Program Guide
Enemy Lines
A contemporary view of a historic unjust act in a new dance theatre performance
Choreographed by Mayumi Lashbrook, Produced by Aeris Körper
World premiere
Theatre Centre | Toronto | ON
May 12, 8 PM
May 13, 8 PM
May 14, 3 PM
McMaster University’s L.R. Wilson Hall | Hamilton | ON
May 26, 8 PM
May 27, 8 PM
May 28, 3 PM
Enemy Lines is a live dance performance that looks at how a climate of fear divided and led to the incarceration of Canadians. Held by curiosity, choreographer Mayumi Lashbrook looks back at the actions taken against Japanese Canadians during World War II. Suddenly deemed a threat after the Pearl Harbour attack in 1941, her family along with over 22,000 Canadians of Japanese descent were forcibly removed from the coastline of British Columbia - their lives forever altered.
Lashbrook seeks to understand these events in Canadian history and the curious hold it’s had on her life. Her work illuminates the cycles of fear based oppression and intolerant thinking that still afflicts us today. In Enemy Lines she elucidates our hardwired need for each other, and the way that disconnection can hinder our growth. Enemy Lines is a tender reminder of the fractures of our collective past and the possibilities for our shared future.
Running time approximately 60 minutes
CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM
Choreographer
Mayumi Lashbrook
Dramaturg
Denise Fujiwara
Rehearsal Director
Gerry Trentham
Ensemble
Brayden Cairns
Miyeko Ferguson
Michael Mortley
Mayumi Lashbrook
Denise Solleza
Understudy
Nickeshia Garrick
Voice Actor
Yukari Peerless
Producer
Rose Hopkins
Projection Design
Chimerik Collective
Lighting Design
Logan Raju Cracknell
Sound Design
Yobi Alan
Costume Design
Alessia Urbani
Production Manager
Jules Vodarek Hunter
Stage Manager
Helin Gungoren
Rehearsal Stage Manager
Maricris Rivera
Projection Operator
Meghan Cheng
Photography and Videography
Drew Berry
Jess Bullock
Henry Mak
Graphic Design
John Endo Greenaway
Public Relations
VOCAB Communications
Community Outreach
Sid Ryan Eilers
Social Media Strategy and Coordination
Jessica Mak
Marketing Support
Dance Umbrella of Ontario
A note from choreographer, Mayumi Lashbrook
As I worked on Enemy Lines, it was always a surprise the moments that would bring tears to my eyes. Seeing the address of the farm my family was forcibly removed from House No. 1394 Horrol Rd. New Westminster BC. Recognizing my great aunt’s foresight at age 16 to bring a shorthand typing book to the camps in order to advance her career options. The kindness of a neighbouring farmer who brought over carrots and potatoes for my family’s first dinner on their uncultivated Manitoba sugar beet farm. My great grandmother’s goal to return and reclaim her belongings. How she would tie chopsticks to her wrists to be able to keep chopping sugar beets to support her family. I couldn’t have predicted when or how these hardships would affect me. I kept reading, listening and looking for those moments as guideposts. I am grateful for each and every unexpected swell of emotions over the past four years of research.
I am struck by the parallels in Canadian history, the recurring cycles of oppression inflicted on other groups of people. I remind myself that I will unknowingly perpetuate harm. So I let my tears fall as offerings to wake me up to reality and not lure me into indifference. I cannot change what happened to my ancestors. But I can release the fetters I create around myself.
“The way to stop the war is to stop hating the enemy.”
– Pema Chodron
Special Thanks
Thank you to Nobue, Tatsumi and Yukie for their generous time and energy to share their stories. I’m deeply grateful for the ways in which this has brought us closer and the invaluable moments together grieving this past. To my mother and sister who share this history in their bones, may this bring you the healing and release it’s brought me. Thank you for supporting me as I revealed this history with delicacy and love.
Thank you to Denise Fujiwara for encouraging me every step of the way. It takes courage to make art and your support gave me the strength I needed to face these challenges. To the JC community, a sea of Kyōdai that share an inherent understanding of the worlds we straddle - arigatou.
I am grateful to the many folks who interacted with this work within its many iterations: Sierra Chin-Sawdy, Sid Ryan Eilers, Mikeala Demers, Eilish Shin-Culhane, Bradley Eng, Morgan Yamada and Kunji Ikeda. And thank you to CanAsian Dance who gave me the first push to explore this topic through a film titled Defined by Bone - the siblings to Enemy Lines.
I also received support in large and small incremental ways from people and organizations that believed in the project. Thank you to Kyle Svara, Michael Abe and Cobalt Connects to name a few.
The Landscape of Injustice is a research database that provides access to the records of internees. Through it, I accessed the harrowing letters from my family’s archives and communications with the Office of the Custodian. I also accessed the Library and Archives Canada for the Of Japanese Descent film (Source: Library and Archives Canada. Ronald O'Brien fonds, 1974-0173, IDC 83414). I am grateful to the record keepers and archivists who have thoughtfully cared for these historic items and helped keep this history alive through them.
Funding Support
The production of Enemy Lines was supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, City of Hamilton Enrichment Fund, and TD Ready Commitment Program.
ABOUT AERIS KÖRPER
Aeris Körper is a professional dance company based in Hamilton. We bring people into their bodies through movement, awareness of sensations and connection to self and others with the aim of fostering resilience, understanding and empathy. This allows us to lean into blocks of self-expression which ultimately leads to self empowerment, community building and social change.
We do this through creation, presentation, and facilitation of dance that explores, questions, reflects and reveals connections across race, gender, sexuality, age, identity, ability and experience.
Aeris, the lightness of spirit and energy, combines with Körper, the strength and beauty of body, to allow and encourage us to explore, share, connect, understand and innovate.