Kiss The Stormy Sky

Thank you to the presenting partners whose belief in this work has kept it alive: Chris Stanton and the Hamilton Fringe; Deanna Jones and Suitcase in Point for In the Soil; Isaac Mulé and the OutFest team in Halifax; Sam Varteniuk and The Registry Theatre; Holly Bright at Crimson Coast Dance; and Ziyian Kwan at Odd Meridian Arts. Your leadership sustains independent performance.

To Sarahi Cárdenas, The Fifth, and Casa De Danza—thank you for offering space and resources that made this tour possible.

To Canada’s National Ballet School—thank you for your continued support.

To the artists and collaborators who shaped Kiss The Stormy Sky—thank you for your rigour, presence, and creative honesty.

To Danielle Denichaud: co-director, outside eye, coach, and mentor—your care and insight shaped every layer of this work. Thank you for walking beside me in process and policy.

To Cass Cabral Pucci: thank you for your administrative skill, emotional labour, and commitment to building EILERS Dance Theatre with integrity.

To AJ Morra and Amy Bell: your curiosity and technical support as summer technician brought heart to this process.

To Andrea Nann: for your leadership through the Conscious Bodies Practice and Method.

To Shahar Binyamini: for sharing with me the rigour of your choreographic research and teachings - for creating ways for me to reach my dancing possibilities and lastly for the encouragement to explore character and movement through costume.

To Henry Mak: for your thoughtful documentation and expanding this work’s reach.

To Shn Shn: your music carries this piece in ways words cannot thank you for your sound and spirit.

To Maria Montejo: thank you for your teachings and for opening the door to ancestral memory.

To the founding board of EILERS Dance Theatre: MK Alderson, Kelly Wolf, and Sandy Marshall: thank you for your trust and belief in this vision.

To James Farrington: for The Gardener’s Journal, and for allowing this story to live within it.

To my first company Aeris Körper and the Hamilton organizations support its growth Zee Float, Defining Movement Dance, Theatre Aquarius, and Goodbody Feel. To Robin Lacambra: thank you for supporting the roots of this journey.

With gratitude to the Hamilton City Enrichment Fund, Ontario Arts Council, and Canada Council for the Arts for your support of independent artists and visionary work.

To my mother: thank you for granting permission and asking that your story be shared.

To my child, Quintin: you are my mirror, my anchor, and my motivation.

To Sharon: for your steady love, for your unwavering belief in me and for all the fun, joy and passion you bring to my life.

To the land, wind, water, sun, plants, animals, ancestors, the young ones who carry this work forward, the elders whose memories echo within it, and those who’ve passed into knowing…thank you for your guidance.

To Nicole Eilers: may your memory be held in freedom and peace.