Cody Berry's spirited Mani.Deux
6 Oct 2019.

Cody Berry has been dancing professionally since he was 12-years-old, when he first performed at the Sony Centre. Now, fresh out of school, he is busy choreographing Mani.Deux, his new work that offers an abstract acknowledgement of the history and revived acceptance of this ultimately non-translatable, non-binary Indigenous identity. The term is connected to the Anishinaabemowin term niizh manidoowag or “two spirits." Berry draws on these linguistic and cultural resonances in this work. The choreography develops through a sensual exploration of water/female and thunder/male, inspired by the quote: “The acceptance that I was looking for was in the culture I tried to run from.” Raised in Lac La Croix First Nation and based in Toronto, Cody Berry identifies as a two-spirited Ojibway contemporary dance artist. His work combines traditional knowledge (protocol) with conventional movement methods.

Mani.Deux runs about 13 minutes and involves four other dancers. It is part of Program 3 of Fall for Dance North. Though he shares the stage with the New Zealand Dance Company, Jasmin Sheppard, and the Bulareyaung Dance Company of Taiwan, Berry’s presentation will stand out because it also features live music by Skye Polson (drums) and Paul Geldart (electronic). Mani.Deux is a world premiere, and promises to be very exciting.