DanceHouse

From despair to hope

A scene from Clowns by Hofesh Shechter Company. (photo by Todd MacDonald)

Double Murder takes audiences on a journey from cynicism and violence to hope and healing. The double bill from the United Kingdom’s Hofesh Shechter Company features Clowns, described as “a macabre comedy of murder and desire,” and The Fix, “an antidote to the murderous, poisonous energy of Clowns,” which “brings a tender, fragile energy to the stage.”

Presented by DanceHouse at the Vancouver Playhouse Oct. 21 and 22, U.K.-based Israeli choreographer Hofesh Shechter told the Independent he is excited to share the works with audiences in North America.

photo - Hofesh Shechter — Hofesh Shechter *(photo by Hugo Glendinning)*

Clowns debuted at Nederlands Dans Theater 1 in 2016 and later was produced as a film and broadcast by the BBC. The Fix is a more recent piece. The company was in the middle of creating it when COVID hit and everything shut down, Shechter told the Independent. “And so we had this weird start/stop experience, where we sometimes could have two or three weeks of work, and again get shut in our homes for a few months. For me, it was a really interesting experience artistically. The work is about healing and about a communal effort, or the ability as a community, to heal ourselves and each other. The spirit of the time became a part of the energy of the work, and the craving for human contact and communication became even more urgent and relevant. There was a weird synergy between worldly events and The Fix, and I personally found it a very healing experience post-COVID.”

Hope plays a key role in the relationship between Double Murder’s two contrasting works.

“The energy of hope was something the dancers and myself discussed in the studio, months before COVID, as I knew I would like to create a balancing piece to Clowns,” said Shechter. “Clowns presents a rather sarcastic, somewhat hopeless world in perpetual power games. I was adamant to have another perspective in the evening on what the world can be, and we discussed in the studio that the most precious currency of our days must be ‘hope.’ It felt like an interesting and powerful direction to go to, and we embarked on trying to produce this energy through the means of movement and composition.”

photo - An image from The Fix by Hofesh Shechter Company — An image from The Fix by Hofesh Shechter Company. (photo by Todd MacDonald)

Shechter is also a musician and composer and his original scores interweave with his choreography, deepening his dances’ emotional impact.

“Creating new work for me is a chaotic process of releasing thoughts, feelings and ideas from the inside out,” he said. “Anything can be an idea, from a sketch of sound to a sketch of movement; lots of writing in my messy notebooks and recording sounds/music and experimenting in the studio. There is no particular order in which the elements are born – it is an organic, chaotic process of producing material, which is then followed by the process of editing and decision-making. The process of decision-making is complex, and does not always happen through the thinking mind, instincts have a big part in deciding which way to go.”

And his instincts have proven sound. In addition to choreographing for leading ensembles around the world, Shechter has choreographed for theatre, television and opera. His works have been performed internationally and Hofesh Shechter Company has won multiple awards. Shechter himself was awarded an honorary Order of the British Empire for his services to dance.

When asked about the courage it takes to be creative in the public sphere and whether it has become easier or harder as his career has progressed, Shechter told the Independent, “The level of difficulty of being publicly creative is not really dependent on external elects, such as time or external success. I find that the internal processes and thoughts or, in other words, the way I perceive my reality is what can make things tough – the expectations I might think are placed upon me and so on. All these are thoughts and, in truth, I cannot know or presume to know what people might be expecting. Therefore, I rather divert my inner thinking and process to what excites and inspires me – sharing my experiences, thoughts and feelings and sensations with people through the means of movements and sound. This communal sharing of experience is the most powerful aspect of performance for me, and a very fulfilling one as well.”

For tickets to Double Murder: Clowns/The Fix, visit dancehouse.ca or call 604-801-6225 during a weekday.

Presenting Mixed Repertoire

A Million Voices, choreographed by Matthew Neenan, is described as a “lighthearted and whimsical ode to Peggy Lee’s iconic jazz standards.” (photo by Rob LatourRob Latour)

Los Angeles-based BODYTRAFFIC returns to Vancouver for their DanceHouse debut, May 5-6, at the Vancouver Playhouse. The company, which is led by artistic director Tina Finkelman Berkett, will present Mixed Repertoire – A Million Voices, The One to Stay With, SNAP and PACOPEPEPLUTO.

“It is an immense privilege to present BODYTRAFFIC’s DanceHouse debut this spring, which also represents the company’s return to Vancouver since 2015,” said Jim Smith, artistic and executive director of DanceHouse, in a press release. “This is a masterful program of short works that effortlessly showcases BODYTRAFFIC’s singular ability to take on any dance genre, moving from hip hop to ballet to jazz and back again. Beautiful, virtuosic, political, and with a dash of much-needed lightness, this evening of dance will leave audiences breathless and wanting more.”

photo - Tina Finkelman Berkett — Tina Finkelman Berkett *(photo by Guzman Rosado)*

“We love coming to Vancouver,” Berkett told the Independent. “The audiences are always so welcoming and so curious. There always feels like a supportive energy for the work we are sharing. I loved that program that we offered back in 2015 [at the Chutzpah! Festival]. Typical to BODYTRAFFIC programming, it was packed full of works by choreographers who I believe in wholeheartedly.”

As for the May program, Berkett said, “The works the company will offer on May 5 and 6 showcase the versatility and virtuosity of our dancers. The program offers singular choreographic voices, some emerging and some established. Baye & Asa and Micaela Taylor are newer voices in our industry and are certainly taking the dance world by storm; I’m so excited to share their works. As always, the program will offer the audiences a chance to enjoy and be entertained.”

According to the press release, the 90-minute show will open with A Million Voices, from Matthew Neenan, which premièred in 2018. “A lighthearted and whimsical ode to Peggy Lee’s iconic jazz standards, this infectious piece featuring seven dancers reminds us that, even during our toughest moments, life is always worth enjoying.”

The One to Stay With by choreographers Baye & Asa was commissioned by BODYTRAFFIC and premièred only just last month. “Inspired by Patrick Radden Keefe’s 2021 book The Empire of Pain, about the Sackler family’s role in ‘Big Pharma’ and the current opioid epidemic,” The One to Stay With is a work for eight dancers. It “tackles ideas of power, greed and deceit, punctuated by a lively score of Russian waltzes and Romanian folk songs.”

SNAP, from Micaela Taylor, which BODYTRAFFIC premièred in 2019, features six dancers in a “hip hop-infused choreography [that] urges audiences to ‘snap out of’ pressures to conform, encouraging us to embrace the individuality of our own selves as well as those around us.”

The final piece, PACOPEPEPLUTO, by Alejandro Cerrudo, which premièred in 2011, features three male dancers, “who each perform an athletically charged solo set to a Dean Martin classic.”

BODYTRAFFIC was co-founded in 2007 by Berkett and Lillian Rose Barbeito. It is now under the sole artistic direction of Berkett, who started her career at Aszure Barton & Artists, with which she became a feature dancer, as well as Barton’s assistant and an instructor.

“I never dreamt of having a dance company,” Berkett told the Independent. “When I was a young dancer, I had a very different idea of what my future would be. I thought I’d join a repertory company – not start one! But life led me to Los Angeles and eventually to launching BODYTRAFFIC to fulfil my dreams as a dancer.”

Before moving to Los Angeles from New York and co-founding BODYTRAFFIC, Berkett was a founding member of Mikhail Baryshnikov’s Hell’s Kitchen Dance.

“Jewish values are a part of everything I do,” Berkett said when asked how her being Jewish influences her outlook and choices. “Family, community, charity, honour, respect, curiosity and a commitment to learning are also central to who I am and the work I do.”

BODYTRAFFIC’s May 5 and 6 shows at the Playhouse start at 8 p.m. Tickets (from $35) can be purchased at dancehouse.ca.

Information and chaos

Wells Hill has its world première Nov. 24-26 at DanceHouse. (photo by David Cooper)

“What does it mean to imagine a world where we are not connected all the time?” This is just one of the many questions choreographer (and Jewish community member) Vanessa Goodman is exploring in Wells Hill, which has its world première Nov. 24-26 at DanceHouse.

Goodman is artistic director of the dance company Action at a Distance. Wells Hill was commissioned by Simon Fraser University’s Woodward’s Cultural Programs (SFUW) and is co-presented by DanceHouse and SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts. It is a Celebrate Canada 150+ event, but its genesis goes back a few years.

“In early 2014, SFU’s Michael Boucher and I were out for coffee discussing my work,” Goodman told the Independent. “At the time, I was planning what I was going to present at the Chutzpah! Festival in 2015. In our conversation, I shared the anecdote that I grew up in philosopher Marshall McLuhan’s former family home [on Wells Hill Road] in Toronto and that Glenn Gould would sometimes visit. As two towering figures in 20th-century Canada, the idea of being a fly on the wall during their conversations was fun to imagine. Michael helped me recognize the seeds for a piece in this story, and has since supported its creation and production through SFUW.”

In creating Wells Hill, Action at a Distance collaborated with a team including composers Loscil (Scott Morgan) and Gabriel Saloman, lighting designer James Proudfoot and projection artists Ben Didier and Milton Lim. The promotional material notes that, in the work, seven dancers “splice together themes of technology and communication.”

“In Understanding Media, McLuhan stated that different media invite different degrees of participation on the part of the person who consumes it,” explained Goodman. “For me, this draws parallels to consuming dance and is one of the themes I explore in the piece. McLuhan divided media consumption into two categories: hot and cool. Hot media consumption requires the viewer to intensify the use of one single sense and is called ‘high definition.’

“McLuhan contrasted this with cool media consumption, which he claimed requires more effort on the part of the viewer to determine meaning due to the minimal presentation of detail. In these cases, a high degree of effort is necessary to fill in the blanks in areas where the information is obscured. It demands much more conscious participation by the person to extract value and meaning. This type of consumption is referred to as ‘low definition.’ When applied to dance, the audience would be required to be more active here, which includes their perceptions of abstract patterning and simultaneous comprehension of all the working parts.

“In this work,” she said, “I apply hot and cool media consumption to crafting the material and finding authenticity within the embodiment of the performers. While I still believe that the audience needs an entry point into the work to become invested, I am interested in defining the hot and cool medium consumption in my staging, demanding the viewer work through their high and low definition comprehension. I am interested in the interplay between hot and cool as a continuum: where they are measured on a scale and also on dichotomous terms.”

Wells Hill isn’t about raising or answering any specific questions, she said, “as much as it is about observing and interpreting some of McLuhan and Gould’s fascinating ideas. In making this work, I kept coming back to the Douglas Coupland quote, ‘I miss my pre-internet brain.’ What does it mean to imagine a world where we are not connected all the time? In some ways, it’s comforting to be plugged into this collective human mass. On the other hand, there is an anxiety linked to this relationship and violence associated with this ceaseless bombardment of data. As McLuhan predicted, technology has become an extension of our nervous system. This is why I feel dance is such an incredible medium to explore these ideas: at its core, human movement is neuromuscular connectivity. I have developed movements with my collaborators that are derived from tasks from our physical reactions to technology: from our Pavlovian responses to messages and social media notifications to the deeper impact on our attention spans while we’re connected. I want to capitalize on both the order that we receive information in and the chaos it can create.”

In response to a question about what McLuhan and Gould each offer by way of the content or structure of Wells Hill, Goodman said that the sound score “is heavily influenced by the history of the house.”

She said, “Eric McLuhan, Marshall’s eldest son, told me that Gould would often come to the home for visits, where he would discuss media, performance and art with his father. Gabriel Saloman and Scott Morgan, both incredible composers that I have been collaborating with over the past few years, have each composed pieces of the music for Wells Hill. They have incorporated audio samples of both McLuhan and Gould speaking about their theories. This adds an interesting entry point to the ideas that inspired Wells Hill. The house has a rich past that has been documented through the written form but has never been explored performatively. I am drawing from this story for the staging of this work, which creates an environment and historical context for the non-linear story arc.”

Wells Hill is at Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre, SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, on Nov. 24-25, 8 p.m., and Nov. 26, 2 p.m. In conjunction with the show, there are a few community events. Speaking of Dance Conversations on Nov. 21, 7 p.m., at SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts (free), is a community roundtable conversation around McLuhan and the Global Village, led by moderator Richard Cavell, founder of UBC’s Bachelor in Media Studies program and author of McLuhan in Space: A Cultural Geography, and guest speakers. There are also pre-show chats Nov. 24-25, at 7:15 p.m., at the centre, and a post-show social on Nov. 24. Tickets and more information can be found at dancehouse.ca or by calling 604-801-6225.

Welcome barbarians

From Hofesh Shechter’s barbarians trilogy. (photo by Gabriele Zucca)

Before barbarians was even created, DanceHouse had included the Hofesh Shechter trilogy in its 2015/16 season.

“Programming work before you have had the chance to view and experience it yourself is always risky,” DanceHouse producer Jim Smith told the Independent in an email interview. “Programming work that has not even been completed or performed, some would say is even way beyond this risk, primarily because no one can speak to the work other than the artist who is in the process of making it. However, if we believe in an artist, if we have a relationship with their work and we can see they have developed a track record, then agreeing to present their new work before you get to see it is one of the highest compliments you can offer them. It also allows our audiences the opportunity to see work that is very fresh in its life, before it has been performed elsewhere around the world.

“In the current DanceHouse season,” he continued, “there are two artists whose works were confirmed before they were completed. Hofesh Shechter is one, and the other is Crystal Pite, with her collaboration with Jonathon Young of the Electric Theatre Company and their production titled Betroffenheit (which we will see in February).” Completing the season is Companhia Urbana de Dança in April.

Smith described Hofesh Shechter as “part of an international generation that is currently defining how dance is being made and carving out the state of the (dance) art.” He included Israel’s Sharon Eyal, the United Kingdom’s Wayne McGregor and Vancouver’s Pite in this generation of artists.

The Hofesh Shechter Company was at DanceHouse in 2009. Hosting the company again is very satisfying, said Smith, as it allows local “audiences the chance to see how his work has developed and evolved, allowing them to have a deeper relationship with his work.”

In promotional material, barbarians is described as being about “intimacy, passion and love.” In an interview with artslandia.com, Smith described it as “loud, visceral rage.” Acknowledging the potential incongruence, he said, “I would offer that in exploring the extremes that lead to my characterization of loud, visceral rage, it creates a contrasting space for notions of intimacy, passion and love to emerge, rather than simply being portrayed. I have heard Hofesh himself describe experiencing his work as a series of images that move faster than the mind can necessarily process or think through. He also says his work often reveals frustration and buried hope, and a lot of different emotions that relate to humans under pressure. I think barbarians could be viewed/experienced in this fashion.

“The barbarians program is three distinct works, which makes for a different flow to the evening, rather than one longer single work. There is highly precise movement, and there is baroque music, which gives the effect of things being controlled. However, there is also a sense of things breaking free and getting out of control. The last work on the program is a duet made for two long-standing dancers in the company, which I think reveals the collaborative approach between dancer and choreographer, and also the admiration that exists within those particular relationships.”

DanceHouse has hosted more than one Israeli choreographer or company over the years. Is there an Israeli style?

“There has been much discussion and observation about the work that is of Israeli dance artists and the Diaspora. (For example, Hofesh now resides in the U.K.) Many dance observers would say that it is Ohad Naharin of Batsheva Dance Company that is the central figure who led the Israeli dance domination that has been going on for the past number of years. Artists such as Shechter, but also Sharon Eyal and Andrea Miller – all of whom have been on the DanceHouse stage – are part of a generation that studied and worked with Naharin and Batsheva, and have gone on in the wake to carve out unique and distinctive choreographic voices. I don’t think there is an element or style that we can point to that characterizes or typifies the Israeli work, rather it is a larger sensibility, which you appreciate from experiencing a number of works of these artists and, of course, being able to contrast them with different work.”

barbarians is at Vancouver Playhouse Nov. 13-14, 8 p.m. For tickets, visit dancehouse.ca.

L-E-V: Part of the changing world

Israel’s L-E-V is at the Playhouse Nov. 14-15. (photo by Gadi Dagon)

It feels like it’s all been leading up to this. In 2009, Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company performed at DanceHouse. In 2013, Norway’s Carte Blanche brought Corps de Walk, a work commissioned from former Batsheva dancer and choreographer Sharon Eyal and her partner Gai Behar, to DanceHouse. And, in two weeks, Eyal and Behar’s own troupe, L-E-V, will be at DanceHouse to perform House, a piece originally imagined for Batsheva.

The multiple-award-winning Eyal danced with Batsheva from 1990 until 2008, served as its associate artistic director from 2003-2004 and as house choreographer from 2005-2012. She began choreographing works for other companies in 2009, including Killer Pig (2009) and Corps de Walk (2011) for Carte Blanche. Eyal and Behar launched L-E-V in 2013, with musician, drummer and DJ Ori Lichtik an integral part of the creative team.

“I first saw the work of Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar in 2011 at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival [in Becket, Mass.], and it was unlike anything else I have seen before – and I have seen a lot of dance,” said Jim Smith, producer at DanceHouse, in an interview with the Independent.

“When L-E-V had its U.S. debut, the New York Times referred to House as ‘a Hieronymous Bosch painting of an extraterrestrial rave.’ Visually, you can see these two very contrasting images at play together.

“I think the work being created by Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar is very much of our time, as they appear to represent a cross-disciplinary confluence of movement, music, lighting, fashion, art and technology. And this very much appears to be part of the changing world around us.”

DanceHouse, which has “has taken on presenting larger scale dance works (i.e. larger number of performers and/or work requiring a significant level of technical support) that are recognized to be touring internationally,” presents “a mix of both Canadian and international companies and artists,” said Smith. “We are part of a larger national dance touring network that includes such organizations as Danse Danse in Montreal, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and Harborfront in Toronto.”

Before its arrival in Vancouver on this fall tour, L-E-V will have performed House in Mexico (Guanajuato, Mérida and León), Calgary and Ottawa. After Vancouver, it heads to Los Angeles.

The blurb on the DanceHouse website reads: “With a sensibility seen here in 2013’s Corps de Walk, House’s fiercely talented dancers move with expressive precision as they explore what a house truly is: a home, a club, an asylum, a way station.”

House was first commissioned by the Batsheva Dance Company in 2011. It has developed since then.

“Changes always happen in the piece; it can only be an eye, movement or breathing, but there will always be more layers and renewals,” Eyal told the Independent. “The work is dynamic and alive, so is the music. You can always grow and add a new dimension, it is our fun. It’s not like in a museum – the ones who make it are people and each moment they feel something new.”

A combination of “a lot of talent” and “exhausting work alongside endless happiness,” L-E-V is seeing success. “The company is currently touring many places in the world and receives recognition and a lot of love,” said Eyal.

“In terms of the dancers, we began with eight dancers and reduced it to six. Now we have become more exact and effective. The dancers are wonderful and do not cease to amaze, develop and become more sophisticated. Each one of them is a different star in heaven.”

“The opportunity to present the work of Eyal with her own company of dancers is a way of giving a great range of exposure to her for Vancouver audiences,” said Smith. “She is of a generation and stage of development in her career as such dance artists as Barak Marshall, Wayne McGregor, Benjamin Millepied, Hofesh Shechter, and even Vancouver’s own Crystal Pite, all of whom are making big waves in the international world of dance, and all of whom have been presented on the DanceHouse stage in the past.

“In a relatively short time since leaving Batsheva, Eyal has enjoyed a meteoric rise both as a choreographer for hire and also with her new company of dancers, many of whom are ex-Batsheva dancers. In 2013, Eyal’s company made its North American debut [with House] at Jacob’s Pillow and this past summer was programmed at the prestigious Montpellier Danse festival in France.”

DanceHouse generally presents four productions a season at the Vancouver Playhouse and one in partnership with other presenters at the Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre at Simon Fraser University, explained Smith.

“DanceHouse aims to reflect the range and diversity of the different stylistic approaches being seen in the development of dance as an art form. In many ways, we think about DanceHouse as providing a window on the international world of dance – with dance being a reflection on the world we live – like other art forms.”

House is at the Vancouver Playhouse Nov. 14 and 15, 8 p.m., with a pre-show talk at 7:15 p.m. For more information and tickets, as well as information on other DanceHouse offerings, visit dancehouse.ca.