what I’ve been up to since May

It’s been a very full spring and summer. I’m in the process of cleaning up from all the collaborations and performances I was involved with. Here’s a synopsis of what I’ve been doing.

W.I.P Dance Series – 30 May 2009

colloquy. Photo by Marcia P (Pixie Pixel)

colloquy. Photo by Marcia P (Pixie Pixel)

The Works In Progress Dance Series is organized by Free Flow Dance Theatre. Choreographers are invited to apply to show work-in-progress and the audience gives feedback through written comments.

I was part of a devised collaborative piece titled colloquy with Jaime Williams (dance) and Michael Fernandez (performance art/interaction). I performed a structured improvised vocal work playing with the idea of communication & various emotional states. Jaime responded to the voice, and Michael interacted with the audience, carrying messages from them to us, to which we did not respond.

colloquy. Photo by Marcia P (Pixie Pixel)

colloquy. Photo by Marcia P (Pixie Pixel)

This piece gave me a chance to get back to my improv/devising/theatre skills, and I found my previous training in the Suzuki Method of Actor Training a great resource here. Though I’m not sure the piece totally succeeded, it was an opportunity to try things out in front of an audience.

Back Alley Antics III – 20 June 2009

This is another performance project organized by Free Flow Dance Theatre. Short pieces (under 10 minutes) are performed through the alleyways of Broadway. Performers choose a spot suitable for their piece and the audience is led through the alleys to see the performances. I performed in two pieces at this event. a small piece of sky choreographed by Jackie Latendresse (artistic director of Free Flow Dance Theatre) with music by me, and she opened, a short physical theatre piece I initially performed as part of my MA Devised Theatre show at Dartington College in 2006.

a small piece of sky. Photo by Marcia P (Pixie Pixel)

a small piece of sky. Photo by Marcia P (Pixie Pixel)

a small piece of sky has short sections of both choreography and music that the performers can improvise with, and Jackie and I came up with an over-arching structure for the entire piece. Jackie has performed and directed this piece in a number of different groupings of performers, with and without sound. Because of the structure of the choreography I structured the music in the same way. I wrote with three voices in mind, but the piece has worked out such that it could be performed with a much larger number of singers.

a small piece of sky. Photo by Marcia P (Pixie Pixel)

a small piece of sky. Photo by Marcia P (Pixie Pixel)

she opened. Photo by Ed Pas

she opened. Photo by Ed Pas

she opened is a text-based piece that I perform while ripping a very long piece of cloth. I originally performed this piece in a red dress with white cloth and on the floor of a theatre space, but wanted to take advantage of the site specific nature of Back Alley Antics and found a lovely balcony behind the Craft Council Gallery. I also knew I would not have a place or an opportunity to change costume so wore white and used red cloth, which I think may have worked better.

she opened. DCA performance 2006. Photo by Kate Mount.

she opened. DCA performance 2006. Photo by Kate Mount.

she opened. Photo by Marcia P (Pixie Pixel)

she opened. Photo by Marcia P (Pixie Pixel)

Something on Sundays at the Mendel Art Gallery – 6 July 2009

This was another performance of a small piece of sky at a different site with slightly different performers. There were two dancers and three singers. Jackie danced instead of sung in the piece this time and the wonderfully talented Angie Tysseland agreed to sing.

We performed the piece three times that afternoon, each time moving down the large platform steps that lead to the river, and the final time performing at the gazebo that overlooks the river.

a small piece of sky. Mendel site. Photo by Amy Hiebert

a small piece of sky. Mendel site. Photo by Amy Hiebert

Other than that,

We travelled to Toronto for our daughter’s Grade 12 grad (yay Carly!), and our son graduated from Grade 8 here (yay Jarrod!). My part of this web project I’ve been working on is done. Ed put up a solo show of Crossroads & Flight at Mysteria Gallery in Regina. We’ve decided to buy a house and are currently working on that.

I haven’t quite decided on my plans for the fall yet. I have a few projects that are needing some attention. A couple are collaborative, but I do want to make time to work on my own work again, which I only really did at the writer’s colony last year. So I’m currently cleaning up from these completed projects and will reassess once that’s done.