The Weight of Words

The Second États généraux de la danse professionnelle du Québec
by Marie Claire Forté

“The written word endures and is eventually accepted as authority,” proclaimed Regroupement québécois de la danse (RQD) director Lorraine Hébert at the launch of the second États généraux de la danse professionnelle du Québec, a summit conference on professional dance in the province. A striking statement for an art form whose transmission relies on the body.

More...
Following up on their first such event held in 1994, the RQD, a provincial dance service and advocacy organization, began planning for this summit conference in November 2003. In 2006, they published a report on the results of the first summit conference and ensuing 1994–1997 triennial plan. At the annual general meeting in October 2007, the RQD launched the “Grands Chantiers de la danse”, a vast research and consultation process. In the wake of this meeting, a steering committee decided on five specific axes of study, delegated to five research committees: 1) Renewal of the discipline: continuity and change; 2) Paradoxes and challenges in a qualified work force; 3) Conditions of practice and artistic requirements; 4) Consolidation and regeneration of the dance [infra]structure; and 5) Dance territories: anchors and nomadism. For two years, members of these committees volunteered over 4000 hours in total, meeting among themselves, soliciting information from the RQD membership and the community at large and submitting over 200 recommendations back to the steering committee. Addressed to funding bodies, institutions and the dance milieu, these recommendations aim to ensure the sustainable and vital growth of the art form. The steering committee paired them down to seventy-nine, distributed along with a discussion of their groundwork in the 119-page participant catalogue for the summit conference.

On April 26th, during a seven-hour closing plenary session, over 200 dance professionals voted on these seventy-nine recommendations, plus 112 amendments and twelve new recommendations issued from two days of workshops April 24th and 25th. These have been submitted back to the RQD and the steering committee. The project will culminate in April 2010, when the steering committee will present a master plan for dance in Québec for the next ten years. These second États généraux were weighted with information and process.



Opening night, a type of launch/performance party, was the exception. Circuit-Est transformed their Jeanne-Renaud studio into a reception hall, with small round tables, bistro-style. With great emotion, Hébert and Anik Bisonnette, chair of the RQD, gave speeches alongside Simon Brault, vice-chair of the Canada Council for the Arts, Louise Roy, chair of the Conseil des arts de Montréal, Yvan Gauthier, chair and general manager of the Conseil des arts et lettres du Québec, and Christine St-Pierre, Québec’s minister of Culture, Communications and the Status of Women. Rencontres revisitées, a video installation and performance by Alain Francœur in honour of the dance profession, followed. After, the chairs of the five research committees delivered "Ours in Solidarity", a declaration of intent written by Hébert, inspired by recommendations issued from the Grands Chantiers. Catherine Lavoie-Marcus, research assistant at the RQD, then unveiled the Toile-mémoire de la danse au Québec, a “memory-web” of dance professionals in Québec since 1900, presented on a large, flat digital screen, with names linked via affiliations with notable artists, schools and companies. A bout of festive networking ensued.

The following two days were dedicated to workshops, where recommendations were discussed, amended and adopted. Out of a possible three, I was able to attend one. I registered for a workshop on Dance territories: anchors and nomadism; it was informative to have the time to discuss each recommendation and to get more background information from one research committee in particular. Even then, I sometimes felt ill equipped to take a stand because my knowledge of the issues was incomplete. Consensus was a clear goal of the workshop I participated in, though wording was often cause for great debate. Over the course of three hours, the focus shifted many times from the placement of a comma to voting on all of the many recommendations. In the afternoon, Lavoie-Marcus formally presented her Toile-mémoire with one of her project supervisors, Michèle Febvre (the other, Philip Szporer, was absent), insisting on the work-in-progress nature of the image.

On the last day, the plenary played out a now familiar tension between the details of wording and the bigger picture. Debate topics included the need for more infrastructure; provincial, national and international touring strategies; preservation practices; and generational bridging plans.

I was both excited and exasperated to have so many people caring about words. Because of the breadth of the issues, the sheer number of recommendations and the process of debating and voting, and despite rigorous work by the plenary chair, we occasionally bumbled through big questions, cutting the discussion short and voting despite lingering questions from different members. There was an ongoing confusion for me between distant dreams and concrete possibilities. This was brought up by a question about the possibility of securing funding for rather lofty goals and one member offered that “we cannot always be logical, we must be political”, suggesting that we should request the money for every project knowing that the outcome will be uncertain. Though the plenary was governed by a desire for consensus, some recommendations were reworked entirely during this session.

It was inspiring to interact with so many different players within the dance sector in Québec. I am proud to be part of a community with so many impassioned, well-spoken individuals. My dance activities do not afford me many opportunities to chat with a dance company’s accountant, nor to listen to a presenter’s needs for specific funding, nor to participate in a debate about teaching certification for dance in public schools. Meeting so many different people allowed me to broaden my horizons, and engaging in longer conversations with a few individuals gave me a sense of different perspectives within the community.

Registration for the summit conference was divided by electoral college as follows: dancers, rehearsal directors: 45; choreographers, companies and production designers: 67 (I didn’t notice any designers); professional schools, teachers and researchers: 23; and presenters, service organizations, festivals, cultural workers, associations/networks: 49. The majority of attendees were from Montréal (239 versus 20 from Québec City and other regions), primarily working in contemporary dance. This demographic is consistent with statistics published on the 1994 summit conference. Interestingly, one of the issues that arose from the workshops addressed the need to reflect on the diversity of artistic practices in the milieu.

The amended recommendations are now back with the RQD and will be articulated in a ten-year master plan. Notable outcomes of the first triennial plan submitted in 1994 included La Danse sur les routes du Québec, a provincial network for dance touring, and several new dance presenters. In a 1995 press release regarding the implementation of the first triennial plan for professional dance in Québec, the RQD said: “We are of course aware that the current economic and social situation is not the most auspicious one in which to consider the development of an artistic discipline. However, the dance community considers that the process, and the resultant synthesis which we submit today, reflect the hope that we will overcome the prevailing gloom and that there will be a resurgence in the development of the arts in general and of dance in particular once our society recovers from what must be called a crisis in values, a crisis which translates into instability of the social climate, economic stagnation, and a radical calling into question of the social contract.”

In lieu of the current economic and social crisis, potentially more transformative than the one cited in 1994, will this same statement apply in April 2010 when the RQD presents its master plan? I personally hope that the vision of our community leaders will translate the weight of words into action, and that these actions will “overcome the prevailing gloom”, lighting the future path for dance in Québec.

Declaration of Intent: "Ours in Solidarity"
Déclaration d'intentions: "Solidairement nôtre"


Marie Claire Forté is a dancer and choreographer and also works as a translator and writer. She has performed and presented her work primarily with Le Groupe Dance Lab in Ottawa, from 2004 through 2008. Currently, she dances for choreographers in Montréal and Toronto.

Learn more >>
www.quebecdanse.org

Participatory Performance: looking on from inside

Bluemouth Inc.’s Dance Marathon
by Cara Spooner

Editor’s Note: From February 4th through 7th, 2009, Bluemouth Inc. presented their participatory dance experience Dance Marathon at the Enwave Theatre in Toronto. The concept of participatory or interactive art has been rising in dance performance of late. Toronto-based dancer Cara Spooner was an "insider" participant in the Bluemouth event and here recounts her experience.

Rule #1: Your feet must keep moving at all times

Look down at the number printed on the pinny. Pretend to be surprised. Silently repeat “#32 #32 #32”. The crowd looks to match the numbers in foot shapes taped on the floor with the number they’ve been given. I look to match the audience, pretending that I’m searching for my own. I know exactly which corner I’m headed for (right side of the bandstand, next the jumbo-tron screen directly under one of the pre-positioned pools of light) but each night I always turn left to do a full loop of the floor before “finding” my spot.

More...
The Bluemouth Inc. members and other planted dancers are doing the same. Unassuming, we attempt to blend in. Audience members flinch when separated from their dates, friends and partners. Bluemouth member and the mistress of ceremony Sabrina Reeves’ voice booms above the noise. “You’ll have a chance to change partners later on in the snowball section of the marathon. You will get to dance with the people you came with.” Paired with the stranger standing on the numbered feet across from me, we introduce ourselves under flashing coloured lights and begin.

We are now officially entered in the Bluemouth Inc.’s Dance Marathon at the Enwave Theatre. It’s the first week February and the 1930s-inspired activity parallels the current economic state, in a rather uncanny manner. The piece was developed before any economic turmoil began. This piece is designed to be an interactive, participatory event in which audience members compete to out-dance each other in the midst of theatrical elements and preplanned choreography. The clock begins counting down. The “participant count” is displayed at close to 200. We are instructed that we cannot stop moving: our feet must keep moving or we will be eliminated. The referee (Bluemouth member Dan Pettrow) whizzes by on a pair of vintage roller skates, blowing his whistle for emphasis. The first invitation for elimination is made. The planted dancers begin "The Maddison" (a complicated sequence from the movie The Bande a Part) and some audience members attempt to follow along, stumbling through the choreography. The tempo increases gradually and competitors fall away, leaving unassuming Bluemouth member Stephen O’Connell as champion. With this, the flavour of the Dance Marathon is established and this complex, layered, participatory event begins.

Rule #2: You may be eliminated at some point throughout the evening

The investment audience members bring to the competition amazes me. Everyone seems to find equal ground with the strangers next them; such active empathy is rarely found in a conventional dance audience. We are playing the same game; we are competing against each other and the realization that only one pair will win sets in. A sense of urgency takes hold of the group and adrenaline increases. Participants push themselves beyond their comfort zones, which adds to the intensity of the show. Everyone jokes that they will be crowned winner at the end of the three-hour event. We are all a part of the show and each participant has become a protagonist. I know exactly when I will have to give up my #32 pinny and leave the dance floor (during a preplanned “pile-up” half way through a derby in the second half), so my forehead seems to perspire less than those of other competitors.

My focus isn’t winning; it’s the participants’ experience. To intentionally integrate them into the complexity of the show and allow them to fully experience the Dance Marathon’s potential is my sole purpose. I play a supporting role (along with the other planted dancers and Bluemouth members), assisting the protagonists on their journey in the marathon. We blindfold them, we teach them dance steps, we play with their emotions, break out in spontaneous choreography, whisper monologues into their ears and direct their focus to multimedia screens. We support the event; they live in it. The various dance-challenges we all participate in remind me of a “Survivor”/“So You Think You Can Dance” fusion. Everything is larger than life yet each moment is also extremely personal and intimate. The dedication of the human spirit drives participants into a frenzy during such events as the red-light/green-light derby. Cut-throat criticism is frankly expressed when eliminated competitors are required to judge other couples. Acute attention prevails while Bluemouth characters are humbly isolated in guerrilla-style monologues and genuine shock erupts as couples are eliminated.

Rule #3: You cannot rest until the allotted rest period

Worlds were woven within worlds as the roles between audience members and Bluemouth members became more defined. The rule “knees may not touch the floor” did not apply to the planted dancers as we performed choreography among the dancing couples. There were two allotted “rest periods” in the show during which most audience members moved to the lobby to eat popcorn and re-hydrate. The select few who chose to stay in the theatre experienced a different event than the others. As the participants rested, subtle choreography performed by the planted dancers eventually emerged. Rolling on the floor, and slumping and stretching movements made it difficult to tell if the choreography was planned or not. Some audience members would walk right through the group, completely unaware.

The fact that this tiny section was only seen by a select few each night was not a disappointment to Bluemouth Inc. Each participant experienced the show completely differently. This was intentional, and added a meaningful weight to every image and event. The complexity of this physical theatre structure allowed audience members to invest fully in the experience. Their own intimate interactions occupied their attention and perhaps the dance they shared with their partner was far more meaningful than seeing the rest period dance, or watching a duet danced by Bluemouth members O’Connell and Lucy Simic. On the other hand, the confrontation between Bluemouth members Dan Pettrow and O’Connell forced everyone to stop dead in their tracks. The second rest period included referee Dan yelling a crash warning announcement to blindfolded Stephen O’Connell who improvised to the pulsing music of the Dance Marathon’s live band. The mass of stimulation made it challenging to focus on the movement, listen to the text or hear the band, and this added to the urgency of the piece.

This layered approach to theatre made Bluemouth Inc.’s work a truly interactive and interdisciplinary event. The most striking example of this approach to theatre in the Dance Marathon was the climax after the final two couples had been announced. Most of the competitors were in the balcony after they had been eliminated and looked down upon Sabrina Reeves delivering a stream-of-consciousness monologue. She sat on the stairs leading to the balcony, while projected images lit the huge disco-ball hanging from the Enwave’s ceiling. The band, led by Bluemouth members Ciara Adams and Richard Windeyer, synced the audience’s heartbeats with their ever-evolving music meditation. Planted dancers performed a choreographed floor sequence. Everything seemed to slow down. The fast-paced competition morphed into a surreal, dream-like installation and I no longer had to play the role of the unassuming character attempting to be innocent about what was happening in the Dance Marathon. I was genuinely invested like everyone else who had taken the journey, experiencing it from yet another perspective, one of the many that Bluemouth Inc. had intentionally presented for us all to explore.

Cara Spooner is a dance artist based in Toronto. She collaborates with Alicia Grant and others on site-specific, installation-based movement work.

Learn more >>
www.www.bluemouthinc.com

CALLS TO WRITERS

Situating Dance
Volume 12: 2009/2010

2 calls for writers …

More...


1: Call for articles and essays that situate dance in a broader cultural context or make links between dance and socio-cultural issues and ideas.

> focus on current Canadian dance and dance artists
> must be original, unpublished writing/photography
> completed submissions only (no drafts or queries)
> creative approaches are welcome
> English, French or bilingual format
> if selected for publication, pieces will be shaped or adapted through collaboration
with the editor
> pdf files only; plain text, single-spaced, no formatting
> 1500-2000 words; payment upon publication*

DEADLINE: JUNE 19, 2009

>> Email pdf files only: dc.editor@thedancecurrent.com
*Only submissions considered for publication will be contacted.

2: Call for Canadian writers interested in reviewing/responding to dance performances. Seeking strong writers with in-depth understanding of dance forms and practices, and knowledge of artistic, historical and cultural contexts. Emerging and established writers welcome.

> Submit a letter of interest/intent, outlining why you would like to contribute
> Include 2 complete writing samples, specifically reviews or performance responses, approx. 500-1000 words
> Provide a resumé outlining both your dance and writing experience
> Writers must be available to work on freelance assignment
> Opportunities limited by budgetary resources

DEADLINE: JULY 24, 2009

>> Email pdf files only: dc.editor@thedancecurrent.com
*Only applicants considered for assignment will be contacted.

EN STUDIO | IN THE STUDIO: Marc Boivin

May 2009 mai
Photos (Marc Boivin et/and Sophie Corriveau) de/by Robert Etcheverry
Traduction de/translation by
Megan Andrews and Marie Claire Forté


« Longtemps, la simple satisfaction de danser a dépassé mon désir de créer. De l’interprétation à l’enseignement et plus récemment à la chorégraphie, la recherche et le plaisir de la pratique dans ses différentes formes ont tracé mon chemin. | “For a long time, the simple satisfaction of dancing has overridden my desire to create. From interpretation to teaching and more recently choreographing, research and the pleasure of practicing different forms has marked my path.

More...« Longtemps, la simple satisfaction de danser a dépassé mon désir de créer. De l’interprétation à l’enseignement et plus récemment à la chorégraphie, la recherche et le plaisir de la pratique dans ses différentes formes ont tracé mon chemin. Les approches multiples ont été plus cumulatives que consécutives. Et, depuis 1992, l’improvisation a pris notamment plus de place et, avec elle, le goût de créer.

« La sensibilité des êtres est une chose privée et fragile. Elle définit nos manières de percevoir le monde et d’y participer. La scène étant le miroir partiel d’expériences humaines, dans le travail, la confrontation des propositions artistiques atteste le désir de communication propre à chacun et les divers rapports que nous entretenons avec l’abstraction.

« Dans un studio, la chose la plus déterminante pour moi a toujours été la confrontation des univers poétiques, et l’écoute de ce qui émerge de là. Les choix qui mènent à la création d’une œuvre sont porteurs de sens ; ils portent un état dynamique qui précède la définition des choses, qui interpelle la conscience : « cela me fait penser à … c’est comme si … cela se réfère à … ». L’abstraction est une manière de dégager l’essence vitale d’une perception et de la revêtir d’une forme sensible, nouvelle, de lui donner chair.



« Pour emprunter les mots de rédactrice Kaija Pepper (Dance International, 1995) : « L'abstrait est un lieu dynamique qui, loin de l’ignorer, dialogue avec l’essence humaine ». Cette phrase est tirée d’une critique de Pepper sur mon travail d’interprète. Je l’ai toujours conservée en début de ma biographie. Elle me semblait alors, et encore, nommer, au-delà de la liste biographique, ce qui définit un parcours.

« Parallèlement, un parcours biographique est prétexte à cibler l’idée du parcours au-delà de celle de la biographie. Le corps reçoit les impacts qui l’informent. La perméabilité n’est pas innocente. L’autre est en moi et je suis les autres. Toute situation cause une chimie particulière, une mise en état du corps dans un espace-temps. La parole et l’écoute se jouent toujours, l’une en gage de l’autre.

« L’isolement complet n’est jamais atteint et pourtant l’impression de solitude existe vraiment. Le solo Impact et le projet connexe I13(au carré) sont issus de cette réflexion. Pour leurs conceptions j’ai cherché à juxtaposer ma sensibilité à celle des collaborateurs, Sophie Corriveau, Diane Labrosse, Yan Lee Chan et tout particulièrement Jonathan Inksetter. Je voulais refléter mon abstraction dans la leur, déposer ma poésie dans leur équivoque, laisser être la collaboration, la communication. »



“For a long time, the simple satisfaction of dancing has overridden my desire to create. From interpretation to teaching and more recently choreographing, research and the pleasure of practicing different forms has marked my path. Multiple approaches have been more cumulative than consecutive. And, since 1992, improvisation has taken a more prominent place, and with it, the desire to create.

“The sensibility of beings is a private and fragile thing. It defines our way of perceiving and participating in the world. Taking performance as a partial mirror of human experience, in the work the raising of artistic propositions attests to a desire for our own unique communication and for our diverse relationships to abstraction.

“In a studio, the most significant thing for me has always been the confrontation with the poetic realm, and listening to what emerges from there. Choices that lead toward the creation of a work bear meaning; they carry a dynamic state that precedes the definition of things, that calls upon consciousness: “that makes me think of … that’s as if … that refers to ….” Abstraction is a manner of extending the vital essence of a perception and turning it into a meaningful form, anew, to give it flesh.



“Borrowing the words of writer Kaija Pepper (Dance International, 1995): “The abstract is a dynamic place that speaks about and doesn’t ignore human essence.” This phrase is taken from a review by Pepper of my work as an interpreter. I have kept it at the beginning of my biography. This seemed to me then and still, to name, beyond the biographical facts, that which defines a path.

“Similarly, a biographical path is a chance to focus on the idea of a path outside or beyond the idea of biography. The body receives impacts that inform it. Its permeability is not innocent. The other is in me and I am others. Every situation creates a particular chemistry, a state of being in the body in a space-time. Speech and listening always interplay, one presupposes the other.

“Isolation is never complete and nevertheless the impression of solitude really does exist. The solo Impact and the related project I 13(square) are born from this reflection. For their conceptions, I aimed to juxtapose my sensibility with those of my collaborators, Sophie Corriveau, Diane Labrosse, Yan Lee Chan and particularly Jonathan Inksetter. I wanted to reflect my abstraction in theirs, release my poetry within theirs, allow the collaboration, the communication.”


Depuis ses débuts en 1982 au Groupe de la Place Royale à Ottawa, sous la direction de Peter Boneham, Marc Boivin a travaillé comme interprète pour de nombreux chorégraphes dont Ginette Laurin (O Vertigo), Louise Bédard, Sylvain Émard, Jean-Pierre Perreault,Tedd Robinson, Felix Ruckert et Catherine Tardif. Il participe aussi à plusieurs projets d’improvisation principalement avec Peter Bingham et Andrew Harwood. Boivin entame dès 1987 une carrière d’enseignant à LADMMI, L’École de danse contemporaine. Président de la Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault depuis 2005, il a longuement siégé au conseil d’administration du Regroupement québécois de la danse (RQD). Le solo Impact, la première pièce qu’il chorégraphie pour lui-même, arrive dans son parcours telle une synthèse de plusieurs années de métier.

Marc Boivin began his career in 1982 with Ottawa’s Groupe de la Place Royale, under the direction of Peter Boneham, and has since worked with many choreographers including Ginette Laurin (O Vertigo), Louise Bédard, Sylvain Émard, Jean-Pierre Perreault, Tedd Robinson, Felix Ruckert and Catherine Tardif. He has also taken part in numerous improvisation projects mainly with Peter Bingham and Andrew Harwood. Boivin has pursued a teaching career since 1987 at LADMMI – L’École de danse contemporaine. He is president of Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault, and was a longtime member of the board of the Regroupement québécois de la danse (RQD). The solo Impact, the first piece that he has choreographed for himself, is a synthesis of many years of craft and artistic practice.

*A shorter version of this article appears in the May 2009 issue of The Dance Current.

Marc Boivin présente Impact sur le programme Impulsions du 7 à 10 mai à Tangente, Montréal. | Marc Boivin presents Impact on the Impulsions program from May 7th through 10th at Tangente, Montréal.

Pour en savoir plus | Learn more >>
www.tangente.qc.ca

UNDERCURRENTS | COURANT CONTINU: Lynda Gaudreau

May 2009 mai
Entrevue avec Lynda Gaudreau/Interview with Lynda Gaudreau
by/de Megan Andrews, traduction de/translation by Marie Claire Forté



Photo de/of Lynda Gaudreau

Lynda Gaudreau est chorégraphe et directrice artistique de la Compagnie de Brune à Montréal. Au cours des trois dernières années, elle a produit le projet de recherche chorégraphique Clash, qui se termine ce mois-ci. | Lynda Gaudreau is a choreographer and artistic director of Compagnie de Brune in Montréal. Over the last three years, she has produced the choreographic development project Clash, which culminates this month.

More...

Vous avez longtemps travaillé en Europe avant le lancement de Clash en 2006. Qu’est-ce qui vous a incité à réaliser ce projet ? | You spent significant time working in Europe before launching the Clash events in 2006. What motivated you to develop this project?

En fait, les motivations de Clash sont basées a priori sur un sentiment d’isolation que je sentais chez les artistes. Il y a ici un nombre formidable d’artistes en danse, mais si l’on y regarde de plus près, il y a vraiment peu d’événements qui permettent de les rassembler.

La danse est un art encore trop axé sur le matériel physique. Notre rapport à la critique vient le plus souvent de nos pairs sur des jurys ou de textes de journalistes ; c’est assez maigre. Les artistes font un travail intellectuel, ça va de soi pour moi, mais il n’y a pas vraiment d’espace qui permet véritablement de développer les fondements de cette pratique.

Clash permet aux chorégraphes d’échanger, entre autres, des méthodologies de travail et de participer à un lexique agrandi, si je puis dire. Le projet ne cherche pas à développer chez l’artiste un discours détaché de la pratique. Clash met l’emphase autant sur l’analytique que la pratique.

Je viens de passer plus de quinze ans en Europe. Il est évident que les possibilités de diffusion et d’échange, et que l’approche analytique de la création sont vraiment plus développées là-bas ; cela n’a rien à voir avec ici. Et puis évidemment, avec tout ce qui se passe en ce moment ici, je sens encore plus la nécessité d’un tel projet. L’art est en train totalement de devenir de la culture. J’aime la culture, mais la culture c’est de l’art devenu cultivé. La culture c’est un phénomène social en ce sens, il y a du consensus, du marché, de l’échange. Pour sa part, l’art est précieux parce qu’il génère de la différence dans le monde. Peut-être qu’avec Clash, j’essaie de trouver comment ce qui est différent peut arriver à communiquer.

In fact, the motivation for Clash was based first of all on a feeling of isolation that I sensed among artists. Here, there are many fantastic dance artists, but if one looks closely, there are truly few events that bring them together.

Dance is an art still too focussed on the physical material. Our experience with criticism comes mostly from our peers on juries or from journalists’ writing; this is rather meagre. An artist’s work is intellectual – this is a given for me – but there is really no space that truly allows us to develop the fundamentals of the practice.

Clash enables choreographers to, among other things, exchange working methods and to participate in a larger lexicon, if I can say that. The project doesn’t seek to develop an artistic discourse detached from practice. Clash emphasizes equally the analytical and the practical.

I recently spent over fifteen years in Europe. It’s clear that possibilities for dissemination and exchange and the critical approach to creation are more developed there; it is entirely different from here. And even more so, with all that is happening today, I feel even more need for a project like this. Right now, art is being subsumed into culture. I like culture but culture is cultivated art. In this sense, culture is a social phenomenon; it is a consensus of the market, of exchange. On its own, art is precious because it generates difference in the world. Perhaps with Clash, I am trying to find how this difference can communicate.


Quelle expérience souhaitez-vous au participant de Clash au cours de sa résidence d’une ou de deux semaines ? | Over the one- or two-week Clash residency, what is the focus of the experience for participants?

Les deux premières années, chaque artiste a bénéficié de deux résidences de deux semaines. Cette année, le projet est sur deux semaines. Le projet invite chaque artiste à venir faire une recherche précise et pas seulement à venir expérimenter librement. Le but est de travailler sur quelque chose de nouveau au lieu de continuer à faire la même chose dans son coin. Également – mine de rien – savoir ce qui nous intéresse, ce qu’on veut, ce qu’on cherche et si l’on ne le sait pas, être patient et développer de bonnes questions. Les artistes développent ainsi du matériel chorégraphique en même temps qu’ils développent des outils d’analyse pertinents : l’un ne va pas sans l’autre.

In the first two years, each artist benefited from two two-week residencies. This year, the project is only two weeks. Each artist is invited to undertake specific research and not simply to experiment freely. The goal is to work on something new instead of continuing to work on the same old thing. Incidentally, as well, to know what interests you, what you want, what you seek and if you don’t know, to be patient and develop some good questions. This way, artists develop material at the same time as they develop analytical tools that come with it: one doesn’t happen without the other.


Maintenant que Clash tire à sa fin à Montréal, quels sont les effets, selon vous, sur la culture de création dans la ville ou au Canada ? | Now that Clash has run its course in Montréal, what effects do you think it has had on the culture of creation in the city or country?

Il est trop tôt pour le dire et… comment le savoir ? L’impact se fait par ricochet, des gens qui n’ont jamais participé au projet en reçoivent une influence, ça, je le sens. Et puis l’effet varie d’une personne à l’autre ; pour certains ça fait son chemin sur plusieurs années. Je n’ai pas la prétention, de toute façon, de vouloir changer quoi que ce soit. Je crois que l’idée du projet est de nature qualitative et quantitative, et donc d’une certaine façon, c’est de tenter de donner aux artistes plus de moyens d’action qui rendent leurs pratiques plus vivantes et plus singulières.

Là où je suis plus critique, c’est à l’égard de ce que je disais avant : culture versus art. Je trouve déplorables le manque d’imagination de nos politiciens et le manque de politiques culturelles que nous avons ici. Est-ce qu’on va tous devenir de bons artistes efficaces qui font de beaux spectacles avec de beaux éclairages ? Il n’y a qu’à regarder autour de soi, le phénomène cirque fait son chemin. On a besoin de tout, pas juste de cela.

It’s too soon to say or how to know. The impact has a ricochet effect; people who have never participated in the project experience its influence that I can tell. And further, the effect varies from one person to another. For some, it informs their path over several years. I do not pretend in any way to want to change what will be. I believe that the idea of the project is both qualitative and quantitative and so, to a certain degree, capable of giving artists more options that will make their practices more vibrant and more unique.

I’m most critical with respect to what I said earlier: culture versus art. I find the lack of imagination of our politicians and the lack of cultural policy that we have here deplorable. Must we all become good, productive artists who make beautiful shows with beautiful lighting? Just look around; the circus phenomenon is popular. We need everything, not just that.


Autour du projet Clash, vous avez discuté avec des artistes, des critiques, des théoriciens et des diffuseurs. Qu’est-ce que vous tirez de ces activités connexes ? | Around the Clash project, you also held discussions with artists, critics, theorists, presenters, producers and curators. What has been the outcome of these additional activities?

J’ai tenu un projet Clash au Brésil en 2006, à l’Université du Salvador, à Bahia. Le projet regroupait une vingtaine d’étudiants de la maîtrise en danse. Avec le groupe, il y avait également un physicien, une sémiologue et quelqu’un qui connaît la théorie des systèmes. C’est drôle, on croyait s’intéresser à l’idée de cohérence et puis au bout de quelques jours on s’est dit « mais ce n’est pas du tout ce qui nous intéresse ici, une œuvre peut être totalement cohérente mais dénuée d’intérêt ». Voilà un exemple de discussion qu’on peut avoir sur le projet. Le projet a également accueilli pas mal d’artistes visuels et de théoriciens. Cette année, je n’avais pas assez d’argent pour le faire, mais ça fait une différence. Chez l’artiste visuel, le discours est partie inhérente du processus. Et puis très simplement, c’est très stimulant d’être en présence les uns avec les autres, les perceptions sont à la fois très différentes et très semblables.

I held a Clash project in Brazil in 2006 at the University of Salvador in Bahia. The project brought together twenty Masters’ students in dance. They were accompanied by an astrophysicist, a linguist and an individual familiar with systems theory. It was funny, we thought we were interested in the idea of coherence, and then after a few days, we said to ourselves, “but it’s not at all what we’re interested in; a work can be totally coherent but devoid of interest”. That’s an example of a discussion we can have during a project. The project has also included several visual artists and scholars. This year, I didn’t have enough funding to do this but it makes a difference. Discourse is an inherent part of the process in visual arts. Very simply, it’s very stimulating to be with others; individual perceptions are at once very different and very similar.


En mai 2006, vous avez dit au Dance Current que votre esthétique s’aligne à celle de la Judson School. Ce lien existe-t-il encore ? | You said, in The Dance Current in May 2006, that you align your aesthetic with that of the Judson school. Do you still sense a connection here?

Absolument ! Je suis toujours accrochée à cette esthétique. J’aime beaucoup l’art américain de cette période. En quoi le travail d’un artiste résonne-t-il avec le monde ? Ça peut participer à une culture et c’est super agréable, bravo. Ou bien, ça peut faire réfléchir, agir sur nos perceptions et accroître notre « potentiel » d’action. Moi, c’est plus de ce côté que je me range et cela sous-entend ne pas ignorer l’histoire, les courants de pensée, les idéologies et les paradigmes de notre temps.

Absolutely! I am still very connected to that aesthetic. I like American art of that period very much. How does an artist’s work resonate with the world? It can participate in a culture and that’s great, bravo. Or yet, it can offer food for thought, act on our perceptions and increase our “potential” for action. For me, it’s more the latter, and this implies not ignoring history, currents of thought, ideologies and paradigms of our time.


Vous employez un langage scientifique dans votre travail. Vous citez la biologie, la physique, et la théorie des systèmes comme influences. Comment tissez-vous ces filaments dans votre nouvelle création OUT ? | You use scientific language in your work. You reference biology, physics and systems theory as influences. How do these filaments connect in your new work in development OUT?

C’est intéressant ce que vous dites. C’est vrai, je m’intéresse aux sciences mais vraiment, je n’ai pas du tout une approche scientifique et ce n’est absolument pas possible en création. J’ai d’ailleurs beaucoup de difficultés avec les textes académiques, des textes le plus souvent tortueux en solipsisme.

Quand on fait de la recherche, on est toujours en train de chercher le mot qui va tout expliquer ce qu’on fait. Tout à l’heure, je vous ai parlé de « cohérence » ; et bien, les dernières années, mon mot magique était « langage ». Je suis alors retournée à mes études en philosophie et puis je me suis rendue compte que je ne m’intéressais pas au langage, au contraire, je m’intéressais à ce qui était en dehors du langage. Dans quel champ de la science ça se trouve ? Qui s’y intéresse ? Tiens, il y a quelqu’un en architecture qui a fait un projet autour de cela ? et c’est reparti !

It’s interesting what you say. It’s true, I am interested in science but really I don’t have a scientific approach at all and it’s absolutely not possible in creation. Actually, I have great difficulty with academic texts, texts most often tortured in solipsism.

When one begins research, one is always in the process of searching for the word that will explain what one does. Earlier, I spoke to you about “coherence” and in recent years my magic word has been “language”. So I went back to my studies in philosophy and I realized that I was never interested in language; rather, I was interested in what is beyond language. In which field of science do we find this? Who is interested by this? Right, is there someone in architecture who has created a project around this … and here we go!


Vous vous intéressez à l'interdisciplinarité et il me semble que l’idée de la convergence disciplinaire est importante pour vous. Êtes-vous d’accord ? With respect to your interest in interdisciplinarity, it seems that the idea of disciplinary convergence resonates for you. Would you agree or disagree?

Les collaborations les plus stimulantes que j’ai eues ont été, pour la plupart, avec des artistes d’autres disciplines. Je me suis aperçue qu’en danse, il était difficile de partager son champ de pratique – je crois que c’est aussi pour cette raison que Clash existe, c’est possible. Je travaille en ce moment avec Dana Gingras sur ma nouvelle création et c’est vraiment une collaboration inédite très excitante. Sinon, je viens de commencer un projet Clash à Vancouver. Six chorégraphes travailleront ensemble sur le projet en 2010.

The most stimulating collaborations that I’ve had were for the most part with artists from other disciplines. It seems to me that in dance, it is difficult to share its field of practice and I think that it’s likely also for this reason that Clash exists. Right now, I’m working with Dana Gingras on my new creation and it’s truly an open and exciting collaboration. Otherwise, I will debut a Clash project in Vancouver with six choreographers in 2010.


*An excerpted version of this interview appears in the May 2009 issue of The Dance Current.

La dernière édition de Clash se déroule du 21 au 26 mai à 17h30 à Tangente, Montréal.| The final edition of Clash runs from May 21st through 26th at 5:30pm at Tangente, Montréal.

Pour en savoir plus | Learn more >> www.lyndagaudreau.com; www.tangente.qc.ca

In Process with Peter Quanz: Part 3

Interview with Peter Quanz, Anton Lubchenko and Elena Tchernichova
by Selma Odom

Anton Lubchencko, courtesy of Quanz | Peter Quanz / Photo by V. Tony Hauser | Guillaume Côté and Bridgett Zehr | Artists of the ballet | Guillaume Côté and Bridgett Zehr | Heather Ogden, Zdenek Konvalina, Jillian Vanstone and Guillaume Côté with artists of the ballet in Quanz’s In Colour for The National Ballet of Canada / Photos by Cylla von Tiedemann

Choreographer Peter Quanz and composer Anton Lubchenko reflected on the production of In Colour after its last performance by The National Ballet of Canada in March. Their mentor Elena Tchernichova summarized the conversation in English and Russian. Following her career as Kirov dancer and international ballet mistress-coach, she has offered her outside eye to Quanz in the development of his work since 2007. As she explained toward the end of the interview, “Now it’s more interesting to see new creations and new talents.”

Thanks to Irene Seay for interpreting the Russian on the recorded interview.

More...
What were your experiences this past week?

Anton:

I mainly attended rehearsals and the performances. In my time here I only had one day off which I spent with Peter’s family at Niagara Falls. Niagara made a tremendous impression on me – this is what I saw in Canada in the way of “theatre”. I watched Peter’s work with the dancers and the work of the conductors with the orchestra. The observation was a great experience because it is always important to see how a work of theatre art comes together, not just the role that music plays, but how all the elements are born.


Peter:
There’s a point when you have to give up, you have to let other people take over and run the ballet. That’s the job of the ballet masters, and it’s interesting to see how much ownership Lindsay Fischer took of the ballet – Rex [Harrington] also supported the soloists—and to see how once we got on the stage how the dancers stopped coming to me with questions and they went instead to the ballet masters. I think that’s a very good process because it allows me to step out and separate myself from what’s onstage. I know all the problems, all the variations on each moment of the ballet, but it doesn’t matter because that doesn’t exist. What exists is what’s onstage at that moment. By the time the dancers get to the stage it’s time for me to step out.

What did you think of the audience response?

Anton:
I don’t really want to sing my own praises, but it seemed to me that it was very warmly received. My understanding is that some people in the audience saw it on several occasions. And the warmth with which it was received seemed to grow from one performance to the next over the run of the show.


Peter:
On the opening night I was watching the audience, and going into the pas de deux and throughout most of the ballet they were so quiet and silent. There are different qualities of silence. There’s the silence where they’re getting bored and nodding off to sleep and they start coughing, or there’s the silence where you feel that everybody’s holding their breath and sitting slightly forward in their seats. On the opening night that’s what I saw, that’s what I felt. There was a great energy coming from the audience that was feeding the dancers on stage, and to me that was the biggest compliment.

Anton:
[Later in the week] some of the soloists danced so beautifully that the audience applauded in the middle of the piece. This did not interfere with the music at all. It just conveyed an additional excitement to it.

Peter:
People have responded very well – including Anton – to the end of the Yellow variation, where the women are doing mechanical movement in a group of nine and the men come in and do their muscle boy poses. I set that up in a moment of being tired and having a quirky sense of humour and being a bit flippant, and it’s come out as something that people love. When you are relaxed or tired or pushed a little bit past where you feel comfortable, you sometimes let your guard down and allow something that is personal and human to come into the ballet, into the creation. It’s the same thing for the beginning of Chartreuse. For that rehearsal, it was at the end of the day, I was exhausted, I’d had some difficult calls, I didn’t know what to do and I walked in with absolutely no idea. And they just inspired something that for me is one of the highlights of the ballet – for a minute and a half long section that really defines itself. There are other sections that I laboured over with the corps de ballet moving from one position to another that I’m not happy with. Just before the finale when all the different soloists in their varied colours come in, the corps moves from the centre over into a diagonal on the side. It always looks sloppy – I have to change the pattern of it. There are things like that that just never clarified themselves and that on a second staging I would adjust.

In the corps movement I saw surprises that were fascinating. One is the supported arabesques where all the women are upside down and another is when the women are lifted and carried feet first. I found both arrangements take classical ideas into a different dimension. The women with the feet first are like armaments and victims – it’s an image I’ve never seen before. Where did that come from?



Peter:
Well, this music sounds like a machine gun in some ways. In my mind, in my story, I wanted it to be like a battle. And so as they’re coming in, it’s two armies facing each other, and they’re merging, they’re coming together, and it’s a double image. On one hand, the women when they’re lifted are like bloody bodies. They’re being carried out, and the other way they’re turned into the gun and I’m using that image in both ways. And then they get pulled to the back and turned into this army of mindless followers that are just randomly shaking their heads and following whatever the ballerina says. And so I am telling a story there because I needed to find a reason for the dramatic build in his music.

With the arabesque I feel that people understand a vertical image better than a horizontal image. In a major city like Toronto or New York or Hong Kong, we have all these skyscrapers where it’s a vertical repetition for ninety-some floors, and we find that appealing, it’s visually attractive. But if you take that skyscraper and turn it on its side that horizontal repetition would become boring. Because I’m interested at that point to have a very strong powerful image – we’ve just finished this huge fugue and then suddenly all the music is together – I wanted a very strong vertical energy so I put them in penchée to lift the energy up.

In the pas de deux I especially admired the ending when she hangs by her knee.

Peter:
When I first heard the variation for the pink ballerina, I thought Anton has written a soliloquy for Ophelia, and Ophelia drowns. And whether it’s a real drowning, if it’s like Virginia Woolf or it’s just this ballerina drowning in her own emotions, she goes up and she’s swirling in a whirlpool, reaching up for air and at the very end giving up and sinking down.

I was also intrigued by the choice of instruments for the pas de deux.

Anton:
At the beginning of the adagio, the theme is started by the French horn and then it’s picked up by the violins and then all the strings. It’s obvious that if this is a love pas de deux, in the tradition of classical romantic music for ballet, the lyricism is captured by the strings. After the [ballerina’s] variation with little bells, the love theme is carried by just one clarinet echoed by a hymn of mourning by the piano. Peter interpreted this as the echoes of first love. The main musical idea I was expressing was through this theme that I transposed as a hymn of love at the end of the ballet.



What is the future of In Colour?

Peter:
After the first three years I can stage it for any company in the world. The National Ballet will be able to continue performing the ballet as long as they wish, and Anton is now able to program this music with any orchestra separate from the ballet. It’s a big risk to make a new work. It’s a lot easier to buy an existing ballet that you know is going to be a success. But then you don’t develop unique repertoire.

I feel that I’ve made a tremendous step forward with this work, that it’s been an exciting project and that it’s my best work so far. I feel that it’s emotional, that I achieved a lot of the goals that I set out to do and then surprised myself in other ways. I think Anton has produced a very interesting score and I’ve been thrilled to be part of that. I’m thrilled with the design that Michael Gianfrancesco has produced, and to have taken a risk on a designer who has not worked for ballet before was a major deal. I had a lot of satisfaction from working with Christopher Dennis. So I’ve enjoyed my team.

Anton and I certainly are interested to collaborate further in the future. It’s important that we established this relationship. We have a good understanding of each other now, and this is the time to start considering bigger projects and especially narrative work. I think that’s an area of repertoire that needs to be developed, that we need to tell new stories in dance.

Will you be involved in the next work?

Elena:
Well, who knows what the future gives to us, but of course I’m not giving up on these two boys.

Peter:
Lucky us!

Selma Odom [guest writer] teaches dance history at York University. Her research focusses on teachers and transmission in dance and music. She has published hundreds of articles and reviews since the 1960s and co-edited the anthology Canadian Dance: Visions and Stories (2004).


*A profile of Peter Quanz by Selma Odom appears in the March 2009 print issue of The Dance Current.

Learn more >>
www.peterquanz.com
www.national.ballet.ca

UNDERCURRENTS: Sharon Pollock

April 2009
Interview with Sharon Pollock
by Megan Andrews

















Photo of Sharon Pollock courtesy of Atlantic Ballet Theatre of Canada

Sharon Pollock is an internationally renowned Canadian playwright, dramaturge, director and writer. She has collaborated as dramaturge with artistic director and choreographer Igor Dobrovolskiy in the creation of Don Juan and other ballets for Atlantic Ballet Theatre of Canada (ABTC).

More...
There are many different ideas about the work of a dramaturge in dance. When you worked with Igor Dobrovolskiy on Don Juan specifically, what were your principal contributions to the project?

My contribution to Igor’s creation process is first of all to respond to the early thoughts and visual images generated by his interest in a particular subject, in this case the figure of a charming sexual predator, Don Juan being the iconic figure of such an individual. I researched and explored what other artists have made of this figure although our interest was not in reproduction or adaptation. In a series of meetings, we brainstormed and blue skied the story and characters. I supported the evolution of Igor’s ideas and vision of the piece by questioning and making suggestions. I always find the process exciting and inspiring. I then wrote an early scenario of the narrative, which could be shared with designers. I functioned as “an outside eye” as Igor choreographed. During that period, I’m looking to see if the narrative, characters and relationship among the characters are accessible to an audience. Changes occur in rehearsal that result in changes to the scenario. I responded to design concepts and/or technical effects. I adapted the scenario, incorporating changes, and wrote a “libretto” for the program. I am not a rehearsal director or associate director. I suppose I am a creative consultant when my areas of expertise are compatible with the needs of the production. Personally I am uncomfortable with labels.

The story of Don Juan has a long and varied history, arguably starting in the 1600s, and has been retold in numerous ways. ABTC’s version uses a neoclassical ballet vocabulary and music by George Gershwin from 1924. In developing the narrative and the setting for the ballet, how were the different period, cultural and stylistic references addressed?

I saw our Don Juan as an original, existing in its own world. Its period, cultural and stylistic references were of that imagined world, with that world having some resonance with the audience’s world.

After your initial work with Mr. Dobrovolskiy, do you return to the project at a later stage to work with the dancers and other collaborators? If so, what input do you have at this time?

Igor continues to refine the repertoire and I respond to the changes in personal – one could say informal – dialogue. Igor’s interested in what I have to say and I am interested in seeing the continuing growth of an original work and the reasons behind changes. Often those changes represent a practical concern, an artistic impulse, a great idea that one could not address at the premiere because of the constraints of time.

You’ve also worked with ABTC on Phantom of the Opera and more recently King Lear. Coming from a language-based practice as you do, what is the greatest challenge you’ve experienced in telling stories through a non-verbal mode such as ballet?

Because plays are documented in literary form, as in words on a page, it’s easy to forget that plays live and are realized in performance. It is that performance element that engages me in the theatre. I believe the non-verbal penetrates an audience’s emotions more acutely than the verbal. The challenge for me is not so much how to tell a story through a non-verbal mode, for example ballet, but how to integrate and employ the non-verbal in “a language-based practice” so as to heighten the audience’s engagement.

Does your work in dance feed back into your own writing and directing in any way?

I believe yes. That is one of the joys in working with Igor. I’m inspired by his dedication to his art as well as by his imaginative leaps and intuition. I’m encouraged to explore ways of marrying the “dance” (as in the physical staging) and the “music” (all aural effects) when directing. As a playwright I’m looking to create work in which the non-verbal is integral to the revelation of the play’s plot, character, relationships and meaning.

Writing in 2003, you commented on what you saw as a stasis in Canadian theatre that you linked to a financial and/or artistic deficit in the field. Has this changed? Do you feel familiar enough with Canadian dance to make a comment on what you see?

In our larger theatres, I believe we have created rehearsal, production, and administrative structures that do not support creation. They reproduce rather than create. Small companies are seduced by funding bodies into modeling the structures of larger companies, their conformance to that model being seen as a mark of stability and legitimacy, even by the artists themselves. There are still young artists and indie companies and projects that keep hope alive for me. Since I think the means of creation affect the ends, I’m not familiar enough with structures within Canadian dance companies to comment on their end product, the work. The intense focus on the work and support for creation in every aspect of ABTC’s operation is one of the things that draws me to the company

I have the impression that your concept of theatre may be as broad and inclusive as “live performance”. Do you think it is useful to make distinctions between disciplines of live performance, or are we, even now, working in a more “post-disciplinary” context?

My concept of theatre is as “live performance”. The distinction between disciplines may be useful for marketing or for other purposes, but attaching a label: dance, theatre, opera, etc., can be a block to following the creator(s) artistic impulse and vision for the work. I don’t concern myself with terms. Let others, critics or academics, decide where we are – post-disciplinary, multidisciplinary or whatever. First be true to the muse. Or chorus of muses.

*An excerpted version of this interview appears in the April 2009 print issue of The Dance Current.

Atlantic Ballet Theatre of Canada presents Don Juan throughout April at various locations in Québec. See www.destinationdancedanse.ca for details.

Learn more >>
www.atlanticballet.ca
www.sharonpollock.com