pounds per square inch performance | 30th Anniversary Season
Gerry Trentham, Artistic Director
NEWS & UPCOMING
Eldridge Award Nomination
The Eldred Family Dance Award is made possible through a trust established through the estates of Gerald (Gerry) Marcus Eldred (died June 18, 2013) and Marjorie Christine Eldred (died May
10, 2018).
Artistic Director Gerry Trentham has been nominated for the 2026 Eldred Family Dance Award. The Eldred Family Dance Award recognizes exceptional achievement and creative ability in dance by an established Ontario choreographer.
“I am extremely honoured to be selected among such esteemed colleagues for this nomination. As I put together the materials requested for the nomination, I loved running into memories of so many of you, hundreds, that celebrate and honour the many who are part of this recognition. Cheers to you each.” - Gerry
Check out the 30th anniversary video of Gerry’s choreographic legacy:
BAVI - Buenos Aires 2027
Becoming Articulate Vibrant Insightful (BAVI)
performance training through the lens of embodied voice
Finding the Speaking Body:
Breath, Text, and Play across Borders
January 6 - 16, 2027: 10 days (80 hours)
2026 BAVI participants at El Centro Armando
The June 2026 one week BAVI training program offered voice and body training in two languages in a country halfway around the world. An inspiring start to the new BAVI program.
Join us in Argentina January 2027.
Join a groundbreaking International Voice intensives in Argentina, where internationally acclaimed teaching artists explore the moving body, voice and text as inseparable and fundamental to the performance of spoken language. Drawing on a diverse range of pedagogical lineages — from Shakespearean verse to clown, from somatic movement to resonant breath — this workshop offers a rare opportunity to study with a consortium of leading practitioners from Canada, the U.S., and Argentina.
Sometimes we dance, sometimes we write
As various inspirations seek various forms
WEDNESDAY
November 18, 2026 from 12:00 noon - 1:30 pm EST
Love is in the Air (and so is smoke) Part II
Writing Community Gathering
Thank you to all who joined us to explore writing from all of our words and voices on August 19th. This fall, November 18tth we'll continue this Love theme and prompt in Part II.
We welcome who have attended Part I and welcome those new to this writing community to join us in Part II.
Welcome to the evolving Pounds writing community. Although Part II will continue the theme from our first session, it is inclusive for all - you can start from where you are now.
Over the last number of years Gerry with the help of his sister sibling Martina Payette have offered a space to gather together in a way to inspire each other and share their writing passion.
As summer moves into fall, this Part II session will be new for newcomers and a continuation for those returning.
In Part I, Gerry shared his exploration of working with a specific poetic prompt over the summer and with compassion for learning, shared that writing prompt with this growing community of Artists and Writers. He meets all who join, as we are and where we are, with an open shared space to grow writing practice, imagination, and explore technique. A writing community to support the beauty of the written word together.
All writing levels are welcome to join us. Perhaps, additional sessions will emerge to offer a means to share some of the new poetry inspired by this or other provocative writing prompts.
If you are new to Gerry Trentham’s work:
Over ten years at Buffalo State College in the early 2000’s Gerry helped performers write solo shows in an advanced acting class. From there he was asked to share his own somatic writing from meditative moving with all types of writing artists from poets to playwrights and further to artists, art enthusiasts and those interested in developing a solo writing practice.
Lunatic Project
IN Residencies..
Following the threads of the work in residency last August at Middlebrook Arts Research + Residency Center in the Catskills of NY, last fall in Tkaronto, two weeks from March 16 - 26 at Clarion University in Pennsylvania and June 6 - 16 at the Armando Centre in Buenos Aires, choreographer Gerry Trentham and sculptor Kaersten Colvin-Woodruff continue to weave their artistry into this unique visual art/performance installation.
Next up Trentham returns to Tkaronto to work with dramaturge Denise Fujiwara for a final research process prior to a year of creation residencies in 2027.
As a seminal project in Trentham’s fifth decade as a queer performer and artist, the Lunatic draws inspiration from the third and final stage of life described by Jungian psychologist and art critic Graham Jackson as the evolution of the “youthful golden messenger” into the “lunatic” whose air-like invisibility is difficult to hear or see.
The New Fulcrum Project (NFP) 2026/2027
Producer/Lead Researcher Shivani Joshi and Artistic Director Gerry Trentham are digging into a new round of our Metcalf-funded creative mentorship and artist cohort development program.
The New Fulcrum Project, or NFP, is a research project aimed at examining how solo-driven artists/art companies can create networks of connection that can be sustained through the creation of artistic work. As part of the lbs/sq" 30th Anniversary Season, the first NFP audience engagement event tested a tangible practice of cooperation that encouraged the development of co-conscious collaboration yet remained dedicated to individual artistic visions. Now in a second phase we are fortunate to be able to continue the research - a creative experiment utilizing a cohort’s shared values and unique visions - that looks to understand the challenges and benefits of collective engagement within our highly competitive field.
This research is generously supported by the Metcalf Foundation.
Thank you for joining the artists June 19, 2025, Summer Solstice Weekend - when light lingers, as they introduced their work as part of the New Fulcrum Project with Natasha Ama Eck, Lucy Rupert, Mutya Macatumpag, Cat Montgomery, Trevor Copp, Tiffany Thomas, Miriam Cummings, Nasiv Kaur Sall and Lauren Runions.