{"id":3833,"date":"2014-05-23T00:39:53","date_gmt":"2014-05-23T07:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=3833"},"modified":"2014-05-22T11:45:49","modified_gmt":"2014-05-22T18:45:49","slug":"amber-funk-barton-premieres-piece-with-lululemon-tie-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2014\/05\/23\/amber-funk-barton-premieres-piece-with-lululemon-tie-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Amber Funk Barton premi\u00e8res piece with lululemon tie-in"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Art of Stealing<\/em> grew from Barton\u2019s desire to explore what\u2019s considered right and wrong in a post-apocalyptic world. (photo by Chris Barton)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

When Amber Funk Barton was constantly dancing around her house at the age of 4, she didn\u2019t realize that one day she would become a professional dancer and choreographer. But the Vancouver-born artist, now 33, is living her dream. Her latest production, The Art of Stealing<\/em>, created by her choreography company, the response, premi\u00e8res on May 28 at the Firehall Arts Centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think I had a future as a professional dancer, I thought choreography was one way I could still be involved in dance,\u201d said Barton. \u201cMy dream was to have my own company and to choreograph.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Art of Stealing <\/em>grew from Barton\u2019s desire to explore a dark theme, what she describes as a \u201cpost-apocalyptic world\u201d and the difficulties in understanding what\u2019s right and wrong in this haunted, mysterious future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe small picture is the obvious thing \u2013 the obvious literal act of stealing, that\u2019s physical, taking something physical without consent,\u201d she said. \u201cI found it very interesting in this post-apocalyptic world that all of sudden it\u2019s OK to steal \u2013 and if you don\u2019t steal, you\u2019re gonna die. It\u2019s related to survival. On the bigger level, I started really thinking about it \u2013 the stealing that we can\u2019t control at all \u2013 our time, our energy, our youth. Essentially to me, death is the ultimate thief in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 60-minute piece is the third full-length work that the response has created. Established in 2008, the company\u2019s two previous pieces, RISK<\/em> (2008) and Portraits and Scenes of Female Creature<\/em>s (2011), also premi\u00e8red at the Firehall.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Choreographer and dancer Amber Funk Barton. (photo by Chris Barton)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although Barton said she had been dancing since she was a little girl, she only started dancing professional at 21. Perhaps her maiden name, \u201cFunk,\u201d was a glimpse of the career trajectory her life would take.<\/p>\n

But Barton isn\u2019t just making her mark in the dance world. While creating the piece, she teamed up with active-wear clothing line lululemon\u2019s innovation hub, called lululemon lab. \u201cThe lab is very inspired by different groups in the community and works with them to make functional fashion for people specifically in our community,\u201d said Barton. She was introduced to Jean Okada, team director at lululemon lab, who was impressed by Barton\u2019s creative piece.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe came up with the idea that she would like to pitch what the lab calls a capsule collection. So they essentially designed our costumes,\u201d said Barton. In addition to designing the dancers\u2019 costumes, they created a collaborative clothing line, which launched last week, on May 16. \u201cThey\u2019re selling it in stores and we\u2019re wearing [that] same clothing on stage. It\u2019s a really beautiful exchange,\u201d Funk said. The clothing is in line with the dance piece\u2019s theme \u2013 it\u2019s dark and edgy and promotes Barton\u2019s unique ideas about the struggle for survival in a dark world. The limited edition capsule collection produced three pieces for women and three for men and will be available only until the items are sold out.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, having a line designed is beyond what I was imaging in the first place. It was amazing. They had such respect for what we were doing as artists. They asked dancers thorough questions, what our needs are. I was able to share images and whatever I had collected in terms of inspiration. They actually took what I wanted and integrated it into the line. I was part of fittings. It was beyond what I was hoping for,\u201d said Barton.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on her beginnings and how far she\u2019s come, Barton said, \u201cI started dancing probably around 4 years old and it was with ballet and I had some kind of alignment issues. I had weak mobility in my legs so the doctor recommended ice skating or dance to strengthen the alignment of my legs. My mom noticed I was dancing around the house all the time anyways and she also didn\u2019t want to sit in an ice rink at 5 a.m., so she enrolled me in ballet classes and that\u2019s basically how it all started.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, she wants to focus on choreography and creating more unique pieces, as she embarks on what she calls her \u201cmid-career artist years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very fortunate and very grateful,\u201d she said. \u201cMy company is a small, project-based company. It\u2019s like a little home where I can make what I\u2019m interested in and make my art. Sometimes I just pinch myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Art of Stealing<\/em> is on stage May 28-31 at the Firehall Arts Centre. There is an artist talk back after the performance on Thursday, May 29. For tickets, contact the Firehall at 604-689-0926 or visit firehallartscentre.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Vicky Tobianah <\/strong>is a freelance writer and editor based in Toronto. Connect with her on Twitter, @vicktob, or at vtobianah@gmail.com<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Art of Stealing grew from Barton\u2019s desire to explore what\u2019s considered right and wrong in a post-apocalyptic world. (photo by Chris Barton) When Amber Funk Barton was constantly dancing around her house at the age of 4, she didn\u2019t realize that one day she would become a professional dancer and choreographer. But the Vancouver-born […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[156,1203,1201,1202,1204],"class_list":["post-3833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-amber-funk-barton","tag-firehall-arts-centre","tag-lululemon","tag-the-art-of-stealing","tag-the-response"],"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\/3833","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=3833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}