Sweet Ephemera
Presented by DanceWorks
DanceWorks presents Sweet Ephemera, a double bill exploring queer intimacies of diasporic ritual featuring Eilish 미정 Shin-Culhane’s Peel Me and Jose Miguel “Miggy” Esteban’s pahinga ka muna.
Peel Me
Peel Me asks you to peel back your layers. Will you? Can you? What sits just under the surface? And then under that? Through a series of vignettes, Peel Me’s performers eat and destroy grapefruits and fortune cookies, using mess as an access for catharsis. This experimental Western contemporary dance work examines nuanced states of control, release, greed and care, all while building a truly sensory experience.
Choreographer: Eilish 미정 Shin-Culhane
Dancers: Morgyn Aronyk-Schell, Steph Harkness, Shona Kiyama, Hannah Shikatani, Barbara Simms
Composer: Aidan McConnell
Costume Designer: Charlotte Carbone
Stage Manager: Helin Gungoren
Production Manager: Sophia Fabiano
Lighting Designer: Hannah Kirby
pahinga ka muna
Returning to rest as a crip space of memory, dreaming, and worldmaking, Miggy invites you to take part in an improvisational ritual of mourning that traces the multisensorial mad and queer routes of their Filipinx diasporic inspirations.
Influenced through disability/crip/mad arts practices of engaging access as creative provocation, this work experiments with multisensorial, poetic, and narrative audio descriptions–reorienting to them as the choreographic scores that potentiate ephemeral and non-replicable improvised performances of care.
Choreographer, Writer, and Performer: Jose Miguel ‘Miggy’ Esteban
Videographer and Editor: Spotlight Glow
Composer and Sound Designer: JJ Omelagah
Audio Description Voice Performer: Elaine Cagulada
Deaf Interpreter: Courage Bacchus
Lighting Designer: Hannah Kirby
Stage Manager: Helin Gungoren
Production Manager: Sophia Fabiano
Access Support and Dramaturge: Kass Prus
Care Dramaturge: Dedra McDermott
Filipinx Dramaturge: Bee Pallomina
Disability Dramaturge: Jessica Watkin
Filipino Sign Language Consultant: Carmelle Cachero
ASL-English Interpreters: Aliya Haniff and Breann O’Hara-Johns
Image Description, top left: Two white performers sit partially obstructed under a clear plastic tarp, eyes cast upwards. A vibrant grapefruit is seen between them, held between their faces. The text overlaid reads peel me in curved stylized writing, followed by the choreographer’s name, Eilish 미정 Shin-Culhane.
Image Description, top right: brown-skinned hands rest on a banig mat, their clawed fingers digging into waves of woven palm. The text overlaid reads pahinga ka muna, followed by the choreographer’s name Jose Miguel ‘Miggy’ Esteban.
June 18, 2026
to June 20, 2026
Tickets are $18 to $40
Franco Boni Theatre
This performance is 90 minutes including intermission
Thursday June 18th — 8pm
Friday June 19th — 8pm
Saturday June 20th — 8pm
+ post-show talkback
Peel Me: loud sounds, sudden sounds, scents (grapefruits)
pahinga ka muna: Mentions of death, colonial/imperial violence, psychiatric violence, mental and emotional distress, suicide
Peel Me: Limited availability whisper guides provided upon request
No text in piece
pahinga ka muna: Poetic audio description
ASL interpretation (projected)
Open captions (projected)
Tactile offerings – audience receives small sensory objects upon entry
Touch tour
Relaxed performance lighting and sound. Invitation to move, fidget as needed
Thursday June 18th & Friday June 19th:
We request that audience members mask if they can as part of our collective access support
Saturday June 20th:
- ASL Interpreter on site pre-and post-show
- ASL interpreted talkback
- Masking optional
For access inquiries, requests, or feedback please contact [email protected]
May 11, 2026
Tiny Concert Series for Torontonians is a new initiative at The Theatre Centre, presenting free and low-cost music events over the next several months! This performance is part of events that we’re calling our Tiny Concert Series for Torontonians, increasing the community’s access to shared arts and culture experiences. The music programming will span a range...
April 16, 2026
“Some of my all-time favourite moments have been when something hilariously awkward happens in public and I catch the eyes of a stranger and for a second we know exactly what each other is thinking. And then we go about our lives. It’s a beautiful intimacy.” For actor, director, and writer Gregory Prest, even a...