Thanks to everyone who participated in WOW 2011. Please find below a video re-cap of the week with footage taken from the contemporary technique and contact improvisation classes, intensive workshop and discussion with faculty. We also have audio of the entire panel discussion thanks to Beth Graczyk. There is a wealth of perspectives and information within, so please take a listen.
video link:
audio link:
WOW 2011 runs August 21–28th @ Mascall Dance 1130 Jervis Street, Vancouver
Sun 21
6–8: potluck (1103, 789 Drake St., Vancouver, buzz 175)
M–F
10–11:30: technique (Rob Kitsos M,T; Justine A. Chambers W, Th, F)
11:45–1:30: contact (Yves Candau, Toronto)
2:15–5:15: intensive (Su-Feh Lee + Benoit Lachambre, Montreal)
*Th, 5:30–6:15: panel discussion w/ faculty, led by Jennifer Mascall
Sa
3:30–6:30: weekend workshop (Jennifer Mascall)
7–9: jam (whole food, as well as drumming by Albert St. Albert + guests)
Sun
12:30–3:30: weekend workshop (Jennifer Mascall)
We hope to see you there!!! For more info., please contact mascalldanceprojects@gmail.com
The studio opens @ 9:30am each morning.
Contemporary dance artist, educator and arts advocate Justine A. Chambers will be teaching Contemporary Technique at this year’s WOW:
August 24, 25 + 26, 10–11:30am
To register, please see our site (registration is highly recommended and cheaper. Drop-ins are welcome, but are space-dependent):
http://www.mascalldance.ca/way-out-west/
Can you only attend a portion of the classes or workshops? PERSONALIZE YOUR WOW! Please contact us with your desired schedule and we will do our best to accommodate you:
mascalldanceprojects@gmail.com
Lite
1. What helps you get through a long day of dancing?
Food and folks. Having a well stocked arsenal of nourishing food (and/or good take-out food options) keeps me energetically on task. The people I share the studio with are also a large contributing factor in keeping me energized, focused and inspired.
2. What is your number one injury prevention tip?
Warm up and warm down properly. Prepare your body specifically for the choreography you will be performing/executing that day and take time at the end of the day to unwind the body from the day’s work. Of course Traumeel, Rescue Remedy, Yamuna rolling balls, Advil (in more extreme circumstances) and regular osteopathic visits are part of my maintenance regime.
Juicy
1. What/Whose work are you currently drawn to in the contemporary art world? Does your interest in this work affect your practice as a contemporary dance artist? If so, how?
I am inspired by the work of visual artists Bruce Naumann, Andrea Zittel, Ken Lum, Ryan Peter and Oliver Laric. I am drawn to them because they are so succinct. I am always struck by how these artists clearly illuminate the ‘every day’ and unveil our humanity through their medium(s). Naumann, Zittel and Lum allow what the work necessitates to dictate the medium used to manifest the idea. I love this idea of fluidity around the medium itself. I always ask myself when developing work if I am purely seduced by what I’ve made or if it’s necessary to propel the work forward; is there another medium to be explored that will communicate the work more clearly?
“If I was an artist and I was in the studio, then whatever I was doing in the studio must be art. At this point art became more of an activity and less of a product.” -Bruce Naumann.
I have a long term preoccupation with architecture and unspectacular movement (gesture and quotidian movements) and how each influences the other. My interest in developing movement is contextualized by our ‘human-ness’ and the inherent and latent narratives embedded in our bodies whether universal or personal. Space considerations, both existing or fabricated often act as the catalyst for the content of my work.
I am also deeply inspired by my peers in dance, visual art, sound, design, publishing and fashion/textiles. I find our conversations and arguments around creation, proliferation of art, daily practice, convention in art and life, and survival endlessly fascinating.This ‘shop talk’ is an important part of my daily life. It helps situate me.
2. How does your work as a teacher relate to your work as a choreographer?
I consider my choreographic work as a distillation of what I propose in a technique class. I aim to create a class which prepares the body and the mind for negotiating space (internal and external) and movement (from minutia to large dynamic movement). Developing an awareness, strategies and tactics for movement pathways through the body and space exists in both my choreography and my class. Choreographically, I deal with these negotiations within the context of the every day or the banal through architectural structures and the subversion of quotidian physical behaviours using the tasks of reorganization, re-patterning, distillation and repetition.
3. What can we do to ameliorate the status of professional dance in Canada (particularly in response to the recent attack on Margie Gillis by Sun TV)?
There are a number of things we can do! Get involved with local arts advocacy/education groups (i.e.CADA-BC, Vancouver Public Space Network, Alliance for Arts And Culture, ArtStarts). Speak to all people about what you do as a dance artist and remind them how art already inhabits their life. Develop your own personal argument for the necessity of art in our community and spread the good word. If you don’t want to speak about it get in front of people and do it. Acts of public art are always a good way to engage the ‘general public’ (i.e.Intersection Project, Cie Willi Dormer, 30×30 Paul-André Fortier). Most importantly we must keep making work. If the thrust behind creating work falls away, the already waning support for it will disappear.
http://www.artistsincanada.com – a good resource for arts and arts advocacy organizations in North America.
Jennifer Mascall, artistic director of Mascall Dance and certified practitioner of Body-Mind Centering, will lead the Weekend Workshop at WOW 2011 looking at how to draw movement research to artistic expression.
August 27 + 28 (a total of 6hrs): $85 + HST
To register, please contact: mascalldanceprojects@gmail.com
Please see our WOW page for Jennifer’s bio, her workshop description and for info. on how to save your spot in these exciting classes:
http://www.mascalldance.ca/way-out-west/
Lite
1. What are you currently reading? What do you do with your books when you are finished reading them?
To live, sometimes I think that all I need is a bicycle, a library card and an empty room. For one of my children’s birthdays, all of the kids cut out the insides of books to make secret pockets in them. The one my son still has is called ‘The Sins of My Fathers’.
2. Whose work are you currently drawn to in dance? Why?
I enjoyed seeing Arkadi Zaides’ work [July 7th]. His movement pushed from expression and he never relinquished his demand for humanism. He seemed to source movement impulses as a choreographer in a similar way to Dean Makarenko, a dazzling Canadian dancer.
3. What is one of the routines that you practice in your daily life as an artist?
SInce 1980 I have had a daily practice of hatha yoga. I also cook and drive every day; both have taught me things about dance.
Heavy
1.How long have you been teaching?
When I started York University in 1970, I had taken classes at TDT once a week for two years. That first fall of university, I began teaching dance.
What was the first class that you ever taught?
The first class that I ever taught was to two small children at a summer cottage. We used the wringer washing machine as the beat – I was 14.
What is the most recent class that you taught?
My most recent teaching was a yoga class. I find that the silence of yoga allows as much rejuvenation as the asanas. Another recent teaching session was introducing a group to a Japanese involuntary movement practice that we have nicknamed “the wobblies”.
What are the similarities between your teaching, now and then?
A strain that has continued throughout, that I can see, is that I find a movement idea that is totally fulfilling and I want the class to be equally juiced by that. I try to pass on my lense and my reason for the interest.
What are the differences?
The differences now are that I can feel that I contain a lot of information about dance, movement and the body. I want to pass this information on the way that I understand it. When I was beginning, it was more ‘let’s figure out what this is about’…
2. What challenges do you see dance artists facing today?
It is hard to find a situation where students can learn to move across the floor. It is hard to find a place to study the history of contemporary dances so the wheel of ideas isn’t continually reinvented. It is hard to pay for class as a professional. It is hard to remain loyal when the work isn’t consistent. It is hard to be forced to be a renaissance artist when you are a specialist. It is hard for an arranger to be an artist.
3. What never changes?
That there are periods of momentum and periods of no momentum.
We started light, but it gets juicier…
Rob Kitsos returns to WOW to share with us his hip, personal, and wholly unique, Contemporary Technique, August 22 + 23, 10–11:30am.
Rob is teaching technique in tandem with Justine A. Chambers. Register for all 5 classes for $55 + HST.
Please see our WOW page for Rob’s bio, his class description and for info. on how to save your spot in these exciting classes:
http://www.mascalldance.ca/way-out-west/
What is your favorite music to teach to?
I like anything live. As a university prof- I have the luxury of having live musicians most of the time. I remember teaching hip-hop at the University of Washington with a drummer and a base player- that was amazing…In terms of ‘kind of music’- being a drummer- I gravitate to percussion or music with a strong pulse or rhythm. I tend to want to move to music like James Brown. Recently I have found some samples that are very basic, so the focus stays on the movement in class as opposed to the music.
Where do you go to find dance clothes in Vancouver?
All I need for dancing is sweat pants. I have been given a few items from Lulu and some other trendy active-ware shops, but they’re not my favorite. When I go dance clothing shopping, it’s usually at a second hand store or outlet. All I look for is sweat pants that make it easy to move in and don’t make my bum look big.
What do you normally eat for breakfast?
I am the one who is in charge of breakfast in my house of 2 kids, wife, and a large dog. This consists of strong coffee and one of four things: Toast with butter and almond butter, pancakes or crêpes, migas (fried tortilla pieces mixed in with eggs and other good stuff), or hot cereal. Lately I have been drinking “greens’- a nasty tasting green vitamin and mineral powder with water. Seems to make me feel healthy.
What have you been working on during your sabbatical from Simon Fraser University?
This year I have tried to make an effort to take time to reflect on my work. I have been able to step back and feel less anxious about how much I need to do- and focus more on what really interests me. This has been an incredible luxury. I created several new works, taught community classes and intensives, gave talks, started writing a text on dance aesthetics, created and recorded music and visual art, served on panels and worked with graduate students. The work I’m doing now is a new piece called Barego, which will be performed in Dancing on the Edge. It’s a dance performed by myself, Marc Arboleda, and two dancers from Ballet BC -Leon Feizo-Gas and Alexis Fletcher. What this process has taught me so far is that while part of me doesn’t have an interest in “dance” in any of its traditional contexts, working with such amazing dancers reminds me that I love dancing.
Have these activities influenced your teaching of contemporary technique? If so, how?
Taking space from my class and thinking about new ways to approach what I want to pass on has led me to Gaga (not the lady- but the dance). This new approach to movement language originating from Batsheva Dance Company’s director Ohad Naharin is a great system that taps into many aspects of technique that interest me. I love to find new systems like Gaga and Forstyth’s Improvisation Technologies that move us out of our habitual patterns, bring images and creativity into technique and make dance accessible. While it’s hard to pull the Gaga method directly into my contemporary class- I want to figure out a way to take the essence of it somehow- or at least play with it and see what happens.
What words of advice do you have for today’s emerging dance artists?
Recently a friend of mine came to Vancouver from New York. He has just started running his own dance company in New York and was given advice from a colleague that I thought was good for artists in general- especially those starting out. “Don’t look or listen to the right or left- just keep looking and moving forward.” In other words- don’t get discouraged by what others say or expect of you or get caught up in what you think you should be doing- just do it and don’t look back.
Photo: Cylla von Tiedemann
We at Mascall Dance are so happy to have Yves Candau coming from Toronto to Vancouver to share his expertise in Contact Improvisation (CI), August 22–26, 11:45am–1:30pm.
The cost for all 5 of Yves’ CI classes is $66 + HST or… register for the FULL WEEK!
Please see our WOW page for Yves’ bio, his workshop description and for info. on how to register in these exciting classes:
http://www.mascalldance.ca/way-out-west/
OPEN TO ALL LEVELS of experience
1. How does your CI practice relate to your work as a performer, primarily interpreting other’s choreography?
Before getting into dance I studied martial arts, particularly Aïkido. I have now been involved with dance for a much longer period than the years I spent studying Aïkido. But those years have had a long lasting influence in terms of how I approach and live physical practices.
I would say that Contact Improvisation filled in (and expanded) the place that Aïkido had in my life. What I mean is that it is predominantly a practice for me: something that I do on a regular basis, which provides ongoing opportunities for physical experiences and explorations, and has gradually transformed me as I spend time doing it.
Interestingly my work as a performer and interpreter has often involved little partnering, which one would think is the main characteristic of Contact. While it may thus seem that Contact has had little influence over my work as a performer, I would actually say that, in a more indirect way, most of what I know as a performer I learned or refined through the practice of Contact.
2. Can you elaborate on these “indirect ways”? What do you think Contact has to offer to a contemporary dancer?
The obvious answer would seem to be that Contact is a good study of partnering. But in my opinion there is much more to it than that. In my own practice of Contact I would say that the partnering aspect of it is not an end in itself, but rather a means to stimulate and access experiences that would otherwise be impossible or unlikely. There is a lot I would want to say here, but to keep things reasonably short, I will focus on a few points:
Spherical use of space: Contact offers a lot of opportunities for disorienting situations, such as being upside down, leaning back… As one overcomes the initial fear and disorientation associated with these new spatial situations, and develops the ability to navigate through them, space becomes more and more spherical. A very clear example of what I mean by this, from another discipline, is the way Capoeira dancers play with space.
Organizing centers: This is a concept I have been increasingly interested in. Simple examples include points of weight support (through the feet or sit bones for instance). More generally it is about looking at the temporarily stabilized points or areas at which our bodies interface with the world, physically or perceptually, and how the rest of the body organizes itself around these to facilitate an activity. Think of the steady eyes of a cheetah chasing its prey for instance. Now coming back to Contact, the open interaction with the floor and partners is a chance to play with a multiplicity of unusual organizing centers: using the head or scapular belt for weight support, creating a pivot axis from a hand to a sit bone…
Tone modulation: There is a certain quality of muscular tone that one tends to develop through the practice of Contact. While the range of forces at play can be relatively high, when lifting a 200 pound dancer for example; the form also encourages one to cultivate a soft and round form of strength. An area of fixed tension which might not otherwise be obvious will become very clear as one interacts with the floor and partners. And interestingly this learning process is a direct result of first hand experience.
Unpredictability: As an open and improvised form with another being, Contact forces us to deal with a high level of unpredictability. I think this can be the basis for deep learning experiences: working through the apparent paradox of finding clarity of intention while remaining open and adaptable to a constantly changing environment.
As a last point I would say that Contact can be a powerful complement to more formal dance techniques, which will develop qualities and skills that are useful for any movement style.
3. What other practices have you integrated with the techniques of CI in your teaching? How do you see all of these relating under the umbrella of CI?
I am also an Alexander Technique teacher and this other practice certainly has a strong impact on my work as a dance artist, both as a teacher and performer of dance. While I would not claim to teach Alexander Technique in a Contact workshop, particularly because I believe the essence of it has to be taught one on one, it has led me nonetheless to a deep examination of my teaching practices.
The technique can be helpful in many ways: injury prevention, increased ease of movement and flexibility, improved posture or rather, for a more dynamic connotation, what I would call poise… But beyond these beneficial side effects I have found the Alexander Technique to be a marvellous tool for exploring the intricacies of our mind-body selves.
For it is as much an investigation of physical movement, as it is a study of the mental processes which give rise to movement. And I think of it as a form of meditation in action. Exploring and experiencing these cycles in myself has strongly influenced the way I aim to guide others to similar experiences.
4. What new information has teaching CI brought to you about CI? What can you tell us about the process of going from an embodied understanding of CI, as a student, to expressing the concepts verbally, as a teacher must do?
Because of the openness of the form, and the level of unpredictability that I mentioned, a lot of the skills gained through the practice of Contact are integrated at the level of reflexes. In the beginning many dancers also find that their thinking minds get in the way of their dancing.
In my own journey, while relishing the spontaneity of Contact, I gradually became interested in integrating my analytical mind back into the dance. I wanted to bring up to my conscious mind the “embodied understanding” that I manifested in the moment while dancing. So I started a process of deconstructing and examining my movement patterns, which had evolved more spontaneously through taking workshops and dancing at the jams.
This process has formed the basis of my teaching: bringing embodied experience up to a more conscious understanding, in order to be able to guide somebody else to similar embodied experiences. It has also helped me refine my own movement skills, as greater understanding brings new possibilities forth.
5. Take us through an example of what we will experience in one of your CI classes.
I am interested in working with a multiplicity of point of views, all collaborating to enrich a holistic experience of our living moving bodies. By point of views I mean various ways of approaching the reality of our living moving selves such as meditation, functional anatomy, guided movement exploration, practicing a specific movement pattern, watching somebody else move…
I think a key is to never let ourselves become too stuck in one way of looking at things, because any specific approach yields at best only temporary and partial truths. I like the idea of “working truths”, not to be carved in stone, but good enough to use for a while, as long as they stimulate new ideas.
To get to a more specific example, I have been very interested lately in looking at the pronation and supination of the forearm and the corresponding reach through the fingers. In a class I would start by showing briefly how the radius and ulna articulate at both ends, to provide a mental reference as counterpoint to the embodied experience of the movement.
From there we would move on to a guided exploration. This is easier demonstrated than described in words. But to point out a few things, there are interesting principles in terms of how symmetry tends to be static, while asymmetry spontaneously generates movement that easily mobilizes the whole body (by asymmetry I mean here the combination of pronating one hand while supinating the other hand).
After stimulating fundamental patterns in that open way, we would move on to practice more specific movement patterns, first on our own, then with a partner. This process would thus gradually build up, from awakening and reinforcing fundamental patterns / pathways, to more complex and varied situations. I would then aim to finish the progression with some open dancing time, to integrate the new information.
To finish, as I reread what I wrote, I feel that I want to add a little counterpoint. All these many words shouldn’t overshadow the fact that in the class the focus will be on embodied experiences: much less wordy, much more physical, and hopefully engaging our whole selves into the thrill of dancing.
…presented by Mascall Dance…December 7; 5–6pm. Admission: $8
Join us for an hour of talks and performances on Vancouver’s West End featuring:
The Stunt Man – dj – Friday Night Fever @ The Bunker
Jessica Barrett – news reporter – The Westender
Jennifer Mascall – artistic director – Mascall Dance
A-Train – mc from Vancouver’s social deviantz
Deanna Peters – contemporary dance artist
Meredith Kalaman – contemporary dance artist
Georgia Simms – visiting contemporary dance artist from Guelph, ON
Do you need to train to be a choreographer?
Please help us in getting a discussion going about the state of composition training in dance, theatre and other arts.
Jennifer Mascall will be leading three courses in composition throughout 2010–2011. If you are an artist looking to hone your skills and craft in arranging material, we would like to hear from you. Please leave a comment or contact mascalldanceprojects@gmail.com to find out more.
We thought we’d save Jennifer to the very end. Artistic Director of Mascall Dance and founder of Way Out West, Jennifer is one of the most strangely wonderful ladies I have ever met.
Photo of Ron Stewart in WhaT,? Photo: Chris Randle. From Sept 22-23 in St. Johns, and Oct 1-3 in Victoria.
I first encountered her in Linda Putnam’s workshops during the first few years at WOW, and was taken by her presence, her honesty and her tenacity. Many years later, I still feel the same way.
I will let her words speak for themselves. Ladies and gentleman, Jennifer Mascall:
When was Way Out West (WOW) started and what was its original intention?
Way Out West was started seven years ago, when I was taking a year off as an artistic director in order to develop a BMC technique class, so the summer school was planned a year in advance. Originally I wanted a summer school to show off Vancouver teachers because I think we have some great ones here, and then hold workshops with three master teachers throughout the year, to give (me and I assumed other) professional dance artists, an ongoing training way beyond basics. The three teachers I was interested in was Linda Putnam, Amelia Itcush and Judith Koltai. By the second year of WOW we decided to amalgamate both streams. Ron Stewart was out guest artistic director that year and he named Way Out West. After six fabulous summers I am ready to re-thing, re-vamp and renovate WOW to include a new vision.
Ron Stewart in WhaT,? Photo: Chris Randle
How did you first get interested in improvisation and what is your current interest in the form?
Dancer: Brandy Baybutt Photo: Chris Randle From The White Spider, April 2010 Vancouver International Dance Festival
