Raving Through Artworks in M(M)A & Movement Workshop

Rave [verb]: to dream, wander, behave madly; to wander in one’s mind.

Movement [noun]: an act of changing physical location or position.

When we enter a rave, a museum, or any space that calls us to feel and move—do we feel courageous enough to participate? What draws us onto and into the space? If kinship is the “mutuality of being,” how might we cultivate it within ourselves, with others, with music and artworks?

Drawing on works from the McMaster Museum of Art collection, Hamilton-based DJ, radio host, and cultural programmer Jeff Chow (DJ alias Dunaway) presents a lecture that situates modern rave culture within multiple cultural perspectives. The talk explores rave spaces as intersectional sites of movement, community, and belonging. As rave culture becomes increasingly commercialized and absorbed into consumerist formats, the lecture reflects on artworks from M(M)A’s collection and recent acquisitions to consider how dance, movement, and community have been represented across time, geography, and culture. Chow is currently developing a publication titled How to Be a (Local) DJ, a project supported by City of Hamilton's City Enrichment Fund, reflecting on diverse approaches to DJing and how cultivating deeper relationships with music can strengthen local communities.

Following the lecture, Allie Blumas will lead a light-hearted, one-hour guided movement workshop exploring how kinship can be built on the dancefloor. Participants will be invited to experiment with ways of moving together, building confidence, and engaging in shared dance spaces. Through guided exercises, participants will develop greater spatial awareness and sensitivity to those around them. How can we “play” together without physical contact? How might we build confidence on the dancefloor while navigating our own expectations?

This event is open for McMaster community, students, and general public. No experience needed. If you are participating the movement workshop portion, please wear comfy attire and footware. Light refreshments are provided.

Artist Bios

Dunaway (he/they) is a DJ, radio host, cultural programmer behind Squat, a Hamilton-based radio and DJ collective dedicated to showcasing emerging local talent through weekly broadcasts, workshops, and dance events. As a programmer, Dunaway spotlights a different local DJ or radio host each week, creating space for sonic experimentation and shared storytelling through radio. He is currently writing a zine, How to Be a (Local) DJ, reflecting on the social roots of DJing and exploring more equitable ways of engaging with music in the age of digital streaming.

Allie is a queer, non-binary dancer, musician and Death Doula currently living on the traditional land of the Erie, Neutral, Huron-Wendat, Mississaguas, and Haudenosaunne people. Colonial known as Hamilton, ON. Allie graduated from Concordia University in 2013 with a BFA in Contemporary Dance, as well as a Minor in Religious Studies. Their current artistic practice involves researching ways that we can learn to embody the feelings and sensations of landscapes and use that to help us identify and engage with our experiences of grief and death to enhance our proprioceptive body. Their explorations in presences, and their work as a death doula, challenges the way dance and movement are commonly expressed and experienced. Allie is a founding member of Tkaronto (Toronto) based dance collective Open Fortress who explore collaboration through the use of different types of technology, sound and movement to create non-traditional and subversive atmospheres. They are also a founding member of the musical group DOOMSQUAD (2011-2020), and new musical project A L M A.

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Host or Publisher McMaster Museum of Art