Co-presented by DanceWorks and SummerWorks
August 15-17, 2025 in Toronto
Witness the captivating Latin American female choreographic voices of Irma Villafuerte (El Salvador/TO) and Sonia Bustos (México/ MTL) in this shared-space-separate-stage Double-Bill. Rooted in feminist perspectives, ancestral memory, and the cultural history and vitality of their respective lands, this unique evening of performances immerses audiences in evocative soundscapes that move the earth beneath your feet. Through embodied rituals that invite you to unravel, lament, and release, Villafuerte’s Xilopango and Bustos’ Je ne vais pas inonder la mer explore themes of grief and matrilineal loss across generations.
Je ne vais pas inonder la mer
Sonia Bustos
Xilopango
Irma Villafuerte
Je ne vais pas inonder la mer (I Will Not Flood the Ocean) is a work choreographed and performed by Sonia Bustos, herself marked by the weight of mourning her mother and grandmother, and drawing from research into identity, her personal history, and maternal lineage.
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An exercise in evocation through movement, the choreography is accompanied by four live musicians, an immersive set, and the smells and tastes of home. In the performance space, memory-bearing objects accompany the narrative of the project. It is a danced elegy that seeks to share emotional experience through an amplified presence of the five senses.
Throughout, music plays an important role in transitions between the remembered and the present. The initial quadraphonic recorded soundscape is gradually traded for traditional live Canto Cardenche (a polyphonic a cappella choir) and Son Jarocho (a ternary rhythm).
The project received support from the Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Conseil des arts de Montréal, MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels), Centre de Création O Vertigo, Studio 303, Circuit-Est/Nyata-Nyata, and Maisons de la culture Plateau-Mont-Royal, Notre-Dame-des-Grâces and Janine Sutto.
Full details including artistic credits, supporter credits, advisories, and access information for this performance are available on the SummerWorks website here! Scroll down or click here to learn more about the Vibrotactile Pillows that will be available for this performance through our new partnership with VibraFusionLab.
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Dates and Times for Je ne vais pas inonder la mer
Fri Aug 15, 7:30 PM
Sat Aug 16, 3:00 PM
Sun Aug 17, 2:30 PM
60 Minutes
Venue
The Theatre Centre, BMO Incubator
1115 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M6J 1J1
Photos by David Wong.
Xilopango is a contemporary dance-theatre work by Salvadorian-Canadian-Chinteña choreographer Irma Villafuerte, performed by a five-person ensemble. This powerful piece explores intergenerational memory, migration, and matrilineal resilience through a Central American contemporary dance lens.
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Named after Lake Ilopango—one of Kuskatan’s (El Salvador) most powerful volcanic calderas — Xilopango draws from six years of land-based research and personal history. Its choreography captures the intensity of eruption, implosion, and transformation, reflecting the seismic impact of war, colonization, and exile on familial relationships. The narrative traces four generations of women in Villafuerte’s lineage—her great-grandmother, grandmother, mother, and herself—each defined by resistance, survival, and migration.
Integrating personal ritual, historical memory, and ancestral connection, Xilopango is an embodied act of remembrance. It invites audiences to bear witness to the echoes of lives shaped by displacement and resilience, offering a space to honour the disappeared and reclaim fractured histories.
Full details including artistic credits, supporter credits, advisories, and access information for this performance are available on the SummerWorks website here! Scroll down or click here to learn more about the Vibrotactile Pillows that will be available for this performance through our new partnership with VibraFusionLab.
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Dates and Times for Xilopango
Fri Aug 15, 6:00 PM
Sat Aug 16, 1:00 PM
Sun Aug 17, 4:00 PM
60 Minutes
Venue
The Theatre Centre, Franco Boni Theatre
1115 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M6J 1J1
Photos by André Escobar-Linares.
This double bill was conceived and is curated by Dedra McDermott.
Sliding Scale Tickets: $15, $30, or $45 per show.
Tickets Now on Sale!
Access Partner - VibraFusionLab x DanceWorks
Through an emerging partnership with David Bobier and Jim Ruxton at VibraFusionLab (VFL) of Hamilton, Ontario, Vibrotactile Pillows will be available for audience members to access the sound production as direct vibrations.
Each pillow is outfitted with a transducer that produces both the sound and the accompanying vibration. A transducer is an electronic device that converts energy from one form to another thus these pillows convert the energy of the sound into an enhanced vibrational experience. The pillows are flexible to hold in your arms, on your back, under your feet or wherever they feel most comfortable to the individual. The vibrotactile pillows are provided to offer a more visceral audience experience for deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. Our aim is to approach accessibility as a multifocal and multi-sensorial opportunity for deeper connections between choreographic performance and audiences.
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Pillows are available in limited quantities, with priority given to the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community. Please note your interest in a pillow when selecting your ticket. Hearing people can reserve vibrotactile pillows 30 minutes before the performance at the Box Office by adding their names to a list on a first-come, first-served basis.
The DanceWorks and VibraFusionLab Partnership aimed at expanding accessibility practices for live performance is made possible with support from the Canada Council for the Arts’ Public Outreach Grant. Xilopango and Je ne vais pas inonder la mer are generously supported by the Metcalf Foundation Booster Fund.
Meet the Choreographers
Sonia Bustos is a Mexican born performer-creator based in Tiohtiá:ke (Montreal). Her interests are closely linked to social and political issues with a focus on feminist perspectives, the third root in Latin America, memory, and theatricality.
Photo by Vanessa Fortin.
Irma Villafuerte is a Central American dance artist based in Tkaronto (Toronto) and a first generation of refugees from Nahuat Pipil Territory, post colonial El Salvador. Her work embodies cultural, social, and political narratives of oppressed communities.
Artist Talk with Irma Villafuerte and Sonia Bustos
Join us! A conversation with choreographers Irma Villafuerte and Sonia Bustos exploring grief, generational trauma, and matrilineal loss. This artist talk will take place at Casa Maiz, ahead of the stage performance featuring Irma Villafuerte’s Xilopango and Sonia Bustos’ Je ne vais pas inonder la mer in August 2025. This is a bilingual event in Spanish and English.
July 17, 2025, 7:00pm-8:30pm
Casa Maiz at 1280 Finch Ave W #204
Open Rehearsal with Irma Villafuerte and Sonia Bustos
Join us for an open rehearsal of Irma Villafuerte's Xilopango and Sonia Bustos’ Je ne vais pas inonder la mer, as part of the Knowledge Exchange Residency between DanceWorks and York University.
July 18, 2025, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
York University, Accolade East Building, Second Floor Dance Studios
