The Chimera Project Dance Theatre is bringing Silly Billy in Toronto and across Canada. Silly Billy is a family-friendly dance theatre project that combines storytelling, ballet, hoop dance, puppetry, and music.
After a Toronto performance on September 26, the cross Canada tour will take place September 28 to October 27, 2025.
Silly Billy was created as a collaboration between choreographers Arik Pipestem (Cirque du Soleil, Canada’s Got Talent) and Dora-nominated Amy Hampton. Malgorzata Nowacka-May, also a Dora-nominated artist, as well as Chalmers Award recipient, directs.
Billy is a rare white buffalo. He has playful adventures and misadventures in the course of his quest to find a legendary Unicorn. Elder Shirley Horn provided Indigenous cultural consultation to preserve the authenticity of its storytelling.
We asked Arik Pipestem (Arik), Amy Hampton (Amy) and Malgorzata Nowacka-May (Mal) about the piece.
Arik Pipestem, Amy Hampton and Malgorzata Nowacka-May: Q&A
LV: How did you come up with this story about the white buffalo? Is it based on anything?
Mal: Art is based on intuition, and intuition is some kind of strange art-magic. I had to propose a show idea, it was 11:45 p.m., and the idea was due at midnight. So that’s what came out.
Then Arik Pipestem and Amy Hampton both loved it, and it was after that moment, that the poetry of the idea became clear. The white buffalo is like a unicorn in First Nations stories, so Arik says… the are many special teachings that are brought by the white buffalo that are not in Silly Billy, but we know Billy is a symbol of them, and we hope Billy the buffalo will spark curiosity and respect towards the concepts the white buffalo carries. It’s wonderful to see two mythical creatures from two cultures meet one another and play together. It’s a simple but beautiful idea with a lot of depth and also hilarity (it is a kids show after all!) to offer.
Did you know that the North American buffalo is actually a bison? And, that thanks to a huge effort over many years, the bison has gone from near extinction with just 500 being left, to today, with herds of thousands roaming across. I see this as an amazing story that demonstrates human learning which offers so much hope for the future — as long as action is taken to bring about positive outcomes.
LV: How is your approach to creating a performance like this for children different than if you were creating a show for an adult audience? (Or is it different?)
Both Amy and Mal: The approach is very different!
Amy: With young audiences, we’re always thinking about how to capture curiosity and keep the experience playful, while still honouring the depth of the story. Children are incredibly perceptive, so the work has to be clear, engaging, and layered in ways that allow them to discover meaning at their own pace. For adults, we might lean into abstraction and subtlety, but for children, it’s about balancing imagination, humour, and emotional resonance in a way that feels accessible without ever being simplistic.
Mal: My mainstage work for adults is so fantastically different that it’s hard to believe the two streams of activity stem from the same mind. With the adult work, I’m pulled towards creating a feeling of tension, suspense, and surprise, athletically danced with imagery that is urban, unsettling and deliciously dark.
With children’s work, I guess the curiosity about holding suspense and excitement remain, but the focus shifts to the excitement of each moment and how comedic it can be for both children and adults. The core difference in approach technically, is that for kids works we work as a team in Chimera. We assemble a group of artists, and we each invest fully into the creation without clearly defined boundaries and roles. In Silly Billy, the vision of Arik Pipestem, and Amy Hampton and me, was what gave the entire work its shape, it’s hard to say where one person’s contribution starts and ends because everyone was invested in everything.
Arik: I like to work backwards, as an adult what I find funny is not always appropriate. So, we get a team of artists together (including a super-mom) and work backwards. Until we find the right vibes. There is a mature Silly Billy that has been created and performed for a festival in Edmonton, Alberta.
LV: How do you bring hoop dance and ballet together?
Arik: The bending of hoop and ballet came very easily. Hoop dance is a very forgiving form of performance and can easily be combined with many, if not every performance style.
Mal: The journey of bringing ballet and hoop dance together within Chimera began in 2016 when I was commissioned by the Algoma Fall For Dance Festival of Learning by Donna Hilsinger to create a work that shared the sacred Seven Teachings, and was soon introduced to elder Shirley Horn, a former Missanaibie Cree First Nation Chief, and a residential school survivor.
Her guidance in creating a joyous space of exploration between both cultures is what sparked the creative journey we have been on since then. I was specifically drawn to imagining what a reconciliatory work may be, and that drew me to reach for a most iconically Western form (ballet) and the incredible art of hoop dancing coming together. The cast of the first work included Arik Pipestem, one of Canada’s most acclaimed hoop dancers. He is like a trickster, a whirlwind with a genius tendency for the unexpected.
In this work, Silly Billy, which is our fourth creative endeavour, the creative team wanted to explore where ballet and hoop dancing might intersect and how elements of each could be transposed into the other. The hoop became a kind of bridge — sometimes a vehicle of magic, sometimes a weapon, and sometimes a celebration. The play between traditions created a language that feels both surprising and deeply connected, completely authentic within the story that is steeped in symbolism and lots of laughing until you are on the floor. Laughing.
LV: What do you want young audiences to take away from the show?
Arik: The Magic that comes from inside one’s self sometimes can’t be found alone. Sometimes all you need is a friend who believes in you. Or a forest full of magical creatures.
Amy: At its heart, Silly Billy is about learning to embrace what makes you different. We want young audiences to leave feeling proud of who they are and inspired to see uniqueness as a strength. We also hope they connect to the power of story itself — how dance, music, and imagination can open new ways of understanding the world and each other, and how experiencing different cultural perspectives can deepen empathy and appreciation for diversity.
LV: What have audience reactions been like so far?
Arik: Overwhelmingly positive. Silly Billy has an uncanny ability to adapt to its audiences no matter the location or even language.
Mal: In rehearsal we all knew that the young audiences and parents would laugh and enjoy it because we tested the show many times, but we were not prepared for the actual show run.
It’s like being at some legendary rock concert! The audience reactions have been wild. Young audiences are animated and honest — and give back an incredible amount of energy, which means they scream (a lot), they laugh, and they participate with so much joy. It makes every show unique, because the energy in the room changes with each group, and that keeps the performance alive in a beautiful way. Sometimes we will be in a room where 40 sweet little faces from 7 year olds are focused and attentive the whole time…and a child says “that was the best thing I saw in MY LIFE!”, contrasted with some wild group of kids that talk the whole time. Then the teachers thank us: “That was the most focused they have been all year! What a great show!”… and it’s such a surprise to live through the contrast and the beautiful response in every shape it takes.
The Tour
- September 26 – Toronto: Silly Billy Open Studio Showing at the Pia Bouman School of Dance, Theatre (Studio A) at 6 p.m., tickets PWYC.
- Find more details about the tour that takes them through Northern Ontario, to Vancouver, and Edmonton, [HERE].
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