{"id":19829,"date":"2016-07-01T00:33:33","date_gmt":"2016-07-01T07:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=19829"},"modified":"2016-06-29T19:43:15","modified_gmt":"2016-06-30T02:43:15","slug":"dancers-explore-our-humanity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2016\/07\/01\/dancers-explore-our-humanity\/","title":{"rendered":"Dancers explore our humanity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Naomi Brand\u2019s En Route<\/em> will be performed by members of All Bodies Dance Project. (photo by Chris Randle)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

New works and the pushing of boundaries. Just what audiences expect from the Dancing on the Edge contemporary dance festival, and just what the three participating Jewish community members have created.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Dancing on the Edge (DOTE), which takes place July 7-16, includes work by Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg, Amber Funk Barton and Naomi Brand.<\/p>\n

Friedenberg\u2019s I can\u2019t remember the word for I can\u2019t remember<\/em> is an excerpt from a work-in-progress \u2013 a new solo she is creating with director John Murphy.<\/p>\n

\"photo
Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg has worked with actor John Murphy to create I can\u2019t remember the word for I can\u2019t remember. (photo by Wendy D Photography)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI will be performing but a lot of what we\u2019ve been making has come out of our conversations about memory and the displacement of our memories in the digital world,\u201d she explained. \u201cThe piece explores how our minds, our selves escape us and the panic that brings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friedenberg and Murphy met years ago, when she was choreographing a Fringe show in which he was performing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is one of the funniest performers I know and a very smart playwright and director,\u201d said Friedenberg. \u201cI wanted to do research into narrative structure and comic writing, as well as explore being \u2018myself\u2019 onstage. Once John and I started researching, we both got excited about turning the research into a piece. Marc Stewart will create an original score for the work as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for other future projects, Friedenberg said she had recently returned from a residency in Italy where she was collaborating with Italian dance-theatre-performance artist Silvia Gribaudi. \u201cWe will be premi\u00e8ring our duet next year at the Scotiabank Dance Centre \u2013 it\u2019s a co-production with the Dance Centre and Chutzpah!\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to DOTE, Friedenberg is also choreographing West Side Story<\/em> for Theatre Under the Stars this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my first time working for TUTS and the cast is fantastic!\u201d she said. \u201cThe amazing Sarah Rodgers is directing \u2013 I also met her years ago on the same Fringe show where I met John. It\u2019s a very edgy take on West Side<\/em> and I am able to bring my contemporary vision to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barton is also bringing a new work to DOTE that she hopes will evolve into something larger \u2013 Village<\/em>, a 15-minute group piece, performed by members of the response.\u2019s apprenticeship program.<\/p>\n

\"photo
Dancers from response.\u2019s apprenticeship program will perform Amber Funk Barton\u2019s Village<\/em>. (photo by Chris Barton)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

About it, Barton said, \u201cI am always interested in working with narrative and story and, lately, I seem to be inspired by small towns and their intimate interactions. When I travel, I find it fascinating that, as a human race, we all have a similar rhythm to our lives but the diversity of how<\/em> we carry out this rhythm is what continues to make us interesting to one another. We all wake up. We all eat breakfast. We all go to work. We all struggle to define what our short lives on this planet mean. We all love and have our hearts broken. We all want to be loved. We struggle to attain happiness\u2026. So, I\u2019ve decided that I would like to make a dance that reflects these inspirations; I want to portray a group of people who live by the sea and survive a storm.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy intention in creating Village<\/em> for the festival this year,\u201d she continued, \u201cis that it is a starting point for a much more developed work with possibly a larger cast. But, to start, I am working with four dancers \u2013 Andrew Haydock, Antonio Somera Jr., Marcy Mills and Tessa Tamura \u2013 who have all gone through my company\u2019s apprentice program. So, this is also a special endeavor, as it is giving these emerging dancers an opportunity to perform in the festival, as well as working with them as professional dancers. It\u2019s really exciting to witness their growth. I\u2019ve also decided not to perform in Village<\/em> because I want to focus solely on the creation of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another focus of Barton\u2019s has been working to make VAST<\/em>, her first full-length solo, a reality. \u201cI\u2019ve been doing a lot of movement research and performing works-in-progress in support of it and I\u2019m currently working towards a 2017 premi\u00e8re,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve also held two more cycles of my company\u2019s apprentice program. It\u2019s hard to believe, but my company\u2019s 10th anniversary is on the horizon, so I\u2019m dreaming about what I would like to create to celebrate that. I\u2019m also teaching regularly and am currently on staff as the head of contemporary at Avant Dance Company in Burnaby.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, if that weren\u2019t enough, Barton recently did a residency with the company EDAM Dance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis spring,\u201d she said, \u201cwith the support of EDAM, I was invited to create a 20-minute work for three dancers. I called the trio Scenes for Your Consideration<\/em> and it was recently performed at EDAM\u2019s Induction performance series.\u201d The work featured Elya Grant, Somera Jr. and Haydock, she added, \u201cand became a collection of scenes and interactions where the relationships between the dancers continued to shift. When I watch the work, I see them shift between friends, enemies, lovers, siblings \u2013 all the various roles that we encounter in our everyday lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brand\u2019s work for DOTE is about a different form of shifting. Called En Route<\/em>, it \u201cexplores different ways to traverse public spaces and negotiate our place in a crowd. The piece celebrates and exploits the fine line between practical and performative ways of getting from point A to point B.\u201d To the program description, Brand added, \u201cDirectionality and determination to get somewhere are contrasted with meandering, circuitous pathways towards our goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The piece will be performed in the inner courtyard of the Woodward\u2019s Building, which, she said, \u201crequires me to think more creatively about the three-dimensional experience of watching a living choreography. The Woodward\u2019s space is also a space with its own complex choreography of people moving through it in myriad diverse ways towards their own destinations. We are excited to build upon the existing dance of that space.\u201d<\/p>\n

En Route<\/em> will be performed by members of All Bodies Dance Project, which she described as \u201can inclusive group of movers who experience and perceive the world differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brand launched All Bodies Dance Project in September 2014 with Mirae Rosner and Sarah Lapp.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe three of us were\/are interested in making a space in Vancouver to explore an inclusive dance practice that was open to movers of all abilities,\u201d said Brand. \u201cWe have been really fortunate to partner with the Vancouver Parks Board and the Roundhouse to make this project possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll Bodies Dance Project is accessible to anyone and welcomes difference as a creative strength,\u201d she continued. \u201cOur work poses questions about dance and how it is practised: Who has access to dance training? Who gets to make dances? What is the artistic potential of different types of people dancing together?<\/p>\n

\u201cBy bringing together \u2018standing dancers\u2019 with dancers who use wheelchairs and other mobility aids, our practice seeks to challenge the ideas of normalized dancing bodies and make space for a new and innovative community of dance makers. We want to widen the spectrum of who dances and what dance can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

All Bodies Dance Project has created two full evening productions to date, See & Be Seen<\/em> (2015) and TRACE<\/em> (2016), and have done numerous community performances in local festivals and events, said Brand. \u201cWe are interested in continuing to create new and innovative pieces of choreography, allowing new audiences to see the choreographic possibilities of difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the fall, she said, there will be a new session of the group\u2019s open classes at Trout Lake Community Centre and the Roundhouse, in addition to a new class it is launching for young dancers ages 8-12 at Mount Pleasant Community Centre and a new group at Sunset Community Centre (allbodiesdance.ca).<\/p>\n

In addition, Brand continues \u201cto make and perform contemporary dance across a wide spectrum of contexts, from my own solo work to work with professional dancers to dance with diverse populations. I have just completed a three-year residency at the Roundhouse, where I was working with an ensemble of 20 older adults called the Ageless Dancers.\u201d<\/p>\n

As well, when the JI<\/em> contacted Brand by email for this interview, she was on Toronto Island where, she said, \u201cI am working with a group of 24 dance makers from across Canada on a project called 8 DAYS<\/em>. This is my fourth time at this intergenerational gathering that aims to connect choreographers, to share their practices and create dialogue about the form.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the full schedule and tickets for the DOTE festival, visit dancingontheedge.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Naomi Brand\u2019s En Route will be performed by members of All Bodies Dance Project. (photo by Chris Randle) New works and the pushing of boundaries. Just what audiences expect from the Dancing on the Edge contemporary dance festival, and just what the three participating Jewish community members have created. This year\u2019s Dancing on the Edge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[6041,156,3119,3972,3907,876],"class_list":["post-19829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-all-bodies-dance","tag-amber-funk-barton","tag-dance","tag-dote","tag-naomi-brand","tag-tara-cheyenne-friedenberg"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}