Kitchen Dance

Choreographed and performed by Alexandra Elliott

With Staff from St. Boniface Hospital’s Patient Services Kitchen:

Agnes Manabat, Al Corpuz, Angelo Javier, Ashley Dagli, Brenda deRooy, Carla Williams, Catherine Mousseau, Cheryl Procillo, David Beauchamp, Dean Mozel, Della Ross, Denice Linag, Dianne Evangelista, Ed Buczynski, Ela Prandzioch, Emineth Gelera, Evelyn Eustaquio, Fancy Chen, Gilbert Gapit, Grazyna Glowacki, Gurleen Kaur, Joey Wu, Herwin Agellon, Jennifer Cunanan, Jocelyn Offerman, Josephine Perey, Karen Arbez, KC, Kristin Friend, Mamerta Ragel, Maria Brucal, Maria Motta, Maria Yumang, Maribel Dizon, Marlene Fife, Maryam Safavipour, Matthew Jaramilla, Melanie Gallajones, Minh Man To, Monika Horvath, Nancy Suga, Neriza Mendoza, Paula Zurbyk, Romeo Valencia, Ryan Hassar, Sarah Corpuz, Sally Salgado, Shelley Bluhm, Shirley Garde, Sukhman Sandhu, Sumeya Ibrahim, Tiarra Ignaczak, Wasssana Kilpatrick, Wilfred Ladera, Elizabeth Porpiglia, Zenaida Browning.

Kitchens are places of creation and St. Boniface Hospital has been creating meals for patients since 1871. Each meal is a vessel of care and attention as well as nutrition. Much of the food is made from scratch and there is a deep understanding among staff that the meals they prepare are as important to patients’ recovery as meds and clinicians.

A working kitchen is full of the rhythms generated by food preparation. The staff’s work is characterised by gestures that are repeated on each shift. Bodies moving through space and time: this is the basis of choreography, of dance.

In 2025, the choreographer and dancer, Alexandra Elliott, was invited by the Curator of Galerie Buhler Gallery, hannah_g, to create a site-specific dance in St. B’s Kitchen. The intention was to create an opportunity to share and celebrate the skill of often unseen workers, highlight the Hospital’s commitment to providing good food to patients, and emphasise the relationship between good nutrition and health.

Alex expresses her experience of being among the staff, ingredients, machinery, and architecture of the Kitchen, and at times the staff join her. Alex has also created moments for the audience to see the wonderful choreography the workers perform with their tasks each day.

The dance will be performed live in the Kitchen among the staff in mid-November 2025 and is also being made into a film. The film will premiere in Galerie Buhler Gallery in late November and then continue to be screened there into January. It will also be played on the televisions in waiting areas around the Hospital.

Gallery Buhler Gallery was able to undertake this initiative thanks to the enthusiasm of the wonderful kitchen staff and the incredible support of the Patient Services Kitchen Manager, Carla Williams. Alex’s happy curiosity and originality as a choreographer and dancer have created something really special in a very unique setting. The project was funded by the visionary St. Boniface Hospital Foundation, with encouragement and backing from the Hospital’s Executives.

Photo: Karen Asher

Live performance 11 and 12 November. Very limited places. Email [email protected] for more info.

A BIG thank you to our sister galleries for lending us their PA systems: Urban Shaman, MAWA, and Platform: Centre for Photographic + Digital Arts

Kitchen Dance Film

A film by Kayla Jeanson will be made of the dance and will be screened in GBG throughout December and January. Premiere Friday 28 November, 7pm, followed by a conversation between Alex Elliott, Carla Williams, and hannah_g. All are welcome!

Big group exhibition coming up in September 2025 …