COMPANY MANDATE
Theatre of the Living Statue produces creation and dance/theatre in Calgary and around the country. Its mandate is to produce new creation work; that integrates poetry, video, dance, and text; and that thrives in an exciting theatrical setting. Our basic area of focus is dance/ theatre, however, Theatre of the Living Statue is interested in working with new and established artists to create theatre that encompasses a broad spectrum
of ideas and media.  

Artistic Director and founder, Anita Miotti, has been creating independent work in Calgary since 1996. Beginning with the Back Pocket Performance Theatre, Anita’s exploration of the convergence of text (in the form of poetry, traditional dialogue and monologue form), and dance, has evolved from a separate treatment of the two media, into an ever changing and growing amalgamation in which its hard to tell where one begins and the other ends. Working toward a true physical theatre style integration, where all media share the world of the play, has always been Anita’s goal.

For a more detailed look at Anita Miotti's career click here.

COMPANY HISTORY
In 1999, Anita produced and choreographed the rock opera, I Think I’m A Wolf, with an adhoc group of artists called The Berserkrgang Theatre Collective. This performance integrated dance, poetry, dialogue and monologue style text, and the musical stylings of The Plaid Tongued Devils. It involved performers from the OYR ensemble, The Back Pocket Theatre, and included the musicians as active characters in the play.

In July of 1999, Anita was commissioned to build her first living statues for the Du Maurier Concert Series. The night began with the ‘golden girls’ in the lobby of the Jack Singer Concert Hall as the audience entered to witness Canadian Musicians, The Tea Party playing accompanied by the Calgary Phiharmonic Orchestra.     

The Living Statues Ensemble is now a 7 year old group of local dance artists who dance the art of stillness for events and gatherings. Human Statuary is an age old dance form, and Living Statues embodies the tradition of the form, with an exciting modern twist.

In 2002, The Theatre of the Living Statue began working on a project called Brava: Dreaming the Superhero Its most ambitious work to date, this dance/theatre production included the integration of video projection. Three of the most challenging realised objectives of this project were planning, shooting, and editing video that was designed to be integrated into a theatrical production; creating and producing dance/theatre in the style of a comic book; and creating a comic book style world on the stage. Brava: Dreaming the Superhero came to fruition in September, 2003.
    
Also in 2003, TOTLS produced a workshop production of Anita’s solo-show, Mummenpansz. Mummenpansz integrates dance, poetry, prose, and a very unusual prop; big, stretchy pants, into a world in which an alley cat, a dead dog, nasty neighbors, and a lonely young woman face eachother to find enlightenment. Mummenpansz went on tour in the summer of 2004 to the Montreal, Winnipeg, and Saskatoon Fringe Festivals, and was produced as a full scale theatrical performance at the Big Secret Theatre in
May 2005.

Theatre of the Living Statue is pleased to present its third comic book dance theatre production, Dragonfly Episode IV: IDENTITY at both the Calgary and Edmonton 2006 Fringe Festivals.