Improvising Places /Improvising Time

Catherine Parayre, Devon Fornelli, Thomas Ayouti, Derek Knight, Matthew Royal (Eds.)

Dance and musical improvisation are ephemeral expressions urging us to embrace the moment in thoughtful joy. Devon Fornelli’s improvisations documented here are two performances: his CitySounds, created on 18 September 2015 for the opening of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts in downtown St. Catharines, Ontario; and his Garden Performance, five years later, on 9 May 2020, offered as a reflection on the COVID-19 pandemic and the temporary lockdown of the MIWSFPA.

This documentation includes music notations, three short essays and the only remaining photograph of Fornelli’s improv’ in September 2015. Thomas Ayouti’s short story ‘Aux corps cassés’ – roughly translated, ‘broken bodies’ – offers a counterpoint to Fornelli’s practice. Thematizing the creation of a dance performance, the narrative grows, gains speed, intertwines the dancers’ movements and the narrator’s loving characterization of his friend. Whereas Fornelli’s improvisations express the persisting flow of our environment, Ayouti’s piece follows the fervid crescendo of emotions. This documentation includes music notations, three short essays and the only remaining photograph of Fornelli’s improv’ in September 2015. Thomas Ayouti’s short story ‘Aux corps cassés’ – roughly translated, ‘broken bodies’ – offers a counterpoint to Fornelli’s practice. Thematizing the creation of a dance performance, the narrative grows, gains speed, intertwines the dancers’ movements and the narrator’s loving characterization of his friend. Whereas Fornelli’s improvisations express the persisting flow of our environment, Ayouti’s piece follows the fervid crescendo of emotions.