Each showcase is either preceded or followed by discussion with the artists. |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
• 10:15am, 25 min work •
soft foot is a spare and mesmerizing solo work, created for dancer Ziyian Kwan by choreographer Robin Poitras. Inspired by the mythological inheritance of the great bear constellation Ursa Major, soft foot unfolds as a visual and sonic feast. Its hybrid installation is at once elegant and raw, drawing us into a world that features text by Robert Bringhurst, soundscore by Jeff Morton, lighting by David Fraser and fur shoes by John Noestheden. soft foot is a captivating inter-play of movement, text and objects.
www.ziyiankwan.blogspot.com
|
|
|
• durational lobby installation •
Letters is an interactive performance installation that would suit a gala event or similar function. Originally presented to popular acclaim November 2011 at the Vancouver Art Gallery’s FUSE, the installation features five letter-writing booths designed like a Catholic confessional booth, with signs indicating “Letter to the One You Cannot Have,” “Letter of Revenge,” “Letter to My Future Self,” etc. Inside the booth (built with simple pipe-and-drape) the patron sits in a chair and discovers a writer concealed behind a screen sitting at a manual typewriter. The writer informs the patron they have 5 minutes and two paragraphs and asks “What would you like to say?” In its Vancouver premiere, Letters offered surprising moments of hilarity and intimacy. Completed letters are then stamped, enveloped and given to the patron through a slot, or mailed at their request.
www.radixtheatre.org
|
|
|
• 60 minute reading •
Winners and Losers is a thoroughly competitive performance predicated on the true co-existence of theatre artists James Long and Marcus Youssef. Based on the current proposition that competition is inevitable and if pushed to its logical end results in genocide, two men share a small space within a film-editing suite. As they sort through and re-edit a collection of 16mm Russian films, they play a game of naming people, places or things — Ronald Reagan, North Korea, Pamela Anderson, the rainforests, the First Nations, Stephen Hawking, Capitalism, etc. — and then debate whether these subjects are winners or losers. The debate eventually to turns discussions of themselves and their individual class histories - one man being a product of economic privilege, and the other not.
If you can't see this at PushOFF, you can also check it out here: January 28, 2pm, presented at SceneFirst New Play Workshop Series, Gateway Theatre, 6500 Gilbert Road, Richmond.
www.theatrereplacement.org
www.neworldtheatre.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
• 11:00 am, 40 min excerpt of completed full-length work •
A world of ideas comes alive on stage in Experiments, a production that captures the creativity, experimentation, and intuition that scientists and artists use investigating the world around them. LINK Dance’s latest piece premiered in 2010 in Vancouver, toured in British Columbia in 2011, and heads to Toronto and Guelph in spring 2012. Experiments is based on years of research between dancers and behavioral ecologists (scientists who study animals through the lens of their behaviour). Interlacing sound, video, lighting and movement, this production looks at the consequence of where logic and emotion collide, performed by a cast of four dancers and a scientist.
www.linkdance.ca
|
|
|
• 15 minute showcase excerpt •
Conceived and directed by The Contingency Plan, Adhere is a collaboratively created work of dance-theatre that responds to the question: “What is it to be alone?” The work draws from observations around our societal relationship to being alone, each collaborator’s personal interpretations and memories, and the tactile sensations we experience when we are by ourselves in various situations. Through story, prose, original sound composition, movement and a set consisting of three polycarbonate cubes, this multi-layered work seeks to invite its audience into an experiential world where their own personal responses to this question are brought to light.
www.contingencyplan.ca
|
|
|
• 15 minute showcase excerpt •
Hard Times Hit Parade is a theatrical dance marathon set in 1933, a history lesson brought to you by clowns and dancers using the vaudevillian forms of swing dance, cabaret, live music, and puppetry. Dancing for their livelihoods, and reflecting the current economic and environmental crisis, enthusiastic couples are worn down to the point of hallucination by the extreme length of the marathon. Based on a true story, a city bilaw threatens to prematurely shut down the marathon. Should this happen, the contest would end without a winner leaving the producers with no obligation to award the prize. Hence the dance marathon becomes a race to the finish rather than a contest of endurance. Hard Times Hit Parade is a story of community forming out of competition, and new structures arising from the crash.
www.dustyflowerpot.org
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
• 1:00 pm, 30 minute excerpt of full-length work-in-progress •
Winner of the Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award (Dance 2012), this project is an ambitious work for eight women that showcases Canadian regional diversity in contemporary dance. Elles is the expression of choreographer Serge Bennathan’s desire to be confronted once again by feminine strength, passion and depth. This work explores the visceral, raw physicality of women coming from different geographical points, bringing with them different approaches and languages of dance.
www.lesproductionsfiglio.ca
|
|
|
• 15 minute showcase excerpt •
In Little Orange Man, the audience is shepherded by twelve-year-old Kitt, the Kinder Whisperer as she undertakes a massive dream experiment -- which requires access to the audience’s subconscious. Kitt’s world-view has been informed as much by her grandfather’s gruesome folktales as by Google and quantum theory. Using homemade technology, Kitt extracts and reenacts the audience’s dreams. It's at once unsettling and charming, haunting and hilarious, as she wrestles with the true awesome power of the imagination.
www.snafudance.com
|
|
|
• 15 minute showcase excerpt •
A solo stage show by journalist and playwright Mark Leiren-Young and directed by TJ Dawe about the problems with being green that Kermit never dreamed of. An organic, eco-friendly, BPA-free comedy about sacred cows and toxic veggie-burgers by the winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for humour and wordsmith for the award-winning comedy duo Local Anxiety.
www.leiren-young.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
• 1:45pm, 30 minute excerpt of new full-length work •
New Animal is a multi-media work choreographed by Dana Gingras (Animals of Distinction, Holy Body Tattoo) and created with The 605 Collective. The dance exploits the supreme versatility of the five dancers: Lisa Gelley, Shay Kuebler, Josh Martin, David Raymond and Amber Funk-Barton. Suffused with raw, unbridled energy and a hunger for movement, the performers reclaim their animal bodies as a means of becoming fully human. Both playful and intimate, this work walks a tightrope between fleeting moments of control and radical shifts in dynamics.
www.605collective.com
http://vimeo.com/28827217
|
|
|
• 20 minute section of full-length work •
Allemande, which premiered in March 2011 at New York's Joyce SoHo. Since then, the work has toured across Canada and the US, in solo, trio and full group formats. Allemande is a physical deconstruction of a Bach Cello Suite and the accompanying social dances of the Baroque period. The traditional notion of ‘courting’ and our many modern day complications involved in the search for a mate come head to head, as the work raises complex questions surrounding the definition of companionship.
www.movethecompany.com
|
|
|
• 15 minute showcase excerpt •
Other Side Through You is a charged, theatrical blending of fact and fiction that wrestles with the science and spirit behind communication. Cat Main's sister has cerebral palsy and "talks" with an alphabet board. With the help of a facilitator who holds her arms Cat's sister points to letters on the board to spell out what she wants to say. The problem…not everyone believes her sister is the one communicating.
On a quest for the truth Cat talks to world famous skeptics, family members, top researchers and speech pathologists. Using verbatim text from these interviews Other Side Through You takes us on a journey that explodes the personal into the political and immerses the audience in a dialogue on what constitutes real and authentic communication between individuals.
www.othersidethroughyou.blogspot.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
• 15 minute showcase excerpt •
The universal theme of longing and waiting are demonstrated in this poignant piece danced by two women, showing two sides of the psyche of a single character. Intense and expressive movement combined with video projections give a unique interpretation to the sentiments of anger, frustration, hope and hopelessness, placing them in an original light and a broader context.
www.pegahtabassinejad.com
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
• 17 minute performance •
“'art is either a complaint or do something else' was created by John Cage in response to an interview that painter, Jasper Johns had done with Mark Rosenthal. I was instantly attracted to this piece, as I saw a composer relating to and responding to a painter's relationship to composition. Somehow, to me, it asked: How does a painter deal with time? How does a composer deal with space? I responded by co-authoring movement with two dancers and creating a score that balanced choreography with spontaneous composition and structured improvisation. Closing the circle and moving the concept into the body; creating space for the dancers to respond to the text, the space, time, their bodies and each other." – James Gnam
www.plasticorchidfactory.com
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
This second edition of Theatre Replacement and The Chop’s speaker series is a conversation between Norman Armour, Executive Director of PuSh International Performing Arts Festival and Kris Nelson, Director of Antonym Productions. Norman and Kris will delve into themes around curating and cultivation from their respective point of views. Come engage in questions around tastemaking, while nibbling and sipping at Theatre Replacement's new creative space, The Skinny.
www.theatrereplacement.org
www.thechoptheatre.com
|
|
|
| |
| PROGRAM, PLACES AND TIMES SUBJECT TO CHANGE |
| |
|
