Photo by Michael Slobodian

For over forty years, Margie Gillis has been one of Canada’s best known and most original dancers and choreographers. This new creation was born from a collaboration with the Stella Adler Studio in New York City with Gillis combining forces with American acting icon Elizabeth Parrish to reveal the revolutionary, innovative, and modern in the work of poet Emily Dickinson. A prisoner of the straight jacket imposed on women of her era, Dickinson broke free of her bindings with atypical verses, unbridled punctuation, and approximate rhymes. Parrish narrates, bringing life to the interior world of the poetess, while Gillis reveals her psyche through movement.

“As she celebrates a 30-year career, Gillis’ timing, her gestures, and her focus are fine-tuned to a perfect pitch. She performs as if the stage were her home, and there is no place she’d rather be.”  – Deborah Jowitt, Village Voice