This workshop is an exploration in physical theatre using mask and movement exercises to create characters. We will work solo and as a group to create a physical vocabulary that will give you some fun tools to incorporate into new character creation. This class will be physical so please dress accordingly. Stilts can be provided if needed.

Dean Bareham is the co-artistic director and co-founder of the Green Fools Physical Theatre Society. Dean trained as a Sculpture/Textiles major at Alberta College of Art and then at the Dell Arte' School of Physical theatre in Blue Lake, California. For the last 33 years Dean has performed and taught physical theatre in over 47 countries with his buffoonery, clown, mask, and puppet work. Dean has performed puppets with the Calgary ProMuscia Society, the Calgary Philharmonic, and the National Orchestra in Ottawa. He has performed as a clown with Cirque du Soleil and taught social circus for Cirque du Monde and around the world with Green Fools for the last 25 years. Recently, Dean has been acting in tv and creating puppet television shows for kids he is a puppeteer on the new Fraggle Rock – Back to the Rock on Apple TV, and on Joe Pickett on Paramount Plus.

This hybrid workshop will explore a range of dynamic expression and character embodiment through deepening body awareness and adaptive movement. Testing the boundaries of what it means to walk on stilts, we will explore a variety of Ways to engage in contact and balance with our environment. Depending on the desires and curiosities of the class, this workshop will lean into either physical practices with a character focus, or emphasis could explore performance theory and embodied play.
Comfortable clothes you can move in required, knee pads, props and costume pieces encouraged.

Ariel Amara is a multi-faceted performing artist based on the west coast and has been exploring her circus curiosities since the early 2000’s. Her primary disciplines are dynamic stilt dance and acrobatics, circus hoop dance, character play and costume production, drawing her inspiration from fairytales, vaudeville and the strange nonsense of the human experience. She has performed and taught in 6 countries, and has studied a variety of movement and performance disciplines both locally and internationally. Collaborating with many people and organizations over the years, Ariel has participated in numerous community based projects focused on sharing the love of circus and play and the transformational power of creative expression. In her years working and playing within the performing arts, she has also explored choreography, stage management and other behinds the scenes rolls, always curiously developing her craft.

Allara Gooliaff is a stiltdance explorer. Stilts are a medium by which she explores the ether between the earth and the sky. She has performed and trained all over the world. Her professional background started with varsity gymnastics, continued with folkloric dance and drum training in Guinea, West Africa, and gradually moved into developing her own stiltdance and acro-stilt styles through the lens of a trained dance artist. She is passionate about sharing dance, circus, and all things stilt!

She is the AD of a dance education company called called Three Left Feet. It is based out of Calgary.

Stitldance class will be set at an Open Level. We will be getting up onto our stilts right away and carving out the space by moving forwards, backwards and side-to-side. Up-tempo music will inform the speed and energy of the class. There will be a warm-up, across-the-floor work, and we will finish with a fun combination.

Requirements: Please ensure that you have hard-shell knee pads to protect your knees and that your stilts allow for the effective placement of knee pads. Allara uses Killer 187s. Triple 8s are also an excellent brand. Any stilt length will work for this class, however, Allara uses 2-foot aluminum stilts.

Participants will work on skills such as tabletop and downward dog. From these positions we will look at ways to get up and down from the ground with a partner and move into hand balancing and kicking over into a bridge. Participants will also have the chance to explore some contact and weight sharing both upright and on the ground. We will explore how our movements change, and possibilities open with the help of a partner’s stability. All levels are welcome.

Emily’s acro-stilting practice has been very much influenced by the Carpetbag Brigade Physical Theatre Company and this will be reflected in the workshop! Please bring heavy duty knee pads if you have-Triple 8 hard shell, soft inside are a great option. Aluminum 2ft stilts are preferred. We can work with wooden stilts though they are not generally recommended for heavy acro work especially long term. Sorry, stilts higher than 2.5ft will not work for this workshop. Please wear comfortable clothes and bring a water bottle. It is highly recommended to attend Allara’s stiltdance workshop prior to acro-stilting!

The historical presentation by Amira Emma Routledge is based on her years of curious searching for the roots of this amazing and ancient art form. There will be lots of pictures and great information about how we got to where we are today as stiltwalkers and the many different traditions we draw our inspiration from.

Amira got her stilt legs in 2005 when a good friend built a batch of wooden pegs and offered to teach her how to walk on them. After finishing a BFA in Theatre from UVic, Amira lived in Toronto 2003-2015 where she was a costume designer/builder, scenic painter, performance artist, puppet maker and outdoor theatre producer among other things. Amira started performing professionally in 2010, working in many locations with a variety of companies in Ontario such asZero Gravity Circus, Hercinia Arts, Circus Orange, Heath Tarlin Entertainment and Creativiva. Highlights have been the 2015 tour for the Pan-Am Games Torch Relay, the Dubai Shopping Festival 2013, and a variety of performances in Zero Gravity's Lunacy Cabaret. During that time she trained in Pochinko Baby Clown at the Clown Farm, and developed her performance skills through the New Model Circus Army and Circus Alchemy. After moving back to BC in 2016 Amira continued to perform freelance, working with Mortal Coil Performance Society, NZR Productions, Break-A-Leg Entertainment, and a variety of clientele in the Lower Mainland community and events industry. One highlight of this period was performing on stilts and with giant bubbles in her hometown of Duncan BC at the Cowichan Exhibition. Currently Amira is developing her tiny company Three Mete Theatre, offering stilt entertainment and giant bubble shows, as well as working in festival programming with Anigraph Productions and freelancing as a painter and performer.

Stilt Culture: Past and Present is a lecture presentation. Everyone is welcome.

Julio Thijs Randall Fraser

Stilts: A Vehicle for Cultural Practices and Social Action is a lecture presentation. Everyone is welcome.

Throughout history stilts have been part of the cultural fabric of many communities. They have even been used as a tool for social action such as in Trinidad and Guyana, where they were used to create opportunities for at-risk youths to develop skills and employ those new tools to enrich their lives. In the process they also became a unique part of that community's culture.