Making Time is the latest creation by artist and choreographer Sasha Kleinplatz, who brings together dancers and percussionists in her new work.
In Making Time, the drum becomes an extension of the human, and the human an extension of the drum—an instrument capable of influencing not only soundscapes, but also the way a body vibrates and moves through space and time.
Performers: ky brooks, Winnie Ho, Laura Jeffery, Nien Tzu Weng, Angélique Wilkie
" I wanted to teach drumming to four dance performers. I was inspired by videos of Yannick Desranleau and Milford Graves playing percussion. Their physicality and embodiment led me to reflect on dance and choreography, as well as on how these qualities manifest in drumming. My aim was to bring together 'experts from different fields' to observe how they could learn from and complement each other."
This exploration follows in the tradition of Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto. It envisions a political potential for rethinking our embodiments, our experiences, and the ways we inhabit the future. Considering ourselves as hybrid—or even as "more than human"—deeply interconnected with technology, animals, and nature can foster a sense of shared responsibility and co-creation of worlds.
Credits
Choreography: Sasha Kleinplatz
Performance: ky brooks, Winnie Ho, Laura Jeffery, Nien Tzu Weng, Angélique Wilkie
Dramaturgy: Emile Pineault
Lighting Design: Paul Chambers
Associate Lighting Design: Jordana Natale
Costumes: Nindy Banks
Production support: Michael Martini
Voice consultant: Robin Love
Co-produced by Danse-Cité, Sasha Kleinplatz, La Chapelle Scènes Contemporaines
Presented by Danse-Cité in association with La Chapelle Scènes Contemporaines
The creation of this work is made possible with the financial support of : Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Conseil des arts du Canada
Programmed at Danse-Cité by Sophie Corriveau
About the artist
Sasha Kleinplatz is a dance artist living in Tio’tia:ke-Mooniyang. She is the co-founder of Wants&Needs danse (with collaborator Andrew Tay) -a collective focused on creating non- traditional contexts for choreographers to make work, and for audiences to engage with a plurality of contemporary performance practices. Sasha has shown her own work in many theatres in Montreal and throughout Canada. She has participated in the danceWEB scholarship program in Vienna, Austria, as well as 8 Days and the Copycat Academy in Toronto, Ontario.
Sasha has been awarded residencies in Canada, the United States, and Europe, and has spent these research moments looking at queer dances, performing for plants, and building work collaboratively. She has had the pleasure of being an instructor in the dance departments of Concordia University, EDCMTL and UQAM, and currently takes great joy in teaching stretching to elders in Outremont, and pilates enthusiasts in Mile End. Her choreographies tend to blend the set and the chaotic, and she spends a lot of time thinking about why people dance.
In December 2021 Sasha completed a Masters degree at Simon Fraser, her thesis focused on consent in dance pedagogy, and practicing interspecies care through modes of scored, collaborative, performance. Sasha is currently engaged as a PhD student, looking at Canadian choreographic practices-how they are documented, what has been lost, and the possibilities of recuperation.
Interview
You wanted to teach four dancers how to play the drums. Why? What inspires the choreographer in you about this learning process?
S.K: I was inspired by watching videos of Yannick Desranleau and Milford Graves playing percussion. Their physicality and embodiment made me reflect on both dancing and choreography, and how they manifest in drumming.
The cast of the show consists of dancers and drummers. Why these encounters?
S.K: I was interested in bringing together “experts in different fields”, to see how they could inform and compliment one another. I was also interested in the learning process, and what kind of crossovers and blockages we might encounter.
Vibrating bodies, drums on stage, dance, singing, pink floor... What do you want the audience to experience with Making Time? Should we expect something chaotic or very structured/organised?
S.K: I’d say it is a kind of organized chaos. There are scores for the work, but a lot of space for choice making and improvisation. I am very open to what the audience experiences, I think mainly I’m hoping they feel relaxed and hopefully engaged :)
Can you play the drums, Sasha? 🤣
S.K: I cannot play the drums! I took 2 or 3 lessons when I was around 10 or 11, but couldn’t focus and went on to learn guitar :)
Practical Informations
Dates :
September 10, 2025 - 7.30 PM
September 11, 2025 - 7.30 PM
September 12, 2025 - 7.30 PM*
September 13, 2025 - 7.30 PM
* Talkback with the Artists and Michael Martini.Venue:
La Chapelle Scènes Contemporaines
3700 Saint-Dominique
Montréal, QC H2X 2X8