SLIP

About

In many cultures, the public bath is the focus of community conversation and exchange. The act of cleansing is both sensual and spiritual; a bath house is a place we become naked, removing our sweat and public personas. In Toronto, these rituals have almost been forgotten. What would our city look like if we reimagined the bath house as shared public space? SLIP brings together the diverse talents of writer and actor Anna Chatterton, choreographer Yvonne Ng, composer Juliet Palmer and installation artist Christie Pearson in a new, site-specific interdisciplinary performance for the Harrison Baths. The Baths and Swimming Pool, established in 1910, are now housed in a 1960s building: an urban oasis providing free showers, swimming, washrooms and laundry facilities. urbanvessel has imagined a collective history for the Harrison Baths, and raises questions about our future by interacting with the architecture of the building itself. When much of the world gets naked together, why do Torontonians adhere to gender segregation? Few free public spaces remain since amalgamation - how does this afffect our sense of community? SLIP travels the labyrinth of the Harrison Baths complex: from the tiled lobby, through the gargantuan men's locker room, to the majestic pool, and finally, through the series of intimate rooms making up the women's space. Fusing dance, theatre, music and installation, SLIP features the vocal talents of jazz singer and improviser Christine Duncan, opera singer Vilma Vitols, and Japanese folk singer Aki Takahashi. Drummer Jean Martin lays down the rhythm, while Louis Laberge-Cote and Susanne Chui add their bodies (and voices) to the mix. The music is visceral and vocal, combining body slaps with handheld percussion and the sounds of the space itself. Audience members will experience a grimy, razzmatazz Hollywood chorusline, a sparse and intimate Japanese folk song, and opera echoing off the tiles. Sound, mist, water and light transform the everyday into a dreamlike space. urbanvessel is an interdisciplinary collective creating performance works rooted in the sounds and spaces of Toronto's overlooked corners.

See website: http://www.urbanvessel.com/SLIP.html