April 2020 - An Update from Kylie Thompson Dance
Hi! How are you doing?! There are some wild, wild shifts and events happening in our world. I’m still figuring what to make of all this. I wanted to share some thoughts I’ve been having recently, and just have a full-disclosure moment with my followers, friends, colleagues, supporters, and anyone who is interested in reading!
In light of the recent worldwide events that have many of us including myself staying home, I wanted to tell my story, let you know what exactly is going on in the sphere of KT.
Some of you may know me as a dancer, first and foremost. We’ve worked together on various projects in Toronto at some point throughout the past 9 years. Some of you know me as fitness instructor - you’ve tuned into my IG live workouts over the past 3 weeks as we all flailed about trying to figure out what to do with our recently re-vamped lives. Some of you know me as the director and choreographer of my company, Kylie Thompson Dance, which is what I’ve been dedicating my instagram account to for the past 3 years (it is currently a virtual fitness studio LOL). And some of you know me as the guest/freelance teacher who has visited your studio, school, competition, or convention at some point.
Prior to March 15th, aka the day before alllllll my normally frequented places said 🙅🏻♀️, I was in a world where I was hyper-focused on my company work. I had just finished raising thousands of dollars to fund a creation phase where I would continue work on a piece I started in 2019 called “oh, yes”. I must have said “March is going to be a busy one for me!” at least 10 times out loud to various colleagues and friends. Yes, it was very busy- I’ve been swamped with my duties of being a plant mom and drawing chalk murals on my wall. So for now, that company work is on hold as we cannot congregate in the studio together and make dances. I look forward to continuing from where we left off in early March… AND stay tuned as I have a fun online project in the works with my company - in hopes of keeping connected with my wonderful dancers, and keeping our company connected with the world of contemporary dance lovers.
Come March 16th, all of the studio spaces I normally frolic in were closed :(. I quickly decided to offer online classes, mainly to bridge the gap for my regular city dance corps students, and many of you joined in from your homes in various locations. Thank you!
I want everyone to know that once small businesses including dance studios are allowed to open back up, I plan to resume focus on my company. In the meantime, I’ll continue to put my skills to use as best I can, to help the community by offering classes to keep you moving as best as possible while you are stuck at home. I’ll be doing that from the @kyliethompsondance instagram account, as well as through the online membership that City Dance Corps is currently offering.
Other Updates - Some other things that are on hold in Kylie’s world - I am scheduled to perform in the Toronto Fringe Festival this July as a dancer in a new work by Lilly Giroux. I don’t know whether I’ll be getting out my Dance Competition adjudicator hat this season 🤷🏻♀️. I was scheduled to adjudicate 6 events across the country that were either cancelled out right or have been postponed into July. This would be my first year not adjudicating in 6 years! I also still have a few hours left in a choreographic residency with the Garage, a Toronto based collective. I truly hope we get to conclude our work together. I was commissioned by Westmount Collegiate Institute to create a new short work for their end of year concert, which I am unsure as to whether we will be making that a reality. I recently registered for b12!!! Please lord let me go to Berlin in July and keep developing my ninja skills.
I’ll conclude by wishing everyone well. My advice is to stay informed but don’t obsess over the bad news. Connect with your family and friends, find patience. Breathe and take in what’s immediately around you and be grateful for it. This too shall pass.
xo
Kylie