Joshua Beamish - Fighting Chance
Based information compiled from questions about Beamish’s interests and personal history, Gagnon probes toxic masculinity through relentless movement. Image-based references to boxing and training to fight, serve as a metaphor for internal struggles of self, identity and effort.
This work originally premiered at the ROMP Festival in Victoria, BC. It have since been presented at Brian Webb Dance Series (Edmonton), Dancing on the Edge, Dancemakers (Toronto), Seattle International Dance Festival, Martha Graham in NYC. This work was created with the support of BC Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Lene Boel / Next Zone - Immortality
IMMORTALITY explores man’s dream of immortality, which has been the basis of much philosophical and religious thought since the beginning of humanity. Here, the work do not only focus on the history, traditions and rituals but also the futuristic visions of scientists: the immortality of the future through artificial rejuvenation of the body or the liberation from the body as the only home of the human mind.
IMMORTALITY is interpreted by the Japanese dancer Ismaera Takeo Ishii, who is one of the rare dancers strongly founded in both butoh dance and urban dance on a high level. The strong inner focus of the butoh dance mixed with the explosive characteristics of urban dance creates an interesting choreographic space for choreographer Lene Boel who excels in combining ultra-precise gestures with extreme physical movement.
Dorotea Saykaly - She
Life is a series of choices strung together. A coming to crossroads and having to chose a path in order to advance. What happens however when one feels incapable of making decisions due to fear, lack of clarity or simply wondering “why”? What is the state of the body during this process of finding answers?
The solo "SHE" draws inspiration from the novel "The Passion according to G.H." by Clarice Lispector - in which the female protagonist, alone in a room, confusingly and sensually talks through her existential and identity crisis. Through movement, distortion and an interview with an phantom interrogator, this self-choreographed work looks at the states of hesitation and solitude through a female lens. A woman questioning her instincts while finding her grounds.
