Dance Central March/April 2013

March/April 2013

Dance Central A Dance Centre Publication

Small 'C' Contemporary A conversation with Jai Govinda

Content

Jai Govinda has for many years danced, choreographed and presented bharata natyam Indian classical dance, in the context of his company, Mandala Arts and through his annual Gait to the Spirit Festival. Trained originally at Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in his native Quebec City and in Montreal, he went on to train as a bharata natyam dancer in India and has been performing, choreographing and teaching in Vancouver for the past thirty years.

AK: I am interested in exploring how notions of contemporaneity are reflected in different artistic communities. Whose definition takes precedence, how does the language valorize some practices and exclude others, especially when the concept becomes a defining trope of eligibility for certain kinds of institutional funding?

JG: This idea of the 'contemporary' is quite muddy now, because Western

Small 'C' Contemporary: A conversation with Jai Govinda.

Page 1

dance in Canada developed at the beginning mainly through the classical form — Celia Franca who founded the National Ballet of Canada, Ludmilla Chiriaeff, and a few other people, side by side with the movement of Expression Corporelle, a form of physical expression outside of classical ballet.

There were pioneers like Jeanne Renauld, and then Martha Graham appeared,

Thinking Bodies: A conversation with Amber Funk Barton.

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which gave rise to a new term: Modern Dance. 'Modern' is not use anymore, except to designate a type of technique such as Graham or LimĂłn, but you don't see it on grant applications. You do see the term 'contemporary'.

Now, is contemporary a noun or an adjective? If it is a noun, strictly speaking the work that has been called contemporary doesn't belong, because it was done twenty five years ago, and if you present one of those 'contemporary'

CO : LAB: A research process for composers choreographers and performers.

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pieces today it will have lost its stature, its appeal, its momentum. If you see a Martha Graham piece now, it is like watching an old tableau. It lacks what it did at the time, when it revolutionized the way we were moving. Today, these are just part of the established vocabulary, so the work now looks old rather than contemporary. But if the intent is to refer to work that is fresh, and of today, how can we change this fixed idea of the 'contemporary'? I find myself getting caught, because there is no other terminology. In Montreal, for

Dance Calendar March/April 2013 Page 18

example, they have started to call it Danse Actuelle, but that, too, is a trap: After all, my form of dance is just as 'actuelle'. For me, 'contemporary' means what is of today, a work whose ideology, mind, and action are relevant to the world we are in. continued on page 2

Welcome to the March/April 2013 issue of Dance Central.

Small 'C' Contemporary

continued from cover

A conversation with Jai Govinda AK: That word has come to be defined by what it excludes rather than includes: Non-ballet, non 'ethnic', It even excludes forms that are much more 'of the now', such as hip hop; there is a similiar distinction in composition, for example, where 'contemporary' links

Welcome to the March/April issue of Dance Central. The issue appears a little later than usual, in part because it has grown to eighteen pages, and in part because we had hoped to run a piece about The Gathering before the Vancouver International Dance Festival, but could not overcome the scheduling issues. We are aiming to include a conversation with Jay Hirabayashi about The Gathering in the May/June issue.

This issue focuses on transitions, in the context of three experiences: There is a conversation with Jai Govinda about the term 'contemporary', how it applies to a practice such Indian classical dance, and the challenges of defining one's work in the framework of language that locates contemporaneity exclusively in one context.

The 'Thinking Bodies' series features a portrait of Amber Funk Barton, who describes her experience of living and working in a transitional phase—between performance and choreography, between generational divides, and between curiosities.

The third feature of this issue presents reflections on a project titled CO:LAB that took place at Scotiabank Dance Centre in December 2012, as a joint project between The Dance Centre and the Canadian Music Centre, and brought together a group of choreographers, dancers, composers and musicians for a week-long exploration of the collaborative process.

As always, Dance Central welcomes new writing and project ideas at any time, in order to continue to make it a more vital link to the community. Please send material by mail to members@thedancecentre.ca. or call us at 604.606.6416. We look forward to the conversation!

Andreas Kahre, Editor 2

Da nce Central March/April 2013

back to Bartok and the Vienna School but knows nothing of Rap. Where do you fit in?

JG: The fact that I am a French Canadian living in English Canada, teaching an Indian classical dance form is in itself a contemporary situation, which you would not have seen twenty years ago. It is totally new, but is it large 'C' 'contemporary'? What is contemporary ballet? As far as I am concerned, all ballet companies are contemporary if they present new work by contemporary choreographers, even if their main vocabulary is classical ballet. They are contemporary even if they re-mount classical works, because the staging and flair of the dancers will be of today, and so an old work can become very much alive The funders use the terminology to create categories that don't reflect contemporary dance practice. When you apply for grants, you are asked to define your work: Is it classical ballet? Is it contemporary? Or is it 'ethnic'? More recently, they have begun to break the 'ethnic' category into subgroups like 'Classical Indian Dance' and 'Flamenco' etc. but I think the term contemporary has to go. In my work, for example, I am using an old language, but the way I now choreograph it, stage it, and set it to music is totally different from the way I was doing it even five years ago.

We all evolve, we see new creation; there is a beat, and it keeps progressing, even if the language we use has a history. It is the same in 'non-ethnic' dance: If you look at most of the dance companies of today that are not ballet, — I won't call them contemporary, because I know they don't call themselves that—if you look at artists like Crystal Pite, Wen Wei, Marie Chouinard, Édouard Lock— are not only using elements of the ballet vocabulary, but the main training expected of their dancers is ballet. Are these companies still contemporary? Are they making contemporary ballet? What defines this?

Music is another example; the lines between Rock, Country, and Pop are very permeable. People cross over all the time, and when they achieve success in the charts, they become a Pop artist.

AK: How have these divisions affected your own work?

JG: I am constantly creating choreography and new dance work, but in the context of Indian classical dance, which means that it is not eligible for support by Canada Council as 'contemporary' work. This is a shame, because I have so many ideas,

Next:

Dance Central May/June 2013

and I would want to do it properly, but the resources required to mount a big production for a three-night run are difficult to find. So the way I can be creatively involved now is mainly through my festival, Gait to the Spirit, which is now in its fourth year, and where I get to curate and present new work.

There are schools of Indian classical dance in the city, who mainly teach old choreography, that was learned from their teacher thirty years ago, but all of my choreography is created today, with the musicians present. I choose text and melody, we set it up together, we change and adapt it, and we create contemporary choreography. Our young dancers are bright, with an intelligence beyond the dancers of years ago.

When I was doing Indian classical dance, some people called me 'Santa Claus' because I had bells on my feet. They could not understand why a French Canadian guy was doing this,

The Gathering and Beyond: a conversation with Jay Hirabayashi

except perhaps because it was my 'Eastern Philosophy Phase'.

They did not realize that I had gone into it so deeply that even in India I was recognized as one of the top dancers in the field.

When they heard this, they asked: "Did Indian people mind that you are Caucasian?" In fact, none of the reviews of my performances in India referred to me as a Caucasian. What was extraordinary to them was that I was a male dancer. There were no male dancers when I started in Indian classical dance. Now

Thinking Bodies: Byron Chief Moon

they are everywhere, but at the time, dancing as a guy, not in womens' garb, not effeminately, I was a pioneer. I removed half the jewelry, used the stage, set decor and music differently, and what shook them was that I knew the form. They knew I wasn't a Westerner doing it superficially, but that I had a real grounding and wanted to move forward from that. That was con-

Designing Dance: Lighting

temporary and new for them. India also had an anti-classical movement, one whose pioneers was Chandralekha Prabhudas Patel (1928 – 2006). Chandralekha worked with Pina Bausch, yet all the dancers she used were trained by the purest, even archaic school of bharata natyam and she did something totally different with them. People threw stones at her, and at the

and more...

same time, many were attracted to her work, because she was successful. If you work in theatre or dance, you have start with what you have. continued on page 5 Da nce Central March/April 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

From the Executive Director

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.

Editor Andreas Kahre Copy Editor Hilary Maxwell Contributors to this issue: Jai Govinda, Amber Funk Barton, Mirna Zagar Dance Centre Board Members Chair Andrea Wink Vice Chair Gavin Ryan Secretary Ingrid M. Tsui Treasurer Roman Goldmann Directors Barbara Bourget Susan Elliott Margaret Grenier Stephanie Hungerford Anndraya T. Luui Josh Martin Simone Orlando Jordan Thomson 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.

I have just returned from another one of my (frequent, I admit) travels to Europe where, despite the ongoing financial crisis, an amazing level of artistic activity continues to take place. At the same time, many European governments (not unlike our own) continue to treat the arts as if to wage war against their own cultural identity: The Dutch government describes art as a hobby for the lefties, in France the recent reshuffle in the cultural scene threatens to make insignificant what has until recently enjoyed international acclaim, and Belgian separatists would like to expunge Flemish art from the national discourse, and on and on.

There are some small signs of hope, such as the Austrian government's commitment to support touring of Austrian artists within the EU, and even here, in BC, where we recently learned of an announcement of significant new (or is that newly restored?) funding to the arts. We are pleased to hear this, but our gratitude is tempered by the fact that, even with this increase, we will not reach anything near what had been in place before the savage cuts to the cultural sector three years ago, and what we irretrievably have lost since then, in talent and in infrastructure. Elections, however, have a marvellous effect on the attention span of politicians, and as we get closer to the day, perhaps we should all remember the value of our support and ask more pointedly what each candidate and party is really prepared to do about sustainable funding for the arts.

Closer to home, March and April are full of dance offerings as we welcome the Vancouver International Dance Festival, and especially The Gathering, a coming together of artists

4 Da nce Central March/April 2013

continued from page 3

Small 'C' Contemporary

At his point, there are many movements in dance in India that are moving away from the classical root, because they have been exposed to modern dance teachers, to audiovisual media and so on. Thirty years ago they started with classical dance because that was all they had. Now they have exposure to ballet, to modern dance, some have travelled, taken workshops and have brought new information back, so they are different. This is contemporaneity, and it will happen in any field, unless you are deliberately remounting previous work to show your history.

I would really like to see the 'contemporary' category disappear,

working in Non-Western dance forms which offers a platform for in-depth dialogue to find solutions to better position the works of these and all artists. It serves as

especially from grant applications, because it creates an implication that those of us who work in a 'non-contemporary' form are not creating contemporary work.

an example that the themes discussed in the context of

AK: If 'contemporary' is used to describe a conceptual trope

an event like The Gathering, focused on issues related

rather than to characterize an approach to one's work, does it

to culturally diverse dance practitioners, affect all of the

become especially problematic for dance defined in the funding

dance community: Audience development, marketing,

grid as 'ethnic'?

funding, touring, presentation opportunities, and hopefully the dialogue will grow to hold the entire community

JG: Yes, especially if it means that I must do bharata natyam

in awareness of each others differences, similarities and

in black leather pants with a video behind me to appear con-

shared goals.

temporary. But the same is true for ballet. For example, Emily Molnar is really trying to set her company apart from other ballet

In that spirit, International Dance Day which takes place at the end of April, provides the dance community with an opportunity to come together in a united way to show its strength and diversity, and to present the value and contributions of dance to the well-being of society – whether it allows the community to engage in dance for fun, to experience something new, to be active, or to

companies in the country by pushing those boundaries, but still it is very much a ballet company. It is not a contemporary dance company—or is it?

AK: There is an analogous situation in music, especially as it concerns 'contemporary opera' which is suspended between the tradition of operatic vocal styles and a contemporary compositional idiom. Capital 'C' contemporary music, similiar to con-

offer a deeper experience through the engagement of

temporary dance, inhabits a historical space, which is anything

dance as an ancient and contemporary artform. If you

but contemporary at this point, but it continues to dominate the

wish to be an Ambassador for the art of dance, or if you

language. As with dance, people in Quebec have been using the

would like to get involved in the BC celebration of dance

term Musique Actuelle, but it refers to a specific form that com-

during National Dance Week and International Dance

bines improvisation with through-composed music, and doesn't

Day, please contact us, or simply come an join us for

define what actuelle actually means—except to those who are

the many dance events on offer during this time.

immersed in the ongoing development of the form.

Mirna Zagar, Executive Director

JG: The frame of reference is critical: I would not want to call what I do 'Contemporary bharata natyam'. I think putting the two words together would give people the wrong idea. They continued on page 16 Da nce Central March/April 2013

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looking for the subtle dance.

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Photo Credit: Steve Wylie

THINKING BODIES | Portraits A conversation with Amber Funk Barton

AK: You have been out of town?

every single day. But when we travel, we walk a lot every day, eight, nine hours sometimes, and we are active in a differ-

AFB: My husband and I went to Nepal, India, Bangkok, Myanmar,

ent way. Travel forces you to live a different life. When you

Laos, the Philippines, and finally to Japan. We travel every year,

create, you are so 'in it' that you sometimes can't see what is

and every year the trips get a little longer and more exotic. This

not working—especially when you are performing your own

is something we have long wanted to do, and I have become

work. You don't always have the time to question or step

addicted to travel. It doesn't have be exotic, but to get a different

outside. I have learned to know what works for me, and how

perspective is great, personally and artistically, and the physical

to be creative, but I love these periods when I have to wait

separation from the city really helps.

before taking the next step. I do what I call 'stewing': I think, I visualize, I rehearse it in my head. I listen to the music before

AK: Do you think about your choreographic work at all when you

I go to sleep and that results in dreaming about it. Sometimes

are on the road?

I have woken up with phrases of choreography in my mind. It becomes an internal process

AFB: Surprisingly often, yes. I am in the middle of a creation project, and after a month I started receiving images, or con-

AK: I first became aware of you about ten years ago, when

nection between sections that began to make sense to me. We

you appeared in series like 12 Minutes Max. Since then, you

have to do a work–in–progress showing this summer, and while

have appeared all over Vancouver as a performer, started

I travel I begin to visualize with the music what I might do. I start

your own company, and the last time we met you were a col-

working mentally, and I make notes.

laborator in a theatre project with Horseshoes and Handgrenades, so your artistic range has clearly grown. What is the

AK: Do you seek out dance when you are travelling?

mix between performance, choreography and other work now?

AFB: Usually I don't. When I am in those areas of the world, I look for art in other ways. I am inspired by architecture,

AFB: I feel that I am in a transition period. Around 2010, when

museums, visual art, and by daily life. It is interesting to me

I turned 30, I realized I had been performing continually for

what behaviours and gestures are universally human. My

ten years, and I realized how exhausted I was. Until then, I

husband loves photography, and we both try to capture images

had always wanted to choreograph side by side with being a

of people. I try to take advantage of the subtle art that I wouldn't

performer. Now I feel like I would like choreography to take

necessarily seek out here.

over. I love creating dance, and I feel that is what I am supposed to do. When I am in the studio with dancers, I just love

AK: When you say "subtle" art, what are you thinking of?

it. My company is entering its fifth year; it is going slowly, but that is how I want it now. When I worked mainly a performer,

AFB: For me, subtle art is what I find in observing people; I am

I pushed myself, for a number of years. Now, in this transi-

fascinated by their gestures and how they act. When you are

tion, I am happy to take my time to really develop my skills as

travelling you see how we all do the same things— but differ-

a choreographer, which is a title I really respect and want to

ently. We all get up and have breakfast, but wherever you are,

earn. I want to be as versatile as I can, and eventually I would

it is different. I find that refreshing, and I rejoice in it. I also find

like my company to be a more full time occupation. Right now

that when I travel now, I enjoy and need the physical rest for my

I feel I lead a 50/50 life, where half the time is spent on my

body. When I was younger I would freak out if I didn't go to class

company, creating, and the other half is as a performer.

Da nce Central March/April 2013

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AK: Where are you performing nowadays?

back to motion and character ideas. At one point I was afraid that the music was in control and dictated everything,

AFB: For the past two years, I have been working with Dana

which might mean that the movement, if it depended so

Gingras and her company Animals of Distinction. She is cur-

much on the music, might not be valid without it. So the last

rently based out of Montreal, so I have been going back and

two pieces have come from movement—movement that

forth a lot to work with her. I like the distinction it has given me:

is functional and not necessarily recognizable as 'steps', i.e.

When I am in Montreal, it is clear that I am a performer, and

ChassĂŠ, Pas de bourrĂŠe and Pirouette, but is movement that

when I come home, it is clear that I am running my company.

becomes just energy in space. I don't always want to have recognizable dance steps, but I want a fusion between the

AK: Does working as a performer for another choreographer

throughline that ballet technique gives, and the grounded-

influence the decisions you make about your own work?

ness of urban sensibility, and I want something functional: Go from here to there in a leap.

AFB: Sometimes you don't plan it that way, but you can't help being informed by other people. Especially the people who

AK: You use ballet language to describe movement. You

excite and inspire you; it's only natural. All the people I have

trained at Goh ballet?

been working with have been very supportive, and there are always discussions between us. I have learned so much from

AFB: Yes, I was all about ballet. I did Goh ballet very seriously

Dana, and I know it has affected my dance making. I love to be

in the half-day program in Grade 11 and 12, from there I went

exposed to different ideas and ways of working and to what I

to Arts Umbrella and did their graduate program, I did the

call 'formulas of creation'. When I am in Montreal, the city and

mentor program at Ballet BC and thought I was going to be

the festivals I have gone to there give me a different sensation

in contemporary Ballet, but then I started working immedi-

of dance and what is possible.

ately, with Joe Laughlin and with Judith Marcuse. I saw Joe's work at the Banff centre when I was fifteen, and it was as if a

AK: When you choreograph, do you improvise to generate

light bulb went off in my head, and I said: "That's what I want

material or do you use more formal strategies?

to do, I want to be a choreographer. I want to make movement that is imaginative and big an bold and musical, and

AFB: Eventually I would like choreography to take over. Right

functional, and connects viscerally." That has always stuck

now, it is a little bit of both. For the last two pieces, I gave the

with me.

dancers tasks to improvise from, but recently I have been returning to making steps and saying: "This is the music and these

AK: When you look for performers for the response., do you

are the steps." I want to try to find out what each dancer, each

look for people with a ballet background?

person has to offer, and I am curious to understand what makes them who they are, in order to marry my movement with their

AFB: Being trained in several forms is definitely an asset. In

sensibility. During the last workshop, I filmed myself improvis-

the beginning stages of creating my first full-length piece, I

ing and asked the dancers to pick material from that source. I

found incredibly talented dancers that could do everything.

have also used the technique of creating eight or nine simple

I was working with Josh Beamish and Shay Kuebler and Josh

steps, and asking them to use all, some or none as a source,

Martin who were ready to give anything. It was a great gift.

which means that there is a collaborative process, but I am

As the work progressed, I also got to work with David Ray-

generating the source movement. It is a mixture and trial and

mond, as well as Heather Laura Gray, who also has an eclec-

error, but right now I am going back to setting movement.

tic background of acting and dance. For my last piece, I went more into contemporary modern. The women I worked with

AK: Do you work from music, from a conceptual frame, from

were willing to try anything and extremely supportive.

the space, or from something completely different?

I really like to work with people who look like people on AFB: Each piece has been different until now. My first full-

stage, because I want the audience to be able to see them-

length piece, and a couple of others started with the music as

selves on stage. I also came from a very diverse background.

the main driving force. For the last two projects I have gone

Even though I was a super-bunhead, I took Jazz and hiphop

Da nce Central March/April 2013

8

"This is the music, and these are the steps..." classes, and at while I tried to connect to the classical move-

falls outside the ballet frame is that I find dance can be

ment, which I love and respect, I never felt I was being myself;

very presentational and frontal, which I want to question,

I was also trying to be someone else. When I found modern

and so I try to think of changing the direction of 'front', and

dance—I was fifteen and at the Banff Centre, doing, of all things,

as a creator and performer it helps me change my brain.

Graham technique which isn't necessarily everyone's favourite, I felt "this is it." It made sense, I could do the movement, it felt

AK: It reads to the audience, I believe. The first few times

easy and natural, and from there on I knew. I love ballet, but

I saw your dances, I was struck by the variety of facings,

there is a part of me that was not connecting, and when I was

with many more three-quarter views, and backs and

doing modern or jazz the shoe just fit.

sides and bums than I would have expected if you had been aiming to present to the fourth wall.

A lot of creation is me dealing with my identity.

AFB: I try to challenge whatever appears to be the most

As I was training, I could do various things well, but I didn't think

notes and questions to which there are no right or wrong

I fit into any one of them. I did ballet and teachers said: "It's too

answers, but challenges what I call templates of creation.

jazzy", Then I did Jazz and they said: " It's too ballet, too clean...."

Somewhere in your brain you have registered the suc-

That is also where creation started for me: Trying to create a

cessful formula and try to copy it. I want to be conscious

place for myself, rather than fitting into a definition. Now, when

when I am making a decision that it is what I want to

I teach or give lectures, I really believe in not labeling artists. I

make, rather than to emulate. So in my studio notebook

experienced being labeled, and I don't think that is positive for

it sometimes says, in capital letters, " What are you trying

kids. It's not fair, not allowing the child or the artist to pursue

to say?" For me, the answer is often to find less. I love

their own path. I did take it to heart, and I didn't want to teach

technical and complicated movement, but the satisfac-

for a long time because I knew that what you say makes an

tion lies in images, moments and looks, and so much of

impression and sticks with people. It can determine their self

the work is taking away, until these are what is left. For

worth. At the end of the day, I think it is steps and choreography,

example, I like the focus on a hand gesture, which can get

and strengths and weaknesses. For example, I would never con-

lost in the gloriousness of space in the theatre. That is an-

sider myself a hip hop dancer but the way I can get out of the

other reason why I am interested in pursuing professional

feeling that I am not good at it, is to just focus on the fact that I

development as a choreographer in film, where the subtle

am learning steps.

moment that I love can be the center.

AK: I remember that when I first saw you dance, I was struck by

AK: If you hadn't turned out to be a dancer, what would

how comfortable you were on the floor. That is not usually the

you have done?

obvious. I like to refer to Jonathan Burrows' A Choreographers Handbook, which is a fascinating collection of

first thing you associate with someone who comes from ballet.

AFB: I never thought I would dance professionally, but AFB: Yes, the floor and I are friends. The floor makes sense to

ever since I was thirteen or fourteen years old, I knew I

me, Maybe it addresses some subconscious aspect of myself?

wanted to be a choreographer. I didn't really think about

Last year I created a solo for 10x10x10, much of which came

anything else since I started dancing when I was three,

from a day when I just didn't want to get up from the floor. I

and only now am I thinking about different careers, and

have been told by my dancers that my floor work can be chal-

while I want to make dance and run my company I have

lenging, but I never felt that way. Another aspect of my work that

all sorts of other fantasies.

Da nce Central March/April 2013

9

continued from page 9

AK: Do you work with outside eyes?

AK: Do you have a sense of where things might be going in the next five years?

I always ask trusted peers to have a look when I feel I can share the work. For my last piece I decided to ask Joe

I am trying to figure that out right now. It could be more of

Laughlin to act as a mentor, because it was the first time that

the same, with more focus on working as a choreographer,

I wasn't in the work myself, but usually it is less formal and

but there is something about film that I also want to actively

I ask dancers from my peer group. I try to have a rehearsal

pursue. I might like to take a film directing course, work with

director if I am dancing in my own work.

actors more, explore theatre.

AK: In working with Joe, do you experience yourself as part

AK: I noticed you have become part of a theatre project with

of a community with 'gaps' between generations, or are the

Horsehoes and Handgrenades Theatre.

layers permeable?

AFB: That was very exciting. I like to experience different ways AFB: A few years ago I would have said "there is no gen-

of working, and I think I would like the challenge of being in

eration gap", but now, as I transition into mid-career as

a play, learning lines, being a character. I like to challenge

performer, I really feel it, and see what is happening to my

myself, and I have reached the point where it is time to think

peers, both younger and older. But I don't think that those

about something new and creative.

levels are thwarting anyone, and everyone is gracious and approachable in my experience. I remember reading recently

AK: What is the new piece that you are working on?

that we should have three mentors: One who is of the same age so you can talk about what is going on now, one who

AFB: It will be a full length work that premieres in the Spring

is five years older, so can you can see what's coming, and

of 2014 with six dancers, including myself, in a kind of post-

someone who is established so they can give you a wider

apocalyptic setting. Last year was all research, and this year

picture. I am also aware as I get older that I have to pace my-

we are workshopping the idea, and we will be showing an

self more. I get injured more easily, and I feel the wear and

excerpt as a work–in–progress at the Dancing on the Edge

tear of the past years, but when I was younger I was quite

Festival this summer. Next year, and leading up to the pre-

scared; I couldn't imagine not dancing, but now that I'm here,

miere, we will have another work in progress showing at the

I think I'm okay with it. I love the stage I am at right now as a

Shadbolt Centre, when we focus on the production aspect

performer. I have worked with a lot of people and am happy

of the work. I like creating complete experiences, which is

and satisfied with what I have experienced as a dancer, so if

something I learned from Lola MacLaughlin. She created

something happened tomorrow that meant I couldn't dance

these worlds where everything was on the same level: The

any more, I would be sad, but I would be able to make peace

movement was as important as the lighting, the set design

with that. Not everybody feels like that when they are in

was as important as the sound, it was all one piece of art. That

transition time. I am lucky.

is something I would like to do: To create a dance show, that is also the experience of a world that connects with people,

AK: How do you adapt to the physical changes?

that offers crazy imaginative experiences, and lets me having fun with my imagination. The current working title is The Art

AFB: I like to dance hard, so now I am trying to train specifi-

of Stealing. I'm interested in the physical act of theft itself but

cally for the work I am involved in. I cross-train. I do yoga,

also in a greater unseen, anonymous force that steals from

which has really saved my body, and cardio-training at the

us-the stealing of your time, your money, your energy, your

gym. The dancing I do now as a performer means I have

health, so I'm hoping to create movement that essentially

to train more parallel lines, and if I am doing contemporary

breaks down and a force that drains the world I'm creating.

modern virtuosic work, I kick it up a notch at ballet class.

We'll make sweet moves and then we'll see...

Everything is different, and I am learning to work in different ways, but I like it.

Da nce Central March/April 2013

AK: Thank you!

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CO:LAB A Laboratory for Collaborators

A joint project by The Dance Centre and the Canadian Music Centre, CO:LAB was a ‘collaborative laboratory’ where six choreographers and six composers came together for a week in December of 2012, to explore the possibilities of a contemporary interdisciplinary creative process. The concept of CO:LAB was to provide an opportunity for artists to share, challenge and surprise each other creatively, provoking new ideas and opening dialogue without the pressure of a final production. CO:LAB was led by facilitator/directors Martha Carter, John Korsrud and Lee Su-Feh. Composers: Christopher Reiche, Adam Hill, Viviane Houle, Michael Park, Dorothy Chang Bortolussi, Edward Henderson Choreographers: Barbara Bourget, Paras Terezakis, Daelik, Deanna Peters, Troy McLaughlin, Julianne Chapple, Carolyn Chan Musicians: Timothy Van Cleave, Stefan Smulovitz, Dory Hayley, Lisa Miller, Ron Samworth, 'Joseph Pepe Danza'.

Dancers: Laura Avery, Elissa Hanson, Jennifer McLeish-Lewis, Molly McDermott, Michelle Lui, Lisa Ho, Paul Almeida

'Speed Dating' at CO:LAB. This and all following photos: A. Kahre Da nce Central March/April 2013

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Collaboration is perhaps both the most commonplace and the most elusive form of practice, and one that has to be re-invented with each new project and configuration of collaborators. No two collaborations are alike, and neither are the expectations with which artists seem to enter into them, even if the formal framework is well established.

Between dance and music, forms of collaboration range all the way from the strictly hierarchical to the radically collective, and every conceivable model in between. The objective of CO:LAB was to open a space for both discussion and experimentation between artists. The concept grew in part out of 10x10x10, a project between The Dance Centre and the Canadian Music Centre, which had brought together ten teams of composers and choreographers to create a series of ten-minute works which were presented at Scotiabank Dance Centre in October of 2011.

With CO:LAB, the intent was to focus on the collaborative process itself, while removing the pressure of having to think of creating a 'product', and to provide the resources for three groups of collaborators to devote several days to the experiment. The result was an extraordinary week at Scotiabank Dance Centre, and the beginning of an ongoing and valuable dialogue among the participants.

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While dance and music have been connected from their very origins, collaborations between choreographers and composers continue to take on new forms, as styles, working methods and technologies change in both practices, and as each project constitutes a unique dialogue between the forms. In the case of CO:LAB, the frame for the experiment included both composers and musicians, choreographers and dancers, and a group of facilitators/directors, who recombined each day into three groups that shared a studio space each.

Following the evening reception and a talk by Merran Smith, the first day began with a 'speed dating session' followed by a group discussion about the process of collaboration itself.

It was noticeable from the introductions how wide a range of practices were represented, in both disciplines, with participants ranging from artists who worked mainly in a classical idiom, to those who were primarily improvisers— and several whose creative range encompassed both, and more.

The question posed at the beginning was: What is the collaborative process? How does it function in relation to creative work within each discipline, what are the conditions it requires and imposes, and how does an open-ended collaboration differ from the process D a n cof e creating C e n t r a l S eap product? tember 2004 3

Each day was going to be devoted to exploring these questions in practice, in a shared process that would begin with a new configuration of collaborators and end with a 'sharing' of the results, in whatever form they had taken over the course of the day. In the first discussion of the process with all the participants it quickly became apparent how much the participants' experience of previous collaborations has been shaped by the need to create a product, and how challenging it is to navigate a creative space outside of that goal. There was evident enthusiasm for the experiment, along with questions about the ways in which it would be structured.

The three groups that formed, each with two choreographers and composers, as well as a four musicians and dancers, went to separate studios and began the process of finding source material. It was interesting to observe how differently each artist reacted to the propositions that were made. In a group that used a set of magazine images to explore ideas of character and narrative, for example, the composer made it clear that visual material did not work for him as a source of inspiration. The discussion that ensued was fascinating as it explored various ways of finding source material related to the musical and the kinetic realm, and how it could be transmitted or shared.

"In this process, we are looking for an epiphany" Barbara Bourget

Another group began with a series of improvisations that literally connected the musical and the physical dimension by 'playing the body' as a percussive instrument. In some instances, composers worked with musicians as co-creators, while others composed and shaped material as they would in a classical context. Percussion played an important role in two of the groups, augmented by tap dancing in one instance, and some groups abandoned instruments for completely vocal scores.

Movement creation similarly ranged from structured improvisation to setting repeatable steps. Since the groups were quite large, the studios could quickly become noisy and somewhat chaotic, but they were also for the most part filled with a palpable enthusiasm for the process. Some groups, working collectively set themselves to working with tasks, and involved the 'audiences' at the end of the day in organizing the material, for example by memorizing 'snapshots' that would be recreated when their 'number' was called. Directors in some instances worked with theatre game structures, props, and spatial motifs such as loops, which in turn gave rise to discussions between collaborators about the role of iterative, repeating structures in their respective disciplines.

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"Can you dance in the same spacewithout dancing together?"

Ron Samworth Da nce Central March/April 2013

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The facilitator/director's personality strongly influenced the creative flavour of each studio, which ranged from the methodical and restrained to the cheerfully anarchic, and as the groups reconfigured each day, these styles of directing asserted themselves anew, along with an observable difference in how the directors shaped the relationship between movement and music.

In some sessions, one shared space was negotiated by all the participants, while in others, space exploded in simultaneous and overlapping activities. One group, began the creation process with large sheets of paper which evolved into a landscape of ideas that found their way onto the walls, the windows, and the instruments, while two floors down, a slow unison movement sequence was carefully devised and crafted into a finished form accompanied by a throughcomposed piece of Japanese Shakuhachi flute music.

Some studio spaces reverberated with sound and movement shared across large distances, while others gathered around a tightly compacted collective working in direct physical contact. There were moments of shared improvisation and exuberant play, as well as sometimes difficult discussions that focused on the tension between roles, the Dance Central September 2004 3 complexities of having more than one composer working at

the same time, the expectations related to 'outcome', and the degree to which a collaborative process shifts agency from outcome to process, and thus demands the skills and openness to accept and shape an 'incomplete' structure, both as the starting point and possibly as the result.

All collaborations pose questions: How is power divided and shared, what elements and forms take precedence and why, and how does the framing of the process inform its results? Ideally, these questions are related to the content of the work, and lead to greater mutual understanding and respect between the partners in the collaboration. But as with any other intimate relationship, the rewards are commensurate with the degree to which we invest ourselves and leave behind the 'script'. In the arts, failure is not always allowed to be an option, and success can be habit-forming, which sometimes translates into the type of working relationship that masquerades as a collaboration, when it can in fact be a form of instrumentalizing another's work.

Removing the 'deliverables', as CO:LAB did, therefore opens a realm where old reflexes can be allowed to retire, and it showed, in a kind of fearlessness that grew with each day, and with each new constellation of collaborators.

It helped, of course, that many of CO:LAB's artists were old hands at collaborative ventures, but the frame of the project created a pressure cooker in which the polite responses would soon evaporate, and an observer could note how each day the confidence in the integrity of the process, and with it a measure of assertiveness for each participant grew, until they all appeared to have a voice at the table.

The 'showings' at the end of each afternoon reflected this growing sense of involvement and investment. They also reflected the range of personalities and the many modes of creation that had been brought to the process: Some collaborators searched for ways of breaking down the methods they would normally use to create material, while others worked more formally and seemed to treat each others' work as a complete, autonomous entity to which they responded. Accordingly, each presentation involved the 'audience'—made up of the other groups as well as a few guests— in a different way: Some groups presented an instance or example of a process, while some presented what could pass for a finished work. Some sessions resulted in a constant flow of movement that involved the musicians as well as the dancers, while others created a space dominated by objects and other obstacles to the body, to the point where they began to resemble installations.

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CO:LAB It was interesting to see how small a role digital media, musical form, or dance technique per se played in either the process or the 'outcome', and how much freedom each day brought to explore both the musical and the kinesthetic dimensions of the encounters. This was reflected in the 'showings': They became increasingly focused on the process, and recorded the questions that each group had encountered, rather than the solutions they had devised.

They invited the audience to witness a space that openened up rather than ways of filling it.

Small 'C' Contemporary A conversation with Jai Govinda continued from page 5

would say: "He is still wearing the costume. It sounds like the same type of music. How is it contemporary?" They

Fill it did, however: Crumpled paper, eggs, landscapes of cardboard, clothing and instruments framed the physical encounters and the sounds that enveloped them, and while something of the formal framework remained intact, the encounter between music and dance produced a moving record of the connections and differences that bind these disciplines together. It reminded us that they may long to merge completely, but like oil and vinegar, they can cohabit in the same space only when an effort is made to bring them together, and they form what is known in chemistry as an emulsion. We witnessed something of that in CO:LAB.

would not understand it because they have not seen

AK

evolved, first from the temple to the stage, then to being

what was done twenty five years ago. If I present Bharata Natyam today for someone who doesn't know anything about it, they will think it has been done like that for the past two thousand years.

Knowing the history of a form is important to understanding the choice we make in the present, and what they mean. Presenting it on the stage is such a choice.

Here is a dance form that began as a practice in a temple, without an audience. Only a hundred years ago it performed by women for an audience. My teacher, who passed away just five years ago received death threats for bringing his wife on the stage, because they were Brahmin. In the last few years it has changed again, as artists make use of lighting and staging in new ways. This is evolution in the context of a classical form, and while some artists, just as they do here, choose to use the classical language, others decide to start from scratch, but you have to be informed to be able to tell the difference.

I remember being at a conference and sitting beside Pina Bausch when she was visiting India. All the top dancers and choreographers were there, and there was a panel discussion. They were all talking about their differences and how unhappy they were. Pina was the guest artist, dressed in a gray Marlene Dietrich outfit, with her hair pulled back, sitting in the audience, smoking, and they asked her if she would talk. She went to the microphone table and before she could speak she choked, and a tear appeared on her face. She said: "I don't know what to say; the only thing is that I discovered that I love India; what a marvellous country, all the colours, smell, art, culture everywhere, such rich heritage, and to hear you bickering Dance Central September 2004

among each other has saddened me.

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You have such fantastic roots, a deep heritage of dance and mu-

well not. It is similiar in visual art, where the term contempo-

sic, where you can start from a focused point. When I started to

rary has shifted from describing a manner or language—be it

make dance I didn't have all that. I had to start from nothing."

figurative or abstract, conceptual or community-engaged— and is now understood to mean an explicit engagement with

Pina also came to Montreal to present Cafe Müller, which was

what is referred to as critical discourse. This has created a

the most contemporary thing at the time, at Place des Arts - "Midi

division similiar to what you find in dance, where 'contempo-

de la place", where you could go at lunchtime to see artists show

rary' is used as a noun rather than an adjective, and has left a

some of their work or give a talk. She showed an excerpt, and

number of artists, particularly those who work in a figurative

during the question and answer, I asked: "I don't know if you have

style, feeling excluded, and without access to funding.

a school, but if you were to train dancers, what would you train them in?" There was no hesitation, and she said "classical ballet".

JG: As humans, we try to categorize everything. I think that art

Everybody's jaw dropped, because her work was total anti-ballet

ultimately navigates between all of these categories. Some

at the time, but she saw that in the classical form you train a tool,

people change their work in order to be part of the main-

an instrument, and that you make it more flexible and expressive.

stream. You do what you do, and it may or may not be part

Forms are tools, they are not handicaps. The reason so many

of the mainstream. I never felt the need to be apologetic, for

contemporary companies are using ballet is that they understand

example for the narrative dimension of dance, when it is such

what an incredibly valuable tool it is. Some people work differ-

a rich source. Indian classical dance has about eighty hand

ently; they take their vocabulary from different sources, and cre-

gestures— why should we throw these away? We can be

ate a form of dance with it. How you understand it depends on

creative with those elements, and our work should be judged

how you see and how well informed you are, both as a choreog-

on the basis of the informed choices that we make rather than

rapher and as an audience member.

whether it fits a predetermined category.

AK: There is a parallel in contemporary music written for non-

AK: Thank you!

Western instruments. Indonesian Gamelan is a good example.

It is a musical form — or rather a vast range of connected forms — with a three thousand year long history, and a classical canon that is very much alive, and it has a contemporary dimension, with composers both in Indonesia and in the West writing new work, and completely contemporary music, using Gamelan instruments and idioms.

JG: But would anyone who has never heard Gamelan be able to tell the difference between the ancient and the contemporary form?

AK: People in Indonesia will know, and some of the contemporary work includes non-traditional instrumentation or electronics, or text, but an audience that has no other point of reference may

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Calendar of Events

March 1, 2 Ballet BC presents The National Ballet of China in Swan Lake.

8pm at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver.

Tickets and info: www.balletbc.com/single_tickets.html, www.balletbc.com

March 13 Cowichan Theatre presents Atlantic Ballet Theatre of Canada performing Ghosts of Violence.

7:30pm at Cowichan Theatre (located in the Island Savings Centre) Duncan, B.C.Tickets and info: 250-748-7529 or www.cowichantheatre.bc.ca

March 1, 2 Undergraduate students in the Dance Program at SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts present Motion, Pictures Student Dance Show.

8pm at Studio D at Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, Vancouver. Tickets and info: http://www.sfu.ca/sca/index.php/ events/details/motion-picture-sfudance-2013

March 15, 16 Dance Victoria presents Black Grace (Auckland).

7:30 pm at Royal Theatre, Victoria.

Tickets and info: www.dancevictoria.com

March 2-23 Vancouver International Dance Festival. For a complete list of performances, show times and venues, and ticket information visit: www.vidf.ca March 2-April 26 Ballet Kelowna tours Passages. For a complete list of venues and dates, showtimes, and ticket information visit: www.balletkelowna.ca/ March 6-9 Joe Ink, The Dance Centre's Global Dance Connections series and the Vancouver International Dance Festival present Retrospective: 25 Years.

8pm at Scotiabank Dance Centre, Vancouver.

Tickets: www.vidf.ca Info: www.thedancecentre.ca / www.joeink.ca March 6-10 The Dancers of Damelahamid present the Coastal First Nations Dance Festival at the Museum of Anthropology (MOA), Vancouver. Info: www.damelahamid.ca March 7-10 The fourth and final Vancouver International Salsa Festival at the Westin Bayshore Hotel, Vancouver.

Info: www.salsafestival.ca

March 22-24 Ballet Victoria presents The Secret Garden and other works. 7:30pm on Mar 22 and 23, 2pm on Mar 24 at McPherson Playhouse, Victoria.

Info: www.balletvictoria.ca March 22, 23 DanceHouse presents Carte Blanche (Bergen, Norway) Corps de Walk.8pm at Vancouver Playhouse.

Tickets and info: www.dancehouse.ca March 23- April 13 Flamenco Rosario proudly presents Mis Hermanas: Thicker than Water, My Sisters and I. For a complete list of venues and dates, showtimes, and ticket information visit: www.flamencorosario.org March 28 The Dance Centre presents the Discover Dance! noon hour series - Mozaico Flamenco Dance Theatre. 12 noon at Scotiabank Dance Centre, Vancouver. Tickets: www.ticketstonight.ca, Info: www.thedancecentre.ca / www.mozaicoflamenco.com March 31 New Works presents Dance Allsorts - South Asian Arts Bhangra/Bollywood.

2pm at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre, Vancouver Tickets: Advanced tickets at eventbrite.com or at the door. Info: www.newworks.ca

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

March/April 2013

April 18-20 The Dance Centre's Global Dance Connections series and Vancouver New Music present Marta Marta Productions (Vancouver)The Ligeti Project (Premiere). 8pm at Scotiabank Dance Centre, Vancouver. Tickets: www.ticketstonight.ca, info: www.thedancecentre.ca / www.martamartaproductions.com / www.newmusic.org April 21 New Works presents Dance Allsorts - European Folk Dance at the Balkan Spring Festival.

2pm at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre, Vancouver Tickets: Advanced tickets at eventbrite.com or at the door. Info: www.newworks.ca April 22-29 The Canadian Dance Assembly proudly presents National Dance Week leading up to International Dance Day. For information on NDW and events across the country, visit http://www.cda-acd.ca/ en/programs-services/national-dance-week.

April 24-27 The Firehall Arts Centre presents Arkadi Zaides and Company Land-Research.

8pm at the Firehall Arts Centre, Vancouver. Tickets and info: www.firehallartscentre.ca

April 25-27 The Dance Centre presents the Global Dance Connections series Chartier Danse (Toronto/Montreal) –Stria.

8pm at Scotiabank Dance Centre, Vancouver. Tickets: www.ticketstonight.ca, info: www.thedancecentre.ca / www.chartierdanse.com April 25-27 Ballet BC presents the World Premiere of Jose Navas' Giselle. 8pm at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Tickets and Info: http://www.balletbc.com/single_tickets.html, www.balletbc.com April 29 International Dance Day In 1982 the Dance Committee of the International Theatre Institute (UNESCO) founded International Dance Day to be celebrated every year on the 29th April, anniversary of Jean-Georges Noverre (1727-1810), the creator of modern ballet. Find out about how you can celebrate: http://www.international-dance-day.org/en/danceday. html April 30-May 4 The Cultch presents Tara Cheyenne Performance (Vancouver) – Highgate. 8pm at The Cultch, Vancouver.

Tickets and info: www.thecultch.com

April 25 The Dance Centre presents the Discover Dance! noon series - Historical Performance Ensemble.

12 noon at Scotiabank Dance Centre, Vancouver.

Tickets: www.ticketstonight.ca, info: www.thedancecentre.ca / www.historicalperformance.net

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