Team Blog Post – Charlotte Cain

Hi! My name is Charlotte Cain, and I was a dance steward with dance: made in/fait au canada festival in 2021. The whole group of us dance stewards co-created this playful and vibrant piece that opened the festival that year. In the three photos of this performance, you can spot me wearing purple pants! Afterwards, I worked closely with Yvonne Ng as a rehearsal director during one of her recent projects, Sleeping, Tucked in the Lonely Purple, which was performed at the Toronto Fringe Festival, as a co-production with Theatre Gargantua. Following this, I’ve collaborated as a dancer in the process of an upcoming work entitled All that is Between, which has prompted several residencies facilitated through TO Live at Meridian Arts Centre and Meridian Hall in the past year. In the pictures from three different residencies, you can see me moving through on phrase work, dancing during a full run and warming up!

In addition to my love of dance, one of my biggest passions which has been growing for many years is makeup! I have been interested in makeup and experimenting with products and my own self-expression through makeup since the 9th grade. Wearing makeup is exciting and makes me feel very confident and pretty, but I truly appreciate the meditative practice of doing my makeup and how it makes me feel. With all my products laid out around me, I take my time through all the steps, working on my technique and precision, jamming to music playing in the background. I swear, there have been times where I spent hours on one look, even if it wasn’t the most complex or intense. I really enjoy the process of going from a bare face to a finished product, whatever that might be. There are occasions where my makeup looks are planned out days if not weeks in advance. Going to buy makeup or even browse around it is always so much fun. Over the years, I have had many different eyeshadow pallets, lipsticks, highlighters, lashes… In most cases though, when I don’t plan out a look, I like to play, improvise, and experiment with what I have, creating a new and unique look on the fly. It’s so exciting to try new colour combinations or even new products altogether. This kind of experimentation can go wrong, though! Sometimes, I end up calling my best friend in a panic because I messed up or I need another opinion about what to do next. In the end, there is always a way to save it or partially restart that step. When the final makeup look turns out great, there is a story behind it that makes it that much more fulfilling. I wouldn’t say that I am the best at it, but I really love what I can accomplish, especially now with the skills that I’ve accumulated over the years. The endless possibilities that makeup can offer have energized and stimulated me so much. Throughout my journey with makeup, I’ve experienced some major failures, I’ve had lots of laughable moments and I’ve learned a lot about myself. I know for sure that makeup will continue to be one of my favorite art mediums and forms of self-expression.