{"id":23150,"date":"2017-02-24T03:58:16","date_gmt":"2017-02-24T11:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=23150"},"modified":"2017-02-21T22:04:00","modified_gmt":"2017-02-22T06:04:00","slug":"life-stories-told-in-dance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2017\/02\/24\/life-stories-told-in-dance\/","title":{"rendered":"Life stories told in dance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Allen and Karen Kaeja perform their latest lifeDUETS<\/em> series March 9-11, as part of the Vancouver International Dance Festival. (photo by Zhenya Cerneacov)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

As a dancer, how do you tell the story of a couple\u2019s life together that has deep roots but is continually evolving? The Kaejas decided to commission two different pieces from two different choreographers. The result is the latest in their lifeDUETS<\/em> series, which comprises a structured piece that is more or less consistent in every performance, and another that constantly changes.<\/p>\n

Allen and Karen Kaeja established Kaeja d\u2019Dance in 1991. The Toronto-based couple commissioned three duets about 20 years ago, and the newest two were commissioned in 2015 for their 25th anniversary. It is this anniversary pair \u2013 one by Tedd Robinson, the other by Benjamin Kamino \u2013 that the Kaejas will share at Roundhouse Performance Centre March 9-11, as part of the Vancouver International Dance Festival, which runs March 1-25 at various local venues.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always performed together, but improvised, and I suggested this idea of commissioning choreographers,\u201d said Karen in an interview with the Independent <\/em>over speakerphone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe commissioned Claudia Moore \u2026 Peter Bingham from out west, and then we did our own lifeDUET<\/em>, and commissioned Marie-Jos\u00e9e Chartier. Those years of commissioning ended in 2001,\u201d said Allen.<\/p>\n

Variations of that program toured throughout Canada, the United States and many other parts of the world. \u201cAnd then,\u201d said Karen, \u201cfor our 25th anniversary, that\u2019s where I thought we should really reinstitute the lifeDUETS<\/em> and commission more people. At that time, Allen was performing less, so it took a little bit of nudging and, together, we decided on bringing someone into the fold who was highly experienced and created pieces on so many Canadians, which is Tedd, and then someone who was up-and-coming who was in the realm of experimentation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that was Benjamin Kamino,\u201d said Allen. \u201cAnd so, two opposites of the spectrum.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two pieces were collaborative works. \u201cWe created together with both of them, so both choreographers say in their program notes, created with and performed by us,\u201d explained Allen. \u201cThey were both created for our 25th anniversary, as Karen was saying, and Tedd\u2019s is called 25 to 1<\/em>. He talked to a very dear friend of his, Peter Boneham, about, what am I going to do with these two guys?\u201d The semi-joking response, said Allen, was to put the couple in a tent having sex (though less delicately phrased).<\/p>\n

\u201cBut then, of course, the whole thing began to evolve, and became this really gorgeous duet. And what was beautiful about that was that neither of them knew that Karen and I, in our dating years, would do wilderness camping up in Algonquin, in Temagami; we\u2019d go out for 10 days to two weeks at a time. We loved wilderness camping, so it really resonated at home with us, but they didn\u2019t have any idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the idea that sparked Kamino\u2019s piece, Karen said, \u201cI think his vision came from the concept of \u2018becoming\u2019 each other, and that was the initial seed. Because we have this history of all these years, instead of having us do what people know us to do, which is a lot of partnering and so on, he would create a work where we almost never touched each other, where we would become each other to different degrees to a scored creation, because we knew each other so well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karen said that every work created for her takes her off guard \u2013 \u201cbecause it takes me on a tangent that I would not go myself\u201d \u2013 and these two were no different. \u201cBen\u2019s is really quite raw and exposed,\u201d she said, \u201cand that was a very beautiful inter-relational process, of becoming each other \u2013 and having him witness, as a choreographer. That process, for me, was like a mindful trio, very different than me and Allen being in the studio creating a work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robinson and Kamino were creating works on a significant and special relationship, she said, and she and Allen \u201cin a way, had to open our door and let them in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKaren and I met in 1981 and started dueting 36 years ago, but started dating 32 years ago \u2026 so, our physical connection has a longevity that most people don\u2019t know together,\u201d said Allen, referring to its dance aspect. \u201cAs Karen was saying, a lot of our dueting is improvised, so we\u2019re continuously surprising each other, we\u2019re continuously living in this state of unpredictability, and yet a depth of knowledge about [each other].\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOr catching each other\u2019s predictabilities and challenging those,\u201d interjected Karen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat, as well,\u201d admitted Allen. \u201cThat being said, Tedd\u2019s piece is tightly, tightly, tightly choreographed, to almost every beat in the music. There is very little room for variation. Whereas, in Ben\u2019s piece, there\u2019s only one moment that\u2019s set and even that is an improvisation, so it really captures our life and our existence together.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a brief discussion about how many moments are indeed set \u2013 which wasn\u2019t definitely resolved \u2013 Allen said, \u201cThe emotionality of the work, especially with becoming each other, with Ben\u2019s piece, it\u2019s a very different type of piece because we are continuously asking ourselves questions. For example, I was there when Karen\u2019s father passed away, and so I would ask a question, what would my last dance be for my father\u2019s final minutes, things like that. It\u2019s got an emotional resonance that nobody would know but her. For me, it\u2019s not only a vulnerable place and a personal place, but it puts me into her being, her essence. I\u2019ll never know how Karen is truly feeling \u2026 but it allows me a window into her soul, to be my perception of where she is at.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Kamino piece is different every night, said Karen, \u201cbecause we work with imagery that comes to us; it\u2019s not set imagery.\u201d<\/p>\n

While not religious, Allen described he and Karen as \u201cJewish to the core.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of our works have touched upon that aspect of our lives,\u201d he said. \u201cBut, as creative artists, I would say the connection to being Jewish, in a sense, is that connection of always questioning, of not being satisfied with an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I would say that that is universal,\u201d said Karen. \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s particularly Jewish, but that\u2019s what\u2019s led us, our heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s father was a survivor, and Allen has done series of works on his father\u2019s life during the Holocaust, including two trilogies of films, he said, some of which are housed at Yad Vashem, in its permanent collection, as well as in the permanent collections of New York\u2019s Jewish Museum, and Museum of Modern Art.<\/p>\n

Karen said her parents never approved of her becoming a dancer, and certainly not her marrying one. \u201cAcceptance came later,\u201d she said, \u201cafter the commitment to our career went forward and they saw what fruits were coming. It\u2019s a long road, establishing oneself as a dance artist\u2026. But, here we are, 27 years into the company.\u201d<\/p>\n

For tickets to lifeDUETS<\/em> and the full festival lineup, visit vidf.ca\/tickets or call 604-662-4966.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Allen and Karen Kaeja perform their latest lifeDUETS series March 9-11, as part of the Vancouver International Dance Festival. (photo by Zhenya Cerneacov) As a dancer, how do you tell the story of a couple\u2019s life together that has deep roots but is continually evolving? The Kaejas decided to commission two different pieces from two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[6769,3119,6768,6767],"class_list":["post-23150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-choreography","tag-dance","tag-kaeja","tag-lifeduets"],"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\/23150","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=23150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}