Dance Central January/February 2013

January/February 2013

Dance Central A Dance Centre Publication

I am a Magpie A conversation with Joe Laughlin

Choreographer Joe Laughlin is preparing for a 25 year retrospective of his work in February of this year. The event will feature a remounting of three of his short pieces as well as the premiere of a new work commissioned by Dance Victoria to be created on Ballet Victoria dancers. Joe and I met for a conversation at Scotiabank Dance Centre in December.

AK: Last year, Dance Central focused on the idea of legacies in dance, and

Content

I spoke with a number of artists who have reached points in their career that they often described in terms of being 'on the cusp'; usually a time that involves both an ending and a beginning. I am interested in your choice to put it in terms of a retrospective, a term more common in visual art than in performance. What moved you to frame it this way, and what does it mean to you? Â

I am a Magpie: A conversation with Joe Laughlin.

Page 1

JL: I was reading a book by Twyla Tharp titled The Creative Habit, which included a quote about institutional memory. It is a book about the creative process, not just about dance, and it talked about how looking back can be a way to mine ideas. We tend to think that you have to be looking forward to be on the cutting edge, but there is something valuable in looking back,

Triptych: A research process for three dancers and an audience.

Page 5

as a way of going forward. I have had a fairly eclectic practice; more so than a lot of dance choreographers perhaps, and because of those experiences I have spent a fair amount of time outside of my own milieu. As you say, it may be unusual for a choreographer in dance to look back using the form of a retrospective, but I don't think I am a usual choreographer, and when I look back at my body of work, I realize that it encompasses quite a wide

Thinking Bodies: a conversation with Daelik.

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range of experience. I also made a huge media transfer of my work into mp4 from Beta, from VHS, from Hi8 and so on, and that put me in a state of memory. My original intention was to make a new work, but as I was reading Twyla's book I thought "I have already made eleven shows and countless other pieces; I

Dance Calendar January/February 2013 Page 16

would like to revisit and bring back some work that I really loved."

I also find that the aging process has made me think about my past, and my health. I have been looking to rearrange my life and my company in the past four years. I had to find sustainability and I wanted that in my artistic practice as well where I seemed to be putting a lot of energy into creating continued on page 3

Welcome to the January/February 2013 issue of Dance Central.

Next:

Dance Central

March/AprilFebruary 2013

Welcome to the January/February issue of Dance Central, and a happy new year to all the dance and arts community.

The issue focuses on three kinds of conversation: A conversation about the past, inspired by Joe Laughlin's Retrospective project, which takes us back into a body of work that spans twenty-five years and across a range of dance works that range from ballet, to solo dance, to working collaboratively in a new media environment.

Another section of Dance Central features a conversa-

Contemporary Ideas in Non-Western Dance a conversation with Jai Govinda

tion with the present—in the form of research that responds to place. Based on reflections by the participants about the final phase of the Triptych project we try to create a snapshot of an ongoing practice.

The performer portrait of the Thinking Body series features a conversation with Daelik of MACHiNENOiSY, and

CO:LAB An Experiment in Collaboration

his reflections on where his practice began and where it may take him in the future as a dance artist.

Again, while this issue is devoted to conversations, we encourage you to submit writing, and ideas for new projects any time, to continue to make Dance Central a

Thinking Bodies: Amber Funk Barton

more vital link to the community. The deadline for submissions is the first day of the month prior to publication.

Please send material by mail to members@thedancecentre.ca. or call us at 604.606.6416. We look forward to the conversation!

Designing Dance: Costumes

Andreas Kahre, Editor

and more...

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Dance Central Januar y/Februar y 2013

I am a Magpie

continued from cover

an administrative infrastructure. The funders require this, of course, but I felt that it was getting too much emphasis. I also

A conversation with Joe Laughlin

wanted to have a period where I could be creative and make dances, and not think about how to tour them, market them, and make them live. Now I think: "Hmm, how do you get back

AK: You were a gymnast before you became a dancer. How did

into the touring market?..."

that transition take place, and was it a complete break, or did the one get added to the other?

AK: Assuming that there is still such a thing?

JL: I had been a competitive tumbler and at twenty-one I had to JL: That's a good question. We were having a community

have ligament surgery for an ankle injury. My coach, Boris Verk-

meeting with the Canada Council, where they were telling us

hovsky immediately started me working on my foot again, and

that they are cutting some money from the Creation/Produc-

the choreographer at the gym suggested I take dance classes

tion Program and putting it into international touring, and

to rehabilitate my ankle. I limped into his class and could do a

someone raised the question if there really is an international

cartwheel after it just by doing the pliés and the tendues; it really

marketplace any longer. We weren't sure.

stretched out my ankle and I really liked moving like that and one day I said "I am going to be a dancer." I was fortunate that I

AK: Do you still perform?

had people who didn't discourage my gymnastics past, like my ballet teacher Earl Kraul, who understood that I came with some

JL: The last time was in 2010, when we were starting the work

techniques and principles that served me in dancing. Some of

on a full-length piece called Dusk, and we were doing Move-

those I never changed— like how I jumped. I didn't throw away

It!, our community program with Joe Ink. Two or three weeks

the techniques.

before we showed the first incarnation of the piece, I realized I wanted to be inside it, and went on stage, but that was the

AK: Do you look for a gymnast's ability in the people who you

last time. I have performed a lot, but I don't miss it. I remem-

work with now?

ber having a conversation with Lola MacLaughlin, while she was in hospital; she told me that she always wanted to be a

JL: Not really, but I am able to see still what can be achieved

choreographer and so she had to learn to dance, and I told

incrementally; it's an athletic principle to develop skill over time.

her that I had wanted to be a dancer, and that being a choreographer grew out of that.

AK: Are there any other ex-gymnasts among choreographers?

AK: What brought about your transition from being a

JL: Ginette Laurin of O Vertigo is an ex-gymnast, and way back,

performer/choreographer to staying outside the work?

when I was young and in Judith Marcuse's company, she came to work with us and she used my gymnastics in a way that wasn't

JL: It happened after my heart attack, and after other parts

sensational but that served her piece. This was very good for me:

of my body such as my knees had had enough. I was really

Here was an eminent choreographer whose work I loved and

looking for sustainability in my health and artistic life. The

respected, and she embraced that aspect of me.

last full work I performed was a show called Grace, a new media duet with Jamie Griffiths. I was forty-five, and for most

AK: You have also been involved in cross-cultural collaborations

of my career I had been in my own work. My gymnastics

and in theatre.

background lived very vividly in my work, and a lot of it was intensely physical. For example, for Retrospective we are

JL: Yes. One year I was working in Banff on a ballet for the Clif-

remounting a piece with four women on a couch, and there

ford E. Lee Award and training and staging the actors in James

are a lot of comments about "Oh, that's really hard, that's fast, that's dangerous..."

continued on page 11

Dance Central Januar y/Februar y 2013

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Dance Central The Dance Centre Scotiabank Dance Centre Level 6, 677 Davie Street Vancouver BC V6B 2G6 T 604.606.6400 F 604.606.6401 info@thedancecentre.ca www.thedancecentre.ca Dance Central is published every two months by The Dance Centre for its members and for the dance community. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent Dance Central or The Dance Centre. The editor reserves the right to edit for clarity or length, or to meet house requirements.

From the Executive Director With the start of the New Year – when we once again wish you all inspirational and prosperous times ahead – we look forward to the unfolding of an exciting time in Vancouver dance.

With the PuSh Festival just beginning, we are excited at the

Editor Andreas Kahre Copy Editor Hilary Maxwell

ongoing possibilities that this partnership holds for us here at

Contributors to this issue: Joe Laughlin, Daelik Hackenbrook, Mirna Zagar Ziyian Kwan, Peter Trotzmer, Marco D'Agostin, Ginelle Chagnon

three shows, each of which represents very different artists and

Dance Centre Board Members Chair Andrea Wink Vice Chair Janice Wells Treasurer Roman Goldmann

interest for each and every one.

Directors Serge Bennathan Barbara Bourget Alison Denham Margaret Grenier Stephanie Hungerford Anndraya T. Luui Simone Orlando Gavin Ryan Jordan Thomson Ingrid M. Tsui

the Vancouver International Dance Festival which enables

Dance Foundation Board Members Chair Michael Welters Secretary Anndraya T. Luui Treasurer Jennifer Chung Directors Santa Aloi, Linda Blankstein, Grant Strate Dance Centre Staff: Executive Director Mirna Zagar Programming Coordinator Raquel Alvaro Marketing Manager Heather Bray Services Administrator Anne Daroussin Development Director Sheri Urquhart Technical Director Cass Turner Accountant Lil Forcade Member Services Coordinator Hilary Maxwell

The Dance Centre is BC's primary resource centre for the dance profession and the public. The activities of The Dance Centre are made possible by numerous individuals. Many thanks to our members, volunteers, community peers, board of directors and the public for your ongoing commitment to dance in BC. Your suggestions and feedback are always welcome.

The operations of The Dance Centre are supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council, and the City of Vancouver through the Office of Cultural Affairs.

The Dance Centre as well as for the broader community. With points of view, I am confident that there will be something of

For this year, we also look forward to our partnership with us to continue to contextualize and support the works of artists inspired by diverse cultures and working in non-Western contemporary dance idioms. We look forward to the opportunity to embrace and enter into dialogue and with different artistic practices, and into engagement with the communities that support them.

March will also be the time to celebrate one of our own – 25 years of Joe Laughlin’s work! Join us for Retrospective!

For the majority of year, and culminating in November 2013, we will be focusing on Dance In Vancouver, partnering once again with Made in BC, as we invite presenters from several regional and national networks across Canada to engage in the Vancouver edition of the Parcours, and build on the recent accomplishments of one of the largest meetings of the kind which wrapped up Montreal in early December. With Jeanne Holmes, appointed recently as the curator for the 2013 edition, Dance In Vancouver promises to offer an exciting new perspective on dance here in Western Canada.

Partnerships and community engagement continues to be the focus of our development, with the goal of strengthening the visibility of our multitalented community, locally, nationally and internationally. We look forward to the journey ahead and to our continued collaboration with our existing and new partners. We invite you to join and engage!

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Mirna Zagar, Executive Director

Utopia and Catastrophe Performing Research: Excerpts from the Final Phase of the Triptych International Choreographic Project

by Andreas Kahre  Triptych is an international choreographic project hosted by the Opera Estate Festival Veneto, Italy; Circuit-Est Centre Chorégraphique, Montreal; and The Dance Centre, Vancouver. Three choreographers from each city, together with dramaturg Ginelle Chagnon, come together in each of the host locations to undertake choreographic research: Marco D'Agostin (Italy), Peter Trotzmer (Montreal), and Ziyian Kwan (Vancouver).

November 19, 2012 This is the third and final stage of the process, and marks the end of the project—not in the sense that a final work emerges, but that it constitutes a final opportunity to reflect on the

individual and collective research, on the relationships that have developed and informed the process, and to explore the process in a different architectural and geographic frame.

Visiting the studio during the first week, it soon becomes apparent that the location has a profound impact on the process. Marco D'Agostin repeatedly remarks on the ‘aseptic’ quality of the studio space; on its stark ‘fishbowl’ architecture that bears no trace of what has come before and will take no imprint from the work taking place now.

This clearly contrasts the setting in Bassano, for example, where the physical frame imposed and reflected its own cumulative history. continued on page 13

It also becomes clear that the process itself is still very much a matter of negotiation and discovery, and for an afternoon, the question of the relationship between the choreographers’ individual research and their shared frame for exploring movement in this space dominates the discussion.

Language is very much a part of the negotiation, framing and preceding, defining and excluding the movement. It is apparent how delicate the balance of their experiences, and how they express them, remains, and that the transition from working mostly individually, as they did during the first two stages of the process, to working collaboratively, or collectively, is in itself a delicate negotiation.

‘Dramaturg' (she expresses discomfort with the term) Ginelle Chagnon reflects on the differences between the various stages of the project, and points out how the process has shifted from an emphasis on individual explorations that were assisted by the group, during the initial

Photo by Ginelle Chagnon

Dance Central Januar y/Februar y 2013

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It is not about lines in space, it is about energy

6 Dance Central Januar y/Februar y 2013

THINKING BODIES | Portraits A conversation with Daelik AK: As with most of the performing arts, where the lines be-

AK: Is MACHiNENOiSY the central repository of your work

tween performer and creator, author and interpreter, recipient

now, or is it one among a number of projects?

and participant continue to blur, dance seems to be in a process of re-organization. The tasks and the skills remain specific, but

D: Both. When I started it, I was living in Berlin and I thought

they inform one another in different ways. You describe yourself

"I should find someone in Vancouver who could be the lynch-

as a dancer/composer. How did the journey begin for you and

pin there", and since Delia and I had been working together

MACHiNENOiSY?

for years, and were interested in similiar work, we decided to do it together. Originally, we had intended to make a bunch of

D: I think it is always interesting to see what happens with peo-

duets for ourselves, in order to 'identify' who MACHiNENOiSY

ple who have been dancers for a long time and start to choreo-

was, and then we began talking about creating individual

graph. There is often an assumption that the first pieces are going

projects. I knew I wanted to make work that was specifi-

to be really naive, but in fact, something about having performed

cally mine, so the company became an umbrella for both our

in a lot of work gives you a lot of information as a creator, be-

works. We trade off production management and working as

cause you see how other people create. For example, Delia Brett

outside eyes for one another, and I am good at budgets.

and I are often asked to troubleshoot: If the choreographer has a problem with a part and needs someone to figure that out from

AK: Is there a stated aesthetic vision for MACHiNENOiSY?

the inside, you have to work out how to make something work from the inside for the choreographer, or for the moment.

D: I don't think there is a specific one, but we enjoy creating

And being a choreographer who comes from being a performer

collaborative work with artists from other disciplines. We

is a viable skill. I think people who don't perform but went

both have the sense that dance is a visual art as much as it

straight into choreography are missing a step in understanding

is a physical, time–based art, so for us visual aesthetics are

the role of the performer, and make assumptions about how you

often a more succinct way to approach the kind of dance we

perform. Quite often, I am not given any directions about per-

want to make. We take whatever discipline is the most ap-

forming, and have to discover my own performance—sometimes

propriate to create the dance. We want to push dance away

not until I am actually performing it. Peter Bingham, for example,

from just being a physical art and make it more integrated.

never really gives you any theatrical or performance intentions; it is always physical, but somehow there is an intrinsic humanity

AK: What happened with you in Berlin?

built into the work that you can tap into as a performer.

D: I spent two years there. I was partnered with someone AK: Did you start out as a dancer?

who lived in Berlin, and I got a lot of my connections through him. I taught some contact dance and presented some of my

My first interest was writing. I went to university to get an English

own work. I also worked on an opera, on a fashion show, and

degree to become a writer. Half-way into it I discovered

later with a company called Rubato that was based in Butoh

theatre, quit my program and started acting, doing a lot of physi-

and Contact Dance, who became like family. For a while, I

cal theatre and Grotowski-based work with a company in To-

also taught at Die Etage, a theatre/dance/circus arts school.

ronto. I never trained formally, but we created a lot of collabora-

But in the end I was living on two Euros a day, and then I got

tive, original work in a company with six or seven people. When

a call from Paras Terezakis who asked me to work on the

I moved here in 1990, I became a dancer, through EDAM, and I

remount of a show I had done for him before, so I returned

became interested in improvising. Peter Bingham was teaching

to Vancouver. For several years I went back regularly to work

improvisation and contact improvisation. I began to show work

in Berlin for a few months each year, and then gradually the

at EDAM's Forced Issues performance series, and since I had

work with MACHiNENOiSY kept me here.

come here with no identity, people accepted me as a dancer.

Dance Central Januar y/Februar y 2013

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AK: How did you experience the difference between working

D: EDAM did as well, when I arrived in the city. They had

in the two places?

strong male dancers: Pipo Damaino, Mark Laval, Scot...

D: I think that I was considered a real 'dancy' choreographer in

AK: ...all of whom have left dance since. Do you have a

Berlin, whereas here I was considered more theatrical or the-

sense of being in a career, with a start and an end point?

atre-based, and that was an interesting position to be in, since I have multiple interests as a dance choreographer; sometimes

D: I don't think I do. I feel like I can perform until the end. If

I like to dance and sometimes not, depending on what makes

I can't dance, I will perform in some other capacity. I also

sense for the idea I want to create. I feel that coming back was

feel that in my early dancing days, there was a certain de-

the best decision for my career, which has really been estab-

sire for virtuosity, which exists in all dancers, and as we age

lished in Vancouver; I don't know what would have happened

and are less able to be physically virtuosic, I think there

if I had stayed in Berlin. What I understand now is that most

is something about the performance itself that becomes

people cannot work full-time, but I miss being challenged and

more virtuosic. That is where I go.

surprised by what I was seeing there.

Last fall, I did a solo show. It was the first time in eight AK: What is it like, now, to be a male dancer, and not a youth.

years, having come through a serious illness after tearing my meniscus twice in my knee and having danced for a

D: I have to say that I am not dancing for people so much any-

year in total fear. I finally had it operated on and was re-

more; the last dance job I took was with Claire French, and that

covering, and at the same time turned 47. I suddenly real-

was quite a strange experience because the entire cast except

ized that it was a turning point in my life, as a person and as

for me had a significant classical dance aesthetic. I remember

a performer. Instead of what I had been interested in in the

in the early days people were saying "Oh, you'll get lots of work

past — trying to impress people with dance­­— I was more

being a man" which made me think "I don't want to be hired just

interested in communicating now.

because I am a man", and I feel like I had a really great break when I was hired by EDAM right out of dance school, because

I decided to make a piece about my life, based on stories I

that really showcased me as a performer and allowed other

wrote about growing up in a small town, and I recounted

choreographers to envision how they could work with me. I

that to a composer in Berlin who created a whole sound-

was lucky in that I was mostly offered work that was interesting,

scape based on them. Visually, I wanted to reference all the

challenging and fun, which is important. We can be political,

science fiction I had been watching as a kid: I had looked

but it has to be fun as well.

at the future as something positive that I wanted to go into, and when we reached those points in time that the shows

Personally, I love working with men, and I have done several

had conveyed, none of it was what we expected. Being a

projects with an all-male cast. It is a very different energy,

shy kid, I also had never expected to be a performer, so

beyond thematic differences. There are way more men dancing

making a major transition was poetic for me. It is not about

now than when I started, and there are more who are dancing

leaving but about transforming dance.

in ways I find exciting and wish had happened before, like The 605 Collective: They are incredible and unafraid of being physi-

AK: Has contemporary dance changed around you?

cal. It is not about lines in space, but about energy. I feel there is a definitely a trajectory that moves away from trying to impress

D: I haven't done a contemporary dance class in some-

people with physical tricks and more about conveying more

thing like ten years, so I am not sure, but I go almost every

information through the body.

day to EDAM, where I am engaged but not expected to be anything, and where I get a very comprehensive warm up.

AK: I am trying to think back on who was working in the

In the past I used to do two hours in the gym, and dance

90s in an identifiably 'male' way, and what comes to mind is

class and then five hours rehearsal every day and so on.

Dancecorps, as a company that to some extent made maleness

Now it is a different schedule: cardio workout, administra-

both a significant part of the program and the vehicle.

tive work, reading, investigative research.

Dance Central Januar y/Februar y 2013

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"It's about transforming dance..."

AK: As a dance artist, and an administrator, do you think of your-

that combines free and guided improvisation, through-

self as or as part of an 'industry', as some now call it?

composed sections, and signals that create repeatable structures. Is it similiar for you?

D: For me, it is a job. A good artist is a good worker, and for me, it's my job. I get up, I do class, I rehearse, I teach. I look for sup-

D: Yes, I love to improvise, but within a structure. Delia

port, The 'industry' is more of a commercial element. Delia and

and I come from contact improvisation, but when we do

I are still a project-based company, and we spend a lot of time

partner work, it is usually set, because it is really hard to

looking for ways to produce work, so there is an emphasis on

improvise partnering. That is not to say we don't work

finding alternate funding sources. It is a big part of our work,

with improvisation as the source, and have some very

searching for partners, for residencies and so on.

tightly structured sections, where we know length and quality of movement.

AK: Are you mostly in Vancouver these days?

AK: Do you experience audiences here engaging with D: Mostly, yes. I try to develop relationships with European part-

you, and do they talk back?

ners, so this summer I brought a performer from Greece here, and we are taking the work to Greece—which is a tough place,

D: I think in general people are worried about appear-

but we will hopefully go in May or June— and I am working with

ing ignorant, and so they won't necessarily ask ques-

a choreographer from Montpellier. In some ways, we want to get

tions, but a lot of people will hang around to listen to the

out of Vancouver, but we also want to bring people here. This is a

discussions because they are interested. There is a gap

really great community of dancers and artists, but we have been

between why we make the art and what they see, and

isolated for such a long time, and the more we can to bring other

while they are curious and might enjoy, they don't know

people here, the better.

how the process works. My interest is in removing the mystery. The intension of art is not entertainment, but to

AK: Do you work thematically or strictly from the body?

bring people together and to provoke them to think and to create a shared experience even if it isn't a single point

D: I usually have a theme of some kind, and then like to do a lot

of view. I am not interested in making it easy for people.

of research around . A lot of the process is physical, and feeling

I like people to be affected. The worst thing is if people

inspired to move, so intrinsically I am making material that my

don't remember what they saw.

subconscious has processed.

AK: Do you have a sense that there is a public larger AK: You are an improvisor. How interesting is it to you to work in

than the 'dance community'. Are there faces you see out

set forms?

there that you don't know?

D: I don't mind either. Delia loves to be rehearsed, while I like be-

D: When working with artists from different disciplines

ing under-rehearsed, because I like the kind of alertness my body

I see people I don't recognize. And I have to say, unfor-

has when it doesn't know if it is going to remember things, so we

tunately it is often the non-Vancouver performances

often have to negotiate...

where I see people I don't recognize. The emphasis on presenting dance to a larger audience is on work from

AK: In some improvisatioanl practices, especially in contempo-

outside Vancouver. Take the PuSh Festival: Norman Ar-

rary music, it has become more common to work in a framework

mour has said outright that he doesn't believe Vancouver

Dance Central Januar y/Februar y 2013

9

continued from page 9

people want to see Vancouver dance. I think that is a shame,

think that is what we all try to do — we try to build an identity

because his festival could be a vehicle to actually expand

so that we get seen locally, and if we are smart and capable,

the consciousness of Vancouver dance. More people who

we get seen elsewhere.

are interested in PuSh as something that presents alternative or exciting work could see Vancouver dance companies

AK: For some people, art seems to be defined and valorized

that they did not know about. I don't necessarily like all the

through the rhetoric of Canadian national identity, while oth-

aesthetics of dance in Vancouver, but I appreciate them, and

ers speak of it using mercantile terms. For example, the PuSh

I appreciate the great diversity of dance that is going on here.

Festival, in an invitation to companies to the Assembly pitch sessions to presenters, recently invited artists to present their

AK: Do you have much contact with the dance community in

creations as 'export-ready' work. Are you export-ready?

Montreal or Toronto?

D: It annoys me that they are making the artist pay to be seen D: Not much with Toronto, which seems more conserva-

by presenters; I think you are already at a disadvantage, and

tive, but more with Montreal, although I am not sure what

here you are being asked to pay somebody so you can meet

is happening in the middle ground between the significant,

a presenter and say: 'please take my work'. My opinion is that

established companies and the exciting young ones.

too much money is in the hands of the presenters. I wish the Canada Council would just take all the money away from the

AK: Why don't you get more of a chance to see any of it?

them and give it the artists and say "present yourselves".

D: The board of the Canada Dance Festival did a tour across

AK: Joe Laughlin just said something very similiar to me. Has

the country recently, to discuss its new directions, now that

the power shifted that far to the presenting side?

Brian Webb has retired. It was mostly managers at the discussion, and I brought up the fact that in twenty-two years

D: When you apply for funding to the Council now, they want

as a dancer, I have gone to the festival once—when I was in

to know if you have a presenter, and there are only so many,

it— mostly because I can't fly myself to Ottawa, put myself

who will only present so much dance, and so we are fighting

up in a hotel and pay for the tickets. So there is something

with our colleagues to take the last spot that is left in the sea-

about the festival's role of representing the country that is

son, instead of saying: "give me money to rent the theatre and

not working as well as it could. I also said that, as a choreog-

I will present myself", which I think would be a much more

rapher, I didn't know how I would ever get presented there:

successful endeavour.

The network can't come and see every show in every city, and the presenters in Vancouver don't come and see a lot of

AK: MACHiNENOiSY has been showing mostly at Scotiabank

work. That, to me, is the problem and I suggested they could

Dance Centre. Are other venues difficult to find?

select some other people who could curate more independent work, because that seems to be where the lack is.

D: We have had a really great relationship with them, I have to say. They have come through for us in many ways: Both

AK: Does the idea of a national scene and representation as a

Delia and I had production residencies, and when our last

'regional' artist mean a lot in your work?

show in the summer at The Cultch fell through, Mirna helped us present ourselves there. There are not a lot of theatres

D: It never has; it seems to be a political thing, and there is

that are the appropriate size for dance to begin with. For our

always a competition for funding and resources. I have at-

next show, for example, we are working with a trapeze artist,

tempted to approach the festival at various times, but their

so we need more height than most have. The venue issue

lack of interest made me stop. Delia and I quite often have

is forcing some people to redefine how they present dance.

the conversation that maybe our audience is a European

That is exciting in itself.

rather than a local or a Canadian one. Having said that, I think we have a great audience in Vancouver, a following, and I

Dance Central Januar y/Februar y 2013

10

AK: Thank you!

continued from page 3

I am a Magpie

Reaney's play, Sticks and Stones, which he had written after seeing the Barnum and Baileys Circus. When Reaney came to Banff, he asked why no one ever made dance pieces

A conversation with Joe Laughlin

out of his plays, and some of the writers suggested that I should try it. I respected Reaney's work very much, and got a

organizing a retrospective show, and because this has been

play of his called Traps. I thought we could make a collabora-

a year of reflection, but I have mostly just followed what I

tive piece for young audiences, based on an adaptation of this

wanted to do, and then put it into an organizational frame that

work, which dealt with behaviour modification.

supported it. I like to go into the studio and discover the seed of the work, and to relate to the bodies in the room. Karen

At the same time, Marjorie MacLean, who was the director

Jamieson once told me that the role of the choreographer is

of the Vancouver Childrens' Festival had got in touch with Bar-

to make room for the dance to manifest itself in the space,

bara Clausen, my manager at the time. I thought Marjorie was

and I think about that a lot. There is a practical side to me, but

interested in my project with James Reaney but instead she

I have always just made what came out of me. For example,

said, "watch this video of this South African dance company.

when I was younger I made site-specific works, or pieces that

I think there is an affinity between you. I think you should go

involved things like scaffolding that was almost impossible to

there, meet them and work on a collaboration." And I did!

tour.

I went to Johannesburg and ended up working with Moving Into Dance Mophatong over a 5 year period. I created a

AK: Is grant writing a tool that helps clarify your vision?

culturally specific work with the dancers for young audiences, which dealt with racism and their Edudance program inspired

JL: I go into it with an idea for the whole thing. Sustainability

me to create Move it!. It was a transformative experience.

and money are the two words I am building my plans around, and in developing it, I have come to realize that some proj-

AK: Do you find that the young dancers you work with now

ects have started already, some have had research, and I am

are differnt than at the beginning of your carreer?

moving closer to these ideas. At the same time, dance has changed a lot. Presenters and administrators and manage-

JL: They are different; they are more aware of themselves,

ment are now very present in it, and there is an emphasis on

they are more collaborative and versatile, and the choreogra-

supporting what the presenters think that they can sell. That is

phers engage them more in their processes. And they are also

completely at odds with the life of the artist.

the same. Dancers are amazing people and they inspire me.

Dance is a hard form to be in, often with few and certainly no

Grant writing is an art form in itself. It is challenging to have

financial rewards. Especially independent dancers have to be

to justify yourself in writing for something that is not writing

travelling all over the place to work and they may not get a

based. People are afraid to address their weaknesses hon-

class every day. Company dancers at least get to stay in one

estly, because they fear that everybody is going to jump on

place and may get better taken care of, but even the dancers

them. Being self reflective is becoming more difficult, espe-

I am working with now will say "I have got to go to Coquitlam

cially for younger artists. I've heard some say "If my next piece

to rehearse, and then I am going to bar-tend tonight..." Danc-

isn't good it's going to be over for me". But new funding is

ers are fiercely hard-working and intelligent people, and there

hard to find, and the younger artists are more at the mercy of

is a similarity in the soul that is the same as ever.

the presenters, who have their own agenda as to what work they'll bring and who their audience is. There is no room for

AK: Listening to you describe your work, it sounds like you

failure anymore. I think there is a disconnect in the dance

follow a systematic approach. Do you set out with a 'strategic

ecology, the last 15 years has focused on building structures,

vision', or do you discover the next step along the way?

meaning more administration who have become the arbiters of taste, the 'pruners', it's becoming more selective about who

JL: Perhaps I sound systematic at the moment, because I am

should or shouldn't exist. The form has grown but there still

currently writing a multi-year grant application, and I am

needs to be room for lots of artists and a range of work.

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I am a Magpie A conversation with Joe Laughlin

AK: Are you reconstructing the Retrospective dances from video, or are you 're-inventing' them?

JL: Both. We have learned from the video and I have made some changes and added some new work. Some are solid pieces and with some the narrative could be clarified, so I am going to work on that. The show covers about fifteen years worth of work that reflects some of my interests, and fundamental ways I have worked with movement, music, with narrative — which I find challenging, and I am benefitting from re-visiting this work.

AK: There are a number of older choreographers in Vancouver who have gone back to exploring the solo form, like Barbara Bourget and Karen Jamieson. Would you work solo again?

JL: I have a little project that I call my 'Autobiodance' piece, which I developed in Victoria in February for presenters. I was asked to create a pitch, and so I staged it by putting the differ-

AK: What would you like to do next?

I am interested in working with older bodies, and with how older bodies reflect their histories, and how those bodies now process and live that physicality. I want to work with two women in their late fifties. I know their whole performance careers, and when I see them I can see them dancing in different times in their lives, and I was inspired by being with them, and I don't quite know what it will look like until we get together and reengage. I am also very interested in the emotional life of the body, not just the physical ability. Now I find that stillness and space and breath are the things that interest me. I need a range, and there will be more physical work, but there is a lot about quiet and memory that inspires me.

AK: Thank you!

ent elements of my history into it with my performance self. I would like to revisit it. But I never saw myself as a solo performer, although there is something innately powerful about that direct expression. I remember seeing Karen Jamieson's Dogfish Woman in 2003 at the Vancouver Public Library, and it really inspired me. So when Jamie Griffiths approached me to work with the Isadora software, I went there thinking that I would make a solo in a new media environment, but we decided very quickly that Jamie had to be in the show, that she could not just be there, programming off to one side.

That was a whole other issue: putting someone into the piece who had never performed and moved before, but it did become a duet, and we made the show collaboratively, through talking and story-boarding, more like you would in film than in dance. We went on to create a lot of incarnations of the piece Grace, in a long process, from 2003 until the end of 2006. We had a 7 minute, a 12 minute, a 30 minute, and final version, and we kept adding things all the time. We worked like dogs. There was lots of equipment. We moved everything, set it up, tore it down, and we toured a lot. It was hard work but it was a great time, and we had a great time. Of course the technology took precedence because when it didn't work, it just didn't work, but I was experienced and so I could roll with the punches.

Retrospective February 6,7, 2013 at 7:30 P.M. MacPherson Playhouse Presented by Dance Victoria March 6, 7, 8 + 9, 2013 at 8:00 P.M. Presented by Joe Ink and The Dance Centre in association with the Vancouver International Dance Festival Scotiabank Dance Centre 677 Davie Street, Vancouver Dance Central September 2004

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continued from page 5

work in Bassano, to individual explorations assisted through individual relationships during the second phase, to an exploration of a collaborative choreographic process.

Chagnon describes her experience as outside eye, and as a witness to the negotiation of the choreographers individual experience, as they continue to search for a ground that includes aspects of their individual research. Together, the group explores the question of what is brought into the room from research outside of the project, and how they can create a framework for collaborative choreography that balances what each brings from their own practice to this space, at this time.

“It’s not about improvising together” Marco D’Agostin

Utopia and Catastrophe Performing Research: Excerpts from the Final Phase of the Triptych International Choreographic Project

"Triptych ignited my curiosity and reminded me that risk is worthwhile, even if the results are banal and especially if what follows is uncertainty. As I travel alone into the studio now and in the months ahead, I am accompanied by the research, confusion, and epiphany that began just by virtue of being in the room with Ginelle, Marco and Peter. These are artists whose ideas I find challenging, people whose honesty I find deeply moving."

Ziyian Kwan

Considering that this is the last leg of a long journey, it is surprising to see how fundamental the questions being asked are — in other words, I realize that I had arrived with the tacit assumption that I would be witnessing a process that had developed a shared ‘project culture’. What I discover instead is very much a process of questioning, and of true research.

What is the proposition? The question re-apppears several times as the group reflects on the result of the physical exploration, and curiously, their individual abilities don’t seem to make it easier to negotiate a shared response. As dramaturgGinelle Chagnon points out, all three are exceptional performers, and could create something interesting to watch, no matter whether they agree or not. But what is the conceptual and the physical frame of the experiment?

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They talk of glass, of transparency and opacity, and for two days I witness negotiations that relate to a space of readiness, of waiting for something to arise, and for the conditions under which it can be explored or expressed. Can one begin a sentence without knowing how it will end?

There appears to be both a shared and a separate search for connections, for sources and for the impulse to move together. Time becomes a central aspect of how they negotiate their presence in the physical space and their movement source material, and all three attempt to articulate the premises that they operate from.

As they describe their experience of the tension between their individual experiences and how they want these to inform the shared choreographic space, their interpretations of one another's statements create oblique and sometimes circular arguments. For a while I sense a language impasse.

The studio space becomes part of a discussion that ranges from the history of Vancouver’s location at the edge of three tectonic plates to the history of its dance community. The fact that the building was constructed to serve a dual role as a disaster response centre in the event of a catastrophic earthquake becomes a point of departure to reinterpret its role. It is the future of the

Peter: “I like to wait. I like to tinker.

Sometimes you just hang out so that when the thing comes, you can pounce on it. Is there a kettle here?

Did you handwash all your clothes?

I thought that maybe I could just go to the mountains and do the work that is there. I went to the river again.

I don't know. Maybe. I wish we always had this kind of rapport."

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Marco: "There is what we have and then there is what we want. I always start with an idea.

Then I had a crisis: I was empty. For me this is the first time. OH DIO! Next time you are crying, go to the mirror and look at yourself.

I always do this. An artist must… go back to loneliness. An artist must.”

Andreas Kahre

space that informs the research for the next few days, leading to a collective movement exploration based on a theme: Dance after the Apocalypse.

It is not an improvisation, although the frame remains an open, but a deliberate framing of the movement. Physically, a set of ideas centered on circular and spiraling motion grounds the exploration, and over the course of more than twenty minutes develops into an almost hypnotic motif. The formal restrictions are challenged at several points, especially in the individual explorations — framed in the narrative as ‘rescue missions’— but the narrative sustains the ‘apocalyptic’ quality to the space and the movement.

Two days later, the exploration has moved in to the Faris performance space, and it has become a duet: Ziyian decides to continue with her individual research, while Peter and Marco explore the hypothesis of The Dance Centre as a post-apocalyptic space. The circular motif remains — now referred to as the ‘generator’, and the ‘rescue missions’ expand into more complete explorations, both of the space and as forrays into realms of character and relationship.

The conditions of the space are now negotiated in terms of text and subtext, and in their relationship to sound, and Ginelle’s role becomes more active as the exploration becomes more focused on including an audience. Which will be witnessing an extraordinary group of dance artists very much in the thick of a process of discovery. It is true research.

November 28, 2012: The day of the sharing at the Faris Family Studio. Peter and Marco are preparing themselves and the space: A set of laptops as sound sources, a camera and an alarm clock taped to their chests; they are preparing for the catastrophe that has become the thematic anchor, and the invitation to the audience to experience the space they share with the dancers as an apocalyptic space where all that is left is the moving body in something Giorgio Agamben calls "the time that remains" The 'generator' returns, but its formality gives way to the

body as a shape set free by the catastrophe to a circumstance beyond culture, beyond measured time, beyond clothing. The end of days is the end of the human.

Ziyian Kwan's sharing opens a completely different world, in which facing, direction, and distance are carefully articulated decisions. Opening with a gesture that appears to monitor the body's pulse, the investigation roams the space but remains tightly focused on the body itself, accompanied by language fragments that transmit some of the 'data stream' back to the dancer and to audience. The process of sitting down is relayed back as a series of messages: " no chair... no chair.... no chair..." We witness the body's awareness of itself, its condition in space, its consciousness. Thank you to everyone for the experience.

Ginelle: "What is the intelligence of the work?

What is the key ingredient?

What traces of the process does the audience see?

You don't need to understand; sometimes it is enough to just listen.

If you need a ride to Home Depot to get what you need, I will take you.

Consider the space."

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Calendar of Events

January 5 A showcase of MOVE: the company's collaborations with the next generation of BC dance artists.

7pm at North Shore Credit Union Centre for the Performing Arts, North Vancouver.

Tickets: $25 (HST Included).

Info: http://www.movethecompany.com January 10 – 12 SFU Woodward's Cultural Programs and Full Performing Bodies co-present Here be dragons / Non plus ultra, choreography by Henry Daniels.

8pm at Fei & Milton Wong Experimental Theatre, Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, Vancouver.

Tickets and info:http://sfuwoodwards.ca/index.php/ events/details/here-be-dragons-non-plus-ultra January 10 - 13 Shen Yun Performing Arts.

7:30pm on Jan 10, 11, 12 and 2pm on Jan 12, 13 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver.

Tickets and info: http://www.shenyunperformingarts.org/vancouver January 15 Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers presents Toward Light - A tribute to Rachel Browne.

8pm at Scotiabank Dance Centre, Vancouver.

Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ca January 16 – 19 The Firehall Arts Centre presents Fujiwara Dance Inventions (Denise Fujiwara) in No Exit + Lost and Found.

8pm at Firehall Arts Centre, Vancouver.

Tickets and info: www.firehallartscentre.ca

January 18 – 20 The Dance Centre in partnership with the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival presents Jérôme Bel (Paris) Cédric Andrieux.

8pm at Scotiabank Dance Centre, Vancouver.

Tickets: 604.684.2787 www.ticketstonight.ca, Info: www.thedancecentre.ca, www.pushfestival.ca January 24 – 26 Ballet BC and the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival present Encore.

8pm at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver.

Tickets and Info: http://www.balletbc.com January 25 Triadic Dance Works presents Dime A Dozen.

8pm Beaumont Studios, Vancouver.

Info: www.triadicdanceworks.ca January 25 – 27 The Dance Centre in partnership with the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival presents Hiroaki Umeda/S20 (Tokyo) Haptic + Holistic Strata. 8pm at Scotiabank Dance Centre, Vancouver.

Tickets: 604.684.2787 www.ticketstonight.ca, Info: www.thedancecentre.ca www.pushfestival.ca January 27 – February 21 Ballet Jorgen presents Swan Lake on a BC tour.

For tour dates, venues and ticket information visit: www.balletjorgen.ca January 29,30 & February 1, 2 The Dance Centre in partnership with the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival presents. Pieter Ampe + Guilherme Garrido/CAMPO (Ghent) Still Standing You. 8pm at Scotiabank Dance Centre, Vancouver.

Tickets: 604.684.2787 www.ticketstonight.ca, Info: www.thedancecentre.ca www.pushfestival.ca

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For a regularly updated calendar of dance performances and events, please visit our website www.thedancecentre.ca.

January/February 2013

February 1, 2 Dance Victoria presents RUBBERBANDance Group (Montréal).

7:30 pm at the McPherson Playhouse, Victoria.

Tickets and info: www.dancevictoria.com February 6, 7 Dance Victoria presents Joe Laughlin’s 25 Years of Dance, featuring Ballet Victoria.

7:30 pm at McPherson Playhouse, Victoria.

Tickets and info: www.dancevictoria.com February 7 – March 3 2013 Chutzpah! Festival.

Various Venues. Full schedule and ticket info: http://chutzpahfestival.com February 14 The Dance Centre presents battery opera performance + Par B.L.eux in Body Scan: Sweet Gyre 8pm at Scotiabank Dance Centre, Vancouver.

Tickets: 604.684.2787 www.ticketstonight.ca, Info: www.thedancecentre.ca

February 17 New Works presents Dance Allsorts featuring The Contingency Plan. 2pm at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre, Vancouver.

Tickets: www.eventbrite.com or at the door.

Info: www.newworks.ca February 19-23 The Cultch presents RUBBERBANDance Group 8pm at The Cultch, Vancouver Tickets and Info: www.thecultch.com February 22, 23 Dance Victoria presents Pacific Northwest Ballet.

7:30pm at the Royal Theatre, Victoria.

Tickets and info: www.dancevictoria.ca February 28 The Dance Centre presents Discover Dance! noon series featuring Kokoma African Heritage Ensemble.

12noon at Scotiabank Dance Centre, Vancouver.

Tickets: 604.684.2787 www.ticketstonight.ca, Info: www.thedancecentre.ca

February 14 – 16 MovEnt presents Dances for a Small Stage 28.

8pm at The legion on the Drive, Vancouver.

Tickets and info: www.movent.ca February 15, 16 DanceHouse presents BJM. 8pm at the Vancouver Playhouse.

Tickets and info: www.dancehouse.ca

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