Cornwall Ontario — Women in Confinement is a modern and contemporary dance show which will be performed Saturday, May 4th from 7pm to 8:30pm with a reception to follow at The Social (formerly known as the Church on Sydney) by Dance Corps.

The pieces featured in this work explore women in history and literature, tragedy, and abandonment. A recurring leitmotiv in the full work is that of Ophelia, Hamlet’s beloved whom he abandons. This fragmented dance piece explores depictions of Ophelia in art, in particular her heartbreak, subsequent madness, and mysterious drowning. Also drawn from literature is Les femmes damnées (Flowers of Evil) set to Baudelaire’s nineteenth century poetry. The piece Olympe de Gouges is about the French revolutionary by this name who wrote the first Women’s Declaration of Human Rights and who was decapitated; and, American Girl in Hiroshima is about the atomic bomb in Japan during the Second World War. Other pieces explore friendship and the complexities of relationships between women and other people in their lives. The movement can be described as gestural and pedestrian at times with raw physicality mixed into the work. There is also a piece strictly movement based created from the students and teachers in collaboration with one another.

Choreographers Amanda Marini and Mélanie Bennett were trained in Graham, Limon, Nia, contact improvisation, and a variety of contemporary techniques in far-reaching places like Toronto, Vancouver, and Tokyo. Members of the Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists, the women work in direct lineage with modern dance pioneers, having studied with dancers from the original Graham and Limon companies. They carry the traditions with them in their works: their dances are communicative, thematic, abstract, and emotional; they reject all forms of competition and embrace democratic dance principles; and they never sacrifice their art for commercial purposes.

Amanda and Mélanie maintain their modern training by attending workshops and professional development courses in Canadian metropolises, by studying ballet locally with Jane Macmillan from the Cornwall School of Dance and by teaching their craft. Members also of the Ontario College of Teachers, they teach not only at Cornwall School of Dance (Thursdays, 7:45pm to 9pm) but also in Ontario schools. They have invited a few dancers from the Cornwall School of Dance as well as ballet-trained dancer and primary teacher Sarah Nielson to perform in ensemble pieces. The rest of their pieces are solos, duets, trios. Their works also delve into video and theatre.

Tickets can be bought at the door (adults: $10, youth: $5) or reserved in advance by calling 613-360-9261 or 613-330-9502 or you can also email amanda.marini@gmail.com or mmebennett@gmail.com to reserve tickets.