David Raymond and Tiffany Tregarthen, co-artistic directors of Out Innerspace Dance Theatre (OIS) are the recipients of the CanDance Network’s 2014-15 small-investment Creation Fund commission. Hailed as “theatrically engaging performers and beautiful movers” (The Dance Current, December 2011), the company is creating a new work for 7 dancers, anticipated to premiere in January 2016, which will explore conflicts between the self and the crowd. They ask, “how do we want to be seen, heard, and understood in the world as a group, a generation, a people? What do we protest, what do we promote, and what are we up against?” 

Alongside their exploration with how groups thrive or suffer inside social taboos, the creation process also focuses on technical experimentation with microphones, video projection and camera flashes. Outreach will play a key role in the creative process, as the public is invited to inform their ideas. OIS will work alongside project mentor Crystal Pite, rehearsal director Justine Chambers, and lighting designer James Proudfoot. Presenting partners include Live Art Dance Productions, Dance Victoria, Firehall Arts Centre, L’Agora de la Danse, and the Brian Webb Dance Company.

The CanDance Creation Fund supports Canadian choreographers in their creation and development of new works, culminating in a tour of at least four Canadian cities. This presenter-driven process, which deepens the working relationship among artists and presenters, develops new audiences, and enhances the artistic experience for current audiences. The Creation Fund offers an unprecedented opportunity to Canadian dance creators by giving commissioned dances a longer life and a national audience.

Choreographer: Wen Wei Wang, in collaboration with the performers
Performers: Jung-Ah Chung, Léon Feizo-Gas, Josh Martin, Diego Romero, Renée Sigouin, Tiffany Tregarthen, Wen Wei Wang
Music: Giorgio Magnanensi & Walter Zanetti
Lighting designer: James Proudfoot
Video designer: David Raymond
Costume designer: Kate Burrows
Run time: 65 minutes, no intermission
Premiere: Brian Webb Dance Company, Edmonton, February 22, 2013
Commissioning partners: Brian Webb Dance Co., Dancehouse, National Arts Centre, L’Agora de la danse, and The CanDance Network.

Stemming from the dichotomous nature of improvisation – uninhibited abandon and controlled precision – choreographer Wen Wei Wang examines ideas of control and power through his new dance creation. 7th Sense is an exploration of how we wield control and succumb to it, an invisible force that shapes our lives and our relationships.

We cherish the autonomy of our lives, the free will we exercise in our daily existence, and we valiantly struggle against oppressive forces, on scales large and small. Yet we also have the deep-rooted urge to dominate our surroundings, conquer the unknown, and to master the mysterious. The work holds a mirror to this duplicity to reveal our desire for individual freedoms while exerting our will on others.

7th Sense is a personal exploration into the realization of one’s true nature, despite the many external societal forces that constrain and inhibit. It is about pushing back against the artificial rules of society that prevent us from giving way to our true selves and from loving – others and ourselves – unconditionally.

Choreographer: Aszure Barton
Dancers: Jonathan Alsberry, Lara Barclay, William Briscoe, Tobin Del Cuore, Benjamin Kamino, Andrew Murdock, and Davon Rainey
Original score: Lev ‘Ljova’ Zhurbin and Curtis Macdonald
Lighting design: Burke Brown
Costumes: Linda Chow 
Visual content: Tobin Del Cuore and Don Lee
Premiere: The Canada Dance Festival, Ottawa; June 8th, 2012
Run time: 69 minutes
Commissioning partners: National Arts Centre, Danse Danse, Canada Dance Festival , Le Grand Théâtre du Quebec (through La danse sur les routes du Quebec), and The CanDance Network

“I had a dream one night. I dreamt I was underwater, sitting in a rocking chair.” -Aszure

Awáa explores the nature of the masculine and the feminine, the sharp and the curved, earth and water. Water is grounded in sensation, suggesting the womb, motherhood, and a sense of time slowing down. This powerful evening of dance draws audiences into a world that is spellbinding, exciting, and percussive. At times, it is funny and sad, and at others, hauntingly beautiful.

Aszure Barton & Artists is a collective of visual, sound, and performing artists, cohering in creative residencies in Canada and the United States to evoke the movement-based vision and free spirit of its founder.

Producer: Van Grimde Corps Secrets 
Curator and Choreographer: Isabelle Van Grimde
Assistant Choreographer: Soula Trougakos
Performers: Marie Brassard, Sophie Breton, Robin Poitras, Soula Trougakos, Brian Webb
Visual & Media Artists: Derek Besant, Brennan/Caulfield/Mills, Kate Craig, Nadia Myre, Marilène Oliver, Monique Régimbald-Zeiber
Music: Thom Gossage
Architect and Set Design: Anick La Bissonnière, in association with Éric O. Lacroix
Lighting Design: Lucie Bazzo
Video: Foumalade
Essays: Dr. Cristian Berco & Dr Dawna Gilchrist
Visual Arts Advisory Committee: Louise Déry & Kitty Scott in association with Brian Webb Dance Company
Premiere: May 29, 2012
Commissioning Partners: Festival TransAmériques, The Brian Webb Dance Company, Canada Dance Festival, Festival Danse, Centennial Theatre (through La Danse sur les routes du Quebec), and The CanDance Network

The interviews compiled in this study, entitled The Body in Question, have created a complete choreographic corpus in which the very meaning of dance and gesture becomes more and more refined as our understanding of the human body gains in depth. The primal body of our origins and instincts enters into a dialogue with the body of the future, a sum of energetic vibrations subjected to the influences of an environment in perpetual mutation. In offering this theoretical and gestural matter as a source of inspiration to visual and media artists, Isabelle Van Grimde takes on the role of an exhibit curator, and  delves further into the transposition, the transformation and even the deconstruction of her choreographic materials, in order to enhance the theme of the body. Echoing the creations of the invited artists, five solos developed from the same materials inhabit the space of the exhibit, which is also named The Body in Question. Through their thoughts and writings, several authors, philosophers, historians and anthropologists broaden perspectives on the overall process.

In each of her works, choreographer Isabelle Van Grimde attempts to uncover the secrets of the human body, evoking its numerous dimensions. She envisions each  new piece as a mystery in action, keeping it alive by presenting it to the public in a context of open creation. Her collaborations with artists from others disciplines lead her to probe that mystery while enriching it, multiplying perceptions of the creation and its points of access. Driven by an unquenchable thirst for learning and an insatiable desire to break down the limits of her understanding, Isabelle Van Grimde has since 2004 researched perceptions of the body with many artists and intellectuals throughout the world.

Elder storytellers: John Chief-moon Sr., Amethyst First Rider, Melinda Bull Shields, Leroy Little Bear, Martin Eagle Child
Performers: Byron Chief-Moon, Sheldon Blue-Hawk and Duane Howard
Premiere: June 2010; Canada Dance Festival (Ottawa)
Commissioning partners: Canada Dance Festival, The Brian Webb Dance Company, Dancing on the Edge, Public Energy, and The CanDance Network.

This inter-disciplinary dance/media project is closely translated as Essence of Life, echoing the root inspiration of the Blood-Kainai tribe through the intimate details of landscape.  To the tribe, there is an appreciation that as long as there is honour for Mother-earth as a living soul then there is a choice, as her children, to continue to hear her stories and evolve towards becoming earth-human, for a better tribal community. This is a story is of creation, of conceptual interference and forgetfulness, disconnection and disharmony, and in quiet moments of remembering; through the natural environment there is thought; and she is Earth-woman.  

With guidance from elders, Coyote Arts Percussive Performance Association (CAPPA) explores Blackfoot/Blood-Kainai culture, and where possible First-nations and Aboriginal storytelling more generally, in the context of explorations of relationship with Mother-earth/conscious-earth, and earth-consciousness.  In this way we explore story as windows between distinct, but potentially complementary worlds in balance, and in consideration of elder/youth relationship. At times, percussive music takes the audience into a trance, then stops suddenly, as the backdrop shows blackbirds flying in the sky, or a buffalo running as a train whistles by. Blackbirds then dance to hip-hop and disco music.

CHILDREN

Choreography: Nigel Charnock
Performers: Louise Lecavalier, Patrick Lamothe
Music: Yasar Akpence, Leonard Cohen, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Terry Snyder, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Richard Desjardins, Janis Joplin, Michael Nyman, Puccini.
Lighting: Alan Lortie
Costume maker: Carré vert
Sound editing: Nigel Charnock
Rehearsal director: France Bruyère
Length: 50 minutes
Premiere: September 3, 2009, Italy
Commissioning partners: National Arts Centre, The Brian Webb Dance Company, Dance Victoria, Harbourfront Centre, and The CanDance Network

Children are beautiful, ugly, sweet, annoying, hateful, loving, mad, bad, loud and funny. So is Children, a bitter-sweet and sweaty duet which exposes the heaven and hell of a relationship at breaking point. The fine and divine line between love and hate, passion and violence is revealed as two people are plunged into the agony and the ecstasy of trying to stay together for themselves and for their children. Children is dark, witty, very physical, and like a big, grown-up child.

A FEW MINUTES OF LOCK

Choreography: Edouard Lock
Re-creation: Louise Lecavalier, France Bruyère
Dancers: Louise lecavalier, Keir Knight, with the participation of Patrick Lamothe
Music: Iggie Pop
Lighting: Alan Lortie
Re-mixing producer: Norman-Pierre Bilodeau
Electric guitars: Sylvain Provost
Costumes: Vandal
Length: 13 minutes
Premiere: December 9, 2009, Germany
Commissioning partners: National Arts Centre, The Brian Webb Dance Company, Dance Victoria, Harbourfront Centre, and The CanDance Network.

More than 10 years after leaving La La La Human Steps, Louise Lecavalier revisits, alongside dancer Keir Knight, three duets from her final years with the celebrated company (excerpts come from 2 and Exaucé/Salt).

Choreographer: José Navas (Movement vocabulary created in collaboration with the dancers)
Original cast: Alejandro De Leon, Hanako Hoshimi-Caines, José Navas, Mira Peck, Eldon Pulak, David Rancourt, Chanti Wadge, Jamie Wright
Music: Erik Satie (Gnossiennes, Gymnopédies)
Piano: Claire Chevallier
Lighting: Marc Parent
Costumes: José Navas/Compagnie Flak
Photos: Michael Slobodian
Length: 50 minutes
Premiere: December 10, 2008; December Dance ‘08 Festival (Concertgebouw in Bruges, Belgium)
Commissioning partners: Danse Danse, National Arts Centre, Centennial Theatre (through La danse sur les routes du Québec), Canada Dance Festival, and The CanDance Network.

Dancing the silence. Inhabiting the long phrases of the music of Erik Satie. Inhabiting the space, living it like a white page on which movement inscribes itself with the precision and energy of calligraphy. With S, his first piece for the large stage, José Navas evokes human nature through the expression of pure movement. Eight dancers, stunning in their presence and vulnerability, present a choreography structured like a musical score. The choreographer likens these men and women to instruments crafted by Stradivarius. These virtuosos satisfy the highest technical demands, making the most formal movement personal and dramatic. An abstract and organic work. An encounter with grace.

The presentations of S are generally preceded by the short solo Villanelle, performed to the Cum dederit delectis suis somnum ANDANTE by Antonio Vivaldi

Choreographer: Sarah Chase
Performers: Dominic Caron, Maryse Carrier, Annik Hamel, Rachel Harris, Benoît Leduc, Manon Levac, Frédéric Marier
Conseillère artistique: Kathy Casey
Collaborators: Antoine Bédard, Pierre Dextase, Karine Gauthier, Jeff Harrison
Year of premiere: June 11, 2008; Canada Dance Festival (Ottawa)
Commissioning partners: L’Agora de la danse, Canada Dance Festival, The Brian Webb Dance Company, The Vancouver East Cultural Centre, and The CanDance Network.

The relationships within this group of 7 people are slowly revealed through the circling of curious fragments of stories and words. “Identity and memory are built up, only to collapse into something more essential, something unnameable that spins in the centre of our souls.” Chase weaves together biographical stories ranging from early aviators to Alzheimer’s patients, many of whose family histories intersect in Labrador, giving the piece its name. It is a very personal work for the performers: besides telling their stories, once on stage they speak and sing to music created for their voices, while performing movement sequences.   

Choreography: Wen Wei Wang
Original performers: Scott Augustine, Karissa Barry, Jung-Ah Chung, Josh Martin, David Raymond, Tiffany Tregarthen
Original music: Giorgio Magnanensi
Lighting: James Proudfoot
Costumes: Kate Burrows
Sets: James Proudfoot and Wen Wei Wang
Premiere: June 2006; Canada Dance Festival (Ottawa)
Length: 60 minutes
Commissioning partners: Harbourfront Centre, National Arts Centre, Brian Webb Dance Company, Canada Dance Festival, Dancing on the Edge, L’Agora de la danse (in collaboration with Danse Danse), and The CanDance Network.

Weaving former Chinese traditions with modern perspectives, Unbound is an intense and stylish exploration of ideals of beauty, power, and gender. The starting point for Wen Wei Wang’s choreography reflects the former Chinese practice of binding women’s feet in pursuit of status and an impossible erotic ideal. Unbound transcends its cultural origins, unravelling sexualities, emotions and relationships that are universally familiar.

Performer: Natasha Bakht
Choreographer: Shobana Jeyasingh
Music Director: Glyn Perrin
Music: Clément Janequin, Ryoji Ikeda, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Asa-Chang & Junray, Bandish Projekt
Costume Design: Ursula Bombshell
Lighting Design and Concept: Lucy Carter
Lighting Design Realized by: Roelof Peter Snippe 
Rehearsal Director: Yvonne Coutts
Premiere: February 23, 2005; CanAsian Dance Festival (Toronto)
Commissioning partners: CanAsian Dance Festival, Harbourfront Centre, Peterborough New Dance, Danse Danse, Live Art Productions, The CanDance Network.

As a dancer, Natasha Bakht performed for several years in the Menaka Thakkar Company, and was also a member of the London-based Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company, performing in their world tours. Bakht has danced for choreographers Yvonne Coutts, Joan Phillips, Hari Krishnan, Robert Desrosiers and Roger Sinha. Alongside her dance career, Natasha Bakht is a graduate in law of the University of Ottawa and holds a masters degree in law from New York University. A member of the legal committee of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund, Natasha Bakht has published in the area of women and religion.

A solo, by its very nature, amplifies the dancer and draws attention to the politics of the body.  Its many layers (aesthetic, functional, animal among many others) are the starting points for this work.  It is partnered by music which is wide ranging and which aims to site the dancing body in a place which is culturally, stylistically and historically volatile.