In Limbo: The Artists Behind the First TD Amplify Cabaret of the Season
With the first TD Amplify Cabaret season kicking off on November 20th, the excitement for live performance is palpable. Two years of quiet venues, dark dressing rooms, and an infinite number of Zoom shows has left artists in a state of limbo, unsure of the present and eagerly anticipating the future. We’re taking a peek behind the curtain at the creatives lighting up the Engineered Air Theatre with a performance that delves into this precarious state we’ve been left in. Get ready for Arts Commons Presents Two Doors: Dispatches from the In-Between, a one-night-only performance that will take you to the edge of your seat.
Jon McCaslin - Performer, Drums
Recognized as one of Western Canada’s leading jazz drummers and educators, Jon McCaslin brings his passion for the jazz tradition and its future to the bandstand and to the classroom.
Raised in Regina, Saskatchewan, Jon's interest in music led him to enroll in the Jazz Studies program at McGill University, graduating with distinction in 1999, later completing his graduate studies at the University of Toronto. In 2012 he released his album Sunalta on the Cellar Live jazz record label featuring Brad Turner, Phil Dwyer, Tilden Webb , and Jodi Proznick. This music was nominated in 2013 for the Western Canadian Music Awards in the “Best Jazz Recording” category. A lifelong student of the drums and of rhythm, since 2009 he has authored Four on the Floor, one of the world’s most recognized online jazz drumming blogs.
Lisa La Touche - Performer, Dancer
As a proud Canadian and New Yorker, Lisa’s credits are world-renowned. She was an original cast member in Broadway’s Shuffle Along, where she received both the Fred Astaire Award and the Actor’s Equity Award for Outstanding Broadway Chorus. Her TV credits include the 70th Annual Tony Awards and Amazon’s Original Z, The beginning of everything. Since 2010 she has run her own performance company Tap Phonics and has been commissioned to present for such organizations such as The Brooklyn Museum, 92Y, Gibney Dance, and Fall For Dance North.
As an educator and Professor she has taught for PACE University, NYU, The School of Jacob’s Pillow, University of Calgary, Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, Rosie’s Theater Kids, and member of the creative council for the American Tap Dance Foundation. Her most recent endeavor has been writing and directing her debut film TRAX encompassing her journey back to Alberta while discovering important local black history. Above all, her proudest achievement and greatest inspiration is the gift of being a mom.
Uyemi - Performer, vocalist
Born in Nigeria and raised in Canada, enigmatic Calgary singer Uyemi found her voice listening to the outliers of neo-soul and contemporary R&B, from Erykah Badu and SZA to Frank Ocean and Jhené Aiko. Her debut Butterfly Effect EP, which is set for release in the fall of 2021, excavates the depths of love, heartbreak, sexuality, and the battle within yourself. Emerging from pandemic isolation, Uyemi releases the trauma and pain of the past few years through her diaristic narratives and effortless vocal flow.
Uyemi landed in the Top 100 of CBC’s Searchlight contest in 2020 for her self-empowering single, “Don’t Get in Your Way,'' about choosing the wrong people in love and loving yourself first before loving another. Since then, she’s released a number of singles and become a go-to vocalist in the Alberta music scene. The singer has collaborated with artists such as Jae Sterling and A.Y.E., having appeared on his recent video for “BLACK,” a potent celebration of Blackness.
Wakefield Brewster (aka Da Lyrical PitBull) - Performer, Poet
Since January 1999, Wakefield Brewster has been known as one of Canada’s most popular and prolific Performance Poets. He is a BlackMan born and raised in Toronto, by parents hailing from the island of beautiful Barbados. He has resided in Calgary since 2006.
Wakefield has spoken across Canada, the U.S.A., and in has made countless appearances on a regular basis in a variety of ways, for a myriad of reasons, throughout each and every single year. Wakefield’s work is available on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, radio, online, pictures, video, print, podcast – Da Lyrical PitBull is accessible and everywhere.
TD Incubator Fellows Contra and Jae Sterling
Last, but certainly not least, Jae Sterling and Contra need no introduction. As the Fellows of the first TD Incubator Program, their vision for the inaugural group of 20 multidisciplinary artists is as bold as it is innovative, uncovering what it means to be an artist stuck in the limbo of a pandemic and a world turned on its head. You can read more about Jae and Contra and their vision for the TD Incubator Program here.
Visit our website to learn more about Two Doors: Dispatches from the In-Between, one of the most highly anticipated shows of the season.
Thank you to TD Bank for sponsoring the TD Amplify Cabarets and the new TD Incubator Program.
