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Artword Theatre presents a collaborative performance of dance and music by four artists who work with their interpretation of water on stage. Water represents birth/death and the struggle to breathe. The artists are: Meiko Ando, a Toronto dancer and choreographer, Roderick Zalameda, a Toronto musician who creates ambient acoustic pieces on guitar, Cyrus Sundar Singh who plays Asian-fusion electric guitar, and Go Hirano, a Tokyo-based musician who plays piano and violin.
Meiko Ando has been dancing since the age of six and has been trained and has performed in diverse dance techniques. She received a BA in Dance from University of Waterloo in 1987 and then went to Japan to perform Butoh dance and to research Japanese traditional arts. Returning to Canada in 1991, she is a freelance solo dancer/choreographer based in Toronto, frequently performing in theatres and festivals in Tokyo, Montreal, Quebec and Toronto. She will be performing in the international solo dance festival in Mexico City next spring. Working with her voice as well as installations and sculpture she has made, Meiko's performances are inspired by rites of passage, rituals we perform in order to recognize ourselves in our world and in the cultures we belong to, and from Nature's life cycle where we begin and end.
Roderick Zalameda continues working within the multimedia context with several artists including Meiko Ando, Go Hirano and the band Pinkeye. Along with live performances, his compositions can be heard on several compact disc releases and soundtrack music for film and video for directors Giovanni Samporo and David Fowler. His musical style ranges from electronic tribal to ambient acoustic pieces.
Cyrus Sundar Singh, songwriter, musician and producer, blends east and west in his music on electric guitar. He draws on his roots in India and his personal experiences to inspire and inform his creative expression. He has worked as composer/musician on films, including Salaam Shalom: The Jews of India (1999). His recent CD release Sun to Star is rich with "poetic images, utopian sentiments, shivery melodies, global perspectives" and has been called "a timeless and breathtaking musical tapestry."
Go Hirano is a musician living in Tokyo. He has been studying piano since age of three. He composes and plays using piano, percussion, violin and his voice. He has performed in concerts in Japan and in Canada and has also played for a Butoh dance group for its North American tour, as well as composing music for film and video soundtracks. Since 1991, Go has participated in performances in Canada collaborating with dancer Meiko Ando and musician Roderick Zalameda. His CD and LP releases include: Reflection of Dreams by PSFD, Tokyo.