+DESIGN
Dance Artist Rachana Joshi
& Lighting Designer Melissa Joakim
partnership
November 12-17, 2023
Open Rehearsal: Friday, Nov. 17th, 1:00pm
Tickets: $10 or pay what you want
Arts Orillia is thrilled to host a second iteration of adelheid's re:research+design program. This residency focuses on providing emerging performance makers with mentorship and design infrastructure in a theatre, so that they can imagine their work to its fullest potential. The program supports artists who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Colour.
"Moon Child"
The sun is often called the eternal observer, not affected by the trials and tribulations of the world it lights up. The moon though, waxes and wanes, is said to influence psychic energies, and there is a certain vulnerability about its nature. The moon has been an enigmatic force in my life. Growing up, I recognized that beyond its beauty, the moon has a quiet, deep strength. It governs the tides of the oceans, and is integral to maintaining the very rhythm of the Earth. This work explores the mythological, symbolic, and personal significance of the moon from the lens of my practice as a Bharatanatyam dancer. I examine the cycle of the moon and the cyclical nature of pain and pleasure: how without one the other cannot exist.
Artist Biographies
Rachana Joshi
Rachana Joshi is an emerging dance artist based in Toronto. She completed her Bharatanatyam arangetram in 2017 and is a dancer and teacher at Sampradaya Dance Center. In 2019, she graduated from York University's B.F.A program in Dance and received training in modern technique. Rachana is a company dancer with Nova Dance. She worked as Nova Bhattacharya’s Staging Assistant for Red & Yellow and most recently was a dancer in the company’s production Svaha! Rachana is focused on broadening her choreographic skills and building multidisciplinary collaborations. She is a co-founder of Kala Collective, an art collective of South Asian dancers.
Melissa Joakim
Melissa Joakim is a lighting and projection designer and scenographer. She is a recipient of a Dora Award in Scenic Design for Prophecy Fog (The Theatre Centre, Paper Canoe Projects and Nightswimming Theatre). She has recently collaborated with Outside the March, Ahuri Theatre, Bad New Days, Lucid Ludic, Theatre Why Not, Theatre Passe Muraille, Lemontree Creations, Soundstreams, Signal Theatre, ARC Stage Co, and Crow’s Theatre. She is the stage manager and touring lighting designer for Sea Sick (Theatre Centre, 2014) which has toured extensively around the world and recently had its USA premiere at The Kennedy Center.
