PROJECT // TBD
Together we will look at taking existing modalities, specifically ones that hold a presumed utility and/or meaning, and attempt to recontextualize it’s purpose or viewing by way of subversion. One of our avenues to pursue this research will be through the examination of a well-known song. By way of singing or the playing of a musical instrument, virtuosity will serve as our chosen method for us to contort / renew / invigorate the song’s reading and/or meaning.
Another avenue we will use to pursue our research will be the investigation / interrogation of specific common contemporary dance devices, such as male/female duets. In this, we are interested in critically examining the contemporary dance style of the ‘heterosexual’ duet. Regarding it as a fertile ground to deconstruct gender roles and to re-imagine new forms of physical connection from our own queer perspectives.
BIO // Hailing from the Greater Toronto Area, Justin de Luna is a queer millennial, currently residing and working in tiohtià:ke / Mooniyang, also known as Montréal. Dancer, artist and gemini, he treats his practice as personal inserts / investments of his own vitality, thinking and inquiry towards the investigation of the intersections he notices are present. Artistically, these often come out in aesthetics, performative gesture, virtuosity, choreography and documentation, and have been expressed within the avenues of making, collaborating, interpreting, choreographing and curating. His most recent activities include: co-creating a site-specific performance with Winnie Ho as guest artists for Part 2 of Make Banana Cry by Andrew Tay & Stephen Thompson at the Festival Trans Amériques in June 2022; premiering Fragile & Useless – lcr.i/group/2019-2022 by Simon Portigal in May 2022; and co-curating the last two editions of Studio 303’s Queer Performance Camp alongside Winnie Ho.
Winnie Ho is a dance artist and curator who was born in Hong Kong, and currently lives in Montreal. She is now working on reclaiming and autonomizing her intersectional identities as a queer-Chinese-diasporic-working class-immigrant by deepening her relationship with grief, joy and pleasure as she is inspired by the quote “What is most personal is the most universal” by psychologist Carl Rogers. She was the recipient of the 2017 Danceweb Scholarship Program at Impulstanz Festival in Vienna. Her passion for working in experimental and unconventional structures and spaces has led her to create immersive installations and performances in festivals in Germany, New York City, Portugal and in various galleries in Montreal. In addition, Winnie co-curated Studio 303’s Queer Performance Camp with Justin de Luna from 2020-2022 and recently collaborated with Justin as guest artists for Make Banana Cry by Stephen Thompson & Andrew Tay at the Festival TransAmériques in Montreal. Her latest solo work aWokening, will be premiered in September 2022 and presented by Danse-cité, Montreal.