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| Scenic view from our hotel |
I was lucky enough to join Mocean on their tour to Miramichi
as a part of the Fresh Tracks! Mentorship
program. The company was presented by Conseil communautaire Beausoleil,
a French presenter located within
a small francophone area of Miramichi. The building was multipurpose to the
extreme, containing a theatre, a primary to grade 12 school, art galleries and
even the local French radio station. You could sense the pride of the people
working in the building upon entering, and that feeling seemed to fuel the
dancers even more to deliver a fantastic show.
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| View of the theatre from on stage |
Mocean performed Tedd Robinson’s work Canvas 5 x 5 and a duet recently premiered in Halifax by Lesandra
Dodson, A Leash for two Hounds. The
show was part of a dance festival, the first one to ever take place in the city,
so it was very exciting to be a part of that important step for the community.
The first stop upon arriving at Carrefour Beausoleil was to
lead some dance workshops. Susanne and I led an adult beginner level class,
with Rhonda assisting. We all had a fantastic time sharing our love of dance
with the beginner dancers, exploring different qualities of movement and
different ways to travel through the space. Next a local dance school stopped
by for a workshop, and Rhonda took the lead on this one. The 20 dancers, aged
10-17 did an incredible job listening to Rhonda’s instruction and trying new
movement such as floor work, improvisation, personal groove and group
exercises. CBC Radio Canada visited while the workshops were taught; they
interviewed Jacinte about the upcoming performance, and also spoke to some
adults who took the beginner workshop. They also got some great footage of both
workshops which was aired on the CBC TV and the CBC website.
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| Students from Valley High School |
Our second day in Miramichi brought us to Miramichi Valley
High School, where Jacinte and Ruth led workshops for some grade 9 and 10 French
immersion classes. The students were very energetic and eager to give dance a
try, which made it all the more fun for us to teach. Ruth created a dance piece
with different traveling patterns that the students performed for each other at
the end, and we were happy to see the teachers getting involved as well!
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| L-R: Kathleen, Rhonda, Ruth, Susanne, | Darryl, Jacinte |
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| Susanne & Darryl having fun during tech |
Show day found the company starting off with a lovely warm
up class led by Darryl. I joined in on the warm up, as I love taking Darryl’s
class, and also because taking a class on stage always reminds me of the times I
have done that for my own performances, which is such a nice feeling. Susanne
and Darryl started teching A leash for two
hounds with Lesandra. I hung around to watch the process, as did some
students from the school we were hosted in. The students were extremely well
behaved, and really seemed engaged in what was happening on stage. I had seen
the duet performed in Halifax a few weeks prior, but I always love getting to
see works again -- you always find new things within the choreography that you
missed the first time. It was nice watching Susanne and Darryl communicate with
each other and work together, you could tell their easy-going relationship made
the choreography between them flow that much more easily.
The rest of the day carried on, and before I knew it we were
just about at show time. Lesandra and I headed out into the audience to watch
the performance together. First up was A leash
for two hounds. We decided to sit further back in the theatre than earlier
in the day, and sitting in a different location changed some elements of the
piece for me. I can’t put my finger on exactly what, but it’s interesting how
the same audience can see a work differently depending on where they are
sitting. Because of the wooden frame outlining to the stage, it almost looked
like the dance was playing out on an old television set, and with the black
costumes it felt like an old 1960s black and white version. After a very brief
intermission (must have been just enough time for Susanne to get her costume
changed), Canvas 5 x 5 began. Those
initial notes in the first piece of music always twinge a bit of excitement in
me; I think it brings me back to the short excerpt performance I did of the
piece at the Creative NS Awards Gala in the fall. The dancers looked absolutely
beautiful floating and gliding through the space, and the moments when the
canvas would be thrown up into the air were magical in the big black space. The
audience rose to their feet as the dancers stepped forward for their bow --
Miramichi’s first contemporary dance festival
was very well received.
The final adventure of the trip was the drive home. Everyone
opted to leave right after the show in hopes of beating an incoming snow storm.
We were on the road by 10:30pm and everyone got home safely -- into the wee
hours of the morning, however.
Another session of my Fresh
Tracks! learning is over, and I really had an amazing time traveling with
the Company. The trip to Wolfville earlier in the year had only been for a day,
so this opportunity to see how a company works and operates on a longer road
trip was extremely interesting. I had a great time being in the space, stepping
up on stage when those times came during tech rehearsals, and really felt as a
part of the group. It’s been amazing to get to know these dancers better and
watch their processes, both in the studio and on the stage -- what an amazing
group of people to learn from.
-Kathleen Doherty
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