* This page will be updated ~ including ‘off the press’ new images by Alexis McKeown ~ in the weeks ahead . . . Check in from time to time!
“It’s amazing
“what one can accomplish
“when one doesn’t know
“what one can’t do”
~ Garfield
Dedication
The Creation and Presentation
of this Canmore Photographic Exhibit and Live Performances
is Dedicated to
Ariole’s father Ray and dear friend Barb ~ who were ‘front row’ on opening night ~ August 15, 2014 . . .
Blonde Dude and ‘The Invisible One’ ~ for knowing to BE there ~ on closing night 🙂
Roxanne for ‘carrying the torch’ (and the tulips) through the ‘rising of the tide’ . . .
And always and forever ~ to Dorcas, Jan and Tim ~ Claire and Dave, Alastair and Emma, Carol and Jennifer and Glen, Jim and Denise and Marion ~ for being such impeccably present and supportive family ~ through more years than anyone ever imagined these ‘pink tights’ might inspire!!
And to Kay and Wes, Bill and Meta ~ for always ‘being there ~ in the wings’ 🙂
artsPlace Canmore
and Ariole Alei Dance co-present
‘there’s a camel on my back’
“Easily one of the most alluring performances of the year.” – Monday Magazine
“Brilliant … a master.” – The Georgia Straight
Performance Dates and Times …
Photographic Exhibit of Alexis McKeown’s ‘moving images’ of Ariole ~ in The Hub Gallery
- May 28 – June 18
Opening Reception ~ in The Hub Gallery
- Friday, June 1 @ 7 pm
Simultaneous Open Rehearsal ~ in the Theatre
- Friday, June 1 @ 7:30 pm
Performances ~ in the Theatre
- Friday, June 15 + Sunday, June 17 @ 7:30 pm
Running time of Performances is 75 minutes + Audience Talkback (15 minutes ~ or as inspired!)
Venue …
artsPlace, 950 – 8th Avenue, Canmore, Alberta, Canada
For tickets and information, click …
* * *
‘there’s a camel on my back’ was first presented as a 5 solo programme in 1 act during the Winnipeg, Vancouver, and Victoria Fringe Festivals in 1989. Met by rave reviews, “must see”, “hot show”, “not to be missed” buzzes and sold-out houses, it was likely the first ever dance production to be presented in the Fringe ‘theatre’ Festival circuit.
Receiving masterful mentorship in the presence of Artistic Director Arnold Spohr during her many years of training in the Professional Division of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Ariole innately learned how to create an ‘arc’ – a transformational journey of discovery and up-liftment for her audience.
As a young girl lingering in the theatre, mesmerized after seeing contemporary ballets by world-class choreographers and awe-inspiring dancers, Ariole instinctively knew that her role as a ‘dancer’ is like an adult loon to its babies. Respectfully she picks each person in the audience up and carries them on her ‘back’ through territory of emotional liberation and spiritual inspiration that they are often not easily adept at accessing themselves. Soaring through arcs of sometimes epic proportions, she gently sets each person down at performance end, integrated enough to make their way into ‘the world’ … yet somehow changed and renewed …
During the 1989 debut tour of ‘there’s a camel on my back’, audiences often lingered post-performance in silence and stillness, clearly not wanting to leave the awe-inspiring ambience and re-enter ‘the world’. At some points in the performances the audience was so quiet, “you could hear a pin drop”.
* * *
The 2018 Canmore Photographic Exhibit + Live Performances of ‘there’s a camel on my back’ celebrate Ariole’s 29th Anniversary of solo touring. The first tour in 1989 was followed by a 14-year ‘temporary retirement’. The second tour in 2003-05 was followed by a 9-year ‘temporary retirement’. In summer 2012 Ariole began reconstructing 14 of the 20-some solos in her repertoire for her 2014 return to the stage. These Canmore performances arise from the richness of her most recent 4-year ‘temporary retirement’. How? Daily yoga since age 14, an inner knowing that she ‘isn’t yet complete’, and the fortuitous devotion of daily meditation 🙂
‘there’s a camel on my back’ 2018 is a new production including 4 of the original solos, 2 created in 2003-05, and 1 created in 1986 for Ariole by Anna Wyman. Timeless pieces of enigmatic beauty, these 7 solos transport the audience into realms of liberation and inspiration rare to experience.
This production includes the unique attributes of
- Alexis McKeown’s first solo exhibit ~ in The Hub Gallery
- Ariole’s first photographic exhibit ~ of solos from this 7-solo production of ‘there’s a camel on my back’ ~ ‘then, recent, now’
- Opening Reception in The Hub Gallery ~ an opportunity to speak with Alexis as you view her exquisitely alluring photographs
- Open Rehearsal in the Theatre ~ an opportunity to view ‘close up’ the rehearsal process with Ariole
- During Performances ~ semi-visible-to-the-audience transitions during costume changes, offering a ‘voyeur view’ into the ‘inner workings’ of what some have called the mesmerizing ‘ritual’ of the dancer’s metamorphosis from solo to solo
- Artist’s voice-overs ~ sharing insights into the ‘artistic process’
- ‘Audience Talkback’ following the Open Rehearsal + Performances – an intimate opportunity for questions, sharing, and celebrating the depth of the audiences’ experiences
For tickets and information, click …
* * *
Courses to Nourish You ~ as you experience Alexis and Ariole’s Artistry . . .
If your emotions have been stirred by what you have seen, heard, and felt in ‘there’s a camel on your back’ . . . and you would like supportive tools to address these emotions and insights . . . please consider visiting The Power of Anger and Soul Mates – as well as 30 Day Meditation Oasis plus H.O.P.E. = Healing Ourselves and Planet Earth, The Power of Intuition, Be The Wave Of Change, and Abundance In Action – aka ‘How to Get Out Of Your Own Way’! (hosted here at URLight) . . .
These Online Audio Courses – based on Ariole’s Books – are specifically designed to assist you in benefiting most directly from the ‘wake’ of liberation that ‘she’ demonstrates . . .
With loving tenderness and ‘pure power’ . . .
🙂 i am ‘ariole’
Choreographer and Performer*
Ariole K. Alei
Lighting Designer
Martin Finnerty
Stage Manager
Maria Gregorish
Programme
“Dragon Fly”
Music – Pat Metheny “Oasis”
Original Costume – Eva Christiansen*
Premiere – July 1989
A voyeur view of a dragonfly beetle shedding its skin.
~
“Was … Is”
Music – Ayub Ogada “Kothbiro”
Costume – Ariole K. Alei
Premiere – September 2003
Waking to the first rays of dawn on a new planet, a lone creature discovers its ‘Self’.
~
“Lost”
Music – Mark Isham “In The Blue Distance”
Costume – Ariole K. Alei
Premiere – July 1989
“Lost” speaks of a universal human pain, a weeping emptiness, as if someone had torn a part of us from our own bellies, and we were left, bleeding.
~
“The Times After”
Music – A.D. Perry (Toni Stanick, violin; A.D. Perry, piano)
Original Costume – Ariole K. Alei
Premiere – May 1988
“The Times After” first came to me as a vision at night. It persisted. It wouldn’t let me rest until I had listened to it, honoured it, and ‘created’ it. A prayer for the end of sexual and physical abuse and domestic violence, “The Times After” was the first solo dance ‘I’ created.
~
“Back from the Edge”
Music – Andreas Vollenweider “Drown In Pale Light” and “The Secret, The Candle, And Love”
Costume based on Original Design by Janet McNulty*
Premiere – July 1989
Inspired by my recovery from a fractured knee, “Back from the Edge” is a dance of sheer joy and deep appreciation, a celebration of life. It is dedicated to the will to thrive which lives in all of us.
~
“The Passage”
Music – Howard Goodall “She Moved Through The Fair” (traditional Irish song)
Costume – Ariole K. Alei
Premiere – September 2003
A young maiden on the eve of her rite of passage – her wedding.
~
“Umbrella Solo from City Piece”
Choreography – Anna Wyman*
Music – Edgar Froese
Costume based on Original Design by Mary Galbraith*
Premiere – 1985
Created for me by Anna Wyman, Artistic Director of the Anna Wyman Dance Theatre, with whom I toured internationally in 1983-86. This solo is an excerpt from a full evening ensemble production entitled “City Piece”. My passionate exploration within it is the limitless soaring of the uplifting effects of air and wind.
* Choreography or Costume Design by artists specified.
** All Photos by Alexis McKeown except ‘The Passage” and black-and-whites of “Umbrella Solo”.
*** The Audio Voice-Overs heard during costume changes in “there’s a camel on my back” have been recorded using a state-of-the-art omni-dimensional microphone, a singular prototype of which has been gifted personally to His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1995 . . .