Search
Mateo Galindo Torres and Peter Kelly in RANKED
Midline
​(in development)
​Photography: Taylor Long
Midline is a piece currently in development. I interviewed 20 people (from their teens to their 60’s) about their visible scars and if there was a metaphor that helped them make sense of what they had been through. Reflecting on these interviews I found the metaphor that is helping me move through and process a medical emergency that left me with a midline scar. Midline investigates the scars we choose, the scars that happen by accident and the scars that save our lives. Through text and movement, this piece highlights the endurance of the human body.

Creative Team
Concept, Staging and Performance: Aria Evans
Composer: Eirene Cloma
Outside Eye: Yolanda Bonnell

Interviewee’s:
Allison, Anonymous’, Brennan, Eirene, Emerjade, Fanny, Kareem, Katherine, Kayla, Keira, Kez, Lindsey, Maeve, Sofia and Tavia.

Work In Progress Performance
Matriarchs Uprising at the National Arts Centre
​April 14th 2023

Supported and Funded by: Matriarchs Uprising, TO Live’s explorations initiative, Tarragon Theatre, Pemmican Collective and Punctuate! Theatre and Ontario Arts Council.

​​
I will fall 
​(in development)
​Photography: Aria Evans
I Will Fall is a full length work that investigates what keeps us together and what drives us apart in relationships from the perspectives of people who experience the world from a queer, genderqueer, trans, and non-binary lens.​

Creative Team
Choreographer | Director: Aria Evans
​
Created with and performed by: Steph Cyr, Kiah Francis, Nickeshia Garrick, Sofí Gudiño, Heath V. Salazar, Rose Tuong
Original Music by: Shanika Maria, Sofia Fly
Dramaturge: Ximena Huizi

Work In Progress Performance
Common Ground Dance Festival, Lee Lifeson Art Park 
October 2022
​
Supported and Funded by: The National Arts Centre, CAHOOTS, Native Earth Performing Arts, Buddies In Bad Times Theatre and Pemmican Collective/Punctuate! Theatre
​​
​
Dead Ends (2023)
10 minutes

​Photography: Drew Berry and Colin Boyd Shafer
Commissioned by Dust and Soul Dance. 

This piece is a reflection on when you have given away so much of yourself to others that you feel unrecognizable - that your capacity has run thin and you feel like you have nothing more to give. Dead Ends is a piece about presencing this state, reconciling with it, choosing to heal and as a result, finding new growth within.

Creative Team
choreographer, performer: Aria Evans
dramaturgy: Dedra McDermott
Producer: Tara Butler
Lighting Designer | Stage Manager: Sharon DiGenova

music:
Komiku - A tale about somewhere, where the end of the story already occurs
File Under Toner - orgy
Komiku - The end
TRG Banks - Daybreak in a new town
HoliznaCC0 - The End

note: The idea for Dead Ends has been adapted from explorations with The Mermaid Project facilitated by Ximena Huizi.

​Performances
Registry Theatre, Kitchener Ontario
June 2023
​​
​
For Sale (2022)
30 minute site specific, promenade performance
Commissioned by Soulpepper Theatre Company and The City of Toronto’s Awakenings Programming at the Toronto History Museums.

Powerful and playful, For Sale sheds new light on issues of reconciliation and the concept of “ownership”, the housing market as well as the complexities of colonial (museum) cultures and how we understand and pass down histories. For Sale runs for three performances only, for a limited capacity audience.

​As part of the City of Toronto and Soulpepper’s Awakenings Project, For Sale cheekily turns history on its side, placing the true ownership of the land where Colborne Lodge sits within the premise of a real estate open house, and bidding war among audience members. Choreographer / dance artist Aria Evans has conceived the piece and leads the team of performers Sam Brown, Liz Der, Aria Evans, Kiah Francis, Sofi Gudino, Nicole Leveck and Jarrett Siddall.​

Creative Team
Choreographer | Director | Writer: Aria Evans
​
Created with and performed by:
Sam Brown, Liz Der, Aria Evans, Kiah Francis, Sofi Gudino, Nicole Leveck and Jarrett Siddall
Outside Eye: Augusto Bitter
Mentors: Rachel Forbes, Seika Boye​
Producer: Sue Balint
Technical Director | Production Manager: Charissa Wilcox
Stage Managers: Helin Gungoren, AJ Morra​

​Performances
Colborne Lodge, High Park
May 2022
​
Supported and Funded by: Canada Council for the Arts, the City of Toronto, Soulpepper Theatre


​
heart2heart (2021)
33 minutes
Photography: Aria Evans
Peek behind the scenes and experience heart2heart, a documentary that follows the creative process for this three year project that was twice interrupted by COVID-19.

Lead by Aria Evans, heart2heart tells the intimate and true stories of 11 movement-based artists. Through unscripted duets that originally centred around conversations about the state of the world, heart2heart offers a glimpse inside a compassionate dance theatre work that questions how we seek to build relationships across difference.

​heart2heart by POLITICAL MOVEMENT features an ensemble of queer, POC, fat, multilingual, non-binary, differently abled, mothers, teachers, immigrants and all Torontonians.​
​
Creative Team
Choreographer | Director: Aria Evans
​
Created with and performed by:
Tanveer Alam and Angela Sun, Corynne Bisson, Michael Caldwell and Liisa Smith, Olivia Croft and Irma Villafuerte, Shay Erlich and Kari Pederson, Karen Kaeja and Sebastián Oreamuno.

Dramaturge: Ximena Huizi

Special thanks to Rodney Diverlus, Joie Ann Merana and Jordan Laffrenier for being part of heart2heart's initial stages of development. 

Performances
Creative Process Documentary streaming online February 2022

Cancelled Performances
heart2heart at The Riser Project with Why Not Theatre
April - May 2020

heart2heart Excerpt (Karen & Sebastián​) Presented by Tangente 
January - February 2022
​
Funded by: Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council with support from Nightswimming Theatre, Tangente, Volcano Theatre and Why Not Theatre.



In The Abyss (2019)
50 minutes
Photography: Aria Evans, Francesca Chudnoff
In The Abyss, a full-length dance theatre piece, applies choreography and metaphor to a heart-driven exploration of the mysteries of life on earth. It explores common expressions of humanity as it intersects with the science that situates us within the universe. Using the scientific theory that everything is made of stardust, it dives into the inescapable physics of the galaxies beyond us in relationship to our earth-bound lives. It grapples with how to live with purpose, find meaning in one’s journey, all the while colliding honest explorations of loneliness with our innate need for connection.

Creative Team
Choreographer | Director: Aria Evans / Political Movement

Created with and performed by:

Irvin Chow

Ana Claudette Groppler

Syreeta Hector

David Norsworthy

Composer: Babak Taghinia

Costume Designer: Kinoo Arcentales

Lighting Designer: Sarah Mansikka
Outside Eye: Julia Sasso
Production Manager: Candice Irwin
Set Designer: Rachel Forbes

Stage Manager: Tamara Protic *“The participation of this Artist is arranged by permission of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association under the provisions of the Dance Opera Theatre Policy (DOT).”
Text and Body Dramaturge: Ximena Huizi
Writer: Liam Zarrillo

Performances
Presented by Citadel + Compagnie through Bright Nights
October - November 2019

Supported and Funded by: Canada Council for the Arts, Native Earth Performing Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council and University of Toronto



link (2018)
22 minutes
Photography: Francesca Chudnoff
link is a warrior dance about the blockades we come across in life, focusing on the idea of forging ahead and asking the question; “What is my generation fighting for or against?”.​

​Creative Team
Performer | Choreographer: Aria Evans

Artistic Collaborators: Jesse Dell, Joshua DePerry, Pulga Muchochoma, Naishi Wang
Rehearsal Director: Ana Groppler
Outside Eye: Peggy Baker through NEPA's Animikiig Training Program
Set Designer: Andy Moro through NEPA's Animikiig Training Program
Set Assembly: Michael Murray
Dramaturge: Michele Smith-Gilmour
Composer: DJ Classic Roots
Developed Through Native Earth Performing Arts' Animikiig Creators Unit under the guidance of Diana Belshaw

Performances
DanceWorks CoWorks
February 2018
Pia Bouman School - Scotiabank Studio Theatre

Supported and Funded by: Canada Council for the Arts, DanceWorks, Native Earth Performing Arts and Ontario Arts Council



Voice Of A Nation (2017)
25 minutes
Photography: Aria Evans, Francesca Chudnoff
A reimagining of Stravinsky's L'Histoire du soldat with a live suite for Violin, Clarinet and Piano. The Trickster Re-imagined set to L’histoire du Soldat by Igor Stravinsky and choreographed by Aria Evans distills the traits of the Trickster and explores the motif of shapeshifting in terms of contemporary curated identities. With solos, duos and trios that echo the structures of society, we watch the characters cross and create boundaries. With stark and stirring movements the jubilant and somber music and dance blend for an energetic and resolutely contemporary whole.
​ ​
Creative Team
Choreographer | Director: Aria Evans

Created with and Performed by:
Syreeta Hector
Mayumi Lashbrook
Raelyn Metcalfe
​
​Producer: Toronto Concert Orchestra

Performances
October 2017 in Peterborough
November 2017 in Gravenhurst
​November 2017 in Toronto

Supported and Funded by: Dancemakers, Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Trillium Foundation and Toronto Concert Orchestra



RElaps (2016)
30 minutes
Photography: Aria Evans
RElaps takes a voyeuristic look into a couple’s intimate relationship and explores how many small innocent acts can turn into huge betrayals of trust.​
​
Creative Team 1
Choreographer | Director: Aria Evans

Created with and performed by: 
Irvin Chow
Jesse Dell
​
Outside Eye: Julia Sasso
Lighting Designer: Andy Moro
Prop Designer: Michael Murray

Performances
RATED R at The Toronto Fringe
Randolph Theatre 
​July 2016

Creative Team 2 
Choreographer | Director: Aria Evans
Dancers: Jesse Dell, ​Naishi Wang
Outside Eye: Donna-Michelle St. Bernard

Performances
Weesageechak Begins To Dance 29, Native Earth Performing Arts
Aki Studio
November 2016

Supported and Funded by: Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Fringe



RANKED (2016)
22 minutes
Photography: Aria Evans
Where are you RANKED? This group work is an investigation into the social perceptions we hold about who has privilege and power.

Creative Team 3
Choreographer | Director: Aria Evans

Created with and performed by: Jasmyn Fyffe, Peter Kelly, Pulga Muchochoma, Kassi Scott, Mateo Torres, Kathia Wittenborn
​Outside Eye: Julia Sasso
Lighting Designer: Andy Moro
Costumes: Jesse Dell
​
Performances
RATED R at The Toronto Fringe
Randolph Theatre 
July 2016

Creative Team 2
Choreography: Aria Evans
Created with and performed by: Aria Evans, Damian Norman, Kassi Scott, Mateo Torres

Work In Progress Performance
University of Toronto Scarborough - Snider Lecture Series
HW 305
March 2016

Creative Team 1
Choreography: Aria Evans
Created with and performed by: Damian Norman, Kassi Scott

Work In Progress Performance
Harbourfront Centre's NextSteps - The Chimera Project - FRESH BLOOD
Harbourfront Centre Theatre
October 2015

Supported and Funded by: Canada Council for the Arts, Toronto Arts Council and Toronto Fringe



Desiccated (2015)
22 minutes
Photography: Craig Chambers
Desiccated is a movement based multidisciplinary performance that merges contemporary dance, a live vocal soundscape, sculptural installation and video projection. As our fresh water supply depletes and water becomes a commodity that we buy and sell in bottles, Desiccated explores­ how our relationship to water is changing. It hints to how we might become informed, how we contribute to the problem and how we can find a solution to make water remain a human right. With movement inspired by waves, rivers and waterfalls and interviews of childhood memories in and around fresh water integrated into the vocal soundscape, this physical and poignant collaboration invites us to reflect on what used to be, what is, and what is to come.

Creative Team 1
Choreographer | Director: Aria Evans

Created with and performed by: Jesse Dell, Ana Claudette Groppler, Mateo Galindo Torres
Outside Eye: Julia Sasso
Vocalist/Composer: Amir Brandon
Projections: Aria Evans
Set Builder: Michael Murray
Costumes: Jesse Dell

Performances:
SummerWorks Performance Festival - dance series
Theatre Centre Mainspace
August 2015

Excerpt Performances:
Gaïa Exhibition
Paris, France
January 2016

Work In Progress Performances: 
Series 808 CPW
Collective Space
April 2015

Seasonal Activities, v.i.
hub14
March 2015

Creative Team 2
Choreography/Projections: Aria Evans
Created with and performed by: Ana Claudette Groppler, Syreeta Hector, Mateo Galindo Torres
Set Builder: Michael Murray

Performances:
Pulse Ontario Dance Conference
Sandra Faire and Ivan Fecan Theatre, York University
May 2018

Supported and Funded by: b current, Canada Council for the Arts, Native Earth Performing Arts, Ontario Arts Council and SummerWorks
© Aria Evans | POLITICAL MOVEMENT 2023
© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.