To describe Sara Porter as a dancer/choreographer just doesn’t seem adequate. Yes, Sara is a beautifully articulate mover but Sara is also a wickedly funny, heart melting actor, a poet, a clown, a designer, a yukelele playing songstress and a critical theorist. She is one of the most unique and intelligent art creators I know. Her work can be at once deliciously sensual, disturbingly intimate, provocative and ridiculously funny within a devised visual world that never ceases to delight.
Sara has created over twenty five multi disciplinary works. Her one woman show Sara does a Solo toured across Canada and the US to critical acclaim. Her most recent Getting to know your fruit was part of Fall for Dance North in 2019 and is currently being transformed into a film directed by William Yong.
Sara’s dance writing has appeared in print and online journals, in anthologies and collected Canadian dance studies books, over the last thirty years. She is the author of Peter in Progress, Peter Boneham’s Sixty Years in Dance, a biography of the Canadian dance icon.
Sara has taught in universities in Canada and Scotland and has developed a unique form; Memoir and Movement which incorporates literary memoir, poetry, vocal work and movement improvisation which has inspired students in three continents.
By Philippa Domville – (Toronto actor and best friend of 35 years)
Which ‘hood are you in?
I live in the West End of Toronto – between Christie Pits and Wychwood neighbourhoods
What do you do?
I’m a contemporary dancer – choreographer – performer – writer – teacher (and a Mum to 3 teens).
What are you currently working on?
I am rehearsing my solo “Getting to know your Fruit” to ready it for filming with film-maker William Yong in early September. It’s a memoir-based, dance-driven film about being queer that explores the biology, sensuality and poetry of fruit – from Eve’s transgressive bite of the apple (was it an apple?) to a Motown version of a dancing banana. (Did you know that a banana is a radioactive berry?).
The pieces blends botany with humour to examine the myriad ways in which we negotiate stories we tell about ourselves and our roots. It premieres – online – at Toronto’s international dance festival Fall for Dance North on October 7 th. The stage show was CoVid cancelled in May 2020. This film – created in collaboration with director William Yong – is opening up a whole new world of creative possibilities!
Where can we find your work?
Website, Watch, Read & Sara Porter Productions page on FB
