a canary torsi
Puerto-Rican born director/choreographer Yanira Castro collaborates with a core group of performers and designers on individual projects under the name “a canary torsi”. She and her collaborators work in a multiplicity of spaces: from warehouses, cellars, and tiny restrooms to the stage, embedding dances within visual and aural installations that directly address the audience’s experience of the live event.
Castro began dancing at Amherst College where she graduated with a BA in Theater, Dance, and Literature in 1994. Her work has been presented by Dance Theater Workshop, PS122, The Chocolate Factory, and XØ Projects Inc, among others, and has toured internationally to the Daile Theatre in Latvia and the Tanzhaus NRW in Germany for the Tanzmesse Festival. Castro was artist-in-residence in Bacau, Romania through Artist Ne(s)t and has received several fellowships and awards for her work, including The MAP Fund, Rockefeller Foundation and the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography.
Her current projects include, Dark Horse/Black Forest (2009), a work that enclosed the audience in a public bathroom with two performers in an emotional exchange, and Center of Sleep (2008), an installation for DTW’s stage that placed audience and performers together in an aural and physical environment of speakers, mirrors and platforms.
Castro will be creating her newest work at 14 Wall Street, Wilderness, a dance installation to premiere in The Garage at The Old American Can Factory, co-presented by Dance Theater Workshop in Fall 2010.
Photo Credits:
Performer: Heather Olson
Photographer: Charles Merritt Houghton
Piece: Anthem
Location: Dance Theater Workshop's Dressing Room
