Chutzpah! resident artists Livona Ellis, left, and Rebecca Margolick in their debut collaborative piece, Fortress, which is part of a double bill at the Dance Centre next month. (photo by Benjamin Peralta)
Strength, vulnerability, love, pain, joy, healing, creation. Two world premières at this year’s Chutzpah! Festival explore these and other aspects of what it means to be human. The Nov. 8-9 double bill of Fortress and About Time are being presented with the festival’s community partner, the Dance Centre.
Fortress is the debut collaborative piece by Chutzpah! resident artists Rebecca Margolick and Livona Ellis. In it, the dancers and choreographers contemplate femininity, what it means to be strong, what it means to be vulnerable and the balance between the two.
“I draw strength from the resilience and emotional intelligence of the women in my life. My mom, Mary-Louise Albert, and my grandmothers, Phyllis Margolick and June Albert, are key inspirations,” Margolick told the Independent. “I also think of my great-great-grandmother, Rivka Margolick, who fled the pogroms in Latvia in the late 1800s with her nine children. She died a week after arriving in Montreal, but her bravery continues to inspire me. I often think about how that one lucky and bold move to escape and to come to Canada has led to me here, now.”
Margolick’s heritage infuses her creative life.
“Jewish culture encourages asking questions and exploring ideas from multiple perspectives, which mirrors my creative process,” she explained. “I constantly question the work I’m building, not out of doubt, but as a way to deepen and refine it. This openness to possibilities, paired with a focus on collaborative exploration, is something I see as a direct reflection of my Jewish values, and one that I connect to strongly in my culture, my work, and the overall way I operate in the world.”
Born and raised in British Columbia, Margolick recently returned to Vancouver.
“I officially moved back in July, but I had been coming back here more often since the pandemic,” she said. “I was based in New York City for 14 years. For the last 18 months, I was nomadic and traveling around for work without a home base. I chose to settle back in Vancouver to be closer to family, have better access to nature, have a calmer lifestyle, and to strengthen the community and close friendships I have here.”
Margolick’s choreographic work has been presented around the world, and she has danced with various artists and companies, including Sidra Bell Dance New York from 2012 to 2016. She joined Andrea Peña & Artists this year.
Ellis has performed with several groups, including 11 seasons with Ballet BC, and has create works for many companies. She received the Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award for Emerging Artist in 2017 and the inaugural Louise Bentall Award for Emerging Choreographer in 2023. She is also a dance educator.
The Jewish Independent first wrote about Fortress and Margolick and Ellis’s collaboration in 2021 (jewishindependent.ca/four-solos-and-a-duet).
“It has almost completely changed!” said Margolick of the work’s evolution since then. “We took some base movement ideas from the original work, for example, rocking, and then extrapolated on it. Our themes and original inspiration for the work have remained similar. We’ve let ideas breathe more, creating space for simplicity to stretch, and allowing the work to feel more spacious and exploratory.”
Margolick described how she and Ellis work together.
“Like a lot of creative processes, it feels like we’re building a puzzle,” she said. “We start with throwing out a bunch of ideas (puzzle pieces), trying them out, placing them next to other ideas, and seeing how they work together. Some ideas fit, while some don’t. It’s a constant process of refining, editing and reworking until the picture becomes clear. We aim to craft an arc that makes sense but still leaves room for mystery and space for the audience to create their own experience.”
As for her own journey with femininity, strength and vulnerability, Margolick shared, “Over time, I’ve grown more comfortable in my own skin, learning to embrace my imperfections and express my emotions more freely. I’ve come to understand that there is great power in vulnerability. As I’ve matured, I’ve also leaned into dialectical and critical thinking, which has helped me appreciate the complexity of femininity. Working on Fortress has reinforced for me that true strength lies in allowing space for tenderness and care, even when it feels messy.”
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About Time choreographer Idan Cohen has also come to better understand messiness – the countless disparate ideas, feelings and events that co-exist at any given moment – in his exploration of time via Philip Glass’s solo piano études.
“It’s been very challenging to create throughout this traumatic year,” he acknowledged. “It feels like, since Oct. 7, one faces two major options: there are those who break and those who assemble, constructing something out of the pain and confusion. I chose to create About Time as a commentary on the ways we consume information, form opinions and lose empathy. Time goes on whether we want it to or not. The question is, with what do we fill that space, the time we are given. My time is filled with both love and pain. I break, but I also feel the urge to create, provoke thought and promote healing.”
Born and raised in Israel, but now an established Vancouverite, Cohen’s career includes seven seasons with Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company and various international tours, residencies and scholarships. A multiple-awarding-winning performer and choreographer/director, he is founder and artistic director of Ne.Sans Opera & Dance.
The original idea to create a piece to Glass’s études came from Cohen’s colleague and friend, conductor and pianist Leslie Dala, back in 2020.
“Even now, between other projects, I find myself continually returning to Glass’s études,” said Cohen. “I have to understand the core of the music. It is more than just the composer’s intention – it’s about tracking and studying their identity, which makes them a cultural phenomenon, that deep essence through which they form a perspective, their cultural DNA. Glass is such a fascinating artist, and I have a tendency to obsess and study things over time – it is a friendship. I am immersed in Glass’s unique understanding and appreciation of time, and in the way he engages with philosophies and perspectives.”
Cohen has learned a few things from this immersion. In particular, he said, “In order to survive, I had to remind myself that no timeline is more important than another – joy and pleasure exist in any given moment, alongside tragedy, weakness and pain. There are multiple realities, and the worst atrocities happen simultaneously with moments of celebration and joy.”
While the music is the foremost inspiration, Cohen said it serves as “the gateway through which a creative world is assembled.”
“In a creative process,” he said, “I need to find my interpretation of the music, to discover where the core connection lies between the music and myself. It is an act of artistic communication – between artists, between Glass and me, the dancers, Leslie Dala, the designers and everyone involved. I find the act of art-making to be an important practice in both creation and healing.”
Dala will perform Glass’s études live during About Time, which features dancers Will Jessup and Benjamin DeFaria.
To the community, “who have endured unbearable pain this year,” Cohen said, “I dedicate every movement and every step of this creation to you, sending you strength and love. I am praying for better times to come.”
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The Fortress and About Time double bill will take place at Scotiabank Dance Centre. For the full Chutzpah! Festival lineup and tickets, visit chutzpahfestival.com.
New this year for the Chutzpah! Festival: Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver members receive discounted ticket prices and concession purchases at the theatre. Select Student/Senior/JCC Member tickets and ChutzPacks and bring your membership card to the theatre.
