My Year in Vancouver Dance (a review) + Vancouver Dance History, 2006-2016 (a preview)

Hard to believe that this time last year I was in the final stages of rehearsal for Le Grand Continental. The free outdoor performance on the plaza of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre--choreographed by Montreal's Sylvain Émard, programmed as part of the PuSh Festival, and featuring 70+ community dancers strutting their stuff--recently made Deborah Meyers' year-end Vancouver Sun list of top 2015 dance shows in the city. That was nice to see.

Who would have thought that the experience would go on to launch something of a parallel community site dance career, what with the Mountain View Summer Solstice and Wreck Beach Butoh experiences following in quick succession this past summer? Certainly if you'd said to me last January that I'd now be taking weekly class with Barbara Bourget, I'd have laughed in your face. Though, if we're pointing fingers, I should probably place much of the blame for all of this at the feet--quite literally--of Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg, who has certainly spoiled me for thinking that dancing and laughing naturally go together. (Sorry Barbara!)

There were a lot of laughs yesterday on the sixth floor of The Dance Centre, where I gathered with Artistic Associate Justine A. Chambers and Alexa Mardon to brainstorm a planned project on recent Vancouver dance history that Justine is spearheading as part of her two-year DC residency. Part living archive, part dance ethnography, part an exercise in kinaesthetic mapping and performance kinship, the collaboration is still in its very early stages. But the general idea is that the three of us will, over the next year or so, conduct video interviews with several of the city's leading dance artists in order to document the story of Vancouver dance over the past decade. Or I should say, stories. Because we are particularly keen not just to include as many voices as possible, but also to note where those voices converge and diverge on common anecdotes or topics of discussion, be they related to specific works, creation processes, tours, presenters, etc.

The temporal period we've imposed on the project coincides with Justine's arrival in the city, but also with something of a generational shift--or perhaps, more properly, supplement--in/to Vancouver dance practice, with many younger artists (several of them, like Justine, relocating to Vancouver from elsewhere) beginning to form companies and make new work and get noticed locally, nationally, and internationally. To be sure, we are also expecting that fissures will automatically open up in this timeline, with questions of aesthetic influence, and dance training, and performance collaboration and mentorship necessarily pointing backwards as much as forwards. We envision the process being rhizomatic rather than linear; as Justine put it yesterday, by the end of this we should have a constellated web of Vancouver dance-world connections in which there are zero degrees of separation between anyone.

Oh, and did I mention that all of this will culminate in a performance, and that I have agreed to participate in said performance? That part of it makes me a little sick to my stomach, not least as it will almost surely be at the Dance Centre in front of an audience made up of many of the artists whom we'll have interviewed. That's far in the future, though, and for now I can compartmentalize it in my mind as something comfortably abstract and on the distant horizon. However, I was relieved to hear from Justine and Alexa, both experienced performers, that they still want to throw up before most performances.

Watch this space--and possibly others--for updates on the progress of this project. My first task: to dig through the last decade of my collected programs.

P.

Mountain View Solstice Dancers: Performance Day

Yesterday, the first day of summer, was one of those gorgeous sunny Vancouver days when the city shows itself off in truly spectacular style. And then promptly serves up way too many competing activities to enjoy it by: the Dragon Boat Festival at South False Creek; Car Free Day on Main Street and Commercial Drive; the Jazz Fest; National Aboriginal Day festivities at Trout Lake; the much-mocked group yoga thingy that was moved from the Burrard Street Bridge to the Plaza of Nations; FIFA Women's World Cup action; and a little thing called Father's Day. And then, of course, there was the most important event of all: our Summer Solstice Dance and Music Celebration at Mountain View Cemetery.

I decided to walk up Main Street to 37th in advance of our 4 pm call time. Big mistake. The throngs of people out enjoying the sun and free activities slowed me down. Plus I got distracted by the discounted clothing items at Motherland and Eugene Choo, and by friends I happened upon. By the time I got to Celebration Hall I was already sweating profusely. After a brief warm-up led by Hailey, Jessica definitively set which way we all moved during the in-out crouch step at the end of "New Friends," as we were finally all together. This involved a change of direction for me, which threw me off in the final run-through that followed. Fortunately I remembered to go the right way (which was actually the left way) during the actual performances.

As for those performances, I think they went very well. We had good crowds for each show; Mark and all the musicians were in fine form (and the sound was great); Diane's installation (a beautiful hall of mirrors referencing both Part's "Spiegel im Spiegel" and Jean Cocteau's Orphee) was a hit; Sarah managed to cajole and shame nearly everyone who came out to dance during the end of "Open Up Your Heart"; and the setting did not let us down, even cuing up a gorgeous sunset for the end of our 9 pm set. And then there was the dancing: mistakes were made, to be sure, and our timing was off in places. But we had fun, the audiences responded enthusiastically, and as with LGC we succeeded in animating an under-used public space in Vancouver through a coordinated artistic intervention.

On the latter front, it was great to see so many LGC alumni out to support us. I look forward to seeing them again in three weeks, when the documentary about the making of the Vancouver version of Le Grand Continental screens on the Queen E Plaza on July 14. In the meantime, later today I begin rehearsals for my next community dance project: Wreck Beach Butoh, which happens July 4 and 5. Onward in movement!

P.

Mountain View Solstice Dancers: Rehearsal 14

Just a quick post about our final rehearsal last night. This was an extra one, so not everyone could be there. Plus it was raining, so we had to work without the musicians inside Celebration Hall for most of our time together. That work was mostly devoted to refining movement details and quality, as well as timing, on the second "New Friends" sequence. This was very useful as I discovered there were a number of things I was doing wrong--including moving the wrong way during the final crouch bit. Speaking of moving the wrong way, I have to remember that the first "down-up-down-up" step sequence following from this crouch goes out instead of in. Otherwise I'll be doing my own solo on Sunday.

Before we broke for the evening, we did run the whole piece outside. It was only misting by then, so it wasn't too uncomfortable. And while our timing was off a bit in "Spiegel," and our lines were rather wonky during "Open Up Your Heart," we did get through everything in pretty polished fashion.

Now we just have to maintain our energy and edge for performance day on Sunday.

P.

Mountain View Solstice Dancers: Rehearsal 13

Even though we have another impromptu rehearsal scheduled for this Thursday, last night was officially our dress rehearsal. Diane had requested that we all wear our performance clothes, which meant we were awash in a sea of white--including Mark and his fellow musicians. It was really quite stunning visually--and that was from within the dancing cloud. I can only imagine what we look like from a distance, walking up towards Celebration Hall at the beginning of "Spiegel im Spiegel." It's true, some folks' white wardrobes are more impressive than others--Suzie and Hilary, in particular, were wearing gorgeous dresses--but everyone had made an effort with their outfits. Kitted out as we were, it felt like we were a real performance ensemble--that, or members of a religious cult (which, given the locale, wouldn't be such a stretch of the imagination).

There was no futzing with individual pieces or specific sections. It was straight into a full run-through of the entire piece, which we did three times to live musical accompaniment. Our timing was off in a few places and I for one made a series of small mistakes at various points (including stepping on poor Suzie's toes twice); however, overall things went fairly well. It was especially helpful to finally connect the three different sections of choreography, and to have the musicians there to give us specific cues to help with the transitions. One thing I have to remember is to be near the top of the triangle for the start of the mixing bowl bit of "Spiegel," as otherwise Suzie and I will be out of place for the waltz section.

There were lots of other small notes that Jessica and Hailey gave us, but mostly they reassured us that we looked great and that they could tell we were having fun. We had compliments, as well, from several curious passers by who paused to watch our antics or were drawn in by Sarah's booming voice.

Now we just have to hope that this gorgeous weather holds through to Sunday!

P.

Mountain View Solstice Dancers: Rehearsal 12

After missing my second rehearsal last week due to a conference in Ottawa, I dutifully arrived early for extra practice last night, having also done my best to review the final "Open Your Heart" choreography via the video created by Jessica and Hailey. However, we actually spent the entire three hours working on "Spiegel im Spiegel."

Not that this wasn't welcome. It's the first and longest section--and the hardest to count. Jessica spent a lot of time drilling the counts around the waltz and duet sections into our brains and bodies. This was especially helpful for Suzie and I, as it's been ages since we've had a chance to work on this together. Once we actually figured out on which side of each other we were meant to stand things became a lot easier! There was a little futzing with the positioning of the waltz quartets and which duos are meant to move outward from the column leading up to the duet; we practiced that last bit several times as we were taking too much time following our cue from Tracey at the front.

We were lucky to have the musicians there with us, as without the piano from Part's recorded composition one must listen more closely for the downbeats in order to maintain the counts. And I find I really need to keep counting throughout this opening section as I can't always or intuitively hear the musical cues that mark specific movements when Jessica points them out to us. It was a bit nerve-wracking when we got massively out of sync with the music (and there were a few such moments), but Jessica and Hailey and the musicians were very patient with us, and by the final run-through we pretty much nailed it.

I'm still worried about the last piece though, as I've yet to practice it with the group. I hope we get a chance at one of the impromptu extra rehearsals organized by Jane and Judy for this evening and tomorrow. Because after that there's only one more rehearsal next Monday, and then it's performance day the Sunday following. If the evening on the 21st is anything like it was last night, it's going to be gorgeous.

I just hope our dancing will be equal to the weather and setting.

P.

Mountain View Solstice Dancers: Rehearsal 10

Last night we reached an important milestone in our rehearsals: we were joined by the musicians who will be performing the live score for us on the evening of June 21st. They include Little Chamber Music AD Mark Haney on double bass (whose original composition, "New Friends and Stranger Companies," is the second of the three works we dance to), Marina Hasselberg on cello, Adrian Verdejo on electric guitar, and Sarah Wheeler on vocals. Sarah's song, "Open Your Heart," is the third and final piece we dance to. We got a taste of what that choreography will look like when Jessica danced it solo for us while Sarah sang; the combination of Sarah's big voice and Jessica's fluid movements, combined with the fact that we were outside just at dusk, was intoxicating. Several of us suggested that we should just leave things like that, with Jessica dancing alone for the final number; that said, and as difficult as I know this new choreography will be to learn on top of all the rest, I am eager to start mastering these final steps. Sarah's song is big and bluesy and Jessica has appropriately composed a concluding line dance for us (shades of Le Grand Continental redux), complete with lots of turns and hip shimmies and hand claps.

Of course, we only have three more weeks in which to learn this--plus perfect the other two numbers. And I'm going to be away next week because of a conference. Oy vey!

Mark's friend Joelysa Pankanea was also there last night to teach those of us who wish to sing during the circle formation bit of "New Friends..." that particular bit of vocalization it. It sounded really great when everyone was just standing around inside Celebration Hall at the beginning (I wasn't singing, just listening). However, when we went outside and tried our first run through of this piece things sort of broke down. Trying to remember the choreography (and our spacing) from two weeks ago, combined with the added complexity of counting on our own in our heads to the live music, plus singing on top of all that proved too much for most of us. For now we've decided on a core of four singers who will break off and cluster in the centre during this bit, with those who wish to among the dancers free to join in while also moving should they see fit.

Working through "New Friends..." several times, we eventually did get the timing and most of the choreography in pretty good shape by the end. After the aforementioned preview of "Open Your Heart" by Sarah and Jessica, that left time for a couple of run throughs of "Spiegel Im Spiegel." Here the first challenge was hearing the music from where we start, at the edge of the road leading south to Celebration Hall. The second, for me, was working through the duet portion of the piece. For personal reasons, Suzie couldn't be there again last night and as it's been ages since we danced this bit together, I sort of just faked my way through. Tt's my turn to be away next week, and I'm wondering if we shouldn't book some extra time together to perfect this...

Notwithstanding all my very real anxieties about how much there is still to do between now and the performances on the 21st (another fun fact I learned last night: there'll be two of them, at 7 and 9 pm--see the poster below), I am proud to be part of this creative experiment. The music is amazing, Sarah's voice seems to fill the entirety of the spectacular Mountain View setting, and Jessica has worked hard to craft group movement that complements both. Clad all in white (I previewed my outfit last night), it'll seem like we're floating through space like one of Laban's famous movement choirs. And with any luck the dying light will mask our slight imperfections.

P.

Mountain View Solstice Dancers: Rehearsal 9

We pressed ahead last night with the rest of the choreography to accompany the second of the three musical compositions in the piece. We segue from the Matrix-esque slo-mo partnering we learned last week into some cool cheerleading moves before forming two parallel lines that, after some forward hip and arm action reminiscent of belly dancing finds us forming a circle. I believe it's in the centre of the circle that the singing--from those who are so inclined--will happen. Myself, I'm just sticking to dancing, thank you very much.

The circle eventually breaks apart into two new parallel lines, which become zig zags of alternating inward and outward horizontal moves. There's some hand and arm (and head!) coordination that I still need to work on in this part. Fortunately the very end of this section repeats phrases from the beginning that we've already learned.

In this second section, where--as with the earlier waltz steps--we're covering a lot of ground both individually and as a group, we've really felt the physical constraints of Celebration Hall as our de facto rehearsal venue. I admire Jessica for the on-the-fly geometry lessons she's having to conduct--both in adapting the choreography to the more confined interior space and reminding us of how things will look and feel when we're finally outside.

Here's hoping that happens soon. Already it's getting warmer and lighter week by week; biking home last night at 9:15 pm it felt like I was racing against dusk. No rehearsal next Monday because of the holiday, but when we return on the 25th, weather and equipment permitting, it would be great to really bust loose outdoors.

P.

Mountain View Solstice Dancers: Rehearsal 8

One thing my admittedly brief career in community dance has taught me: knowing how to count is important, especially when the musical beats are irregular and the accompanying movement even more improvisatory. All of which is to say that the careful reader of this blog (please identify yourself, whoever you are, so that we can have coffee!) will have noticed that I've skipped a number in my rehearsal documentation of the Mountain View Summer Solstice dance project. That's because I was in Montreal last week on business--a seemingly ridiculous phrase when applied to academics, but in this case I was truly in meetings for three days straight, from which I will also be producing a final report.

In my absence, Jessica and company finished setting the opening Arvo Part piece, which meant I had a lot of catching up to do at last night's rehearsal. I duly arrived early and tried to assimilate the last half of the duet that ends this section. But without Suzie there to accompany me it was a bit haphazard, and I mostly tried to focus my concentration on absorbing what Jessica was doing. Fortunately the new choreography repeats certain phrases from the first half of the piece, so I wasn't completely lost.

After the rest of the company's arrival, and following our opening warm-up, we moved on to learning brand new movement, which in this case will be accompanying the second of the three musical compositions of the evening. This is the original piece that Mark is in the midst of composing; the final version will be performed live on the evening of the actual performance, but for now he has given Jessica a skeletal bass track from which to begin building her choreography. He then plans to respond in turn by layering over different instrumental motifs. This is all very well and good in theory, but Heather wanted an assurance that Mark would at least provide us with a struck cymbal or some sort of other distinctive musical cue to alert us as to when we are to pop up from our bent-over, haunch-in-the-air grooving at the start of this piece.

We did spend a lot of time last night "assuming the position," to use Jessica's phrase--that is, bent over at the waist and sunk into our quads, moving only our tailbones and heads and fingertips for successive counts of eight (see, more dance numeracy!). This does eventually culminate in full verticality, leading into what I've dubbed our sci-fi sequence: a series of robotic steps forward that then segue into a brief and somewhat anomalous Fosse-esque jazz flourish that is really just a prelude to a longer Matrix-like bit of mirrored improvisation. I was partnered with Diane for the latter and we had a lot of fun channeling our inner Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss--though who was Neo and who was Trinity might have been hard to determine to the outside eye.

I have to say that I do like the improvisatory bits. It takes a lot of the pressure off in terms of the quality and the timing of the movement. But, as I suggested at the outset of this post, that doesn't mean that you can stop counting!

P.

Mountain View Solstice Dancers: Rehearsal 6

Last night we began outside! Jessica and Diane and Mark decided to take advantage of the gorgeously warm and light-filled evening by having us set our waltz partnering pattern on the paved promenade outside Celebration Hall.

However, figuring out when, and in what directions, the different quartets were meant to set off took some doing. Plus, truth be told, I think we were generally friskily distracted by being outside. If June 21 is anything like last night--complete with a lovely crescent moon--we're going to have some serious competition for spectators' attention. Nonetheless, Jessica and Hayley persevered (kudos to them both for dealing with such aplomb and forbearance with our chaotic and roady bunch--although Hayley did have to tell us to be quiet more than once last night, generally we get very few of the kind of dressings down for misbehaving we routinely received from Emily during LGC rehearsals).

After trying the waltz pattern a few more times with the music blaring from a portable speaker Mark had hooked up, we then did a trial run-through of our walking entrance. This starts from the bike bath that bisects the northern and southern sections of the cemetery--which is a long way away from where we're meant to end up, near Celebration Hall, at the end of this sequence. We may be sprinting during the last part of it.

After a short break, it was back inside to learn a new partnering phrase, one that incorporates some of the contact improv-style movement we experimented with in previous sections. Specifically, there is a finger and head sequence that involves some tricky transferring of weight. Suzie and I managed fairly well, although we were slightly off in our counts each time. And there were a few bumped foreheads.

Diane told us at the end of the rehearsal that we are behind in our rehearsals--only two months to the performance! So we definitely have to pick up the pace from here on in. We still have 15 or more minutes of the piece to set. Apparently we'll be finishing with the Part song next week--although I'll miss that, as I'm going to be away in Montreal.

I'll just have to practice in my hotel room with the videos.

P.

Mountain View Solstice Dancers: Rehearsal 5

Last night, despite being told the pace of learning new material would hereafter be speeding up, we mostly spent reviewing. Fair enough: there were a lot of people absent last week. And I myself didn't have a chance to review the videos sent by Jessica and Hayley--so I wasn't complaining.

Jessica did also set for us the facing for the last movement phrase from the beginning of the Part piece, which serves in to our transition to the waltz procession that we started with several weeks ago. Here, we were also more or less definitively paired up, and it just worked out that Suzie will be my partner. This is fantastic, because we have an easy camaraderie, she's super fun and funny, and she laughs sympathetically rather than mockingly at my general cluelessness. Plus she has a lovely Irish accent.

Musn't get too attached, though. During Le Grand Continental rehearsals there was a lot of shifting of positions before the actual performances. In our case, that's only nine weeks away.

Here's hoping it gets warmer and lighter soon so that we can move outside.

P.

Mountain View Solstice Dancers: Rehearsal 4

We were reduced in numbers last night owing to the long weekend. Nevertheless, Jessica pressed ahead in teaching us new choreography.

Following from where we left off last week, we learned two new phrases of 16 counts each. When Jessica and Hayley (I'm still not sure I've got the right name) performed them successively for us to the music, they looked impossibly long and complicated. But when they were broken down and we assembled them together, in our own bodies, it was surprising not just how quickly (relatively speaking) we mastered them (again, relatively speaking). Even more surprising was how fast we sailed through them when we eventually put the phrases to the music. Then again, this is where time itself becomes relative in the dance studio. We've spent four weeks and a total of eight hours learning just 3.5 minutes of choreography. We're only half way through the first piece of music!

Speaking of that music, as with most post-classical compositions, it is incredibly difficult to count out the beats. There are very specific places in the Part piece where Jessica has us doing things, particularly during our walking circuits at the beginning. Last night Hayley was very helpfully counting out the beats so that we could know when these different bits were coming up. However, I'm pretty sure Mark and Diane don't have the budget to wire us all with ear pieces for the actual performance, so somehow we're going to have to each internalize this rhythm for ourselves.

Jessica and Hayley were going to spend the rest of the night after rehearsal making videos for us, which will definitely help. I've been lax in practising  at home so far. Partly that has to do with the frenzy of the end of term. However, I know the lack of visual aids is also a bit of a disincentive to using my own body to jog my memory--which is, of course, what I'll need to do come performance day.

P.

Mountain View Solstice Dancers: Rehearsal 3

I was pretty tired at the start of last night's rehearsal--a long day followed by a rushed dinner and a mostly uphill bike ride against the wind. When Mark announced that there was a plan afoot to have us sing in addition to dance during part of the June 21 performance I was suddenly re-energized--with horror! Fortunately it has since been clarified that the singing won't be compulsory. And it sounds like, as with the overall concept of the piece, this part of it has been thought through with care. I look forward to seeing how it evolves--just without me contributing any off-key bass notes.

After a brief warm-up Jessica showed us, through the small band of windows on the north side of Celebration Hall, where we would be beginning our dance--from just beyond the lip of the bike bath that cuts across the cemetery at 37th. We will process up to the Hall in time with the first piece of music, Part's "Spiegel im Spiegel." As part of that procession, however, there will be various bits of choreography, the first few motifs of which we learned last night. These included a simple bounce up and down on the spot to the first piano note; a reaching of our hands skyward and then a twisty floating of them down to our sides, followed by a final, gentle bump of the arms in time to another of the piano notes (a really gorgeous move); and, finally, a little grapevine and hop on the spot with a partner. The latter took Susie and I a bit of time to master, but eventually we got there--and we had a lot of fun doing so.

Then came the really complicated part: massing in a triangle formation and learning an 11-count sequence from start to finish. The sequence begins with a coordinated leg and arm circle, followed by a step backward with upraised arms, a step forward with hands on knees, a quarter turn to the left, a torso swivel, and various bits of arms stretches and rolls that conclude with our hands above our heads and balancing on our toes, ready to fall on eleven. That I can remember most of this sequence in my head is a good sign. Now it's just finding time to practice it between now and next Monday.

That's right: no holiday for us. Not when there's only eleven more weeks to performance.

P.

Mountain View Solstice Dancers: Rehearsal 2

Last night at Celebration Hall, Jessica began by introducing us to new rehearsal assistant Hayley (I think I've got that right), who took us through a few opening somatic breathing and knee bending exercises in order to get us to think about ways to mitigate the effects of dancing on a concrete floor. Then, after a brief warm-up, Jessica reversed the process of last week, having us start with our concluding shaped improv exercise.

Soon, however, the improv morphed into the contact variety as we paired off and played with transferring weight and following the direction of different touching limbs, starting with out foreheads. Having long marvelled at the spontaneous flow and reciprocal response of professional contact dancers, it was fun to actually move in this way, working first with Ellen and then Christine and finally Ling. Needless to say, Ling and I eventually ended up on the floor in a fit of giggles.

The main portion of the rehearsal was devoted to taking our waltz steps and arm combinations from last week and putting them together in our first choreographic pattern, a group procession in which we floated (or "wafted," to use Jessica's term) down the length of the hall, doing a turn with our same waltz step (but a new set of arms), and then floated back. It sounds simple, but figuring out the number of steps to our turns and when to begin vis-a-vis each preceding set of partners took some time. Eventually we got there and now we have our first phrase to practice at home.

Among the announcements at the end of the rehearsal, Diane--who is a professional couturier--let us know her concept for our costumes. We're all to wear white. That means finding some appropriate pants, I guess. I think I'll forgo Value Village this time.

P.