From Press Release:
This deaf dancer wants to speak…with you.
Words can lie. The body does not.
This mantra is the basis of AESTRIDR’s groundbreaking work, HERE ME, a solo set to premiere this summer at the Toronto Fringe Festival. HERE ME follows an intimate dialogue between AESTRIDR and the audience as she attempts to bridge the lifelong disconnect between her atypical deaf identity and the rest of the world.
At the age of six AESTRIDR was diagnosed with profound bilateral hearing loss and subsequently began wearing hearing aids. However, due to advice from presiding doctors and the cultural climate at home, she was never assimilated into Deaf culture – there was no instruction or communication in ASL, no social relations with the Deaf community and its participating individuals.
With her deafness, a persisting speech impediment, social isolation and ridiculement in the midst of a loud world, AESTRIDR struggles to convey her stories.
To remedy this, she has decided to create a language, one that is founded on eye contact, touch, expressions and gestures shown through movement of the body alone. In order for this language to function, AESTRIDR needs to have a conversation with someone, or rather a great amount of someones. Those who choose to participate must acknowledge that, in entering the space, they are trusted. AESTRIDR asks that trust to be reciprocated.
HERE ME is series of stories and experiences created in the moment – the dialogues created between each night may be similar or drastically different. Choices are made by both audience and artist as they interact, witnessing and feeling joy, grief, and laughter. In exiting the conversation, no two participants take home the same experience.
Details
- Here Me plays at the Tarragon Theatre Extraspace. (30 Bridgman Ave.)
- Tickets are $13, including a $2 service charge. The festival also offers a range of money-saving passes and discounts for serious Fringers.
- Tickets can be purchased online, by telephone (416-966-1062), from the Festival Box Office at Scadding Court (707 Dundas St. W.), and — if any remain — from the venue’s box office starting one hour before curtain.
- Content Warnings: Unsuitable for minors; Nudity; Audience participation.
- This venue is barrier-free. Patrons who use wheelchairs or who cannot climb stairs are seated in the front row.
- Be aware that Fringe performances always start exactly on time, and that latecomers are never admitted.
Performances
Thursday July 5th, 10:45 pm
Saturday July 7th, 7:15 pm
Monday July 9th, 6:30 pm
Tuesday July 10th, 10:15 pm
Thursday July 12th, 4:15 pm
Friday July 13th, 2:00 pm
Sunday July 15th, 12:15 pm