Dance Victoria Footnotes 73 (Winter 2023)

Photos (from top): BODYTRAFFIC by Tomasz Rossa; Dance Theatre of Harlem by Theik Smith; Malpaso Dance Company by Ivo Roberto Baelli; Ballet Edmonton by Nanc Price

Dance Days 2023 Invitation to our Community

Dance Victoria brings the World’s Best Dance to the Royal Theatre and supports the development of new dance for the international stage from its studios in Quadra Village. As a non-profit charitable society, Dance Victoria operates with the mission to promote the appreciation of dance by developing and presenting diverse local, Canadian, and international artists, and by engaging the community in the celebration of dance. DanceVictoria.com

Dance Victoria Board: President: Colette Baty Vice-President: Maggie Bartold Treasurer: Julie Robinson Secretary: Kayleigh Harrison Directors: Stacey Horton, Joost Pelt, Carrie Smart

Staff: Executive Director: Gillian Jones General Manager: Bernard Sauvé Operations Manager: Shireen McNeilage Marketing Manager: Tracy Smith Production Manager: Holly Vivian Studio Bookings Manager: Kiera Shaw Accounting: Wendy Mahon Graphic Design: Rayola Creative Advertising Sales: Bonnie Light Advertising

If you’d like to volunteer for Dance Victoria please visit DanceVictoria.com and complete the online volunteer form.

Studios and Office: #111 – 2750 Quadra Street, Victoria, BC V8T 4E8 DanceVictoria.com for trailers, tickets and more information

Footnotes is written by Tracy Smith and Gillian Jones (unless otherwise noted)

The Dance Days festival is a Victoria tradition: our city’s chance to emerge after the winter holidays, to get moving and — perhaps most importantly — to re-connect and engage with community in the New Year. Dance Days takes place over 10 days (Jan. 13–22, 2023) and offers a diverse selection of FREE dance and fitness classes, in partnership with Victoria’s outstanding studios and instructors, bookended by opportunities to see cutting-edge, live dance performance by rising and established artists. I invite you to join us!

Dance Days launches with Out Innerspace Dance Theatre on Friday, Jan. 13 at the McPherson Playhouse. You may remember the innovative Vancouver company’s previous visits, with ME SO YOU SO ME (2012) and Major Motion Picture (2019) at the Metro Studio Theatre — the latter, performing to sold-out audiences. Their latest work, Bygones, was co-commissioned by Dance Victoria through the Chrystal Dance Fund. You won’t want to miss what the DV team has deemed the “hidden gem” of our 2022/23 season. Featuring stunning choreography and lighting, ghostly architecture, and a genre-defying use of puppetry and illusion, Bygones “celebrates how we are shaped by what we overcome, and how something challenging can lead to something beautiful.”

A vital part of Dance Days is the opportunity to see the creation process up close and personal, through Rough Cuts showings at the Dance Victoria Studios. This year’s worksin-progress feature some of our region’s most dynamic, up-and-coming artistic voices: Kemi Craig, Visible Bodies Collective and Luciana Freire D’Anunciação and Kelly McInnes Rough Cuts take place on the afternoon of Sunday, Jan. 22, with three showings interspersed with artist Q&As and concluding with a casual reception. You’ll find the full schedule on Dance Victoria’s Dance Days online calendar where you can RSVP to reserve a seat (seating is limited). Feel free to come and go throughout the day. In keeping with Dance Victoria’s goal to increase access to dance, Rough Cuts offer free admission, with a suggested donation of $10 for those who choose to contribute. The DV studios are wheelchair accessible for guests with disabilities and/or mobility challenges.

Lastly, I am thrilled that we can finally share our 2022/23 Chrystal Dance Prize –Projects winners! You will find more information about Julia Taffe / Aeriosa Dance Society, Shion Skye Carter and Amber Downie-Back and their international collaborators, within this Footnotes. All three artists/collectives are driving innovation, artistic excellence, and community connection in the field of dance. On behalf of this year’s CDP Awards Committee, we are incredibly proud and excited for the impact these artists are going to make.

I look forward to seeing you in the studios, the theatre, and out in the community this month!

Sincerely, Gillian Jones, Executive Director

Out Innerspace Dance Theatre by David Raymond

Gillian Jones by Jo-Ann Richards Works Photography

BODYTRAFFIC in PACOPEPEPLUTO by Tomasz Rossa

Board Members Elected at AGM

Expressions of Interest

Open

Dance Victoria’s Board is continuously prospecting for new members throughout the year. Interested individuals can complete an expression of interest form at DanceVictoria.com

At its Annual General Meeting on November 13, 2022 (conducted on Zoom), Dance Victoria Society’s independent auditor, Kris Wirk of Dusanj and Wirk Professional Chartered Accountants, provided highlights of the audited financial statements. The slate of new and renewing Dance Victoria Board members was presented to the membership. This included new member Joost Pelt; the re-election of Colette Baty and Maggie Bartold for a second 2-year term; and the re-election of Stacy Horton; all of whom join continuing Directors Julie Robinson, Kayleigh Harrison, and Carrie Smart, in the middle of their first terms. Dance Victoria thanked retiring Board members Fran Grunberg, Rob Millar, and President Susan Howard. Howard thanked Fran for her wisdom and

Pay Your Age

Sponsored by

Our popular Pay Your Age is open to anyone aged 12 to 29. A limited number of Pay Your Age tickets are available for each performance, so act quickly! Pay Your Age tickets are subject to a $5 Royal and McPherson Box Office fee. 250-386-6121. Phone and walk-up orders only. Proof of age required.

guidance, and for her active support of the Governance & Planning committee. She also thanked outgoing Vice President Rob Millar, who has been integral to the good governance of Dance Victoria in his time on the board, and who has been an incredible support to Susan in her role as President. Finally, Susan gave a warm congratulations to Dance Victoria for the excellent work it continues to do, and expressed her deep appreciation for her time on the board, as well as her commitment to continue supporting Dance Victoria in the years to come. We are so appreciative of Susan’s counsel, dedication, and service over the past seven years. We look forward to her continued involvement in attending and supporting Dance Victoria performances into the future. FN

Night Moves

Sponsored by

Culture. Conversations. Cocktails. With our Night Moves program, patrons who are 30 to 45 years old enjoy discounted ticket pricing for Dance at the Royal presentations, special theatre seating, and exclusive invitations to social events throughout the year. The best deal is a Night Moves membership, but single Night Moves tickets are also available through the Royal/McPherson Box Offices. Proof of age photo ID required at purchase.

Follow us on Facebook.com/nightmovesvictoria or Visit DanceVictoria.com/night-moves

BODYTRAFFIC by Rob Latour

Dance Days is back!

Friday, January 13 to Sunday, January 22, 2023

Free classes around town

Rough Cuts at DV Studios

Dance Days is a unique, city-wide 10-day celebration of dance with workshops, performances, conversations and the chance to experience free dance classes. Local studios offer free adult dance classes in a variety of styles: afrobeat, seated dance, flamenco, ballet, efunk and

more. Look for the complete online calendar at DanceVictoria.com. Shake off the holiday eggnog and fruitcake and make your New Year’s resolution to try something new with Dance Days 2023! FN

Learn more at DanceVictoria.com

Successful Nutcracker

Attendance at Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Nutcracker surpassed any Nutcracker that Dance Victoria has ever presented. There were only a handful of seats available at most performances, with the Sunday matinee completely sold out. Approximately 6,500 patrons (including LOTS of children and kids at heart!) enjoyed five spectacular performances. With the support of the Times Colonist Christmas Fund and community supporters, approximately 250 Nutcracker tickets were distributed to Victoria Women’s Transition House, the Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria, Family Services of Greater Victoria, the Victoria Native Friendship Centre and the Esquimalt Military Family Resource Centre. Dance Victoria’s arts access efforts will continue with the new Dance Is For Everyone program at Dance Theatre of Harlem in March. This initiative welcomes local families with financial barriers, including new Canadians and refugees, free-of-charge.

Out Innerspace Dance

Theatre by Alistair Maitland

Out Innerspace Dance Theatre

Bygones // Dance Days Feature Presentation

January 13 • Friday 7:30 pm

McPherson Playhouse

Tickets from $43 DanceVictoria.com or Box Office: 250-386-6121

Lead Sponsor

Cinematic, eerie, dance theatre immerses you in a supernatural world that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The 70-minute work of contemporary dance theatre by Vancouver’s Out Innerspace Dance Theatre creates visual magic as objects, dancers, and scenes exist on the margins of form and formlessness. For Out Innerspace Dance Theatre co-founders Tiffany Tregarthen and David Raymond, dancing unlocks their creative intelligence.

"Moving is the best way for us to understand and discover a plasticity of spirit, intellect and instinct...to let ideas move and transform through and around us," explains Tregarthen.

The company was delighted to collaborate with Lyle Reimer (a.k.a. Lyle XOX), a mixed media artist with a huge Instagram following.

"Lyle collaborated with us to make a character who embodies a creative force willing to give new life to things that have been left behind; a chimera, a scavenger; and a patron saint of picking up the pieces. It appears in the work as a sort of epiphany with a calling to repurpose what is unresolved or lost and set into motion the necessity for the performers to come together."

Pre-Show Chats

FREE to All Ticket Holders

Presented by

Join us for free pre-show chats at 6:50 p.m. prior to our shows. On January 13, we welcome Out Innerspace Dance Theatre company founder and dancer David Raymond to chat about the compelling contemporary dance theatre work, Bygones, and on February 10 and 11, we’ll welcome a member of BODYTRAFFIC to discuss their mixed repertoire program. Dr. Allana Lindgren, Dean of Fine Arts at the University of Victoria and dance historian, will facilitate the discussions.

With Bygones, they explore domestic objects as psychic tuning instruments. A teacup scoots around a table; dancers appear mid-air, falling; an umbrella stalks a dancer around the stage; another spins a chair on its side while in a trance-like state. Inanimate objects seem to have a will of their own.

Note: Bygones contains strobe lighting, sudden sound effects, and haze. FN

“…some of the city’s most exciting, ambitious dance theatre work right now, and the trip they’re offering is a rush — even if you don’t trust your eyes.”

Out Innerspace Dance Theatre by Alistair Maitland

Tiffany Tregarthen in mask by Lyle Reimer. Photo by Alistair Maitland

–GEORGIA STRAIGHT

Photos (clockwise from top left): Mouth to Mouth courtesy of Luciana Freire D’Anunciação & Kelly McInnes; Kemi Craig by Cedar Coast Photography; Visible Bodies Collective in Bury The Hacket by Dean Kaylan

Rough Cuts during Dance Days

January 22, 2023

Mouth to Mouth

January 22, 2023

2:00–6:00 pm (with breaks) | 6:00–7:00 pm Casual reception

Dance Victoria Studios 250-595-1829 • Info

Creation Centre Sponsors

Luciana Freire D’Anunciação & Kelly McInnes

2:00–3:00 pm

A work-in-progress duet celebrating our animality, sensuality, biological cycles and interdependence with all living beings. Inspired by symbiosis, interspecies kinship and reciprocal ecology, the duo unfolds through ongoing encounters and evolutions; becoming other; becoming-with.

New Work

Visible Bodies Collective 3:30–4:30 pm

New works-in-progress by some of the hottest dance artists and choreographers on the west coast. All performances are followed by informal discussions where the artists answer your questions about the work that they’re creating. FREE and accessible to the public, with a suggested donation of $10.

Want to attend? To register, visit DanceVictoria.com and click the Dance Days Calendar for your chosen events.

Visible Bodies Collective, founded by Lindsay Delaronde (Kanienkehaka) and co-founders Cheryl Henhawke (Kanienkehaha, Seneca), Elowynn Rose (Metis), and Nicole Mandryk (Anishinaabe, Ukrainian), is an inter-cultural, inter-generational group of BIPOC artists and dancers, who come from many nations and places across Turtle Island. Their core value is creating safe spaces for Indigenous women to research, create, and perform. They will share a new work that weaves story and rhythm to heal past, present and future, and to orate their experiences.

Residency supported in part by the Contribute to the Land Fund through the Victoria Foundation.

Bearing Witness

Choreographer: Kemi Craig 5:00–6:00 pm

Bearing Witness uses choreography, improvisational dance, sensory responsive technology, and audience engagement to amplify the connection between spectatorship and performativity. During her Dance Victoria residency, Kemi Craig collaborated with multimedia artist/entrepreneur Justin Love to learn coding electronics which respond to movement and sound, and these technologies inform her work.

Kemi Craig in the space between during Rough Cuts 2022 by Tracy Smith

Photos (clockwise from top left): Julia Taffe by Sarah Race; Shion Skye Carter; and Amber Downie-Back

Announcing this Year’s Chrystal Dance Prize - Project Winners

In early December, the Dance Victoria Awards Committee met to review project proposals submitted by independent dance artists, companies and collectives, for the Chrystal Dance Prize – Projects. Out of many strong submissions, the committee selected three projects to support in 2023. The award supports exceptional dance research and/or creation between Western Canadian dance artists/ collectives and international collaborators — with a focus on elevating artists in our region to the next level of their practice through international exposure and mentorship. The committee continually assessed the submissions against the question: for which artist will the prize make the most impact?

Julia Taffe of Aeriosa Dance Society received $22,000 to support site-specific vertical dance performances and public engagement activities with Croatian choreographer Marija Scekic of Histeria Nova Artistic Organization. The projects will be performed in Croatia (Histeria Nova’s Biennale of New Movement) and Canada (Aeriosa’s Vancouver International Vertical Dance Summit ) from 2023 to 2025 with international dance artists from the UK, France, Greece, and Canada.

Shion Skye Carter received $15,000 towards the second creation phase of Threading Echoes, a performance embodying the Japanese craft of Shifu, cloth woven from washi paper. Community, belonging, and

connecting to ancestral knowledge are woven through gestural tableaus and shadows. Carter will collaborate with choreographer/performer Mayumi Lashbrook, and cochoreographer/dramaturg Ayumi Hamada in Ino, Japan. At the Kakishi-Seishi farm and artist residency, Carter and Lashbrook will learn the processes to grow the kozo plant, make it into washi paper, and to twist the paper into kami-ito (paper thread) which is woven into Shifu. The goal is to help carry the disappearing cultural heritage craft of Shifu away from extinction, to bring the art form forward for younger generations to experience in a contemporary context.

Amber Downie-Back, a resident dance artist at both Impulse Theatre and at Dance Victoria Studios, received $10,000 towards her project, on the nature of… This interdisciplinary work explores feelings of being adrift in your sense of self and memory, while incorporating interactive and digital elements with dance performance and sound, and explores the question: “When you remember the places you have been, how many yous are there?” Downie-Back will collaborate with Emilie van der Waals, a queer Utrecht, Netherlands-based artist of DutchIndonesian and Canadian descent, and sound designer Angus Gaffney, to push movement and sound in collaborative contexts with other media such as digital and video art. FN

Chrystal Dance Prize – Training Application Deadline: April 17, 2023

Applications for the Chrystal Dance Prize - Training are due April 17, 2023. This prize supports young westernCanadian dancers completing their training at an international dance institution. In 2023, Dance Victoria will award up to $6,000 for emerging artists. Applicants must be residents of western Canada and this prize only supports full-time studies (intensives and summer programs are not eligible).

Dance Victoria will also be awarding its annual Arabella and Robert Award for Dance. This award

supports dancers completing their training at an international dance institution and is open to dance students across Canada. The application form and deadlines are the same as the Chrystal Dance PrizeTraining. Applicants can be considered for both awards or for just one of the awards, depending on primary resident address. Application guidelines and the submission procedure are at DanceVictoria.com

Amber Downie-Back by Niks Vignal; Mayumi Lashbrook (collaborator with Shion Skye Carter); Julia Taffe

BODYTRAFFIC in The One to Stay With by Chris Kendig

Thank you to our Donors!

July 1–December 14, 2022

Dance Victoria is fortunate to have the support of many people. Thank you for helping us to bring the World’s Best Dance to Victoria, investing in commissions and residencies, or supporting one of our specific programs. The following are donors who contributed between July 1 and December 14, 2022.*

VISIONARY

Carol & Rob Gillespie

Sandra Lee, Mae & Yan Lee Foundation

Caroline Wolmuth

PRESIDENT’S CIRCLE

Anonymous

Paul & Sharon Bundon NK

Colette Baty & Allan Castle

Ian & Marjorie Clark

Douglas D. Durand

Laurie Guy-Sharp

Susan K.E. Howard & Gregory Krantz DE Vivian Love AR

Robert Milne

Terry Moore & Dorothee Friese DFH Bijan & Nasrin Neyestani Foundation

Maurice & Anne Petrie Yacowar

PATRON

Anonymous NK

Mavis Begg DE

Paula Carey & Nicholas Wemyss

Bill Graham & Helen McDonald Kent H

Harbour City Kitchens NK

Lois McNabb DE

Robert Milllar

Sara Neely DE

Roy Nikaido NK

Joost Pelt & Marilyn Lewis-Pelt Pauline Price

Brendan Ralfs

Christopher & Randene Tolhurst

SUPPORTER

Anonymous NK

Joan E Davis DE Mark & Diana Gillis DE Jennifer & Philip Hill Marnie Hill Brenda Jagdis AR Charlene & Eric Kerr Kari McLay & Bill Myles NK Victoria & Geoff Munday DE Joy Olesky

Jean Orr DE Merv Porath

Boyd Porteous Carrie Smart Terry Vatrt DE Victoria Wray NK

ASSOCIATE

Anonymous

Anonymous x 2 NK Anonymous x 2 DE

Douglas Baer Marianne Bromley Michelle Cooper NK Allan & Jan Dong Jane Eibner

Irene Fizzell NK

Norah Garyali DE Eleanor Gjelsten NK Margaret Godfrey NK Charles Joerin & H. Grant Sullivan Mary Kimpton DE Jennifer MacLeod DE

Bob & Lynda Malpass DE

Noreen Marshall & Mariann Burka NK Christina McCarthy NK Rod & Marilyn McCrimmon NK Susan Moger DE Robert Moyes & Lynne Bain DE David & Mandy Niddrie NK R. Joan Penny Nancy Poole & Jan Trainor Prov. Employees Community Services Fund

Julie Robinson DE Karina Sangha Meghan Sawyer Adrienne Shaw NK Jan & Diane Skirrow DE Susan Snell NK Judy Stewart DE Chris Thompson NK Iris Thomson-Glen NK Stephanie Ustina NK Theresa Wickes NK Ross & Jane Woodland DE

FRIEND

Anonymous Dr. Gregory Andrachuk & Dr. Darlene Hammell NK Nicole Ardiel NK

Darren Ausmus Jessica & Mélusine Baert Ian Beare

Barbara Benton NK Penny & Peter Brand NK Heather Chestnutt Elizabeth & George Cornett DE Cam Culham

Richard Dingeldein & Ben Brannen Karne & Bill Edwards Adrian Gibbons NK

Gordon & Carolyn Greeniaus

Frances Grunberg

Lise Gyorkos

Stacey Horton

Sharon Hume Gillian Jones

Sylvia Jarvis NK Louise Klaassen NK Dr. Whitney Laughlin DE Arabella Martin NK Joy Mauro

Kevin Mills NK Carol Milo DE Bridey M. Morgan

Mary Newman & Robert Smith

Maria Porter

William Rowe

Bernard Sauvé & Michael Scott Curnes

Justine Shore

Anne Silver

Senga Simpson

Helen Smith & Jeff McEown

Irma Soltonovich NK Gail Squire DE

Patricia Taylor NK Margaret Thornthwaite DE Amanda Vasilakopoulos NK Miriam Waldman

Branka & Geoff Wilmshurst

AR = South Vancouver Island Dance Archives DE = Dance is For Everyone program

DFH = DFH Real Estate Referral Program NK = Nutcracker Kids program

* The accuracy of this list is important to us; we welcome notification of unintended omissions or errors. Please contact Shireen McNeilage at shireen@dancevictoria.com with any questions.

Dance Theatre of Harlem in Balamouk. Christopher Duggan photo courtesy of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.

Dance Theatre of Harlem’s Lindsey Donnell by Rachel Neville

Support Local Dance Artists Through Our Spring 50-50

Raffle

Proceeds from our raffle support the many artists whose projects are developed in Dance Victoria Studios and then performed across the country and around the world. Tickets will first be on sale at the Out Innerspace Dance Theatre performance at the McPherson Playhouse on January 13, 2023. They will be available at all of our performances at the Royal Theatre in the lobby. You can also purchase them online at DanceVictoria.com.

Tickets are $10 each or a book of five for $40. With fewer than 2,400 printed, your odds are great, plus you’ll be supporting Victoria’s vibrant dance community.

Draw: May 23, 2023, 2:00 pm at Dance Victoria Studios. Licence #138155

John Melvin john@johnmelvinproperties.ca | 250-477-7291

Rosemary & Gary Victoria Homes Team homes@rosemaryandgary.ca | 250-477-7291

Katie Webb katie@dfh.ca | 778-677-0982

Dorothee Friese dorothee@shaw.ca | 250-477-7291

Terry Moore tlmoore@shaw.ca | 250-477-7291

Next

Best seats. Best prices. The World’s Best Dance.

Subscribers can buy additional tickets at DanceVictoria.com any time of the year and save up to 20%. Three-show subscriptions are also on sale until February 11, 2023. All performances except Bygones are at the Royal Theatre.

NEW! Visit DanceVictoria.com a week before our shows for a sneak peak of the program notes.

Dance at the Royal

Out Innerspace Dance Theatre

CONTEMPORARY DANCE THEATRE

January 13, 2023 • 7:30 PM – ONE NIGHT ONLY!

Bygones

BODYTRAFFIC CONTEMPORARY

February 10 + 11, 2023 • 7:30 PM

A Million Voices Matthew Neenan The One to Stay With Baye & Asa SNAP Micaela Taylor

PACOPEPEPLUTO Alejandro Cerrudo

Dance Theatre of Harlem CONTEMPORARY BALLET

March 24 + 25, 2023 • 7:30 PM

Allegro Brillante George Balanchine When Love Helen Pickett Blake Works 4 William Forsythe Higher Ground Robert Garland

Ballet Edmonton CONTEMPORARY BALLET Co-produced with Victoria Symphony April 23, 2023 • 2:30 PM

April 24, 2023 • 7:30 PM

Music in Motion

Malpaso Dance Company CONTEMPORARY April 28 + 29, 2023 • 7:30 PM

Carrying Floor Abel Rojo woman with water Mats Ek Indomitable Waltz Aszure Barton Tabula Rasa Ohad Naharin

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