Bodyworks Symposium Program

All events are free and open to members of the public. We encourage the participation of athletes, artists, students, academics, researchers, and passionate spectators, readers, and interested persons to attend. If you are a teacher, professor, or coach, or an organizer of any other group that you think would be interested in attending the symposium, please indicate so on the registration sheet. We would love for your group or class or team to join us!

Registration is free. But please do register so we can accommodate all who would like to attend; participants will be asked to commit to the symposium. Register here.

Goals: to foster exchange, dialogue, and enlightenment between disciplines, institutions, and communities to foster future innovative research and collaborative multidisciplinary projects, particularly those that highlight reciprocity between sport and art practice to encourage breakthroughs in all fields that promote mental, physical, and creative health. Participants will help facilitate research, publication, outreach, and the creation of new programs designed to reap the individual and social benefits of sport and art practice and experience, thereby contributing to issues of essential significance to health, cultural, and social research in Canada.

Wednesday Nov 4, 2009

4:00-6:30 Art Exhibition Opening featuring the works of Craig Le Blanc, Kevin Light, Jane Roos, and Julia MacArthur at the Samuel J. Zack’s Gallery, Stong College, and the Special Projects Gallery, Accolade West.

Opening Reception to be held at the Samuel Zacks Gallery, Stong College.

Thursday Nov 5, 2009

Introduction by York University President Mamouh Shoukri to officially open the symposium.

9:00-10:15 KEYNOTE ADDRESS: LESLIE HEYWOOD, U.S. (poet/power-lifter: author of Pretty Good for a Girl, memoir; The Female Athlete as Cultural Icon; poetry books plus weightlifting books, among others) | Chair: Dr. Priscila Uppal, York University | Founders Assembly Hall

Leslie Heywood’s Lecture: “Flow: The Biophysiology of Sport and Art,” will address some of the mind/body states that link art and sport in terms of “flow” or “peak experiences.” The talk will be a creative non-fiction piece that blends the creative and the expository.

Coffee Break: (Served by Symposium) 10:15-10:30, Founders Assembly Hall

10:30-Noon PANEL “SPORT AND SOCIAL PROGRESS: THE CULTURAL IMPORTANCE OF SPORT” | Chair: Dr. Suzanne Zelazo, Ryerson University | Founders Assembly Hall

  • JANE ROOS, CAN (founder and Director of Canadian Athletes Now Fund; award-winning sport activist and fundraiser, art gallery owner and accomplished painter) will focus on  how “we all CAN do what we CAN to succeed”: the Canadian Athletes Now Fund, Talent Supporting Talent, and other modes of encouraging excellence in our country and in our individual lives;
  • MICHAEL HOLMES, CAN (poet, novelist, editor, author of a book of poems about wrestling, among other works) – “Beer League: Absolution on Ice” will discuss the communal restorative powers of adult recreational sports and male socialization; and
  • CORY FREEDMAN, CAN (Events and Logistics Strategist, Sports Activist) will discuss the Women’s Running Scene – why women are leading the latest running boom – and the impact it is having on their lives and how it is changing the landscape of the running community.

Lunch Break: Noon-1:15pm

1:15- 2:45 PANEL “PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF SPORT” | Founders Assembly Hall

  • MARY ELLEN CLARK, USA (Two-time Olympic Bronze Medalist, Diving);
  • BRADLEY YOUNG, CAN (School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa), in his talk “The Masters Sport Phenomenon” will describe trends and active research avenues in sport psychology relating to Masters Sport (over 35 yrs of age). This cohort is the fastest growing segment of our sporting population. Participants defy traditional societal trends of decreased involvement across the lifespan and further show remarkable engagement and goal-striving behavior in middle- and older-age. They afford a new understanding of adherence to sport, give us new perspective on age-related processes, and potentially break down ageist stereotypes. Masters sport is a growing and vital sport domain extended beyond the boundary of adolescence, and it compels one to consider how we might also redraw boundaries for healthy aging; and
  • GREG MALSZECKI, CAN (Sports Sociologist, Dept. Of Kinesiology, York University)

Coffee Break: (Served by Symposium) 2:45pm, Founders Assembly Hall

2:45-4:00 KEYNOTE LECTURE/WORKSHOP: DR. MIKE MANDEL: HYPNOTISM AND SPORT “HOW ATHLETES ARE USING HYPNOTISM TO REACH THEIR POTENTIAL” | Founders Assembly Hall

Dr. Mike Mandel will discuss how athletes can use hypnotism to reach their potential. (Members of the crowd might be invited up to the stage to participate.)

Dinner Break

7 pm: BOOK LAUNCH for THE EXILE ANTHOLOGY OF CANADIAN SPORT STORIES, edited by Priscila Uppal, with readers from the anthology: George Bowering, Barry Callaghan, Brain Fawcett, and Priscila Uppal; plus Olympic medalists Kevin Light, Billy Bridges, and TBA. The Annex Live, 296 Brunswick Ave, at Bloor St. [Free admission; Anthology is $25, no tax; $5 from every book sold will be donated to the Canadian Athletes Now Fund]

Friday November 6, 2009

9:00-10:15 KEYNOTE: ANN PEEL, CAN “SPORT AND CREATIVITY” (former lawyer, Olympic race-walker, sports, children’s and women’s rights activist, founder of the Canadian Athletes Association and former executive director of Right to Play) | Chair: Dr. Priscila Uppal, York University | Renaissance Room, Vanier College

Ann Peel’s keynote will draw on decades of experience in the sports world and social sectors and will focus on how creative initiatives and problem-solving in the sports world can help us all lead healthier, more prosperous, and spiritually-rewarding lives, and can help create engaged citizenship and promote massive social change.

Coffee break: (Served by Symposium) 10:15-10:30, Renaissance Room, Vanier College

10:30-Noon PANEL: “THE ATHLETE AS ARTIST AND THE ARTIST AS ATHLETE” | Renaissance Room, Vanier College | Chair: Dean of Fine Arts, York University, Dr. Barbara Sellers-Young

  • GEORGE BOWERING, CAN (poet, novelist, literary critic, former Canadian poet laureate, has written extensively about baseball) will focus on the relationship between writing and baseball;
  • CRAIG LE BLANC, CAN (visual artist, subject matter and artistic practice centers frequently around sport) will focus on how his practice has developed into utilizing sport, play and the male archetype as the context for the pieces. From how it all started to where it is now, the span will show a cross section of conscious usage of sport and the intuitive usage of it; and
  • KEVIN LIGHT, CAN (Olympic Gold medalist rower, photographer and filmmaker) will speak about how photographs happen. He will talk about each of the photos that are in the gallery, and have a power-point presentation of the series of photos that were taken before and after the best one, about the struggles and how sometimes great photos come out the most unsuspecting moments. He will also talk about his experience as an Olympic athlete and his goals concerning the next Olympic games.

Lunch Break: Noon-1:15

1:15-2:30 CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOPS FOR ATHLETES (and non-athletes interested in writing about sport) | Designed by Dr. Priscila Uppal

  • “Storytelling for Athletes” with BARRY CALLAGHAN, CAN (Novelist, poet, publisher, editor, journalist who has frequently written about sport and sport figures), 113 Vanier College. Barry Callaghan’s workshop will focus on fiction writing and journalism writing. How do you write a memorable sports story? Let an expert give you some advice. Whether you are a professional athlete or merely a creative sports fan, this workshop will teach you about some of the key elements of great storytelling and help you put your sports experiences and fantasies onto paper.

  • “Poetry for Athletes” with PRISCILA UPPAL, CAN (Poet, novelist, York University academic, and inventor of these creative writing workshops for athletes), Vanier Senior Common Room. Priscila Uppal’s poetry workshop will focus on how to write imaginatively about sport. The workshop will focus on inventive exercises designed to bring the magic of sports language and sports experiences to life. Bring paper and pens and your open imagination! Athletes and wordsmiths alike welcome—from the experienced writer to the “I’ve never written a poem in my life” athlete.

OR

1:15-2:30 DISCUSSION GROUPS/RESEARCH TOPICS (Attendees should be interested in pursuing research, activism, community outreach in chosen area) | Designed by Dr. Suzanne Zelazo

  • “Sport Activism and Gender in Sport” (Founders College Senior Common Room 305). Presenters and Discussion Leaders: DR. ELIZABETH BEN-ISHAI is a professor of political science at Albion College, MI. Her areas of research include contemporary political theory, feminist political theory, theories of autonomy, citizenship, and social welfare. Dr. Ben-Ishai is also a competitive runner. SILVIA RUEGGER is an Olympian, and has held the Canadian women’s marathon record for 24 years. She is also National Director of Kidsfest Running and Reading Clubs and a tireless sport and social activist.
  • “Interdisciplinary Representations of Sport in Canadian Culture” (Winters Junior Common Room 012). Presenters and Discussion Leaders: DR. STEPHEN CAIN is a writer and professor of Can Lit at York University. He has three books of poetry that engage constraint-based writing and procedural poetics. In content, his poetry often mixes pop culture literary theory and political concerns. BILL KENNEDY is the Project Director of Artmob and runs Stop 14 Media, a web development company and consultancy that specializes in the arts, publishing and non-for-profit sectors. He is also the Artist Director of the Scream Literary Festival in Toronto, an occasional editor at Coach House Books as well as a writer. Together with Darren Wershler-Henry, Kennedy created apostrophe, a book of computer-generated poems.

Coffee Break (Served by Symposium): 2:30-2:45, Renaissance Room, Vanier College

2:45-4:15 PANEL “REPRESENTATION OF THE ATHLETE: LEARNING FROM DIVERSITY” | Chair: Dr. Rishma Dunlop, York University | Renaissance Room, Vanier College

  • BILLY BRIDGES, CAN (Gold Medal Paralympian; sports activist) will focus on the challenges and experiences of Paralympic athletes in Canada and elsewhere;
  • BRUCE KIDD, CAN (former Olympian, sports activist, Dean of the Faculty of Phys Ed, University of Toronto) will focus on how artists (from painters, photographers/ filmmakers and sculptors to playwrights) has tried to capture the athlete’s experience. He will also discuss mass media portrayal of athletes, the increasing participation/complicity/self-censorship of athletes in the messages that funders want, and at Olympic Games like that in Beijing, the heavy censorship of athletes’ voices, and what must be done to protect athletes’ full expression; and
  • TARA NORTON (Professional Ironman Triathlete, Motivational Speaker) will share her story of overcoming challenges and enormous odds through an athletic cultivation of mental strength. Through learning how to access mental strength in the face of physical compromise, Norton not only willed her way to recovery but to new heights of athletic success.

4:30-6:30 SPORT FILM SCREENINGS WITH SPECIAL GUESTS FOR Q AND A | Chair: Dr. Russell Field, University of Manitoba, Canadian Sports Film Festival Director | Price Cinema, Room 102, Accodale East Building

  • “Our Marilyn” by Dr. Brenda Longfellow, York University. 1987, 27 minutes, Canada. Dramatized short about Marilyn Bell’s attempt to be the first person to swim across Lake Ontario and what it must have felt like, narrated by an unnamed Canadian girl who speaks of the relationships between ‘their’ Marilyn, sex goddess Monroe of the United States, and ‘our’ Marilyn, swimmer Bell from Canada.
  • “Punch Like a Girl” by Maya Gallus and Justine Pimlott of Red Queen Productions. 2008, 58 minutes, documentary, Canada. In a gritty inner-city gym in Toronto’s west end, a variety of women discover the limits of their physical and emotional strength by throwing themselves into the raw, male sport of boxing—from the amateur hoping for Olympic glory as a way to avoid deportation to the jazz pianist who is Canada’s oldest amateur boxer.

Dinner 7:30 (Complimentary for Guest Speakers; Symposium Attendees are invited to attend the dinner/reception at their own expense. Location: Atlas One Café, Atlas and St. Clair West Ave, downtown Toronto)

Additional Program Events:

Two Art Exhibition Spaces have been secured to participate in Bodyworks Symposium and will focus on artwork about sport and artwork by athletes:

  • The Special Projects Gallery: Accolade West (Nov 4-13)
  • Stong College Art Gallery (Nov 4-20)

Current funding sponsors: YORK50, Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts, Masters of the Colleges with additional funding from Founders College, Office of the Vice-President Academic, Office of the Vice-President Research and Innovation, Department of English, Faculty of Graduate Studies, School of Kinesiology and Health, Faculty of Education, York University Bookstore.