Selected press clippings, radio interviews, features

Press clippings and radio for Whitehorse Nuit Blanche further below

"As soon as Robinson entered the space, I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.

...

Her movements were so ethereal and full of power and emotion. Coupled with the evocative projections and live music, she really grabbed me and pulled me in. I even found myself being soothed by the jangle of her skirt.

...

There wasn’t a single sound or lighting cue that didn’t add to the overall effect of the performance. I had moments of feeling like I wasn’t sure what I was watching, or if there was a message within the dance. When I finally allowed myself to just settle in and watch and experience what was in front of me, I quickly realized that I didn’t have to force the answers.

...

Robinson was moving me on a subconscious level and after scanning the audience, I noticed everyone was as captivated as I was.

There was a stillness and silence in the room; you could hear a pin drop."

from Mooney on Theatre

Review of Ramble

by Tracy Beltrano

Read the full review here.

"For one, I think Aimée’s command of space and form has little to do with (and could well be an active rejection of) the mastery of impressive techniques (which are super fodder for critical laundry lists).

Instead, there was an intangibly complete

and focused sense of time that she breathed into the room."

"Critical Limits" Tuesday February 19, 2008.

from somewherethere

"Q: How has being a dancer shaped your personality and way of thinking?

ADR: It’s a bit like the chicken and the egg, this question! Was I drawn to dance because it fit me in some way, or did I become myself through dance? This is not for me to know about myself. However, I do know my ways of thinking are utterly enmeshed with dance and are co-created by my dance/art practices. Dance is a powerful activity.

--from an interview about Ramble

by Debra Goldblatt-Sadowski

for "The Guest List", August, 2015, Toronto.com.

Read the full interview here.

"Running just under an hour, Robinson’s video is a triumph of simplicity as high art...

That the film was created as Robinson, doyenne of Toronto dance improvisers...went along, a sort of editing improv, as it were, is certainly a feat of the imagination...

Perhaps what is more astonishing is that there was no post production...Robinson did only in-camera editing. Her artistic choice to keep or tape over footage, or to shorten shots, was made each day...

There is infinite variety in the film among some very stunning images. For example, we never know from where she will appear. A medium shot of a barn is an island of calm until Robinson suddenly comes into the frame spinning along the wall. An overhead shot finds her performing on an rocky outcrop over a body of water.

....

One of my favourite sequences is her looking into the camera, then descending down a cliff and walking along a beach until she becomes a faraway speck.

Another clever take has the camera on its tripod visible in the mirror capturing Robinson performing elsewhere in the room. Then there are the shots of her body rolling along railway tracks, joyously capering along a wooden walkway in a marshland, or improvising on the hood of the car parked on the shoulder of a highway.

.....

The clever beginning shot has Robinson walking back and forth in front of a window. The camera is inside the room as the observer. This is her place of departure. Her witty finale has a shot of her upper torso only as she puts on, one over the other, every top she had with her on the trip, from sleeveless tanks to heavy jackets. We see her fingers buttoning the garments closed, while getting hints of her out of sight arms pushing into sleeves. The riot of colour of all these tops superimposed over each other is a fascinating metaphor of closure for her unique travelogue."

-- from Aimée Dawn Robinson’s

From Here to There (and Back Again)"

by Paula Citron

Goethe Institute Culture Blog

September 2009

"That closeness to nature got even more intense with an improvised dance piece by ADR (as Aimée Dawn Robinson is often billed). Moving from the picnic structure to a bog just off the bike path, the audience was gathering on the shore as Robinson, fully clothed, wandered into the water. Hip deep, she doubled over, peering down as if trying to find something lost in the mud below — and then, as if finding it, collapsed into the water.

When she emerged, she began her dance, concentric circles radiating outward from her across the water's surface. Across the pond — Etobicoke! — the faint, suggestive whispers of cars; closer in, birds calling out; underfoot, red ants — causing some uneasy shifting amongst those who had too-casually sat down in the underbrush. And in the water, Robinson sinking... sinking, so that soon only her head was visible.

Consumed by the pond? Drowning? Melting into something larger and more amorphous? No answers were given as she finished, swimming off out of the audience's field of vision.

Just behind where she had been sinking, a mallard landed on the water's surface. Explaining it all, or at least accounting for the possibility of magic, Jonathan Adjemian (who would be playing later on in the afternoon) exclaimed, "she turned into a duck!"

-- From "Mechanical Forest of Sound.

Find the full review here.

"...the simplest and very poetic dance was performed by the other Up Darling producer, Aimée Dawn Robinson, an improviser who explores the themes of memory, repetition, time and space. Often performing in partnership with music composers and bands, she often explores the possible unorthodox relationships between movement and music.

With her unique ideas on music and movement, in the past couple of years Robinson started exploring movement possibilities that exist in silence. But, even though Aimée performs her dances in quiet, her elusive idea should not be mistaken to dancing without music.

A well-rounded musician, Robinson builds dances that are imbedded in music, even if it’s only her who can hear the music. Extensively trained in Butoh and Limon techniques, she uses the concept of dancing to the “songs in her head,” performing to the well or less known popular repertory.

The questions come up and provoke. Is the dance is really stripped of sound or the audience just doesn’t hear the music? What is the relationship between an introverted dance and the audience?

Nevertheless, Robinson’s raw, flowing movements create a unique and beautiful colouration. Completely bewitched, one can watch them for hours with or without sound."

-- from "Dance in Toronto"

by Tamara Tomic-Vajagic

(transl. from Serbian by Tamara Tomic-Vajagic)

Orchestra 40/41, Spring 2007

See more from this review here.

"Q: In what ways do you hope to affect the public’s perceptions and experiences of these spaces with your work?

ADR: Even the most humble space contains magic.

Q: Looking back, we can find examples of artists who have created from similar motivations in the past.

Why do you feel it’s important to make this kind of work today?

ADR: I feel that the root of much of human suffering stems from our increasing alienation from nature.

It is essential that we continue to be penetrated by the complexities of the natural world. Therefore, I prefer to dance outdoors where there are insects, dirt, snow, waters, winds, vegetation and all manner of organisms that live beyond our control or comprehension.

Q: What have you learned or discovered about the nature and experience of public space through your performance work?

ADR: I have learned, through performing outdoors and in public spaces, that we tend to adhere to unwritten rules of acceptable codified movement behaviour in public.

Viewers often find instances of “breaking the rules” invigorating; however, only if these transgressions

occur within another coded structure called 'performance'".

- from "Reconsidering Public Space,

The Complete Artist Interviews"

By Brittany Duggan

The Dance Current

November, 2010

See the full feature online here.

Recent Radio

Tuesday July 24, 2018

Aimée and Renée Lear talk with George Maratos

on CBC Airplay about The Jenni House Waltz

and their residency at the Jenni House in Shipyward's Park, Whitehorse

Listen here:

Selected Press and Radio for Whitehorse Nuit Blanche , 2013 - 2016

Click underlined text to open each article, interview, or radio program.

Marquee: Your Guide to Arts and Culture in the Yukon

By Elyn Jones, CBC News Posted: Jun 17, 2016

A night with art at Nuit Blanche

Montreal artist Andrew Forster about the project he will unveil during Whitehorse Nuit Blanche celebrations.

CBC Airplay, Host Dave White, June 16, 2016.

Five Must See Pieces at Whitehorse Nuit Blanche, 2016

What's Up Yukon, pg 6, Selene Vakharia, June 16, 2016

An Evening of Art courtesy of Whitehorse Nuit Blanche

Co-Producer Anna Crawford and Aimée Dawn Robinson speak with Dave White on CBC Airplay, May 6, 2016

Whitehorse Nuit Blanche Survival Guide

Seven essential tips to make the most of an all-night art affair, What's Up Yukon,

by Selene Vakharia, June 18, 2015

Remapping Whiskey Flats: Whitehorse Nuit Blanche

Arlin McFarlane & Bonnie Fordyce speak to CBC North, A New Day, Host Sandi Coleman, June 18, 2015

Nuit Blanche, from New Delhi to Whitehorse

WNB Artist Hemant Puri speaks CBC North, Airplay, Host Dave White, June 18, 2015

Charting the sounds of the river

Yukon Film Society artist in resident Lindsay Dobbin talks about her project recording stories of the Yukon River, and audio of the river itself, CBC North, Airplay, Host Dave White, June 16, 2015