Influences from the outside in

More writings from Fresh Track Mentee Vivika Ballard:

Hello again everyone,

The artists at Mocean Dance have now moved into the third week of creative work on a new piece by Sara Coffin. In the studio we have been exploring ideas of how technology affects us by playing with the boundaries of our ‘edges’ and discovering our bodies in fragments. In my last entry I described my experience with our first ‘out of body’ improvisations. Sara allowed us to take our movement discoveries to a new level with a facilitated somatic experience, taking our centre of weight way off axis through an exercise in the round, know as the ‘trust circle’.

Your first experience in the moon walking floating stretch machine is sure to be a new one! In the circle with your eyes closed and surrounded by your ‘trusted’ fellow dancers, you begin to transfer weight to the bodies around you, gently at first and working up to the furthest extent of your edges and beyond with the support of the dancers guiding you through space. With my eyes closed I found it easier to give into the guidance given by the other dancers. It’s a very sensory experience and almost a release and flow through movement as though you are being manipulated by some giant amoeba with many appendages. Sometimes we even left the floor! As the experiment furthered the supporting dancers were asked to move away from the person experiencing ‘the ride’ and the subject attempted to maintain the feeling of being extended beyond their edge. It’s never quite the same once the trust circle dissipates. The sensation of letting something outside you make your movement decisions is hard to recreate and certain moves are impossible without your friends. The resulting dance however can be very beautiful and unpredictable.

When it was my turn to improvise the sensation Sara challenged me by asking for quicker changes of weight or pivots. I found this prompt forced me to move in ways that surprised or shocked my body into more distorted and off balance places. I imagine the visual outcome was more what Sara was looking for and the movement journey became less about remembering positions and more about recreating the sensation.  

The concept for this experience is parallel to our relationship with technology and the idea of its influence from the outside in. It was challenging, exciting, and very liberating going for ‘the ride’ and the movement outcome has been a staple for the piece thus far.

Here are a few pictures from week three. Sara and visiting media designer Andrew work together to find the most poignant combination of physical material with media support, looking for the poetics of the two merged into one.

Navigating the Edge and Beyond...

 New Fresh Track mentee Vivika Ballard reports from the studio:

This past week was the first of my three weeks working in the studio with Mocean Dance and Sara Coffin as she began her creative process for a brand new work, very exciting! There is something both so energizing and so overwhelming about beginning a new process, even for those who are not the 'creators'. For me this is a very new experience, mainly for the reason that I am coming from a background focused in classical dance. The way that Sara draws so much material from our     improvisation is a very organic technique for the dancer as we can draw on our own bodily sensations to find the authenticity in the movement. She gives us many liberties but not without some parameters to make for an exploration with intention.

Dancers L-R: Rhonda Baker with Fresh Trak Mentee Vivika Ballard, and Sarah Rozee with Jacinte Armstrong

Sara has been guiding us in movement exploration focused around an 'out of body' sensation and has challenged us to play with with idea of the 'edges' of ourselves. This concept has led us to consider the physical edges of our body dissolving which I find intriguing as movement becomes very shapeless when you think of yourself without an edge. Letting yourself go to this place really heightens the sensory aspect of movement as oppose to creating shapes.

We also discussed images of a universal fascia binding everything together. For me this image both expands the mind and makes the body vast but at times I felt spread thin or undefined. I have worked with Sara before and we did an exercise in visual focus. We imagined seeing through the walls and seeing the landscape beyond. When I practice this I achieve a funny sensation of taking in a greater picture, having a wider focus, and at the same time feeling quite small. I think over all however, this kind of focus brings me some kind of stability or perhaps just a false or imaginary sense of being rooted in something bigger. Overall, the 'out of body' experience made me feel like some kind of rubber chicken in outer space; a sort of nebulous creature with a picture or relative grasp of my surroundings but also an overwhelming sense of vastness. I always find it the most challenging and productive to work in the realms that are the most uncomfortable and rewarding to find yourself in these worlds.

Dancers L-R: Rhonda Baker with Fresh Trak Mentee Vivika Ballard, and Sarah Rozee with Jacinte Armstrong

In this 'brainless state', as Sarah Rozee dubbed it, also comes a heightened sense of the present moment. I enjoyed the idea of imagining the universal fascia. It sort zips you right into the present moment when you consider being connected to everything else. Sara shared with us some philosophies from Erin Manning. In the text Manning explains the theory of technicity. I drew from it that this heightened sense of presence we felt from the 'out of body' exercise can create a sort of channel where creativity can flow and gain momentum. My interpretation is that the more we can both release or give into the physical  task and maintain our awareness and intention the more easily creativity will flow from us almost as though we are puppets being driven by this kind of momentous force driving us into the coming dance. It's more of a focused release than a rigid command to the body to do something. This was a new and exciting place for me!

Stay tuned to the blog as Sara gives you a glimpse into our incredible imaginary movement adventures and the beginning of our new journey!

Mocean Dancers for the new Coffin project: Sarah Rozee, Jacinte Armstrong, Rhonda Baker

Making Fresh Tracks in Miramichi

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.

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. 

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!   

L-R: Kathleen, Rhonda, Ruth, Susanne, 

Darryl, Jacinte

That evening, the Canvas 5 x 5 crew headed to the theatre for a technical rehearsal. Watching the dancers work with the canvases on stage is always interesting. Every new space creates a new way for the canvas to behave, if there is a breeze or draft on stage that can work either for or against the dancers. The group of four all seem to have the handling and adapting down by now, a skill I believe I started to improve upon, but I always welcomed helpful tips and advice from the dancers. The wooded frame around the stage seemed to create a picture frame type image while the dancers were performing, almost recreating some of the photos taken at the Dunn Theatre over a year ago by Holly Crooks. The clean, crisp white canvas soaring through the stark black space was beautiful, and made the images stand out quite a bit more than in the studio.  Darryl and Lesandra arrived in the evening, and dropped by the theatre to say hello and check out the space. It was nice to have the whole Miramichi team together!

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

Notes from the Trilogy Project Deep Freeze Tour 2013

Driving back to Fredericton after the Halifax shows we are wowed by the spread in the Telegraph-Journal about Lesandra's process and the show. The piece was written by Kate Wallace who spent a day with us in the studio a few weeks back when we were in rehearsal. She really got at the heart of the the work (the creative nucleus as she put it) and it was the perfect set-up for the hometown show. Lesandra has recently taken a big role in Fredericton as Executive Director of the Charlotte Street Arts Centre, and the impact of her vision and gusto for dance and arts in palpalable in the community, who came out with bubbling anticipation for the Jan. 23rd show.

The playhouse was a beautiful setting for the three pieces, more formal than the Dunn in Halifax, but also more intimate, with the red seats curving around hugging the stage. While performing I could feel the warmth and attention radiating from the house. A very sensitive yet electric exchange with the audience occurred, as Lesandra peered on from backstage, not wanting to sit in the house. 

It was so nice to be able to share Lesandra's work with this community, which she has become a part of in the last seven or so years. 

Her blameless mystery was particularly special for me to perform in Fredericton since it was made there in 2010, in the winter, with many images, such as this image of the frozen Saint John River, and wartime housing in Minto, taken from the Fredericton area. It was also the first time our collaborator, film maker Chris Giles, got to see the work on the stage. 

After my icy solo, Ric & Darryl warm-up the stage with their desert duet

The boys duet, In two days a man can change, was a hit in Fredericton, with Darryl and Ric taking their dancing, taunting and hilarity to another level, and the audience right there with them.

L to R: Susanne Chui, Chris Giles, Lesandra Dodson, Ric Brown, Hannah Burrows, Darryl Tracy, Vicky Williams

We said goodbye to our amazing technical duo, Vicky Williams, lighting designer who really brought the works to life, and Hannah Burrows who did an incredible job learning the million and one sound, light and video cues while also making us feel completely taken care of every step of the way.


Then it was off to Winnipeg, with Darryl steeping in as props coordinator, making sure the rugs made it safe and sound.

Darryl (despite the late night and jet-lag) taught an early morning class to a stellar groups of young dancers at the School of Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers, who really know how to move! Smiles and laughs filled the room. 

We arrived in Lesandra's old stomping ground; having gone to the school herself and danced with the company, this performance was another kind of homecoming for her. It was so nice to finish the tour here, in the intimacy of the Rachel Browne Theatre, surrounded by old friends and fans of Lesandra, who know her work well. It was also the first time that Christine Fellows saw A leash for two hounds performed with the final music which she composed for the work. We were worried at first with the changes we made, but Christine was very pleased, shining a great big smile from the seats every night. Opening night we were washed with a wave of applause and a standing ovation from the Winnipeg audience. With the pieces, and our performances having become richer and more nuanced over the tour, it was so great to finish on this note. 

Outside the theatre

Inside the Rachel Browne Theatre

The Winnipeg version of the poster

In the lobby was a retrospective of Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers, and who else did we find than a young whipper snapper L. Dodson.

Darryl stays warm on the streets of Winterpeg

The best coffee in town that kept us going during our long tech days

Ric gets inspired

Another fantastic tech team in Winnipeg, with the presenter Brent Lott stepping in to call the show. 

Thank you to all who made this a very fun, fulfilling and memorable tour.  So long from the Trilogy team!

'Till next time, 

Susanne

Subtle Shifts

Photo: Lesandra Dodson

After a whirlwind of activity last week, culminating to three performances in Halifax, the team has returned to Freddy to get ready for the next leg of our journey.

As the dust settles, a few moments from the past week remain with me.

photo: Holly Crooks

On Friday night the audience shared the experience of being blasted with a cold wind as the curtains opened in the theatre. Intentional or not, the cold wind set the mood for a piece about freezing and thawing, Lesandra and others in the house breathing shallowly with me as my limbs 'loose their stifness' and I begin to 'show signs of life.' As I performed the opening part of Her blameless mystery, I was acutely aware of the silence and of the sound of my breath as it cut through the darkness.

Out for drinks after one of the shows two friends shared their interpretation of A leash for two hounds. For one (a man not currently in a relationship) it was about a new relationship, one of uncertainty, of coming and going, not sure whether to stay or to go. For the other (a married woman with a family) it was about the dynamic and power struggles of a seasoned couple, each with their own idiosyncrasies, and boundaries, a push and pull towards and away from the familiar. These two interpretations remind me that what one sees in a piece is a reflection of ones own experiences, and that it is just as valuable to notice what you see, as it is to know what the choreographer intended.

Darryl Tracy & Susanne Chui. Photo: Holly Crooks

(one person had completely different interpretation of the relationship of Darryl and I in the duet - they saw me as a carpet salesman, and Darryl as a ghost!).

Darryl Tracy & Ric Brown
Photo: Holly Crooks

Lesandra leaves space for the audience to enter the work, not dictating one meaning over another. And she gives the dancers this freedom as well. On Friday night the duet had a joyful feel for me, with playful teasing and a warmth between Darryl and I. On Saturday (after some new direction from Lesandra) I entered the work more reserved, more neutral, allowing the actions to be cooler and more matter of fact. With just this subtle shift of intention, everything felt different and the relationship changed.

Photo: L. Dodson

We move into the Fredericton Playhouse tomorrow, a big shift from the black box of the Sir James Dunn Theatre. I'm looking forward to seeing how this new frame, and a new audience, will further transform the works; what will be revealed, what will be lost, and what new things will emerge.

- Susanne

In two days a piece can change

The Team: Lesandra, Ric, Darryl and I 

Back in the studio with Team Dodson! Darryl Tracy, Ric Brown and I are in Fredericton, NB, at the beautiful Charlotte Street Arts Centre,  working with one of my absolute favourite choreographers, Lesandra Dodson. We are getting ready for The Trilogy Project, an evening of Lesandra's work being presented next week by Live Art Dance Productions, with a mini tour to the Fredericton Playhouse and Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers (aptly nicknamed the 'deep freeze tour').

It has been so lovely revisiting the pieces. After all the work that has gone into making these pieces over the past 3 years, and all the planning, grant writing, etc. to get us to this point, we are all feeling very proud, excited and grateful to finally be here.

 Two of the pieces are older works, a duet for Ric and Darryl called In two days a man can change,  a solo (or duet depending on how you look at it) that Lesandra and I created in 2010 called Her blameless mystery, and a brand new duet for Darryl and I commissioned by Mocean, called A leash for two hounds. (Doesn't Lesandra choose the best titles?).

Lesandra shows the boys how it's done

Each work is completely different but they all carry the signature Dodson style - detailed, fast paced, multi-layered collages of movement, text, sound, video, infused with breath, quirkiness, absurdity and a wholly unique sensibility of the profound oddities of life! She creates worlds from which colourful characters emerge, and it is so much fun to play in these worlds.

Rehearsals have been flying by, as we begin to recover, remember, rebuild, and re-imagine the pieces. Like taking out your good silver and buffing off the tarnish to reveal the shine, Lesandra is working us hard to find the essence of the pieces and bring them to life. Everyday we dig a little deeper and we have the sore muscles to prove it.

- Susanne Chui

The Trilogy Project Tour Dates:
- Jan 17-19, 8PM at the Sir James Dunn Theatre, presented by Live Art Dance Productions 
- Jan 23, 7:30PM at the Fredericton Playhouse
(Join us for an open dress rehearsal 2-5PM on Jan. 22)
- Jan. 26, 8PM & 27, 3PM at the Rachel Browne Theatre, presented by Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers

Happy Valley - Goose Bay

The company has just returned from Labrador after a whirlwind of activity. It all began on Nov. 20th when Jacinte Armstrong and I travelled to Happy Valley - Goose Bay to take part in the 37th Labrador Creative Arts Festival, Canada's longest running children's arts festival. We were there along with 11 other artists from across Canada - writers, actors, visual artists, musicians, a folklorist and even a make-up artist - to teach workshops to students from schools across Labrador, who travelled to Goose Bay to present original plays that they wrote, directed and performed. Over the week-long festival Jacinte and I taught workshops to hundreds of students from Grade one up to high school and we also travelled to Lake Melville School, in North West River, and Sheshatshui Innu School in Upper Lake Melville.

Our young dance group.

Some of the other artists also travelled by plane to coastal schools in more remote areas of the province. Jacinte and I stayed in town to work with a lovely group of local, young dancers  after school each day.

We set a piece of Jacinte's choreography, Chain Link Again, on the dancers and gave them extensive coaching (they should all know how to find their hip sockets now!). After a short rehearsal of our own and a quick dinner, we headed back to the theatre each night to attend the student's plays and watch 'cameo' appearances by the visiting artists.

Our billet, Jake Leyte

Jacinte and I at the Sheshatshui Innu School

The theme of the festival was 'transformation' and it was fascinating to see what the students came up with under this theme. Many of the plays centred around the changes that are happening in their communities, including the clash of old and new, and the impact technology is having on culture and tradition. All of the plays were unique and were very touching to watch. Afterwards the fun kept going into the night, as we were treated to parties each night in the homes of the committee members and friends of the festival. We had a fantastic time enjoying the wholehearted hospitality of the people of Goose Bay, who drove us around, fed us, entertained us, (lent us a treadmill) and made us feel completely welcomed. A big shout out to our billet Jake Leyte, looked after us so well and kept us laughing the whole time.

The festival has an amazing spirit of positivity and respect towards youth and art that is utterly inspiring. I was sad to see the festival come to an end, and say goodbye to the fellow artists, but for us it was not over yet.

The official festival button!

Fiona Anderson, Festival Co-ordinator and Tim Borlase, Festival Founder

Rhonda staying warm in style!

On Wednesday, Ruth, Rhonda and Marcel joined us to prepare for our show on Nov. 30th. After a quick remount rehearsal at the local gym, while Marcel transformed the Lawrence O'Brien Arts Centre stage, we got into the theatre and began getting ready for the show. This was a very special event for community of Happy Valley-Goose Bay as it was the first ever full-length professional dance performance in the community. On the program was Lisa Phinney Langley's duet, Beside Myself, Gasping, with video image by Rohan Fernando, the student dancers performing Jacinte's piece, Chain Link Again, and this season's signature work Canvas 5x5  by Tedd Robison, with guest piper Steve Gregory. The show was a great success, attended by over 120 people (apparently double the usual amount for a event like this), many of whom were students and people we had connected with through the festival. In the post show talk we enjoyed hearing from the audience, who were curious about the works and what it was like to perform. Many commented afterwards that they enjoyed the show, and that they wished there were more performances like this one.

Student photo exhibit in the lobby of the theatre.

Beautiful painted clay artwork created by students on display in the lobby of the theatre.

Being in Happy Valley-Goose Bay and taking part in the festival and the performance have been a very memorable experiences. A big thanks to Kathleen & John Hicks, Fiona Anderson, Tim Borlase and the Labrador Creative Arts Festival committee and volunteers for their incredible dedication and hard work, to the staff and volunteers of the Lawrence O'Brien Arts Centre, and a special thanks to Jake Leyte, Deb Gill, Tracy Leal & Robyn Spracklin Webber and family.

Next stop on the tour - Miramichi, New Brunswick in February!

- Susanne Chui

Our reverse interview with Byron from CBC.

Jacinte, Rhonda and Marcel hitting the town.

The hotel.

The Lawrence O'Brien Arts Centre

Goodbye Goose Bay!