Leah Lavergne
Captured by François Mittins
Finding Rhythm
In this talk, Leah Lavergne moves between scenes rather than timelines. A market booth. A studio. A kiln. A dance floor. The story unfolds through moments of attention, doubt, rhythm, and return.
She begins at a market table, watching strangers pass by her ceramics, feeling the quiet tension between wanting connection and staying out of the way. Sales feel personal. So does rejection. These moments are energizing and exhausting at once, but they are not where the work really lives. That happens elsewhere, in the studio, where time softens and the body takes over.
Leah reflects on flow as a state that can’t be forced. It arrives through preparation, repetition, and trust, then disappears just as easily. She speaks honestly about how spontaneity can drift into instability, sharing the story of starting a ceramic studio in Toronto, losing it just as quickly, and having to return home and begin again. The collapse becomes a reset. A chance to rebuild with more care, more structure, and more intention.
Throughout the talk, Leah draws a parallel between her past life as a professional dancer and her current practice in clay. Movement, rhythm, discipline, and improvisation carry across mediums. The body still leads. The material responds. Mistakes remain part of the choreography.
She closes by reframing failure as instruction and imperfection as necessary motion. The work isn’t about control or polish, but presence. Paying attention. Letting joy guide the outcome. And trusting that what looks static from the outside is often the result of constant movement underneath.
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