Interview with Marissa Wong

Marissa Wong, The Falling Company © Richie Lubaton

by Rachel Silver Maddock

The last year and a half has signalled a transition for many dance artists across Vancouver. The slowdown that came with the pandemic has prompted a desire to find new, better ways of working and to not just come back to dance, but to come back better. Marissa Wong is one of those artists undergoing a shift. After six years as co-founder of TWObigsteps Collective, she has chosen to leave it behind and take over the response. from Amber Funk Barton—renaming it The Falling Company. For her, creating a more sustainable practice is at the front of her mind as she approaches this new creative venture.

MW: It was emotional to end that chapter in my life—TWObigsteps supported me in finding a foundation in Vancouver. But it’s a very organic process for the collective to be moving in a new direction because we are all entering our own paths. Once COVID happened, a couple of folks [in the collective] moved away, and we were trying to figure out what would happen next. That’s when Amber approached me, and I went through an interview process, trying to see where it was going to land for myself as well. The universe kind of moved in an organic way, and that felt great. So when it came time for the end of the performance with Katie [Cassady] and me, it did feel like a chapter ending, but there isn’t a goodbye because there still is the capacity to collaborate with all the people I’ve worked with so far.

MW: Just a change of direction, and I think all of us are moving with that direction. Rather than holding on to what that structure was, it felt really right to let that happen. And I think it will blossom into places we can find to work together again.

MW: For me, it’s an ever-changing process with who’s the right fit. And that’s one of the things I’m going to be doing with The Falling Company— bringing those people on that are the right fit, administratively, performancewise and also who align with its values. When I started out 5 or 6 years ago, I was saying yes to so many opportunities, and recently I’ve taken time off, and I’m focusing on making a more sustainable practice for myself, which includes finding the people that I’m going to work with. So project-toproject, it depends on who’s going to be best for the art, and for outreach, and that will include former TWObigsteps members but also future dancers and community members. I also have a lot of connections outside the dance community too and so merging those communities is important to me.

MW: Katie and I had this conversation actually in the Zoom talkback for Departure. We were reminiscing or thinking about what we had to do, and what we would say to a younger artist who is starting out. I learned boundaries, that was a huge thing for me. Not just within my personal life, but within the collective. Working within a collective structure, we talked about it frequently—what was working for us, and what format needed to have more structure around it. When I was running TWObigsteps, it was kind of like a dinner party that I was hosting all the time, and people could come and go. And maybe you didn’t always have to bring something to the meal, but you would clean up after the meal or participate somehow. Once I started saying no to opportunities that didn’t align with the values that I hold in my career and life, it opened up the space for me to delve more fully into the opportunities that really did speak to me. That’s something I’m really bringing into The Falling Company now—setting a clear list of what the company’s intention is, and then finding those opportunities that align with that. I can be doing as much or as little as I want within this career. Finding out what speaks to you keeps you motivated and passionate and excited about the work that you are doing.

MW: I am also learning from Amber who is staying on as artistic advisor for the next year. She’s going to help me through logistics, with little reminders saying this is the time we need to apply for insurance and things I hadn’t had to do when running the collective initially. It is about sustainable work. Maybe that’s kind of an umbrella term. For me, sustainable work means aligning with folks who share the same values. It means holding safe space within a physical dance room, having the ability to share dialogue and learn and grow, having the capacity to say no, and being cognizant about those whom I’m working with including myself—in what we need financially, but also what we need as a community to allocate space and time to do the projects we need to do without overextending.

MW: I think that it all coincides, making sure that there’s funding available so the dancers are being paid. When we started out as a collective all of us were donating time because partly that’s what we needed to do. We needed videos, we needed to have a resume to apply for programs. And so now that there is more of a financial structure that is coming from The Falling Company, I want to be able to use that to our advantage in creating a sustainable practice. I think it means being smart when I am applying for certain gigs, to know that I’m not going to hire people without finding ways of payment and ways for time as well. Because as you said, as a dance artist, you’re wearing multiple hats at the same time. When is it time to be the dancer, when is it time to be the admin person, and are those separate people? I also have those questions and want to learn that along the way too. I think that continuous learning and curiosity is an important value I will bring when I’m looking for people to collaborate with, at any stage of their career.

MW: That was a decision between Amber and me—allowing for the response. to exist during her time. It doesn’t mean we aren’t taking the same values and structures and programs that the response. did, but it was more so around this idea of keeping that as its own entity, keeping TWObigsteps as its own company and merging them in some way. It was her wish, her request to keep it that way.

MW: I think if Amber was a part of this conversation, she would say she doesn’t have to preserve her legacy. I think it’s also important to recognize the worth and value and time that she has given to the Vancouver dance community, and I think, honouring that as part of the response. is important to me moving forward. Recognizing that it is a rare opportunity that someone is handing over a company in this way, that foundation and learning needs to happen to stay in a continuous path of growth.

MW: I am inheriting a board (officially everything has changed over as of July 1), all the financials, all of the administrative work. I will say that it a substantial amount of work compared to what I was doing before! Part of that talk about sustainability is bringing on the people who can help do that, so I’m not just the only person doing all that work. A lot of it is taking the structure, and figuring out what works and what doesn’t work. I think it would work in different ways for different folks. Since Amber was doing a project-based company, it allows me to also work in a project-based way rather than inheriting dancers as well.

MW: In the first year, it’s going to be a transition year. There will be some programs that will unfold in terms of outreach and public offerings. For seasonal work, that will be something that happens after this year, but right now I have a few opportunities to start with. I’ll be creating a new work for EDAM’s Fall Choreographic Series so that’s the most immediate thing. Then there are some opportunities for the spring already as well.

MW: It was that quote alongside this cosmic moment where I was naming everything [to come up with a company name]. I named everything in my house—my poor Basset Hound has been 20 different versions of a dance company! At one point my partner and I said maybe we’ll just name it “gluten free toast with vegan butter dance company”.

It wasn’t until I just allowed it to happen, after two months of trying to find a name that spoke to me and spoke to what I was working on. One evening I opened up a meditation book—and I had been thinking about this idea of surrendering or falling for a really long time (actually since I was at Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet) and about changing structures—and I opened up to a page, and it said, “The Fall”.

In meditation, there is this idea of submitting. This idea of allowing the body to naturally fall, to allow ourselves to trust the weight or the power we have within ourselves to create space for something to emerge. For myself, who has been in the structure of rigid ballet in a systemic institution for a while, breaking out of that in my solo and finding a way to use these tools, these gifts that I have in an organic fashion rather than controlling them was really important. Bringing that into the structure of the company feels really strong, right and cosmic. It also feels like there’s a lot of potential for growth and learning within the values that I hold as well as the falling of larger structures (eventually), and for changing what that might look like in dance, which can possibly create a longevity of practice for dancers and artists.

MW: Yes, I had a lot of unlearning to do, and I still do. When we talk about this past year and the social issues, it’s an opportunity for me to ask how I can learn, grow and incorporate that better into my practice for when I teach or create work for other people. It can become this pebble effect, when I’m trying to consciously do this work hopefully that will impact all the other people that are impacted by The Falling Company.

MW: Oh my gosh (laughs). I think it’s saying yes to the things that feel aligned for me, and what feels right at that moment in time. Doing the solo for instance, I didn’t really intend to do a solo and I don’t normally choreograph on myself but at that time it felt necessary to use my own body. Over the last year, I’ve been working with Alvin Tolentino and Co.ERASGA, and Alvin provides such a safe space for me to be me, and just be a dancer. It’s about aligning myself with those opportunities when they arise. It might sound a little esoteric, but sometimes I think my body knows and my intuition knows before I do what’s going to work for me.

MW: Yes! Saying “this is where I am now”. And I will say that several of the opportunities I’ve had in Vancouver, including performing, choreographing and teaching, I didn’t plan for. I am a Capricorn—I plan everything! So, it is a huge lesson to say this is where I am now, and that’s led me to opportunities outside of dance, too. At this moment in time, I am saying I am going to be artistic director of this company, and we’ll see where that goes! There is a lot of trust that I am having, in my intuition, in the universe, in whatever you call it, and that feels good.

Marissa Wong is currently the Artistic Director for the response., renamed The Falling Company. She was previously a member of TWObigsteps Collective, which she founded in 2015. Her choreography has been presented internationally including TEDxSoma (San Francisco, CA) and Dance In Vancouver. In addition to performance, Marissa engages in the community through workshop facilitation, project managing, stage managing and teaching.