On July 5th I had the enormous pleasure and honour of working with dancer/choreographer Margie Gillis, one of our nation’s cultural treasures. The daylong workshop was organized by composer Alfredo Santa Ana for Ms. Gillis and my trio, Trio Nomidi (violinist Karen Gerbrecht, cellist Olivia Blander, and myself). The morning and afternoon were spent working through Santa Ana’s trio, On Fairness. This stunning, six-movement work was premiered by Nomidi in January 2012 as part of the Peter Wall Exploratory Workshop, “Explorations of Fairness”. Our performance caught the attention of Gillis, who wished to choreograph On Fairness for future performances throughout Canada. Multiple performances of a major new work are a rare and precious thing in the new music world, so it was wonderful to come back to Alfredo’s trio — and it was even more wonderful to see the piece through Gillis’ eyes, as she worked through each movement, creating a thrilling visual narrative that complemented the music beautifully. Below are some photos from the workshop, taken by Alfredo and David Pay.