Withrow Park, Dusk Dances 2007

Asian woman, early 30s, wavy hair bunched up high, curls cascading down her long neck, wearing a black v-neck cotton shirt, clavicle sharp, shoulders broad, chest planked.

Dusk Dances 2007 brochure, Dusk Dances (Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, Toronto Arts Council, Canadian Heritage, Laidlaw Foundation, Metcalf Foundation, Hal Jackman Foundation, K.M. Hunter Charitable Foundation, Alterna Savings)

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Tonight we will take you on a stroll throughout the park, offering you five short dance pieces in five different locations. Our host Madame Beaucoup will lead you to each of those locations. Please feel free to come an talk to the artists at the end of the performance, they will certainly be happy to talk with you.

I was nine. The kitchen linoleum slid under my sockettes like ice, yet my ankles stayed strong, my balance pegged. With each glide, I grew in confidence, shouldering my weight across the counter, lifting myself into scissors, chin grazing the breadbox, torso rippling.

When I landed it was dull. Something was creaking, the trail of blood along a fissured bridge. They left it in place, took the chance that it would straighten on its own. Three years later on a volleyball court, a selfish, showcasing spike did the trick, her heroic elbow dealing the blow. The birth of my handsome nose.