DANCE COLLECTION DANSE

the creation of her own one-woman shows. At a theatre
festival in Turkey, Langley met Australian director Paul
Rainsford Towner (known professionally as Rainsford),
who heads an innovative company working in dance
and physical theatre forms. Langley calls Rainsford “a
visionary … a man that has an uncompromising desire
to make theatre and a strength to create original work,
and I see those things in me too.” Together they created
Journal of Peddle Dreams, based on the writings and life of
Australian author Eve Langley [a possible relation]. The
emphasis was on getting to a stripped-down zone and
making her presence felt. “He made me the best performer
I had been in my life,” she says. “I got to the point
where I was shameless, getting to the heart of things.”
In a profession driven by the cult of youth and
beauty, not to mention the physical demands of dance,
Langley extends and defies the parameters of her
domain. In 1999, she received the prestigious Jacqueline
Lemieux Prize. The award committee described
her as “an inspiration to the community who stretches
the boundaries of the art form,” and praised her “command
of the direction she has chosen to move in, and
the strength and power with which she is doing it.”
Post-retirement, Langley has also worked consistently
as consultant, dramaturg and mentor for many artists.
In late 2011, Toronto-based dancer-choreographer
Sashar Zarif was re-imagining a lost dance form called
mugham, which combines poetry, music and dance,
and is connected to the Sufi and Shamanic cultures
of Azerbaijan, Iran and Central Asia. “I’d heard Elizabeth
was upfront and honest, and with her I’d get
feedback. I wanted that. I didn’t need someone to
pamper me.” They met at a dance studio. Zarif said,
“I dance, you watch, we’ll talk.” As Langley recalls,
“He took me into a world I didn’t know existed.” A
month later, they started intensive work together.
Crucial to Fujiwara was how Langley catalyzed
her development as a choreographer and performer,
helping her to navigate into “the arcane art
of butoh and into the deep performance required for
Natsu Nakajima’s solo Sumida River.” She admires
Langley as a “deeply compassionate and a skilful
communicator so that even in the most difficult
times, she was always encouraging and inspiring.”
Denise Fujiwara in Sumida River
Photo: Cylla von Tiedemann, courtesy of Denise Fujiwara
No. 75, Fall 2015 13