Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium 2023
2023-09-14 09:00 - 2023-09-15 12:00 (America/Toronto) | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
The Third Decade: Forging a Legacy of Improvisation at the Guelph Jazz Festival (GJF)
September 14–15, 2023
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Amplifying this year’s 30th anniversary edition of The Guelph Jazz Festival (GJF), the improvisation community will gather to reflect on, share, and celebrate the significance and impact of this unique and award-winning world-class event. In this “third decade,” a nod to a 1984 recording by former GJF performers The Art Ensemble of Chicago—a group that has left its own indelible mark on the history of jazz—we pause to consider the vital role that this home-grown community-based event, the Guelph Jazz Festival, has played in shaping the Canadian (and, indeed, the international) musical landscape. We also consider the various ways the Festival has helped to usher in new ways of imagining and conceptualizing the power of improvisation as both a musical and a social practice. It is in this spirit that, for this year’s edition of The Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium, we convene a series of special panels involving former and current GJF performers, affiliated researchers, jazz journalists, and community voices to recount their relationships and experiences with The Guelph Jazz Festival. How, these panels will ask, do we understand the Festival’s legacy, and how might we reimagine that legacy in the future? Beyond innovative and international programming and critically-acclaimed performances, the GJF has also significantly provided the foundation and fertile ground for expansive educative endeavours and initiatives—such as the Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium itself and the formation of international scholarly networks and institutions—that continue to benefit musical and scholarly communities worldwide. In this special retrospective edition of the Colloquium, we will curate four streams of panelists:
The Schedule
Thursday, September 14th
9:00–10:15 AM Panel 1
The Future of Jazz in Guelph | artists and scholars from the local community discuss their relationship with the GJF and what they imagine for the future
Joe Sorbara, Nick Fraser, and Karen Ng
Moderator: Jashen Edwards
@ImprovLab, University of Guelph
10:30–11:45 AM Panel 2
Writing Jazz | journalists and writers discuss their relationship with the GJF and the role it has played in the musical landscape in Canada and around the world
Stuart Broomer, Josef Woodard, and Sara Villa
Moderator: Alyssa Woods
@ImprovLab, University if Guelph
Friday, September 15th
9:00–10:15 AM Panel 3
Researching Jazz | researchers discuss their relationship with the GJF and the role it has played in helping to shape a new field of scholarly inquiry
Eric Lewis, Ellen Waterman, Jesse Stewart
Moderator: Ajay Heble
@MacKinnon 103, University of Guelph
10:30–11:45 AM Panel 4
Playing Jazz | artists and performers (past/present) discuss their relationship with the GJF and the role it has played in the musical landscape in Canada and around the world
François Houle, Lori Freedman, Douglas R. Ewart
Moderator: Brian Lefresne
@MacKinnon 103, University of Guelph
Please join us for this not to be missed celebration!
The Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium is presented by the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI) with generous support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Office of the Vice President (Research) at the University of Guelph.

Thinking Spaces: François Houle & Benoît Delbecq, "POISE"
2023-09-18 10:00 - 12:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Thinking Spaces, “POISE” is presented by François Houle & Benoît Delbecq, and takes place Monday, September 18 at 10am ET. The talk includes a presentation followed by a guided Q&A and conversation period.
For our second Thinking Spaces session, we are excited to welcome Clarinetist François Houle and Parisian pianist and composer, Benoît Delbecq. Join us on Monday 18 September 2023, 10:00AM-11:30AM in the Improv Lab to listen to these two critically acclaimed improvisers discuss and share their unique approach to musical improvisation.
This talk takes place in-person in ImprovLab, University of Guelph. Registration is required to attend. Sign up now!
More about this talk:
As the music unfolds, composition and improvisation seem to flow together into a dream-like continuum where jazz and new music meet. To reach this place, Delbecq and Houle have worked for years extending the techniques of their instruments and creating their own language of musical gestures for purposes of spontaneous musical composition. Delbecq’s contemplative piano “fabrics” draw on Cage, Ligeti, and African timbres and polyrhythms, and are characterized by unexpected juxtapositions and patternings. Houle’s approach has been inspired by Evan Parker and clarinetist William O. Smith’s multi-layered sonic explorations, and combines a thoroughgoing reinvention of the clarinet’s expressive possibilities with an exceptional melodic lyricism. The duo’s rapport results in a highly ordered yet intuitive discourse, echoes and undercurrents of other music continually opening up new directions
More about the speakers:
Clarinetist François Houle has followed a musical path few others have travelled. He is a true innovator and pioneer of the instrument, opening sonic vistas in the most imaginative ways possible. François has released CDs on several labels and has toured internationally. He has been listed on multiple occasions by Downbeat magazine as a “Talent Deserving Wider Recognition” and was hailed as a “Rising Star” in Downbeat’s Critics’ and Readers’ Polls. He is “a spectacularly versatile clarinetist who appears to have no limitations stylistically or sonically” (Mark Swed, LA Times).
Benoît Delbecq is a multi-awarded Parisian pianist and composer, a trendsetter who persists in developing his ideas in a very rhythmic and multi-layered approach, bringing the soul of jazz to John Cage’s prepared piano. Delbecq may prepare just a few strings with wood sticks, then sit at the piano transforming the instrument into a percussion-and-piano ensemble.

Thinking Spaces: Karamjeet Dhillon, "The Body as Knowledge Incubator: Creativity, Improvisation & Embodiment"
2023-10-02 14:00 - 15:30 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Thinking Spaces, “The Body as Knowledge Incubator: Creativity, Improvisation & Embodiment” is presented by Dr. Karamjeet Dhillon, RISE-R project manager at the Centre for School Mental Health at Western University and independent scholar, and takes place Monday, October 2 at 2pm ET. The talk includes a presentation followed by a guided Q&A and conversation period.
For our fourth Thinking Spaces session, we are excited to welcome Dr. Karamjeet Dhillon. Join us on Monday October 2 2023, 2:00PM-3:30PM to listen to this award-winning scholar discuss and share ideas about embodied ways of sensing, knowing and being in the world. This talk takes place in-person in ImprovLab, University of Guelph. Registration is required to attend. Sign up now!
More about the speaker:
Dr. Dhillon keenly documents the nature of lived experience through sensory ethnography and post-intentionality phenomenology. Her arts-based approaches include visual research within the framework of physical activity. Moreover, her philosophical practices are identified at the intersections of inclusive inquiry through methodologies and pedagogies. She locates her work at the juncture of qualitative investigations, theoretical frameworks and applied research. She is passionate about researching real-world settings and working with underserved populations such as immigrants and refugees, 2SLGBTQIA+, global indigenous cultures and neuro-diverse populations. Dr. Dhillon has over a decade of experience in program evaluation, organizational change management, community curriculum programming and project development. She has actively supported local organizations to receive substantial grants to accomplish their important work.

Improvising Communities: A Retrospective Exhibition
2023-10-16 19:00 - 21:00 | Massey Hall, University of Guelph, 478 Gordon Street, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Banner Image: Interconnected Relationships Mural, Omar G Ramirez and his students, Mural Workforce Academy, Boyle Heights Arts Conservatory x MALDEF, 2023
Improvising Communities: A Retrospective Exhibition
The Emergence of a New Field of Interdisciplinary Inquiry

October 16–21, 2023
Massey Hall, University of Guelph
Improvising Communities: A Retrospective Exhibition marks the celebration of a significant milestone in the emerging field of Critical Studies in Improvisation.
The founding of the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI) at the University in Guelph was facilitated by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Grant, awarded in 2012. The Partnership Grant set in motion a decade of robust research and creative outputs generated by a team of scholars, researchers, community partners, and arts practitioners on a local, national, and international scale.
This exhibition illustrates the formalization of improvisation as a field of academic inquiry over the ten+ year period of the SSHRC Partnership Grant in which the institute was named (2012 to 2022) and narrates how IICSI has evolved into a central source for the collection and dissemination of research on the social implications of improvisational practices.
Improvising Communities invites you to explore, inquire, investigate, and play with a curated selection of sample projects generated by IICSI’s network during this extended period, from practice-based community programming to accessible new media technologies. The exhibition encourages you to consider one of IICSI’s central research questions: can improvisation be a vehicle for positive social change?
This exhibition takes places October 16–21, 2023 in Massey Hall, at the University of Guelph.
Timeline designed by Carter Pryor, 2023
The Hand You Are Dealt: Improvising the Archive
In late 2022, IICSI approached Studio Oleomingus, a partner on their new SSHRC grant “Improvising Futures,” about creating a video game which showcases the last ten years of IICSI’s research findings. Enthusiastic and up for the task, Studio Oleomingus and IICSI set to work to determine the format, content, and technical specifications of the game, meeting monthly with an advisory committee to talk through ideas, troubleshoot potential issues, and narrow in on a delightful player experience.

The Hand You Are Dealt: Improvising the Archive, 2023, Studio Oleomingus
After almost a full year of collaboration, what emerges is a freeform digital toy: a collection of playing cards that contain within them a variety of media, including audio tracks, documentaries, short films, photographs, recorded performances, artwork, and more, from different research and creative outputs generated by IICSI and their network over the past decade. We proudly present to you, The Hand You Are Dealt: Improvising the Archive.
Hosted on your web browser (www.improvisingthearchive.com), the game is accessible to anyone with an internet connection, and it invites players to discover the intricacies of IICSI’s diverse array of researchers, partners, and community organizations, all while learning a little bit about the institute’s research and activities.

IICSI and Studio Oleomingus hope the game will be as fun to play as it is informative, and hope the game leads to a wider conversation about improvisation in the exploration of digital archives and interactive art.
The video game will premiere at our exhibition opening night, on Monday, October 16 at 7 pm at Massey Hall, University of Guelph.
Exhibition Schedule
Monday, October 16
7–9 pm | Opening Reception
Cape Spear Klang, 2021
Join IICSI for the opening reception of Improvising Communities: A Retrospective Exhibition at Massey Hall, University of Guelph! The evening will be divided into two parts: a special premiere of our video game The Hand You are Dealt: Improvising the Archive and talk back with Studio Oleomingus creators Dhruv Jani and Sushant Chakraborty, and an exclusive screening of the documentary Cape Spear Klang (2021) and talk back with Directors Ellen Waterman and Diego Pani.
About Cape Spear Klang: When Delf Maria Hohmann was asked to design a sonic event for the 2018 Sound Symposium—a festival of experimental music and sound in St. John’s, Newfoundland—he set out to create a nested environment of recorded soundscapes, improvised music, acoustic space, and multi-channel sound diffusion. The site-specific work would take place at the wild and majestic Cape Spear National Historic Site. Musicians would perform in WWII bunkers set into the cliffs, and the audience, seated outside, would receive the resonant echo of those concrete chambers diffused through an eight-channel sound system and accompanied by the composer’s recorded soundscapes blended with the natural seascape. Weather intervened and at short notice the event was moved to a neo-gothic Anglican cathedral in town, drastically changing both its presentation and its signification. Cape Spear Klang documents the resilience, inventiveness, and improvisational artistry of Newfoundland musicians.
Light refreshments will be provided. Massey Hall is a physically accessible venue.
Please RSVP to attend!
Tuesday, October 17 to Thursday, October 19
Open 12–4 pm
Friday, October 20
Open 12–8 pm (extended hours for IF 2023)
Saturday, October 21
Open 10–8 pm (extended hours for IF 2023)
Partners and Researchers (SSHRC PG 2012-2022)
The 2012 SSHRC Partnership Grant “International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation: A Partnered Research Institute”, led to national and international partnerships with six core research sites and one foundation partner: McGill University in Montreal; University of British Columbia in Vancouver; Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s; University of Regina; University of California at Santa Barbara; and Musagetes.
In addition to the core research sites, the grant brought together an international team of 50+ researchers from 20 different institutions and over 3o international partners. These partnerships connected scholars of improvisation studies in unprecedented ways via affiliations ranging from grassroots level connections between our community partners, to formalized cooperative agreements at top levels of administration and research oversight at IICSI’s partnered institutions.
We’d like to thank our partners and researchers for their involvement, dedication, and contributions to the research. Please note that partners and researchers were added and removed throughout the ten-year duration of the grant. To get a sense of the amazing team and partners involved, please check out the relevant pages on our website.
Acknowledgments
This exhibition has been made possible by a dedicated team of individuals and an exhibition committee. A special thanks to: Ajay Heble, Julia Busatto, Jordan Zalis, Dhruv Jani, Lucy Bilson, Simon Flint, Rebecca Caines, Eric Lewis, Shawn Van Sluys, Ryan Ahlers, Bonnie Thomson, Matthew Endahl, Ben Finley, Ann Westbere, and Mike Hansen.
A special thank you to our exhibition partners:

University of Guelph

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Sound, Meaning, Education 2023: CONVERSATIONS & improvisations
2023-10-20 09:30 - 2023-10-22 16:15 | Ontario
Sound, Meaning, Education 2023: CONVERSATIONS & improvisations conference begins next Friday 20 October at 9:30AM in MacKinnon. All University of Guelph students and faculty are warmly invited and encouraged to attend. All events are free. SME 2023 Schedule of Events. Registration required.
SME Conference Initiative
This three-day conference will convene international and multi-generational scholars, musicians/artists, teachers and students from typically under-represented groups to mobilize research addressing curricular innovation in music and arts education across a variety of diverse cultural contexts, and to advance the development of cross-disciplinary research networks and initiatives. Specifically, the conference (35 presenters, performers and workshop facilitators) will share innovative curricular ideas and facilitate conversations and improvisations centered around the phenomena of sound and sensuous ways of knowing and being in the world — encounters and expressions often hidden by dominant ontologies and epistemologies of western/white colonization, neoliberal agendas, and capitalistic tendencies towards quantifiable, standardized and data-driven teaching and learning.
The conference will be held in parallel with Canada’s International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI) fourth annual 24-hour Improvisation Festival (IF) — an international curated event celebrating improvised arts across disciplines highlighting such spaces as resonant sites of activism, equity, environmental stewardship, and community building.
The ‘sensory’ turn, as represented in sound studies and sensuous scholarship methodologies, is opening ways to better understand and address societal inequities and injustices across race, gender, socio-economic class, and climate change to cite a few. This turn, however, is slow in affecting fields such as music and arts education, which is generally steeped and set in its’ “traditional values” tone. An aim of this conference is to draw together an international team of scholars, artists and actively exploring such methodologies in their research and artistic practice and invite local school teachers to participate in workshops demonstrating innovative techniques they may integrate into their daily teaching.
Another aim is to advance the development and dissemination of research collaborations and networks amongst the international symposium presenters by publishing a special issue in Canada’s, Critical Studies in Improvisation / Études critiques en improvisation featuring symposium material. This open-access journal will offer continued fuel for conversation and work towards a more sustainable and resonant future of arts education in Canada and internationally.
Please feel free to reach out to jashen edwards (jashen@uoguelph.ca) should you have any questions! Looking forward to seeing you all there!
SME 2023 is funded through the generous support of: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC) | The International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI) | College of Arts, University of Guelph | Northern Arizona University

IF 2023: Restless Imagination, Improvising the New Normal
2023-10-20 19:00 - 2023-10-21 21:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
IF 2023: Restless Imagination, Improvising the New Normal

The International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation is thrilled to present our fourth annual 24-hour Improvisation Festival this fall! This year’s event will feature amazing performances at Guelph’s new, state-of-the-art performance space, ImprovLab, and across the University of Guelph campus. And anyone can watch the Festival anywhere—with special bonus performances—via our digital stream!
Curated by IICSI Director Dr. Ajay Heble (Founder and former Artistic Director of the Guelph Jazz Festival and 2023 Killam Prize winner), IF 2023 will feature a spectacular range of creators showcasing original, spontaneous works (full lineup announcement forthcoming). Centred on the theme Restless Imagination: Improvising the New Normal, IF 2023 will showcase legendary and emerging improvisational performers mixing skill, vulnerability, and daring to make meaning out of this moment.
IF 2023 will dovetail with two other events at the University of Guelph: an exhibition showcasing and celebrating 15 years of the Improvisation Institute’s research findings (installed in ImprovLab Massey Hall at the University of Guelph and open to the public, Oct. 16–22) and the Sound Meaning Education academic conference, CONVERSATIONS & improvisations (Oct. 20–22).
For IF 2023 updates, including our forthcoming lineup announcement, you can follow IICSI’s social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), subscribe to the Institute’s newsletter, and visit the Festival website. Attendees will be able to secure their free tickets online once the festival lineup is announced.
IF 2023 is presented by IICSI, with support from Musagetes, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Art Gallery of Guelph, CFRU 93.3FM, the College of Arts at the University of Guelph, and Lost Aviator Coffee.

Thinking Spaces: Kim Solga, "Women Making Shakespeare Now: Decolonizing the Creation Room"
2023-10-27 14:00 - 15:30 | University of Guelph, MacKinnon Building, 87 Trent Ln, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Thinking Spaces, “Women Making Shakespeare Now: Decolonizing the Creation Room” is presented by Dr. Kim Solga, and takes place Friday, October 27 at 2pm ET. The talk includes a presentation followed by a guided Q&A and conversation period.
For our third Thinking Spaces session, we are excited to welcome Dr. Kim Solga. Join us on Friday 27 October 2023, 2:00PM-3:30PM to listen to this critically acclaimed teacher and scholar discuss and share ideas about decolonizing the Shakespeare Industry. This talk takes place in-person in the MacKinnon Building, Room 103, University of Guelph. Registration is required to attend. Sign up now!
More about this talk:
In the wake of BLM, MeToo, the COVID-19 pandemic, and changing audience and creator dynamics, the Shakespeare Industry (arts organizations and academic institutions alike) has finally realized that Shakespeare wasn’t just a basic white guy; “Shakespeare” can be – indeed, *is* – Black, trans, Indigenous, gender queer, disabled. While historians like Sawyer Kemp, Andy Kesson, Ayanna Thompson, and more work to uncover the previously invisible histories of Shakespeare’s own queer and coloured worlds, artists like Emma Frankland, Dawn Jani Birley, Reneltta Arluk, Nataki Garrett, and more are devising creation room practices that not only permit, but *rely upon*, the whole selves of equity-deserving artists previously excluded from Shakespearean spaces to shape the worlds of rehearsal and the plays in performance. I’ve just completed a book called Women Making Shakespeare in the 21st Century (CUP, 2024), for which I interviewed more than a dozen directors, playwrights, actors and scholar-artists about how they approach the hot potato we call “Shakespeare” in ways that are fundamentally disruptive of the colonial norms that historically shaped Shakespearean production and reception. In this talk I’ll share some of the most inspiring of my learnings, and I’ll also talk about the obstacles that still lie in the way of this work and how we, scholars and artists, might address them together.
More about the speaker:
Kim Solga is Professor of Theatre Studies and English Studies at Western University. She is the author of four books, including Violence Against Women in Early Modern Performance (2009) and Theatre & Feminism (2015), and the editor of six more, including the award-winning Performance and the City (2009) and Performance and the Global City (2013), with D.J. Hopkins and Shelley Orr. Kim is also a decorated teacher, and she currently holds the Arts and Humanities Teaching Fellowship (2021-24) at Western’s Centre for Teaching and Learning.

Thinking Spaces: Bob Wiseman, "The Black Sqaure"
2023-10-30 11:00 - 12:30 | Tranzac Club, 292 Brunswick Ave., Toronto, ON, M5S 2M7, Canada
Thinking Spaces, “The Black Square” is presented by Bob Wiseman, and takes place Monday, October 30 at 11am ET. The talk includes a presentation followed by a guided Q&A and conversation period.
For our fourth Thinking Spaces session, we are excited to welcome IMPR graduate student, Bob Wiseman. Join us on Monday 30 October 2023, 11:00AM-12:30PM to listen to this musician, author and educator discuss and share ideas from his novel in process. This talk takes place in-person in the Tranzac Club, Toronto, Ontario (292 Brunswick Avenue) and will be streamed online. Registration is required to attend. Sign up now!
More about this talk:
Bob will provide excerpts of his novel in process read by Rebecca Campbell. “I am in
engaged in two pieces of writing. The first is a work of fiction, the second a framing document.
The fiction is what we will be reading on October 30th. It is about a musician studying
improvisation and how that alters his consciousness.” Bob is introducing it and answering
questions. Guest Rebecca Campbell will read the actual story instead of Bob, “I like the sound of
her voice more than the one in my head.” Guest John Oswald will be present and supply first
questions/ responses.
More about the speaker:
Bob Wiseman is a PhD student in Critical Studies in Improvisation. He is also a teacher at the
University of Western Ontario and Seneca Polytechnic. At Western he teaches improvisation,
music business and songwriting, at Seneca media and censorship studies. In addition to being at
the University of Guelph at IICSI, Bob is the author of the 2020 book Music Lessons, “Each
entry is unique and compellingly written, but the themes throughout ― on improvisational
music, life lessons, and conflict ― are ubiquitous.” Jack David

Bread and Puppet Comes to University of Guelph
2023-11-08 20:00 - 21:30 | War Memorial Hall, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
IICSI and the School of English and Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph have teamed up to present a ONE NIGHT ONLY performance of Inflammatory Earthling Rants from the infamous, the spectacular, the alluring… Bread and Puppet Theater! Bread and Puppet are well known for their visually rich, street-theater brand of performance art which revels in music, dance, and slapstick-filled celebratory protest. If you want to experience one of the most mind-expanding, atypical, and creative shows, this is for you!
The show takes place at War Memorial Hall on Wednesday, November 8 at 8:00 pm. Tickets are available on a sliding scale pricing model and start at $15 for students.
Reserve yours now: https://bit.ly/3QI57p1
About the show:
Earthlings are now aflame and consequently need inflammatory rants, directed against the arsonist: Western Civilization and its incompetent government. The habitual pragmatic communication jargon won’t do, so the ranters have to resort to the original language which was tasked to employ the spells, charms, and incantations needed to confront the disaster in order to instigate change – with help from Kropotkin’s Mutual Aid ideology.
About Bread and Puppet Theater:
Founded in 1963 by Peter Schumann on New York City’s Lower East Side, Bread & Puppet has been based in the North East Kingdom of Vermont since the early 1970s and is one of the oldest, nonprofit, self-supporting theatrical companies in the country. Well known for its visually rich, street-theater brand of performance art, Bread and Puppet revels in music, dance, and slapstick-filled celebratory protest. Believing that theater is a basic necessity like bread, the company frequently brings its work to the streets for those who may not otherwise go to the theater. Its shows are political and spectacular, frequently featuring puppets on stilts, huge masks with expressive faces, singing, dancing, and a richly elaborated repertoire of iconic characters.
Bread and Puppet is recognized throughout the world and has won distinction at international theater festivals in Italy, Poland, Colombia, and Yugoslavia, beginning with their break-out performances at the 1968 Nancy Festival in France. Notable awards include the Erasmus Prize of Amsterdam, 4 Obies, the Puppeteers of America’s President Award, and the Vermont Governor’s Award. Bread and Puppet is constantly active, performing at its farm in Glover, VT, and in local churches, schools and parades. It regularly tours Europe, Canada, and the United States and has recently visited El Salvador, Haiti, Russia, Greece and Korea.

Thinking Spaces: annais linares, "Co-Creative Accompaniment: Improvising Re[new]ed Relationships through Arts-Based Kin Making"
2023-11-10 15:00 - 16:30 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Friday, November 10 at 3 pm for Thinking Spaces: “Co-Creative Accompaniment: Improvising Re[new]ed Relationships through Arts-Based Kin Making” with annais linares.

This presentation will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph, as well as online via Zoom. As always, our Thinking Spaces events are free!

Abstract / Summary
In her colloquium presentation, annais linares will discuss a socially-engaged art practice that brings together arts-based community making and kinning, a verb described as ”…reconnecting our bodies, minds, and spirits within a world that is not merely a collection of objects but a ‘communion of subjects’…” by Gavin Van Horn, co-editor of Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations.
annais describes this bridging as arts-based kin making. Her work studies improvisation and accompaniment as critical processes to ethically activate arts-based kin making in her communities, and how those practices might lead to re[new]ed relationships between humans, and between human and more-than-human life. She will discuss the relevance of this practice within the contexts of community health, [species] loneliness, and related arts-based community making projects.
Short Bio
annais linares is a musician and socially engaged artist who is currently in the Critical Studies in Improvisation PhD program at the University of Guelph. Her research focuses on co-creative art-making, improvisation and collective care.

To attend the talk in-person or online, RSVP via our Google Forms.

Thinking Spaces: Joe Sorbara, "Attending to the Social Space of The Music: Self-Expression as a Site of Pedagogy | Questioning the ways that I teach creative music making"
2023-11-22 10:00 - 11:30 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Wednesday, November 22 at 10:00 AM for Thinking Spaces: “Attending to the Social Space of The Music: Self-Expression as a Site of Pedagogy | Questioning the ways that I teach creative music making” with Joe Sorbara.

This presentation will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph, as well as online via Zoom. As always, our Thinking Spaces events are free!

More about this talk:
Joe Sorbara recently contributed a chapter to The Improviser’s Classroom: Pedagogies for Cocreative Worldmaking, edited by Daniel Fischlin and Mark Lomanno for Temple University Press. “Attending to the Social Space of The Music: Self-Expression as a Site of Pedagogy” is an exploration of the ways that Sorbara welcomes students into the world of creative music. In preparation for this phase of their work, which will be to study the ways that other improvisers conceive of the music, talk about the music, share the music with others, Sorbara invites participants in this colloquium presentation to help question, problematise, and otherwise unsettle some of the basic tendencies and assumptions that have arisen in the presenter’s writing.
More about the speaker:
Canadian drummer and percussionist Joe Sorbara has spent decades developing a reputation as a dedicated and imaginative performer, composer, improviser, collaborator, organiser, listener, writer, and educator. A consummate sonic adventurer, Sorbara’s music draws on a vast array of influences, most notably the African American Creative Music tradition. They have performed and recorded with Norm Adams, Ken Aldcroft, Anthony Braxton, Jared Burrows, JP Carter, Nikita Carter, Christine Duncan, Paul Dutton, François Houle, Germaine Liu, Joe McPhee, Karen Ng, Evan Parker, William Parker, Allen Ravenstine, Clyde Reed, Steve Sladkowski, and Friendly Rich, among many many others.
Sorbara is a long-time student of master drummer Jim Blackley. They hold an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music from York University in Toronto and a Master’s degree in English from the University of Guelph. Joe has worked extensively as a workshop facilitator and guest lecturer and has been a sessional lecturer in the School of Fine Art and Music at Guelph since 2007. They
are currently studying toward a PhD in Critical Improvisation Studies.

To attend the talk in-person or online, RSVP via our Google Forms.

Thinking Spaces: Dr. Darren Hamilton, "Exploring and Experimenting with Gospel Vocal Improvisation"
2023-11-24 13:00 - 14:30 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Friday, November 24 at 1:00 PM for Thinking Spaces: “Exploring and Experimenting with Gospel Vocal Improvisation” with Dr. Darren Hamilton.

This presentation will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph, as well as online via Zoom. As always, our Thinking Spaces events are free!

More about this talk:
Gospel music has influenced many genres of music including, soul, R&B and pop. While many people appreciate and can recognize the ‘sound’ of gospel music, there is little research that examines the characteristics and approaches of gospel vocal improvisation. This talk will provide insights into the connections between blues or jazz improvisation and gospel vocal improvisation, while also identifying nuances that are specific to the gospel style. Come prepared to explore and ‘experiment’ with gospel vocal improvisation. You may even learn a gospel song in the process!
More about the speaker:
Dr. Darren Hamilton is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto. His research interests lie in gospel music, hip hop music and popular music education, in addition to equity, diversity and social justice in music curriculum. He is also the director of the Faculty of Music Gospel Choir, an undergraduate course he founded at the faculty in 2019. Dr. Hamilton has over 30 years experience performing gospel music. He has served as a member of the JUNO Award-winning Toronto Mass Choir and the JUNO-nominated Youth Outreach Mass Choir. Dr. Darren Hamilton was the recipient of the 2022 JUNO Award for MusiCounts Teacher of the Year.

To attend the talk in-person or online, RSVP via our Google Forms.

Jamming the Classroom: Book Launch & Concert
2023-11-25 15:00 - 17:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
-IICSI is pleased to present a book launch & concert by Ajay Heble & Jesse Stewart! Please join us at the ImprovLab at 3 PM on Saturday, November 25th for this free event, open to all! Please RSVP here to confirm your attendance.
Books will be on hand for purchase!
For those who cannot make it in person, the concert will be live-streamed on IICSI’s official Twitch stream!
—
About the book:
Jamming the Classroom: Musical Improvisation and Pedagogical Practice
Drawing on a mix of collaborative autoethnography, secondary literature, interviews with leading improvisers, and personal anecdotal material, Jamming the Classroom discusses the pedagogy of musical improvisation as a vehicle for teaching, learning, and enacting social justice. Heble and Stewart write that to “jam the classroom” is to argue for a renewed understanding of improvisation as both a musical and a social practice; to activate the knowledge and resources associated with improvisational practices in an expression of noncompliance with dominant orders of knowledge production; and to recognize in the musical practices of aggrieved communities something far from the reaches of conventional forms of institutionalized power, yet something equally powerful, urgent, and expansive. With this definition of jamming the classroom in mind, Heble and Stewart argue that even as improvisation gains recognition within mainstream institutions (including classrooms in universities), it needs to be understood as a critique of dominant institutionalized assumptions and epistemic orders. Suggesting a closer consideration of why musical improvisation has been largely expunged from dominant models of pedagogical inquiry in both classrooms and communities, this book asks what it means to theorize the pedagogy of improvised music in relation to public programs of action, debate, and critical practice.
About the authors:
Ajay Heble is Professor of English and Director of the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation at the University of Guelph. In 2023 he was awarded the Killam Prize in the Humanities.
Jesse Stewart is Associate Professor of Music at the School for Studies in Art and Culture at Carleton University. He is also the founder of We Are All Musicians, an organization dedicated to fostering inclusive music making.

Dans les arbres Workshop
2023-11-30 14:00 - 15:30 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
IICSI is pleased to present a workshop by Dans les arbres! Please join us at the ImprovLab at 2 PM on Thursday, November 30th for this free event, open to all!
Dans les arbres is an improvising ensemble comprising French clarinetist Xavier Charles alongside three Norwegians: pianist Christian Wallumrød, guitarist Ivar Grydeland, and percussionist Ingar Zach. One of the main focuses for Dans les arbres has been to develop an “ensemble sound.” In this workshop, Dans les arbres will demonstrate their methods and invite participants to join in improvising together in a large ensemble–an extended Dans les arbres. Bring your instruments!
The workshop will be followed by a free concert by Dans les arbres at 8 PM.
Please RSVP here to reserve your slot!

Dans les arbres In Concert
2023-11-30 20:00 - 21:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Following their free workshop earlier that day, Dans les arbres will be performing a free concert at 8 PM on Thursday, November 30, in the ImprovLab! As with the workshop, this event is free and open to all.
Dans les arbres is an improvising ensemble comprising French clarinetist Xavier Charles alongside three Norwegians: pianist Christian Wallumrød, guitarist Ivar Grydeland, and percussionist Ingar Zach.
The group’s idiosyncratic inhabitants form unusual combinations of airy, wooden, metallic sounds, prepared strings, and tampered drumheads. Their world of sounds and fine sense of communication lead to collective playing and spontaneous group-composing said to be in a “class of its own.” Their music moves gently but steadily ahead on broad planes of sound. The dynamic textural scenery evolves as Dans les arbres harnesses its wealth of unorthodox extended techniques.
Since the recording of their first album in 2006, Dans les arbres has performed more than 150 concerts around the globe. The group’s releases Dans Les Arbres (ECM 2008), Canopée (ECM 2012), Phosphorescence (HUBRO 2017), and Volatil (SOFA 2019) have received praise from reviewers and audiences alike. In 2019, Dans les arbres started releasing music from special projects on the group’s Bandcamp profile. Dans les arbres was nominated for the prestigious Nordic Music Prize in 2015. Dans les arbres has performed with guest musicians such as Yumiko Tanaka, Otomo Yoshihide, Jim O’Rourke, the Norwegian duo Vilde & Inga, and The Norwegian Wind Ensemble. Together with singers and the Oslo Sinfonietta, the group performed the piece About Nature by Henrik Hellstenius at the Oslo Opera House in 2015.
Please RSVP here to reserve your concert ticket!

Thinking Spaces: Zane Zalis, "Head in the Clouds - Feet on the Ground | Improvising and Creating: A Way of Becoming and Being"
2023-12-06 14:00 - 15:30 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Wednesday, December 6 at 2:00 PM for Thinking Spaces: “Head in the Clouds – Feet on the Ground | Improvising and Creating: A Way of Becoming and Being” with Zane Zalis.

This presentation will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph, as well as online via Zoom. As always, our Thinking Spaces events are free!

More about this talk:
With decades of experience as an improvising musician, composer, lyricist, performer, educator, and more, Dr. Zane Zalis will share stories/experiences, insights, lessons, practices, and ideas that have informed and shaped his artistic and pedagogical journey. The entangled texture of his work, weaving emotion, feeling, reason, thinking, motivation and skill development as central to human understanding of self and others, renders the arts and values creativity/improvisation as indispensable to broad and deep human development.
More about the speaker:
Dr. Zane Zalis is a composer/lyricist/writer/producer/educator, having received the PhD Dissertation Award (CSSE ARTS SIG, Canada), Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence, Queen Elizabeth II Diamond and Gold Medals, Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for the Advancement of Inter-Religious Understanding, Opus Klassik (Germany-six nominations), Canon of Culture Prize 2017 (Lodz, Poland), Canada Council for the Arts grant- composer/lyricist/librettist, and an invitation to become a composer-member of the prestigious BMI Musical Theatre Workshops, New York. His compositions have been performed in New York (Lincoln Center), Toronto (Roy Thomson Hall), Lodz (Grand Theatre), Scotland, Mexico, Stuttgart/Wuppertal/Leverkusen (Germany), Murau (Artistic Director of the International Music Festival, Austria), and Winnipeg (Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, CBC – Jazz Orch., Queen Elizabeth II gala concert, et al). His oratorio, I Believe, has been recorded by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and the Bayer Philharmoniker (Ars Produktion-Germany). He has also worked in the commercial music field; radio, television, music theatre, and music production. He has taught at secondary and post-secondary levels, having founded and created innovative programs and methods that address creative/skill development, performance, and pedagogy.

To attend the talk in-person or online, RSVP via our Google Forms.

Pop Up Concerts @ ImprovLab - vol. I: AJAY and REZA
2024-02-03 14:00 - 15:30 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us Saturday, February 3rd, at 2:00 PM for the first in a series of small-scale, largely acoustic Pop Up Concerts @ ImprovLab.
Vol. I:
AJAY and REZA
(piano) (tar, voice)
Following this first iteration, subsequent concerts will take place the first Saturday of each month, inside ImprovLab (108 MacKinnon Building, University of Guelph Campus)—the best sounding room in Guelph!
As always, entry is free and our “Pop Up Concerts” will remain low-key.

Thinking Spaces: Colin Harrington "Improvisation in Sequencer-based Electronic Dance Music"
2024-02-08 12:00 - 13:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Thursday, February 8 at 12:00 PM for Thinking Spaces: “Improvisation in Sequencer-based Electronic Dance Music” with Colin Harrington.

This presentation will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph, as well as online via Zoom. As always, our Thinking Spaces events are free!

More about this talk:
The culture and technology of Electronic Music has seen tremendous developments over the last decade. Thanks to the increased availability, affordability and accessibility of equipment, the artform’s popularity has exploded worldwide. One booming area is that of “Sequencer-based Improvisation”, which entails the synchronizing of one or more instruments together via a “Master Clock”, then using sequencers, sound design, audio mixers, and effects, to spontaneously compose fluid and spontaneous music in real-time.
Although many different styles of music can be explored within this medium, it is most popularly expressed within the stylistic framework and motivations inherent in Electronic Dance Music, a genre with a rich cultural and technological history, as well as a unique reciprocal relationship with the audience.
We will discuss a brief history of the technology and the cultural history of electronic dance music, and how specific pieces of equipment changed the genre. As well as how all these factors spawned a unique type of improvisation, and why it differs from other improvisational artforms.
The presentation will be followed by an open studio session, workshopping a wide selection of synchronized electronic instruments.
More about the speaker:
Colin Harrington is a Guelph based multimedia artist, A/V technician, and multidisciplinary musician. He performs in a “live hardware” electronic project called MOONBEAN, who has toured Canada and Europe playing semi-improvised dance music. He also produces and directs music videos, and works for IICSI as a technician in their ImprovLab at University of Guelph.

To attend the talk in-person or online, RSVP via our Google Forms.

ImprovLab Open House Sessions, February 8
2024-02-08 13:00 - 15:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us for a schedule of Thursday afternoon (1–3 pm ET) ImprovLab Open House Sessions! The sessions will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph. Bring any instrument and be ready to improvise!

The full schedule is as follows:
February 8th (Electronic Music Session); immediately following Thinking Spaces: Colin Harrington
February 29th
March 7th
March 21st
April 4th
April 18th
May 2nd
Hope to see you there!

Thinking Spaces: Zahra Habib "Lunar Rotations: Eternal Eleutheria
2024-02-28 14:00 - 16:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Wednesday, February 28 at 2:00 PM (ET) for Thinking Spaces: “Eternal Eleutheria” with Zahra Habib.

This presentation will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph, as well as online via Zoom. As always, our Thinking Spaces events are free!

More about this talk:
Zahra takes you on the cosmic experience that is Lunar Rotations, blending musical selections with narrative overtones that connect the sounds with the theme of arriving at an eternally internal freedom: Eleutheria.
More about the speaker:
Any creation from Zahra Habib is an experience. Zahra is an award-winning DJ, producer, radio host, and multi-faceted creator. Her Lunar Rotations radio show and live experience is a performance of cathartic, creative force, and has rocked dance floors in London, Toronto, and New York. She has produced countless radio and podcast programs, and is known for her ability to inspire deep understanding and transformative ideas in her interviews, viewable on LunarRotations.TV. An advocate an expressive, creative life for all, she is a Board Member of TD Sunfest World Music Festival, the JUNOs Hip-Hop and Rap Advisory committee, and among many other distinctions, the owner of Shakti Creative Media Garden.Keep up with Zahra via zahrahabib.ca, and Instagram: @Zahra.Shakti @Lunar.Rotations

To attend the talk in-person or online, RSVP via our Google Forms.

ImprovLab Open House Sessions, February 29
2024-02-29 13:00 - 15:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada

Thinking Spaces: MT Space "Multicultural Theatre Space: Intercultural Theatre Creation"
2024-03-01 13:00 - 15:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Friday, March 1 at 1:00 PM (ET) for Thinking Spaces: “Multicultural Theatre Space: Intercultural Theatre Creation” with MT Space.

This presentation will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph, as well as online via Zoom. As always, our Thinking Spaces events are free!

More about this talk:
MT Space presents a demonstration of the intercultural theatre creation methodology established by Majdi Bou-Matar, and engages others in the conversations around devised processes, ancestry, and culture clash. This workshop / talk will feature four actors: Nada Abusaleh, Ahmad Meree, Brad Cook, and Jewels Krauss.
More about the speaker:
MT Space (Multicultural Theatre Space) was founded in 2004 by Lebanese-Canadian Majdi Bou-Matar, who was a trained director, actor, and dancer. After receiving the same criticism over and over, hearing that his accent was too thick or that he “didn’t look the part”, Majdi decided to create a company that would become a platform for all artists that felt marginalized, racialized, and displaced. This is how MT Space was born.
MT Space has grown from being a company that produces one show every year to an organization that brings culturally and socially relevant work from across the country and around the world to our community of Kitchener-Waterloo. We have challenged the preconceptions of theatre to create, produce, and present work that is accessible and affordable to low-income families while creating a space for Indigenous, immigrant, refugee, and marginalized voices to be heard.
MT Space challenges the definition of theatre to include all disciplines such as dance, music, multimedia, and circus performing arts. As such, MT Space is becoming a presenter of artists and arts organizations across many disciplines.

To attend the talk in-person or online, RSVP via our Google Forms.

Pop Up Concerts @ ImprovLab - VoI. II: AJAY, BEN, and annais
2024-03-02 14:00 - 15:30 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us Saturday, March 2nd, at 2:00 PM for the second in a series of small-scale, largely acoustic Pop Up Concerts @ ImprovLab.
Vol. II:
AJAY, BEN, and annais
(piano, bass, and voice)
Subsequent ‘Pop Up Concerts’ will take place the first Saturday of each month, @ ImprovLab (108 MacKinnon Building, University of Guelph Campus)—the best sounding room in Guelph!
As always, entry is free and our Pop Up series will remain low-key.

ImprovLab Open House Sessions, March 7
2024-03-07 13:00 - 15:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada

Thinking Spaces: Dreams Come True "Improvisation and Radical Accessibility"
2024-03-13 13:00 - 15:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Wednesday, March 13 at 1:00 PM (ET) for Thinking Spaces: “Improvisation and Radical Accessibility” with Dreams Come True Music Studio.

This presentation will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph, as well as online via Zoom. As always, our Thinking Spaces events are free!

More about this talk:
The International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI) is pleased to host an extended Thinking Spaces event focusing on ‘radical accessibility’ (Rice & Besse, 2020) within arts education. In this moderated discussion/mini-performance, we are joined by special guests, Dr. Caroline Blumer (Western University) and Allison O’Connor (Dreams Come True Music
Studio, Founder). They will share ways they have merged radical accessibility and improvisational practices in creating and sustaining inclusive musical theater spaces in Brazil and London, ON Canada. This two-hour special event will feature a mini-performance by members of London, Ontario’s very own, Dreams Come True Music Studio (DCT). Come enjoy a live performance by the “dreamers”as they are affectionately called, and also insightful conversation with the DCT team, families and caregivers.
More about the speakers:
Allison O’Connor holds a Bachelor Of Music Honours Music Education and Bachelor Of Education from Western University and has been an elementary school vocal and instrumental music teacher since 1988. She has taught for the North York Board of Education and Thames Valley District School Board conducting choirs, bands, and school musicals. Allison is founder and artistic director of Dreams Come True Music Studio (DCT), a studio focusing on people of all ages and abilities. DCT holds summer, fall, and winter music programs, where “dreamers” learn, improvise, and rehearse in preparation for musicals and concerts. Allison and the DCT musicians have received numerous accolades and notable recognition from the community, including The London Free Press and CTV news for their commitment to inclusion and making a difference through music.

Dr. Caroline Blumer holds a Ph.D in Music Education from Western University as well as a Bachelor in Popular Music & Jazz degree and a Master in Music Education degree, both from the State University of Campinas, Brazil. As a soloist, she has performed in “Los Conciertos de Navidad” in Havana and Matanzas (Cuba) accompanied by Brasília Jazz Symphonic. Caroline taught voice in her private studio for 10 years. She was instructor for the “Popular Singing” and “Singing for Actors” courses at Carlos Gomes Conservatory (Campinas). She was Musical Director and Vocal Coach in
important Brazilian musical theater productions such as “Malandro’s Opera”, “The Lion King”, “Man of La Mancha”, “Notre Dame of Paris” and others. Alongside her work as a jazz singer and musician, she is a researcher and teacher interested in inclusive musical contexts where people with intellectual disabilities experience music-making. Caroline has worked with individuals with disabilities and individuals on the Autistic Spectrum within inclusive musical theatre programs and schools in Brazil. In Canada, she is engaged as a volunteer and researcher with two inclusive musical programs at L’Arche Community and Dreams Come True Music Studio in London, ON.
Get up each day and sing your song.

These words are near and dear to my heart not only because they were composed by our friend Ken Fleet, but also because Dreams Come True Music Studio aspires for everyone of all ages and all abilities to be able to get up each day and sing their song.
The Dreams Come True Music Studio creates opportunities for people of all ages and abilities to participate in high quality productions and to transform their lives through music. The studio celebrates diversity, inclusion, acceptance, and all abilities.
It was April 2018 while walking my dog Max, that I was chatting with my sister Heather on the phone about my dream to find a music program which was truly inclusive for all; one in which my son Cameron could be successful. He has been surrounded by music all his life and knowing the importance of music in life, I wanted Cameron to experience success with music. We found our love of sport through Special Olympics but we were missing the music piece. Because of his intellectual disability and FASD, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, he learns differently. But he learns. The goal was for Cameron to experience music and feel confident. Those of you who have been involved in music programs must relish the memories of your rehearsals, your concerts, your shows and your friendships made through music. I want that for everyone.
During that walk with Max, my sister said, “Stop looking for the program. Create it. You are a music teacher specialist and have been advocating for inclusion since you and Cameron became family.”
So began the adventure. We offer Summer, Fall and Winter programs all culminating in amazing Showcase Concerts. Rehearsals are spent together singing, moving, experiencing music and making friendships. We don’t try harder, we try differently. We are a family. We are not a special needs music group. We are not a kids choir. We are a fantastic, dedicated and energetic Musical Theatre group! I am so proud of every one of my musicians. It is a privilege to work with our families, musicians, caregivers, local agencies and spectacular volunteers who make our dreams come true. They teach me so much and I am grateful.
Our musicians: Wow! They are capable and we believe in them. We thank them for pushing themselves personally and musically. They make a difference.
Please visit our website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to learn about our DCT Family and our upcoming programs.
I want to thank my son, Cameron for believing in the power of Music. He provided the experiences for me to help to make this happen. Being removed from programs, being told to look elsewhere, motivated me to show others what he CAN do. The journey can be lonely but now with our Dreams Come True Family, we are not alone. We believe.
We thank you for believing. This experience will be forever in our hearts.
#inclusion #abilitiesfirst #singyoursong

To attend the talk in-person or online, RSVP via our Google Forms.

Labour and Us: A Workshop and Performance Series
2024-03-14 15:00 - 16:30 | Ontario
Please join us for Labour and Us: A Workshops and Performance Series by IMPR Students “Cohort Four / Almost Alchemy.” All workshop events and the final performance are free, and the organizers a offering free snacks and hot beverages. Participation is limited to folks ages 19 and up. Please register for these special workshops at the Eventbrite link.
The schedule is as follows:
Workshop 1) Thursday March 14, 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm at ImprovLab, MCK U of G
WRITING & IMPROVISED DANCE WORKSHOP W/ AIMÉE DAWN ROBINSON
Workshop 2) Wednesday March 27, 5:00 pm -7:00 pm Silence, 46 Essex
STORYTELLING THROUGH MUSIC SHARING W/ MATTHEW ENDAHL
Workshop 3) Friday April 5, 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm at Guelph Public Library, East Side Branch
DEVISED MAKING (HANDS-ON) WORKSHOP W/ MICHAEL BERGMANN
Workshop 4) Wednesday April 17, 5-6:30pm at Massey Hall, room 300, U of G
DEVISED THEATRE CONFLICT RESOLUTION W/ TOM SCHOLTE
Performance and Roundtable Discussion – Friday April 19, 7:00 pm, ImprovLab, MCK U of G
Participating in the performance is optional (but encouraged!) and requires taking part in at least one workshop, though we’d love to have all workshop participants join as much as possible. The roundtable discussion will feature Alan Filewod, Cynthia Ashperger, and Judith Thompson, and explore the history of worker’s theatre, how labour and the arts interesect, and how radical labour may help (re)define our work in the arts in the future.
More About the Events:
The workshops are designed for workers to explore creative outlets for themselves, to build solidarity with each other through the arts. We are CUPE 3913 members – but all workers are welcome to attend! For all people ages 19 and up.
More About the Organizers:
We’re second year PhD students, Michael F Bergmann, Lucas Carravetta, Matthew Endahl, and Aimée Dawn Robinson – the fourth cohort of the Critical Studies in Improvisation program (IMPR) at the University of Guelph. We come from dance, music, and theatre backgrounds. We also have a band called Almost Alchemy, which you can check out it here!

"Mop Mop" aka "Boff Boff" aka "For Big Sid": Max Roach, Transcription, Composition, Improvisation, Rhythm, and Creativity | IMPR Colloquium: Nick Fraser
2024-03-15 13:00 - 15:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Friday, March 15 at 1:00 PM (ET) for “Mop Mop” aka “Boff Boff” aka “For Big Sid”: Max Roach, Transcription, Composition, Improvisation, Rhythm, and Creativity | IMPR Colloquium with Nick Fraser.

This presentation will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph, as well as online via Zoom.

More About this Talk:
Musical improvisation is real-time invention––the creation of the new. My master’s research examined one of the most common current ways of teaching musical improvisation in the jazz education system: the act and study of “transcription,” whereby students learn other musicians’ improvised acts (usually iconic “solos” from the jazz tradition), commit them to paper (or memory). The pervasiveness of this practice was interrogated through Gilles Deleuze’s and Félix Guattari’s conception of “the smooth and the striated” and Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s work on embodiment and speech. I argued that transcription, as currently taught, privileges a type of listening that elevates individual improvised acts above group interaction and is only tangentially related to improvisation itself. Further, though jazz educators speak of transcription as a part of the process of arriving at a personal approach to improvising, by defining improvisation within such measurable models, I argued that its implementation has (in Deleuze’s terms) taken something smooth (fluid, negotiable, dialogic) and fashioned it into something more striated (repeatable, set, hierarchical). For this presentation, I will demonstrate some of the issues raised by this work, using different strategies in performances of Max Roach’s solo drum piece, “For Big Sid,” offering openings to discuss the complex intersection of composition and improvisation in musical performance (which is the focus of my doctoral research).
Musical improvisation can stand alone or occur within compositional parameters. In the mid-1960s, composer and saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell spoke of composition as the creation of an environment and made a distinction between “composition” and what he imagined as a possible “free” music. Regarding his early work, Sound, he states, “the musicians are free to make any sound that they hear at a particular time. That could be somebody who felt like stomping on the floor, well, he would stomp on the floor.” Mitchell (and many others) compose music that rejects the composition/improvisation binary, embracing a wide spectrum of intentionality where the ideas and desires of the performers can be central to the pieces––equal, in fact, to the those of the composer. In my view, too much improvised artwork hinges on the mere possibility of unexpected events, and exactly how those events play out can be viewed as incidental to the work––their occurrence can be conflated with artistic success. I believe this question to be key to writing contemporary music for improvisers––not merely “if we wish, we can stomp on the floor” as Mitchell would have it, but “if we are to stomp on the floor, how do we stomp on the floor?” If the art of improvising in music is to be advanced, and if composition within this artform is the creation of environments, those environments must be conducive to judgement and discipline, as well as to novelty and the unexpected. As the Jimmie Lunceford Band sang in 1939, “it ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it.”
More About the Speaker:
Nick Fraser has been an active and engaging presence in the Toronto new jazz and improvised music community since he moved there from Ottawa in 1995. He has worked with a veritable “who’s who” of Canadian jazz and improvised music and with such international artists as Tony Malaby, Kris Davis, Marilyn Crispell, Anthony Braxton, and William Parker. Nick’s recorded works as a leader include Owls in Daylight (1997), Nick Fraser and Justin Haynes are faking it (2004), Towns and Villages (2013), Zoning (2019), and If There Were No Opposites (2021). For 10 years, he co-led the co-operative group Drumheller, who released four critically acclaimed CDs between 2005 and 2013. Other projects that occupy Nick regularly are the Florian Hoefner Trio, Ugly Beauties, Peripheral Vision, the Lina Allemano Four, and Titanium Riot. Nick has been engaged in graduate studies at the University of Guelph since 2021.
“Fraser not so much plays the drums as hurls himself whole body and soul against skin and metal… truly talented.” Bill Stunt, CBC Radio.
“The Toronto drummer is perhaps a little too progressive for the hidebound Canadian scene… Fraser is a deft and sensitive percussionist with a hint of an enigmatic streak, a feeling for economical gestures, and an innate sense of form.” Mark Miller, The Globe & Mail.
To attend the talk in-person or online, RSVP via our Google Forms.

ImprovLab Open House Sessions, March 21
2024-03-21 13:00 - 15:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada

Balance (Detroit): Improvised Music Masterclass at ImprovLab
2024-03-22 14:00 - 16:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Friday, March 22 at 2:00 PM (ET) for a Masterclass with the boundary-pushing jazz duo, Balance. This presentation will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph, as well as online via Zoom. As always, our Thinking Spaces events are free! As always, our Masterclass events are free!
The duo will also be performing a ticketed concert at Silence, at 8:00PM (ET), that same night.

More about this Masterclass:
Balance, the dynamic duo of saxophonist Marcus Elliot and pianist Michael Malis, renowned for their boundary-pushing jazz, are set to share their creative process in a masterclass setting. With a fusion of composed and improvised music, and drawing from their extensive experience as bandleaders and sidemen, they promise insights into crafting captivating compositions and heartfelt performances.
More about the Artists:
Balance is a collaborative duo between saxophonist Marcus Elliot and pianist Michael Malis. Called “two of Detroit’s most important young jazz musicians” by the Detroit Free Press, Elliot and Malis’ “intuitive improvisations” stand on the threshold of composed and improvised music, creating intimate portraits of musical expression that deal in the language of subtlety.
Check out Balance and give them a listen via https://balance.bandcamp.com/
To attend the talk in-person or online, RSVP via our Google Forms.

Thinking Spaces: adam patrick bell "Admiration and Imitation: Toward a Disability-Led Model for Music Education"
2024-03-27 13:30 - 15:00 | ImprovLab, MacKinnon Room 108, 87 Trent Lane, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 1Y4, Canada
Please join us on Wednesday, March 27 at 1:30 PM (ET) for Thinking Spaces: “Admiration and Imitation: Toward a Disability-Led Model for Music Education” with adam patrick bell.

This presentation will take place in person at ImprovLab, MCKN 108 at the University of Guelph, as well as online via Zoom. As always, our Thinking Spaces events are free!

More about this talk:
In this presentation, adam will discuss the disability-led model of Drake Music Lab, a UK-based organization that brands itself as “leaders in music, disability, and technology,” its influence on his community-based collaborative research projects in Canada, and the implications of this approach for the profession of music education
More about the speaker:
adam patrick bell is Canada Research Chair of Music, Inclusion, and Accessibility and an associate professor of music education at Western University, Canada. He is the author of Dawn of the DAW (Oxford, 2018), and editor of the Music Technology Cookbook (2020). adam is the editor of Canadian Music Educator and serves on the editorial boards of International Journal of Music Education, Journal of Music, Technology & Education, Journal of Popular Music Education, and Visions of Research in Music Education. Currently, adam is the principal investigator of three studies funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada that focus on disability and music education

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