| I love and I work therefore I am at service to the world If I get in the way of these things, I am lost |
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 Born in Montreal, Canada in 1972, I am a multilingual, Antiguan-Québecoise Lover, Writer, Poet, Vocalist,
Dancer, Teacher and Director of Mother Tongue Media independent production company currently based in Vancouver BC. I am rooted in poetry. A 1997 graduate of Concordia University's Creative Writing and English Literature program, both my prose and poetry have appeared in chapbooks, literary journals and anthologies. I have also judged Canadian art and literary work for the Quebec Writer's Federation, Canada Council for the Arts and City of Vancouver. A five-year background in university radio laid the foundations for my spoken word career, which took flight in Montreal, 1994. My oral performance incorporates poetry, storytelling, hip hop and song in English, French, Spanish, Turkish and Yoruba. I often work with musicians to support my words and have performed everywhere from cafes to schools, prisons to libraries, festivals to television across Canada and beyond. |
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 Through grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, I have released two poetry music fusion CDs: Invisible World (2004) and The Memorists (2008) and featured as writer and performer in the award-winning videopoem Almost Forgot my Bones (2004). My poetry and vocals also appear on recordings by artists in
the U.S. (Jerry the Cat), France (Brifo) and Turkey (Mercan
Dede).In addition to words and music I am also a dancer with a ten-year foundation of classical ballet and Hatha Yoga. A literary interest in mysticism led me to the poetry of Rumi and then into Sufism, of which I am an active student. I studied the Mevlevi Sema (dance of the whirling dervishes) with Raqib Brian Burke of Open Secret School of Whirling and became a Semazen (Whirling Dervish) in Vancouver in 2002. What is whirling? I continued studies in mysticism while also studying West African dance with Masabo Culture Company from 2002-4. Based out of Istanbul, Turkey between 2004-2008, I performed extensively across Europe as a Whirling Dervish Dancer with Turkish Electronic World Music group Mercan Dede. I also gave workshops in whirling as active meditation in Canada, France and Turkey and performed West African Dance in Istanbul. I attempt to combine all of my experience into One. top photo by Rodrigo Dorfman, Konya Turkey 2007 bottom photo by Handan Erek, Barbican London UK, 2006 |
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