Margaret Dragu
Margaret Dragu is a Canadian dancer, writer, performance artist and feminist.
Career
Dragu was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, in 1953. Growing up she was influenced by traditional Romanian folk dancing. As an adult she spent time in New York, Calgary, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. She began her dance career in Calgary in 1969, studying under Yone Kvietys Young, who was an instructor of movement using elements of Dada. From Calgary, Dragu moved to New York in 1971, where she began working with Alwin Nikolais, Murray Louis, and the Laura Foreman dance company, as well as members of the Judson Church. Her work with movement evolved to include elements of "burlesque, tap dancing, flamenco, and theatre." In 1973 Dragu moved to Montreal where she began a lengthy career as a striptease artist.In 1975 Dragu moved to Toronto and became affiliated with artist-run collectives including A Space and 15 Dance Lab. She taught classes in aerobics and strip at the A Space gallery. In Toronto Dragu attempted to organize around strippers' rights with the help of the Canadian Labour Congress and the Association of Canadian Radio and Television Artists. The short lived strippers' union was called the Canadian Association for Burlesque Entertainers.
In 1988 Dragu co-wrote Revelations: Essays on Striptease and Sexuality with A. S. A. Harrison, a collection of essays on the topics of striptease and sexual entertainment.
Dragu has stated that she has a "multi-personnae" disorder, becoming Lady Justice, Verb Woman, Art Cinderella, and Nuestra Señora del Pan. For a performance at Edmonton's Vision of Hope monument, with a sword, salt, wine and scales that viewers associate with Lady Justice, she honored the women killed in the massacre at Montreal's École Polytechnique.
She has collaborated with artists such as Tom Dean, members of General Idea, Rodney Werden and Kate Craig, and members of the communities in which she performs.
In 2012, Dragu won the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts.
Dragu resides in East Vancouver. She created a radio show, Momz Radio which focused on interviewing mothers about their experiences with motherhood. Through this research, she wrote a book by the same name, Momz Radio: Mothers Talkback. Dragu has created video art for YouTube, and writes two blogs, which she updates as Lady Justice and Verb Woman respectively.
Choreographic works
Dragu's work is known for being interdisciplinary and site specific. She collaborates with other artists and sometimes, the public. Her work is often based strongly in activism, whether feminist, environmental, social or otherwise.- Slits
- Pie Performances
grunt gallery, Vancouver, BC, January 2003
Hamilton Art Gallery, Hamilton, BC, November 2002
- Casting
- The Wall is In My Head/le mur est dans ma tete/
Elle Corazon, Montreal, Quebec, October 2001
Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, Ontario, November 2001
- Living Art
Cleaning and Loving
Queen's Park/V Tape, FADO, Toronto, Ontario, July 2000
- Conscious Corpus: Corp Domestique & Corpus Delicious
- Improvisation for X’s and O’s
Niagara Artists’ Centre, St. Catharines, Ont., June 1999
Grunt Gallery, Vancouver, BC, February 1999
- Eine Kleine Nacht Radio/a little night radio
Artword Theatre, Toronto, Ontario, June 1999
grunt Gallery, Vancouver, BC, February 1999
Moltkerei Werkstadt, Koln, Germany
darK.-Halle, Mainz, Germany
c.u.b.a., Munster, Germany
Carl Stipendium, Essen, Germany
Artis, s’Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, June 1998
- X’s & O’s for the Rites/Right of May
- Otzenrath Stipendium
- A Deconstructed Dollhouse/une maison de poupees en deconstruction
Theatre, Toronto, Ontario
Niagara Artists' Collective, St. Catharines, Ontario
Le Lieu's rencontre intern. d'art performance et multimedia, Quebec City, PQ, Oct.1996
- Secret Kitchen
Silverton Art Gallery, Silverton, BC, July 1995
Women in View Festival, Station Arts Theatre, Vancouver, BC, January 1995
New Performance Festival, Hornby Island, BC, May 1992
Festival, grunt gallery, Vancouver, BC, September 1991
Artspace, Peterborough, Ontario, August 1990
- The Bardo Gap
Nine Suits with Paul Gibbons and Jim Munro
Silverton Art Gallery, Silverton, BC, July 1995
with Jim Munro, Bill Smith, Dana Inglis and David Lee
Mayworks Arts Festival, Hornby Island, BC, May 1994
- Sliced Bread -with Jim Munro, Roy Kiyooka, Bill Smith and Dana Inglis
EDAM Dance Studio, Western Front, Vancouver, BC, February 1993
- Square Foot Real/realite au metre carre - with Jim Munro
Music Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, with guest artist David Prentice
Artspace, Peterborough, Ontario
Oboro, Montreal, Quebec; October 1992
- Pheromones - with Billy Little, Bill Smith, Jim Munro & Joey Meyer
- Original X's & O's Series
Expo '86, Vancouver, BC, August 1986
X's & O's for Friday the Thirteenth
Western Front, Vancouver, BC, November 1985
X's & O's in the Dead of Winter
Off Centre Centre, Calgary, Alberta, January 1984
X's & O's on the Shortest Day of the Year
Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, Ontario, Dec. 21/83
X's & O's on the Longest Day of the Year
Art Gallery of Hamilton's Artworks in the Garden,
Royal Botanical Garden of Burlington, Ontario, June 21/83 JOY OF MULTIDICIPLINE
Artspace, Peterborough, Ontario, March 1986
Emily Carr School of Art, Vancouver, BC, November 1985
Artcite Gallery, Windsor, Ontario, December 1984
Niagara Artists' Centre, St. Catharines, Ontario, May 1984
Banff School of Fine Arts, Banff, Alberta, January 1984
Alberta School of Art, Calgary, Alberta, January 1984
Articule, Montreal, Quebec, November 1983
- My Wireless is Running- with Colin Campbell
- I’m Already Chaning my Mind – with Colin Campbell
Fear of Blue/angst vor blau - with Tom Dean
Akademie der Kunste, Berlin, Germany, January 1983
London Art Gallery, London, Ontario, November 1982
Artspace, Peterborough, Ontario, October 1982
- Her Majesty/sa majeste - with Tom Dean
Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium, February 1981
- D.W.I. Strike and Public Parade Event
- Unfit for Paradise
Western Front, Vancouver, BC, September 1981
- The AM Show with Guy Allen & Arnie Achtman
Erindale Theatre, March 1981
Artspace, Peterborough, Ontario, July 1981 and June 1980
Vehicle, Montreal, Quebec, June 1980
University of Ottawa Theatre, Ottawa, Ontario, May 1980
- No Nonsense Black and White and Color
- T.V Hertz
Musee des Beaux Arts, Montreal, Quebec, March 1979
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, March 1979
- Canajan Burgers with Enrico Campana
CEAC, Toronto, Ontario; Arton's, Calgary, Alberta
Manitoba Theatre Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Regina Modern Dance Works, Regina, Saskatchewan
Paula Ross Studio, Vancouver, BC
Espace Tournesol, Edmonton, Alberta, June–August 1977
- 33 1/3 Double Live: Sunset Strippers, Beauty & the Beast with Enrico Campana and Terry Crack
TWP Theatre, Toronto, Ontario, September 1979
The Funnel, Toronto, Ontario, March 1978
- Pick Up
- Oh True Oh Real Oh Helpless Love with Redlight Theatre
- Queens of the Silver Blades with Susan Swan and Mary Canary
St. Paul's Theatre, Toronto, Ontario, June 1975
- Try Leather
- Kresges & Woolyworths
- Canadian Folk Danse
Film
I Vant to be Alonealso starring Jackie Burroughs, Robert des Rosiers, & Claudia Moore
Breakthrough Films/T.V. Ontario/Telefilm/OFDC production, half-hour, 1988
Conserving Kingdom
Breakthrough Films/T.V. Ontario/Ontario Hydro production, 1987
Memories of Paradise
Breakthrough Films,/T.V. Ontario production, half-hour, 1985
Video
"Breath"Video Out Distribution/Western Front Video, 16:00, 1985
"Dance Reading"
Video Out Distribution, 23:00, 1985
"Yo Soy Eine Kleine Shopkeeper"
Video In/Video Out Distribution, 10:00, 1993
"Sleeping Tape"
Banff School of Fine Arts, 13:00, 1985
"Bardo Gap"
Video Out/Western Front Video, 18:00, 1994
"Deconstructed Dollhouse"
Video Out Distribution, 20:00, 1996
"Living Art"
Video Out Distribution, 7:00, 2001
"Lady of Shallot - A Surveillance Player"
Video Out Distribution, 3:30, 2002
"More Cleaning and loving It"
Video Out Distribution, 13:00, 2002
"Lady Justice and the Epic Burden"
Video Out Distribution, 5:28, 2013
"Portals"
Video Out Distribution, 13:43, 2013