My first discipline was dance. In 1971, I moved to New York to study dance but became immersed in the experimental art scene with painters, composers, sculptors, photographers, conceptual and performance artists (although there was no word for ‘performance art’ at the time). I received a scholarship to study dance in Montreal but became engrossed in the artists’ community of Galerie Vehicule. While researching “found” movement patterns, I began working in striptease/burlesque: this ‘experiment’ lasted 20 years and continues to inform both my art practice and my politics. At Vehicule, I worked with experimental filmmakers from NFB including Bozo Moyle who introduced me to the ‘new’ B/W videotape port-o-pack. I also began a 10+ year collaboration with Tom Dean who coined the term “art dancer” to describe me for two reasons: my solo work employed sculpture, photography, video, found-sound music collages, etc. and looked more like visual art than dance; and because I collaborated with so many visual artists.
I moved to Toronto first meeting and choreographing for General Idea then collaborating with Rodney Werden, Colin Campbell, Kate Craig, Elizabeth Chitty, etc. I made work that was durational and big-scale eg. “X’s & O’s for the Longest Day of the Year”. I made solo, low-tech work for small galleries eg. “Joy of Multi-Discipline”. I made site-specific work, community-based work, and agit-prop. I worked in commercial film, television and radio as an actor, producer, writer, and director. I choreographed for theatre, film and television. I worked as a performance art and dance curator. I began writing about art, culture and politics. In 1986, I moved to Vancouver. I continued to work in performance and video. In 1990, I began working in installation/performance as well as new media. My solo work draws on relational and community-engaged practices, personae/embodiment practice, politically engaged practice … and still dance….my first discipline informs and deepens all my work.