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SARA PORTER
Artistic Director / Choreographer / Dancer
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Sara Porter is an adventurous performer, writer, and educator, working at the intersection of memoir + movement.
Celebrated for her daring imagination - and sense of humour - Sara is noted for being truly multi-disciplinary. She centres her work in a feminist, queer worldview, and deals with the body as a point of personal reflection. She has presented her works at theatres and festivals across Canada, in Scotland, the US, and UK.
Originally from Nova Scotia, Porter was a scholarship biochemistry student prior to starting dance. As an artist, she worked in Montreal and Edinburgh before settling in Toronto, where she lives and works.
BIOGRAPHY
Sara Porter has created over 25 works since 1990, presenting and performing across Canada, in the US and the UK.
After almost a decade away from dancing, Sara created Sara does a Solo in 2014 - a multi-disciplinary solo show about the complex interplay of her lives as a mother and artist. After an initial bare bones studio presentation in Toronto, Sara toured coast to coast in Canada, to San Francisco and New York City over the next three years.
Next, Sara investigated the notion of memoir itself in Getting to know your Fruit (2019) The piece took a playful approach to the form of memoir itself, centring on her queerness and an original poem about an apple, orange and banana in search of self-knowledge. Presented live at Toronto's International Presenters Showcase at Fall for Dance North, the work was re-envisioned as a film by director William Yong, and premiered at Fall for Dance North International Festival in 2021. Porter's newest work - L-E-A-K - an erotic love letter to the ocean - following a studio premiere in June 2022, premiered at The Theatre Centre in Toronto in May 2023. She is currently developing a new solo - about her lifelong sun allergy - in collaboration with lighting designer Rebecca Picherack and bio-artist Elaine Whittaker.
Sara began her education as a biochemistry student at Acadia University and graduated with a Master’s degree in Dance Studies from University of Surrey (England). She trained in athletics, music, voice, clown, theatre, contemporary dance, and creative writing. Her dance writing is published online and in collected Canadian dance books.
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A Chalmers Fellowship recipient in 2019, Porter began investigating the intersection of literary memoir & memoir, and developed a unique mode of training and artistic exploration incorporating voice, writing, moving and conversation. She teaches workshops to artists and community members across Canada and internationally. As a creative consultant, she works with circus, opera, theatre, and dance companies, as well as dancers over 75 and dances with intellectual disabilities.
Sara has developed new curriculum and taught theory, technique and creative practice since 1996 in colleges and universities in Canada and Scotland. Sara contributes dance writing to print and online publications. She is author of Peter in Process: Peter Boneham’s sixty years in dance, a biography of the Canadian icon.