Tett art groups explore the ‘fabrics of movement’ through unique collaboration

By Hollie Pratt-Campbell

Each November, the Kingston Handloom Weavers and Spinners hold their annual show and sale, which features many of the different fabrics and articles of clothing members have created throughout the year. This year, they decided to add a bit of a twist to the tradition.

“We do the same old sale year in and year out and this year we wanted to do something different,” explained Weavers and Spinners member Dorothy Young.

Dancing Threads…Ta Dah! and the Whizz Bang Sale, a combined fashion show, clothing sale and contemporary dance performance, took place Nov. 2 at the Domino Theatre. It was a collaborative effort between the Kingston Handloom Weavers and Spinners and the Kingston School of Dance (KSD), two arts organizations that will move into the Tett Centre once construction is completed.

“Since collaboration is the order of the day, we thought well why don’t we do that,” Young said. “Ebon [Gage, artistic director of the KSD] is a good friend. We’ve been talking about doing something like this for years and decided this was the opportunity.”

The show was originally supposed to take place in the new Tett Centre, however when it became known in July that the projected fall move-in date would be delayed, that didn’t stop Young and Gage from moving forward with the project.

“Ebon talked to Bob Brooks at the Domino and we thought, heck, we can still do this and we’re just going to do it at the Domino,” said Young.

The show featured a group of KSD dancers modelling the Weavers and Spinners’ handmade designs in a unique modern dance performance.

“It’s Ebon-style contemporary, which is more unique than the traditional contemporary you see at competitions and stuff,” explained dancer Cameron Watson. “There was a lot of improv to it. I think there were actually only three choreographed movements.”

She noted that it was a bit of a challenge for dancers, since they didn’t receive the clothing they were to model until just before the show.

“We didn’t get to practice with the actual [fabrics] because some of them weren’t done and we didn’t want to wreck them before the show. It really changes the way you dance.”

“It’s more that you have to display it while you’re dancing,” added dancer Ellen Fitzhugh. “It’s not focusing on yourself so much anymore, but really being a mannequin and trying to sell it.”

Gage said he was very pleased with how well the day went, and proud of the dancers for rising to the occasion and doing an amazing job of this special performance.

He remarked that this sort of collaboration is sure to continue at the Tett Centre moving forward.

“It’s hugely important [for Kingston],” Gage said. “Art is different to everybody. Art can be movement, music, photography, dance. I just think that the city really needs to find these opportunities to really collaborate with other art forms so people can see that it’s not just one vision of a specific genre of art, but a mixture – we can mix it all up.”