Hand Shadows
Poetry by Susan Wismer. Choreography by Michele Green, Suzette Sherman, and David Earle. Photography by David Earle, Michael English, and Michele Green.
Susan Wismer (she/they) wrote a first poem at age 5 — a misspelled outpouring of yearning for a pet dog. Writing has been a passion ever since. She is grateful to live with two human partners and a very large dog on the southern shore of Manidoo-gitchigami (Georgian Bay) in Ontario.
Born and raised in Chicago, Suzette Sherman began training with Stone-Camryn School of Ballet, continuing her studies in New York City. Her career includes two years apprenticing with Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers and one year performing with Saskatchewan Dance Theatre. Suzette then joined Toronto Dance Theatre and for nineteen years toured worldwide dancing major roles. Since its inception, Suzette has been a principal dancer with Dancetheatre David Earle. A teacher throughout her career, Suzette is proud to work closely with David Earle teaching his technique and repertoire. Suzette has appeared in several film and television productions. Currently continuing teaching and performing, she is exploring a newer creative voice in choreography.
Michele Green began her professional dance with Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers (1971–1973). She co-founded Saskatchewan Dance Theatre with 38 husband, Jim Green and former teacher Lusia Pavlychenko (1973–1976). In 1980, Michele, Jim and their two children moved to Stouffville, Ontario where she opened The DanceCentre, successfully teaching until retiring twenty years later. Turning her sights to writing, Michele worked for a decade as a feature writer for In The Hills magazine. In 2006 Dance Collection Danse Press published her book David Earle, A Choreographic Biography. Now a grandmother to four beautiful grandchildren, Michele is thrilled to have the opportunity to return to dance.
In the winter of 2020, believing that the pandemic would soon end, Suzette Sherman and Michele Green, of Passionate Heart—Women’s Stories Through Dance, invited Susan Wismer, poet, and several other creative women working in various genres to join with them in creating a series of collaborative performances. Upheavals and uncertainties continued, bringing into sharp relief the enlivening capacity of artistic expression during difficult times. In the end three live performances of Hand Shadows were possible during 2021 and 2022.
Audience members commented on how affected there were by the sense of authenticity, community and inspiration they felt, even with all the precautions of the times fully in place. Hand Shadows was created through a collective and evolving process of pairing dances from existing Passionate Heart repertoire with possible poems. In rehearsal, poems and dances were in conversation, reshaping one another. When someone suggested a book, it seemed like a good idea, a way to share the process and the program with a wider audience.
Praise for Hand Shadows:
“In Hand Shadows, evocative images and words leap as dancers from the pages. The threads of movement and word intertwine so that we are hard-pressed to distinguish between where one ends and the other begins. The result is a melodious textual and visual wisdom born of a life lived—grief, passing time, the inevitability of death but the endless possibilities for joy and hope while our feet grace this place. Grade. Reverence. Endurance. All told in picture and poetry, a perfect pas de deux.”
Gail Sidonie Šobat, Canadian writer and author of How the Light is Spent
“We left feeling so inspired. The world looked so powerful and so beautiful... so true.”
David Earle, Canadian choreographer and dancer
$20.00 cdn | us
6 x 9 pb, 50 pages
poetry / photography
isbn 978-1989321287
Publication: Nov 2024
Available on Amazon.
