Enemy Lines

Choreographed by Mayumi Lashbrook

A contemporary view of a historic unjust act in a new dance theatre performance

Past Performances:

May 12-14, 2023

The Theatre Centre, Toronto, ON

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May 26-28, 2023

L.R Wilson Hall, Hamilton, ON

Enemy Lines is a live dance performance that looks at how a climate of fear led to the incarceration of Japanese Canadians. Held by curiosity, choreographer Mayumi Lashbrook looks back at the actions taken against her family during World War II. Suddenly deemed a threat after the Pearl Harbour attack in 1941, over 22,000 Canadians of Japanese descent were forcibly removed from the coastline of British Columbia - their lives forever altered.

Lashbrook seeks to understand these events in Canadian history and the curious hold it’s had on her life. Her work illuminates the cycles of fear based oppression and intolerant thinking that still afflicts us today. In Enemy Lines she elucidates our hardwired need for each other, and the way that disconnection can hinder our growth. Enemy Lines is a tender reminder of the fractures of our collective past and the possibilities for our shared future.

“Enemy Lines is a self-aware account of the harm indifference and fear can inflict. ”

Serena Lopez of The Dance Current

Cast & Creative Team of Enemy Lines

Enemy Lines was funded by generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, TD Bank and the City of Hamilton.