Conference of the Birds

Artistic Director Denise Fujiwara and Fujiwara Dance Inventions premieres an exciting new site-specific dance at the Distillery Historic District as part of the fFIDA International Dance Festival.

Conference of the Birds
August 14 and 15, 2004
1:00 p.m.

Distillery Lane in the Distillery Historic District, 55 Mill Street
PWYC with a suggested donation of $10.
Contact the fFIDA hotline at 416-410-4291 for show times and rain dates

Conference of the Birds, is inspired by the ancient Sufi poem of the same
name by Farid Ud-Din Attar. Birds come from far and wide to discuss a
journey to seek "the Simurgh", the bird King of enlightenment. They are
told the journey will be long and unimaginably difficult. Frightened and
in a flap, the birds first give excuses as to why each is unsuitable or
unavailable to go. Eventually a brave number of them muster the courage
to embark on this extraordinary journey; a dance on an unknowable path to
discovery.

This work will be Fujiwara's first ensemble choreography after 14 years of
intensive solo performance and creation, and harrowing adventures in the
Japanese art of Butoh dance. A site-specific work for 9 dancers and three
musicians, Conference of the Birds features a dream cast of some of the
city's finest independent dancers. As diverse as the whimsical group of
birds that gather, the cast features Nova Bhattacharya, Leanne Dixon,
Michael DuMaresq, Katherine Duncanson, Viv Moore, Hope Terry, Philip
Shepherd, Heidi Strauss and Sasha Ivanochko. Sure to delight audiences of
all ages, Conference of the Birds invites you to join us on a flight of
the imagination.