Mary Sloan and other fabulous dancers.
Lillianna Strauss dancing in my dance session at the Old Fire Hall.
From late August 2020, to December 2, 2020, I was honoured to be a Chu Niikwan artist in residence in Whitehorse, Yukon. During this time, I created a new work called, Seven.
Here's my notes for the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Gallery about the work --
Seven. -- dedicated to the healing of all who have suffered from police brutality
I was listening to the radio while planning my performance for the Chu Niikwan residency showing in-process. The CBC news came on. In Kenosha, Wisconsin, 29-year old Jacob Blake was shot in the back seven times by police officer Rusten Sheskey. Seven times.
The River pulls our stories from us, helps to hear, hold and share stories. I wanted this story, of whatever art I’m making here by this river, to connect with the Outside. To make visible my heart, to connect with the hearts of others – to join in love and rebellion in times of loss and isolation.
This piece invites being part of something larger than one's self. The shared garment for seven people, danced at the opening of the Chu Niikwan residency show, is part of a formal procession of blessing, action, and reflection.
The performance creates time to observe all we share -- the light and the shadows, joys and beauty, grief and shock also. Let the power of our steps, and of our gathering, create and send healing into the world from the banks of this powerful water.
I hand-sewed this garment exclusively with fabric donated by the Whitehorse community. The ornaments on the costume are inspired by the regalia of my family's region in the Carpathian basin, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén region in Hungary. Part of being an artist can be recognizing and understanding what you wish to do with the legacy your Ancestors have given you. No matter how humble, nor how traumatic, our family's stories shape our core, and our core shapes our art practices.
Seven premiered on November 7, 2020, in Whitehorse.
Medium: Dance, Performance, Costume, Social Engagement, Installation
Danced by:
Josée Fortin, Jordan Kaltenbruner, Sarah Langlois, Nicole Schafenacker, Lilliana Strauss, Mary Sloan, Jacob Zimmer.
With music and poetry performed by Jicklinghouse - Sam Gallagher, Scott Maynard, Peter Jickling.
Seven fabric providers and sponsors:
Anonymous, Nicole Bauberger, Lori Beavis, Anyes Limonta-Dimsdale, Carolyn Steele Lane, Audrey Sawyer, Duncan Sinclair.
Special thanks:
Shäw nithän. Thank-you. Merci. Nagyon köszönöm --
to Nicole Bauberger, Lori Beavis, Blondie, Mary Bradshaw, Patrick Matheson, Scott Maynard, Katie Newman, Courtney Wheelton.
The Yukon Arts Centre kindly invited me to facilitate
six (6) free, mixed-ability, FREE,
one-hour, lunch-time dance workshops this winter,
for people from all levels of dance training.
Thank-you Yukon Art Centre!
No previous dance experience or training required!
Read on...
Dance is magical, dance is life-affirming, dance is necessary -- open your new decade with dance.
Noon-time FREE Dance Sessions
Monday, November 25, 2019
Monday, January 6. 2020
Monday, February 10, 2020
Monday, March 2, 2020
Monday, May 11, 2020
Place: Old Fire Hall, 1105 Front St., Whitehorse.
Time: 12 noon to 1:00 pm
You are welcome to come 15 minutes early to warm-up, settle in, have a cup of tea and a snack (we will have snacks and tea for you).
Because the floor is a little hard and a little cold at the Old Fire Hall, I recommend bringing comfy, secure, light, shoes to dance in.
I'll guide you through an uplifting and useful warm-up, then we'll explore easy and fun dance improvising techniques. Some exercises involve music, some are sans music.
These sessions are for all/mixed-abilities -- if you're dancing with wheels or other mobility assistants, or attendants, please dance with us!
Photos taken at left from the November and January sessions at the Old Fire Hall. Thank-you dancers!
I was happy to participate as a cohort/co-designer for Nakai Theatre's summer project Landscape Theatre, this August.
It was an exciting ten days! Here's more detail from the Nakai Theatre:
"In pursuit of “Theatre that can only be made here,” Yukon’s Nakai Theatre is launching an ambitious new program this summer that asks, “What is the theatre that matches the scale of our landscape?”
Jacob Zimmer created a responsive post about Trace Dance Practice's role with in Landscape Theatre process here on the Naki Blog -- here!
This first year of a multi-year project includes community build nights (July 24 and 31) at Yukonstruct’s Makespace, hosting Outdoor Theatre Workshops for Youth with Kwanlin Dün First Nation Youth Recreation (August 7-9) and the inaugural Landscape Theatre Residency (August 15-25) at the Yukon College - Cold Climate Innovation wing in NorthLight Innovation, the Yukon Arts Centre and a range of outdoor sites around Whitehorse and Carcross".
Read more about it over here on the Nakai website!
Photos of workshop (left) by Eric Pinkerton Photography.
My Interview with Marilyn Yadultin Jensen, leader of The Dakhká Khwáan Dancers, made the cover of the September/October 2019, issue of The Dance Current!
It was an honour and a pleasure to catch Jensen for an interview in the height of the busy summer season for this issue. The headline is: "Electrifying dance and music in Yukon and internationally"; the interview includes a peek into how The Dakhká Khwáan Dancers stay energized. and Jensen's advice for other dancers. Featuring photos by Alistair Maitland.
Gunalchéesh ax een yéi jeeneiyí, Marilyn!
Check out the excerpt and online issue here!
I'm happy to announce the first Trace Dance Practice Workshops in Whitehorse this August & September 2019!
Thank-you, people who have previously participated in my dance workshops workshops in Whitehorse. You requested more -- here we go!
No dance training required! The workshop is also very useful for trained dancers and performers of all kinds.
See the workshop dates and details here!
Please register early!
Thank-you!
Photo of August, 2019 workshop by Eric Pinkerton Photography.
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Shorts Screening at Available Light Film Festival, 2019
The Flour Pull at Rendezvous Dir. Ingrid Veninger,
featuring Aimée and RP Singh, 2018, 5 min
North by Northwest: Yukon Short Films
Monday February 4, 2019 at 6:00pm, Yukon Arts Centre, Whitehorse
If you missed the ALFF shorts screening, you can watch the movie here!
It was fun to meet filmmaker Ingrid Veninger while she was in the Yukon in 2018, when she was a guest at Available Light Film Festival (Whitehorse). We had met previously in the Yukon in 2014, when I wrote about Veninger's movie "The Animal Project".
We met again one cold February 2018 afternoon in Marsh Lake to shoot some footage. Ingrid invented a scenario for a faux-documentary about a man (JP Micheau, played by RP Singh) driven to win the annual flour packing contest at the Rendezvous Festival in Whitehorse.
The dialogue and dance was improvised under Veninger's direction.
It was great to see this short on the big screen in ALFF 2019!
Video stills from "The Flour Pull", 2018.