For Body and Light : Parrsboro to Montreal to New York and beyond

You may have seen poet Ian Ferrier, choreographer Stephanie Morin-Robert and the dancers of For Body and Light, Linnea Gwiazda, Marie-Pier Gilbert and Marie-France Jacques, during their residency in Parrsboro last summer, a visit which culminated in Coming and Going, a contemporary performance inspired by historic Parrsboro and the movement of the tides in the Minas Basin.

Much as the tides which inspired it, the piece which began in Parrsboro seems to transform with each performance.

Their most recent version, which also included dancers Alexia Martel and Allison Burns, was a series of performances from March 1st through 7th at The Kraine Theater as part of the 2014 Frigid New York Festival. The show received great reviews (http://thehappiestmedium.com/2014/03/for-body-and-light-2014-frigid-new-york-festival/ and http://www.theasy.com/Reviews/2014/F/forbodyandlight.php).

Their next performance will be at VERSe FEST in Ottawa on March 27th at the Knox Presbyterian Church. For more information on that event https://www.facebook.com/events/408825385920299/

For more information on For Body and Light, check out their website at www.forbodyandlight.org

For inquiries, write to [email protected] or to [email protected]

 

 

Coming & Going on Saturday August 17

Main & Station Presents

For Body and Light / pour corps et lumière

COMING & GOING
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For the next week or so keep your eyes open around Parrsboro as poet Ian Ferrier, choreographer Stephanie Robert and dancers Marie-Pier Gilbert, Marie-France Jacques, and Linnea Gwiazda explore, practice and perform in the streets, on the beaches and, on Saturday, at Main & Station…https://www.facebook.com/events/582619101781267/

Don’t miss this contemporary performance inspired by historic Parrsboro and the movement of the tides in the Minas Basin.

WHERE: Main & Station, 168 Main Street, Parrsboro

PRICE: pay what you can
WHEN: Saturday, August 17, 2013, doors open at 8:30pm, show starts at 9pm

choreography by-
Stephanie Robert

sound and voice by-
Ian Ferrier

performance by-
Marie-Pier GilbertMarie-France JacquesLinnea Gwiazda

Writing Workshops with Ian Ferrier

 

b_IanSelfPortraitDo you have a story to tell? Perhaps your own? Looking for a reason to visit beautiful Nova Scotia? Then do not miss this opportunity to meet and learn from Ian Ferrier, one of the core writer/performers in the North American performance literature scene. Despite a hectic schedule of performance, collaboration and event organization that has him ever on the move, Ferrier will be offering two very different writing courses this summer in the coastal town of Parrsboro, Nova Scotia known for the world’s highest tides and described by National Geographic magazine as “the prettiest place to watch the Bay of Fundy tides sweep in and out.”

The first, Writing the Story of Your Life, is a 3-day workshop (July 26-28) which will use a very open mind to help each participant choose the best way to bring writing into his or her life—from journals to offhand storytelling to serious works of poetry or prose. It is open to anyone who wants to engage writing as a tool for discovering the meaning and excitement in life. To find out more and to register, CLICK HERE.

The second, The Voice of the Writer, is a 5-day workshop (July 29 -August 2) intended for writers who want to develop the range, beauty and breadth of their own voice.  It sees print as the typescript for an unruly talker who breaks out of the page and announces her or his discoveries to the world.  It examines how even the most sophisticated writers in the language are grounded in voice, even if it is only a voice heard in the mind.  It is open to writers of poetry and prose as well as spoken word artists, to anyone looking at how to use a tool that still rules in the literature of the 21st century. To find out more and to register, CLICK HERE.

Ian Ferrier’s work is well-known across Canada, New York and Europe. Rooted in poetry, his live performances are a haunting blend of acoustic guitar, choir; whispered voice, and the trancelike music of a band called Pharmakon MTL. His signature is the quiet, compelling voice at the centre of every piece.
His first CD/book, Exploding Head Man, received national acclaim. Rooted in the spellbound winters of his childhood, it took a passionate look at love, sex and death against a background of the falling snow; representing the best of three years of collaborations with musicians from Montreal and New York.

What is this Place? features two collaborations with the trance/improv band Pharmakon MTL, two solo works, and nine collaborations between Ferrier and a starstudded list of top Quebec musicians, including Jean Derome, Normand Guilbealt, Pierre Tanguay, Sam Shalabi, André Asselin, Bryan Highbloom, Kathy Kennedy and Gordon Krieger.  Recently his work featured on Australia’s Going Down Slow CD and literature anthology, in Canadian Theatre Review and in the Review of the Americas special issue on Canadian Literature. Stories of his can be found in Telling Stories and the anthology You and Your Bright Ideas (both Vehicule Press). Impure-Reinventing the Word is a book from Conundrum Press that documents the literary scene of which he is a part, and you can find his poems and music in the Short Fuse anthology from Rattapallax Press and the Poetry Nation anthology from Vehicule.
Ian Ferrier also co-founded the Mile End Poets’ Festival, the online performance review litlive.ca, and the poetry/music label Wired on Words which won public radio’s Standard Broadcasting Award in its first year. To Call Out in the Night, his most recent CD with Pharmakon MTL, can be heard at at CBC Music. He resides in Montreal, where he hosts the city’s monthly Words & Music literature series, and remains on the board of the Quebec Writers’ Federation as their past president. Ferrier’s work in the spoken word community was recognized at the 2011 Calgary International Spoken Word Festival, where he received a national poetry award called the Golden Beret.
Want to know more? Check out these links about Ian Ferrier and what he does…