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Shaping Reciprocity Festival | May 29-31, 2026
Shaping Reciprocity
Exploring Interspecies Empathy through Movement and Music
LabO – 60 Waller Street, Ottawa
May 29 to 31, 2026
Pay What You Can (PWYC) to $99
Co‑produced by HarpSparks and the Voices Dance Project, with composer Jack Hui Litster and guest choreographer Autumn Eckman. Original festival artwork by Meredith Luce.
Shaping Reciprocity is a multi‑day festival of contemporary dance, harp, and ecological imagination. Through performances, workshops, and collaborative creation, the festival invites audiences to explore how humans live in relationship with the more‑than‑human world.
Programming includes Reflection 1, a mixed program of dance, harp, and digital art, and Reflection 2, a showcase of new works from the inaugural HarpSparks: Composer Lab. Three workshops—led by festival artists and partners from SCALE, Ecology Ottawa, and Civic Imagination Lab—invite participants to explore movement, sound, and ecological connection.
Tickets & Passes
PWYC-$50 — Reflection 1
PWYC-$30 — Reflection 2
$99 — Full Festival Pass - Includes:
ONE Reflection 1 performance (you choose the day)
Reflection 2 performance (Sunday at noon)
All workshops
PERFORMANCES
Reflection 1
Reflection 1
Fri 7:00pm* • Sat 7:00 pm • Sun 3:00 pm
A mixed program of contemporary dance, harp, and digital art tracing human–nature relationships—from melting ice and endangered marine life to imagined futures in kelp forests. Works blend scientific insight, folklore, humour, and ecological storytelling, including a comedic duet inspired by plastic toys.
Featuring music by Jack Hui Litster & Michelle Gott; & choreography by the Artists of the Voices Dance Project & Autumn Eckman
Dancers: Jessica Dallaire‑Clark, Autumn Eckman, Anna Farinaccio, Kendra Guidolin, Audrey Lanoux, Jade Mauzeroll, Melissa Nicholls, Jasmine van Schouwen, Megan Tolmie;
Harpists: Angela Schwarzkopf, Audrey Morris, Michelle Gott.
Content note: Includes themes of ecological and animal harm; no graphic imagery.
*Friday's performance will be followed by an artist talkback
Reflection 2
Reflection 2
Sun 12:00 pm
Premieres of new works created by seven emerging composers collaborating with Voices Dance Project artists. This playful, exploratory program brings small ecosystems to life—birds offering musical gifts, trees in shifting light, and human–nature relationships stretching and rebalancing.
The performance will be followed by an artist talkback
WORKSHOPS
Workshop 1 - Environmental Empathy and Action
Workshop 1 - Environmental Empathy and Action
Sat 2:00 pm
Explore local ecosystems through movement and sound, guided by field recordings and a projection map of the Ottawa watershed. Co‑hosted with SCALE, Ecology Ottawa, and Jack Hui Litster.
Workshop 2 - The Embodied Score
Workshop 2 - The Embodied Score
Sat 3:30 pm
Led by Audrey Lanoux and Kathryn Patricia Cobbler, this session uses guided improvisation to explore joy, presence, and connection through movement and music.
Workshop 3 - Expression through the Harp
Workshop 3 - Expression through the Harp
Sun 10:00 am
Dr. Angela Schwarzkopf introduces innovative approaches to writing for the modern pedal harp.
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