|
The stereotypical image of a single woman isn’t a flattering one. She’s usually imagined living a very solitary life with no parties or events to go to in the evenings.
Instead, she spends her nights cuddled up in bed with a cup of Chamomile tea and her one and only bed partner — her cat. Of which she has dozens.
Not very favourable, to say the least. But while the stereotype is dated, surprisingly it’s still the usual one that comes to mind when you think of a spinster.
Susie Burpee, however, is turning that notion on its head with her first full length dance project.
Inspired by her own modern day spinsterhood, The Spinster’s Almanac reflects the 35-year-old dancer/choreographer’s interest in showing that being single can be just as fulfilling as being part of a couple.
While it’s based on a novel by Richard B. Wright and draws upon The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the modern dance piece reflects Burpee’s single life in Toronto and her rural beginnings growing up on a farm in Manitoba.
“It’s not a straight-up dance piece,” the Dora Award–winning choreographer said about her show, which premieres March 14 at the Distillery District’s Young Centre for the Performing Arts and runs until March 17. “It shows what it is like to be without a witness in your life.”
But despite not having a “a witness” or partner to share her life with, Burpee admits she’s comfortable in her “singledom.”
“I’m happy as a single person,” the Forest Hill resident confessed weeks before her show’s world premiere. “I go through phases when I’m lonely, but I think you can be lonely in a relationship as well.”
While it is highly personal, the character in the one-woman show is fictitious, she continued.
Referencing Wright’s 20th century tale about two single sisters who rebel against the unflattering stereotype, The Spinster’s Almanac is Burpee’s own personal almanac of loneliness and survival.
In the tragic comedy, her character takes on bird-like qualities in her movement, “offering images of ruffled feathers and mad flight that reflect her psychological state,” she said.
Burpee wanted to explore what it means to be single through dance, musical and text references. She enlisted fellow Manitobian musician Christine Fellows to compose the original song cycle.
Burpee acknowledges that single women, especially older single women, still get a “bad rap,” but hopes her piece will show that the single woman stereotype is false.
“There is a great deal of dimension to a single women,” the recipient of the 2006 K.M. Hunter Artists Award for Dance said.
The creation of The Spinster’s Almanac took Burpee two years to fully evolve. Through it she was able learn about herself and realize that she shouldn’t be afraid to show what she cares about — however personal it might be.
Along with presenting a fresh view of what it means to be single, Burpee is also heavily entrenched in the art form that she’s devoted 13 years of her professional life to.
Like many young girls, Burpee spent her childhood fantasizing that she’d become a ballerina when she grew up.
But early on in her career, she stumbled upon the freedom modern dance allows. She was immediately hooked and a move to Toronto six years ago has allowed her to delve into the city’s modern dance scene.
She has performed works for innovative dance companies such as Ottawa’s Le Groupe Dance Lab and Toronto’s own Dancemakers.
Her most recent creation, Mischance and Fair Fortune, received Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Outstanding New Choreography and Outstanding Performance in 2005.
As well, Burpee regularly teaches modern dance at Dancemakers, 509 Collective and the Canadian Children’s Dance Theatre. Modern dance allows her to explore any dance movements that she likes and not be bound by traditional standards which are commonplace in classical dance, like ballet, she said.
“It felt right,” she continued about her chosen profession. “Modern dance suits me as a person.”
Despite the thriving scene, modern dance, like being single, still receives its fair share of stereotypes.
“It’s not like we’re watching ‘Modern Dance Idol’ (on TV),” Burpee joked. “It’s still seen as being out there.”
By Lorianna De Giorgio
| 
