Beautiful Renegades

Acclaimed Canadian dance artists Peggy Baker commissioned Toronto-based playwright Michael Ross Albert to write Beautiful Renegades, a play inspired by the anti-establishment politics that helped shape contemporary dance in 1970s Toronto. In development since 2018, the work includes choreographic distillations from six ground-breaking choreographers of the era: Elizabeth Chitty, Margaret Dragu, Lily Eng, Louise Garfield, Johanna Householder, and Jennifer Mascall. Directed by Eda Holmes and designed by Gillian Gallow (sets and costumes), Jeff Pybus (lighting and video) and Debashis Sinha (sound), Beautiful Renegades features a company of six outstanding performers: Sarah Fregeau, David Norsworthy, Erika Prevost, Jarrett Siddall, Shauna Thompson and Anne van Leeuwen.

Peggy writes: “This play is inspired by an artist-run dance centre called 15 Dance Lab that operated in Toronto between 1974 – 1980 When it first opened just two dance companies dominated the Toronto scene: The National Ballet of Canada and Toronto Dance Theatre. At 15 Dance Lab, the dancers rejected popular expectations for dance and aligned themselves with leftist politics and the avant-garde in visual and media arts. It was THE social scene for Toronto’s burgeoning independent dance milieu.”

Beautiful Renegades takes us back to the time when Peggy was just starting out as a dancer; while the work itself marks the final production of Peggy Baker Dance Projects, which is due to close in 2023.

Content warning: Sexual assault.

Premiering alongside Beautiful Renegades from September 20 – October 2, 2022, PRESENCE takes place at Lisgar Park (45 Abell St.) right beside The Theatre Centre. This two-week site-specific series features commissioned outdoor dance works from four wildly independent choreographers working in Toronto today: Renee Smith, Kiera Breaugh, Eilish Shin-Culhane, and Pulga Muchochoma.