In this newly commissioned performance, poet and choreographer Aisha Sasha John engages with Margaux Williamson’s exhibition Shoes, Books, Hands, Buildings, and Cars. John enters the world of the paintings not as a viewer, but as a presence—encountering the quiet charge of everyday objects and scenes, listening closely to their emotional undercurrents, and allowing their atmospheres to move through her.
Rather than interpreting the works, she channels their textures and rhythms into live, embodied responses that echo and extend the paintings’ sensibilities. Through intuitive movement and spontaneous language, the performance becomes a living conversation with Williamson’s work, opening space for reflection, feeling, and the subtle transformation of the familiar.
This performance is part of MOCA’s Free First Friday Nights. Free tickets can be obtained ahead of time or at the door. Book in advance to reserve your spot!
About the Artist
Aisha Sasha John is interested in the power of reception as creative methodology and in choreographing performances that occasion real love. John is the 2023-2025 Toronto Dance Theatre Affiliate Artist. Her duet with Devon Snell, DIANA ROSS DREAM, was developed during a 2019-2022 Dancemakers choreographic residency and premiered at La Chapelle (Danse-cité, Montreal) in September 2022. The work recently toured in March 2024, presented in collaboration with Plastic Orchid Factory at Left of Main in Vancouver’s Historic Chinatown.
From 2015-2017, John choreographed, performed and curated as a member of the collective WIVES, presenting ACTION MOVIE at La Chapelle (2017). A celebrated poet, John is the author of the 2018 Griffin Poetry Prize nominated collection, I have to live. (McClelland & Stewart 2017), THOU (Book*hug 2014), and TO STAND AT A PRECIPICE ALONE AND REPEAT WHAT IS WHISPERED (UDP 2021). Her fourth collection, total, will be published by McClelland & Stewart in March 2025.
July Community Weekend Schedule
Friday
5-9 pm: Free First Friday Night
7–8 pm: Performance: Aisha Sasha John
Saturday
12 pm and 2 pm: Drop-in Tour
1–4 pm: Artist-led Workshop*
Embroidery with Michelle Galletta
*There is a fee of $70 per person. General Admission to the museum is included. MOCA Members at the Individual level and above are eligible for workshop discounts.
Sunday
10 am–5 pm: Free Museum Admission
10 am–4 pm: TD Community Sunday Pattern Printing Workshop
