What's Safe

Abstract

What’s Safe is an ongoing response to Toronto’s social distancing measures. It is a dance score documented cinematically in Trinity Bellwoods Park, with movements inspired by Deepa Iyer’s framework (Mapping Our Roles in Social Change Ecosystems, 2020) and Jay Pitter’s open letter to Canadian urbanists (A Call to Courage, 2020). The project was conceived, performed, and captured by the authors of this paper. The two dancers, our second and third authors, engage in creative problem-solving by facing the reality of socially-distant grounds for play and suggesting a different type of productivity, one which is conducive to individual and social growth. The movements are then captured by our multimedia creator (or fourth author), while our artist-researcher (first author) curates and provides critique throughout. The final project considers artistic practice in response to social change as informed by (un)productivity. It uses productive imagination (e.g., play, improvisation, creative problem-solving) to investigate parameters of safety (e.g., surveillance, control, space). Through the dancers’ improvisations, we attempt to navigate these tensions and better position ourselves in relation to our current socio-geographical circumstances.