Photo : Morgane Guilou
Barbara Simms
Biography
I am a dancer, creative and performing artist. My relationship to art is strongest when I am listening. I connect to life through feeling, and through the senses that the world around me has to offer - the wind on my skin, the sun in my eyelashes, the sounds and smells of the city.
I yearn to gain as much movement knowledge as my body can absorb, and to embody movement with depth, physicality, and intention. I fuel my creative self by taking time to listen to music deeply and with intention. I endeavour to create tangible positive impact on those and the world around me, and have yet to discover the path to this objective through artmaking.
The woods of northern Ontario, punctured by the red rock of the Canadian shield as well as the powerful Atlantic ocean off of Canada's east coast have each profoundly impacted who I am and my artistic spirit. Born and brought up in Tkaronto (Toronto)’s busy core, I now reside in Tiohtià:ke (Montréal), and am striving to find a home in both cities.
Artistic Statement
This is a work in progress in its earliest stages. The beginnings of an idea. I am curious and receptive to hear what it evokes from the outside.
I entered this solo process as a duet between my body and a microphone.
What is emerging as I begin to excavate this relationship is a deeper connection - one between movement and sound. In producing movement and sound, I question which of these
two pieces precedes the other. Are they in reaction to one another? In which ways are they innately connected? What separates them?
As I move through this process, I notice that the chord connecting movement and sound is its origin in my body.
The qualities that are emerging are Gutteral, Umbilical, Digestive.