In the studio with Darryl Tracy

Incubator Lab II: Choreographic Residency with Darryl Tracy

Wednesday, January 8th, 2014
Fredericton, New Brunswick
Posted by: Susanne Chui

Charles Cardin-Boubeau, Amanda LaRusic, Austin Fagan, Darryl Tracy & me (Susanne Chui)

For the past 2 weeks I’ve been in Fredericton working with Darryl Tracy in a Choreographic Residency hosted by the Charlotte Street Arts Centre. One of my absolute favorite places to work, the Centre is a beautiful old building (previously a school) that has a gym turned studio. I love the classical proportions of this room, the seem to be the perfect dimensions for a dance studio, and the white walls, high ceilings and handsome tall windows (that cast ever changing silhouettes of sunlight throughout the day) make it a very charming, inviting and creative space. Being here reminds me of how important a beautiful studio is for inspiration.

Despite the frigid temperatures outside and the mountains of snow, the studio is hot with creatively. I’m pleased to be joined by a trio of very talented, committed and wildly fun group of dancers. Charles Cardin-Bourbeau (a fellow Leo) is the youngest of the group. A fresh grad from Ottawa School of Dance, he has never worked with Darryl before. We seem to be paired together quite a bit and I enjoyed dancing with him. A former gymnast and competition dancer turned contemporary, he moves with a fluid groundedness and sensitivity that makes him a great partner. Austin Fagen, (aka Brook, amoung other nicknames lovingly given to him by Darryl) is a Ryerson grad. A lithe and expressive mover, he brings spunkiness and a hilarious sense of humor to the studio, making this week so much fun. He and I get lifted, turned, dragged and pushed across the room with wild abandon. My female cohort is the beautiful Amanda LaRusic. A TDT grad, Amanda moves with a soft grace and delicate attention that I admire, along with limbs that extend endlessly into space. A fellow Nova Scotian Amanda hails from Truro but is currently based in Toronto.  Bringing her keen eye and expertise as a mentor to the process is Lesandra Dodson, one of my absolute favorite choreographers, who is currently director of the Centre.

Then of course there is Darryl. These two weeks are about him; about pushing his creative process, not worrying about product or outcome but having the time to explore, dig deep and expand his creative palette. At the beginning of the process Darryl explained that most of his choreographic work is done with students, where he has a very little time to create, is in the role of a teacher and has to be very product driven. He admits that he is very good at making movement quickly, composing sequences and putting together a piece lickedly split. He has a system, but he rarely has a chance to explore an idea deeply or to develop sophisticated themes.  For this residency his goals have been not so much to create a piece but to work on ‘how he makes work’ and to commit to exploring a specific theme. So far Darryl seems to be on track (with only perhaps a few detours and derailments along the way). Although he started from a familiar place he appears to pushing himself to work outside of his comfort zone and stick to his and Lesandra’s tasks, such as ‘working without a plan’ (a very difficult one for Darryl who is a serial planner), mining his material for detail, not jumping ahead to create a ‘piece’, choreographing without music, exploring text and breath, finding humour in the work, directing actions versus having to choreograph every move, among others. It appears that some days have felt more productive to Darryl than others but that overall there is an understanding that every experience, frustrating or enjoyable, are an important part of the process.

I feel very honored and humbled to be part of this residency, to support Darryl in this key moment in his evolution as a choreographer, where he is reflecting on himself and his process, while allowing himself to be open and vulnerable to the unknown. It is times like this that I appreciate the work that we do as artists - work that values process over product, merits questioning, exploring, creating, destroying, failing, laughing, crying, awkwardness, ugliness, beauty and all within the context of the live human body.

One of the themes that Darryl has been working with is ‘tissues in the human body,’ (unusually drawing directly from his
physiotherapy knowledge) exploring how tissues interact, change, destroy and attack each other, exist in harmony and in conflict, and are in an ever-changing state of flux. This I would say has not only been a theme for the studio but could also be metaphor for his journey these past two weeks. Good work DT. Thank you to Darryl, the dancers, Lesandra and the Charlotte Street Arts Centre for an inspiring residency.

- Susanne