HERE’S HOW TO PUT ON A SHOW
Susan Walker – Dance Writer
Toronto Star, Canada
May 9 2007
Financial planner writes, stages and pays for her own dance production
Sometimes you just have to do it all yourself.
In fact, in the increasingly underfunded and under-subscribed arena
of contemporary dance, choreographers are becoming show presenters.
But not all of them have the advantages of Armineh Keshishian,
artistic director of Awareness Unlimited.
By day, Keshishian is a certified financial planner for Investors
Group. Born in Iran of Armenian descent, she began taking belly dance
lessons in 1991. Then she began writing little stories, imagining
them as staged scenarios.
"They all dealt with questions such as `Who are you? Where are you
coming from?’" says the Toronto entrepreneur. Strung together, they
made a three-hour screenplay. Then she envisioned a stage show.
She and a group of dancers began working together in September 2005.
Keshishian knew she had a lot to learn, so she consulted with directors
and others in the performing arts.
"I saw this show taking place in the Winter Garden," she says.
Her dream becomes a reality on Friday at 8:30 p.m., when Evolution
… of the Human Kind opens at that theatre for two nights.
"Things are always evolving. It really means to become better," says
Keshishian, in explanation of her title. Her personal philosophy
of seeking harmony among the spirit, mind and body guided her
artistically.
Twenty dancers, including Keshishian, enact the numerous scenes
of Evolution.
The mere fact of the show makes a point, says the dancer. "In
Iran, women are not allowed to dance in public. They are socially
restricted." In Evolution, there’s an unveiling, both literal and
figurative.
"Half the cast is Middle Eastern. The other half comes from everywhere:
they’re Caribbean, or Chinese, European, English, Ukrainian. The
whole theme is that we are one human race and human emotions are all
the same."
Keshishian applied both artistic and business instincts to mount the
show, described in her press release as "storytelling with modern,
jazz and belly dance styles; lifting the veil off ancestral Middle
Eastern traditions as it journeys from the ancient times of the
Pharaohs to the present."
Last October and November, she rented the Studio Theatre at the Toronto
Centre for the Arts and held two three-night workshop productions of
Evolution. After each performance, she hosted a reception and polled
the audience members for their reactions. "Some rated the show as a
9 out of 10. The lowest we got was 6 1/2."
A garrulous self-promoter, Keshishian is nothing if not resourceful.
She had costumes and scenery built, paid for a website, programs,
posters and a publicist.
In the marketing department, she hasn’t missed a trick. People who
register as "Friends of Armineh" get $5 off the ticket price.
Investors Group employees are also entitled to a cut rate. And the
choice of Mother’s Day weekend was not an accident.
The money it takes to put on a show like this – about $100,000 – was
all from Keshishian’s own pocket. Government grants are not available
to first-timers.
Who knows how Evolution will fit with a Toronto audience. But if the
show falls short of a complete success it won’t be for ignorance of
show business.