the social commentary, or the form and rhythm of the corresponding poem. Some vignettes attempt to reproduce the poem in movement, while others respond to the ideas that Rich presents in writing. Ms. Pike’s work explores what it means to be ‘inside’ or ‘outside’ a relationship and is informed by her background in social science study which contextualizes the pieces in the cultural climate that Rich was writing in.

Candice Pike is a dance practitioner-researcher-teacher whose work is rooted in building/exploring geographic and identity-based communities. In recent years she has used her multi-disciplinary approach to choreograph and dance in several full-length works; developed a series of site-specific solos and duets based on the work of local visual artists, as well as site-specific, improvised, durational pieces, all across the counrty. Candice completed an MA in Dance. She is the president of DanceNL, secretary of the national council of the Canadian Dance Assembly, 2014 winner of the Roberta Thomas Legacy Award. In 2013 she was short-listed for the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council’s Emerging Artist of the Year Award and in 2013 and 2014 was part of the team that won Arts Event of the Year at the Corner Brook ACE Awards.

Admission is free. The performance will be followed by a reception with hot hors- d'oeuvres and a cash bar.

Dancers in the Library is sponsored by Memorial University's Cross-Campus Initiatives Fund, the Ferriss Hodgett Library, and Grenfell Campus Marketing & Communications (Marcomm).