Day 8
Started out energized, mind a whir with possibilities.
Now,so tired.
It’s been Peter and Sara together for a week, but now a shift, for on Sunday night Andrea joined us!!
Monday was a big change in practicality and negotiation, for now we had 3 facilitators to work and time evenly with!
Andrea shared ideas of working with “double time”. ( I know I’m saying it wrong. It’s not Andrea’s word. It is a concept where you are present and also responding at the same time and also behind but dealing).
We built up slow.
There was an exercise where one responds and follows another but takes on the rhythm and speed of an entirely different person. That continued into an exercise where one person comes out and stands in front of the audience and has to dance!! The trick is not to respond out of judgement or fear but to only move when moved and genuine. It is weird. It is totally easy to see when one is trying to hard or trying to fake it. It even got more complicated with another person going up and responding to the audience and the person up there.
Wow I’m really losing it tired wise. I’m having trouble typing out sentences even though my mind is a whir.
Okay so I’m stopping now.
Lots more tomorrow.
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Day 4
Peter began the day.
His installation works use sounds. He commented on how he tracks sounds.
Example: A train ride with eyes closed is a very different journey and understanding.
His proposition was to take a walk together to Banff. Always within sight of each other but out of earshot. Ear-full of one’s own ability to track sounds and remember the sounds along the journey. I lost sight of Valerie in front of me and our walk was reduced. So we waited for the rest of the group to finish the walk and then we began again. We started the walk over and went into the Banff downtown too. After returning, we wrote out the sounds.
Sara got the afternoon.
I had to miss part of the afternoon. Continuing melodrama with my car.
Flat tire. But I have roadside assistance and thus arranged for help. Help revealed a nail in my tire and being an hour late for Sara.
When I arrived back Sara was working with the idea of energy that one can feel above the body. If one moves their hands 1-3″ above the body,energy is felt and can be played with. It is a delicate thing. The responder will feel the play with their energy. The task is to respond to the play and move with it.
That exercise grew and grew and went on to solos, duets and big group work.
Sara then talked about solo, responder and neutral. In our lives and creative work there may be dominance of one or the other. Which one are each of us? Have we always been one or another? If we’re aware of our patterns can we break them?
She had us break into groups of three.Each person would be assigned a role and then switch after a time so all would experience solo, responder and neutral. It grew from the trio experimenting for themselves to experimenting in front of others to being an open experiment with everyone and anyone coming in and out to individuals experimenting with all three within themselves.
There is still more happening with this day. As I write, my fellow Interrariumers are meeting together to discuss critical dialogue. I’m sure a wonderful discussion is going on.
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Officially Day 3 but…
It’s officially day 3 but really it’s only been 2 full days. It feels like we’ve been here longer. But tomorrow I will say day 4.
Official aside:This is totally my take.I’m not trying to be critical here. I’m trying to highlight with detail somethings that have stuck out for me. I’m like a student again. I want to make notes on the important things. No critical dialogue here- only me.
It starts at 10 but I go out each morning. Yesterday was a harrowing trip back to Calgary for banking reasons and I ran out of gas. There was a bright light saying it was out of fuel. The car was slowing down and I saw a gas station on the other side of the highway. I turned off and made it to the gas station. Then I sped back to Banff making amazing time but still late. Today was a happy,harrowing day of starting with cross country skiing.Happy because I was skiing, harrowing because there wasn’t much snow and it was really icy.
So I want to add more:
Day 1, Sara started the day off. We are working with energy. Understanding the internal energy and how that informs the body and its’ choices. We did chi gong and then moved into explorations and partnering that required one to remain true to their energy and their partner’s energy. Explorations that require one to understand and play with using opposing lines of energy in the body and then continuing that into movement explorations.
Peter introduced us to the idea of installation and the telling of stories. Each person was to have brought in photos and at least 5 objects from around their home that meant something.Then we introduced our objects and shared our stories about them and why we chose them. Peter noted that the objects were quite mundane and could even be considered junk ! But the stories imbued a sense of aura. For the future, in using them, we wouldn’t be bringing up the stories, but they were a great start to the exploration of installation.
Then Brian led an artist talk on critical dialogue. There’s a loaded term. It turned into a great kvetching session with an admission that we have to explore the term, admit we didn’t talk about it, we just bitched really.
Full Day 2
We started out with Sara. Bits to the morning:
Sara taught this amazing something work. You have a partner. One person lays down and thinks. Thinks thoughts, colours, whatevers and the other person works on their body with the intention of taking away unnecessary thought bubbles ( that settle in different parts of the body). With sound, with pressure, with strokes the other person addresses those places.
Another bit: again with a partner. One person is lying down focussed on breath. The other is supporting their body in finding looseness, change of breath and the progression of moving into a sol that is initially supported and adding songs. Then no support and witnessing. Then coming back to the ground and connecting with the heart chakra and its’ bowl. And then going maternal and exploring that.
And then and then and then
With Peter, we began to explore the place of installation.
We brought back our objects.
First we create an installation together placing our things. The rules were: Be careful with other people’s objects. Treat them with respect . The second was pay attention to the space. You are welcome to make association. Don’t hurt, disrespect, or downplay another item.
Then came criticism.
Then came the opportunity to house other people’s items to go elsewhere.
More than a few people admitted to the process and the look being excruciating.
We agreed to a new structure suggestion by Peter: Arrange the items according size in a line. Wow!!!
Different experience!!
The objects became less precious ( at least for me) It was a very interesting line. Objects took on a different meaning. For me, it was a about a whole..
The line looked amazing!!
But then it evolved.
We each got got to pick 5-6 items each, not our items necessarily and arrange them together. My opinion- they were great installations. but then there will be more…
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Interrarium Day 1
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Interrarium Banff 1st day is a challenge altitude wise. I’m always ready to be here. I’ve packed, caught up, done extra admin and then driven from Edmonton. I’m ready to dive in but then altitude…..
I’m susceptible to the altitude.
Banff is a significantly different altitude.
Anyways:
Energy and how that informs movement and choice with Sara. There were chi gong exercises,chakra techniques and movement improvs based on the mix.
Personal objects that make up one’s own “museum” and sharing the according stories with Peter.
Each artist brought their own set of objects that symbolized their everyday life. Photos, everyday items that are precious make up a story of each of us. They imbue an item with an aura, with importance.
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Past Interrarium footage
Tonight we had a meet and greet. Although not everyone was there it was still a great beginning. Just thought I’d share a previous years footage before we begin making our own.
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Interrarium LIVE!
Co-Presented by Springboard Performance, the Banff Centre for the Arts and Theatre of the New Heart
INTERRARIUM IN PERFORMANCE
Interrarium is a meeting place for creative minds, a showcase of the best in ground breaking contemporary and physical performance and an incubator of brilliant new work.
Andrea Božić (NLD) and Peter Reder (UK)
Featuring outstanding contemporary performances by International artists.
February 10 8pm
Margaret Greenham Theatre
Banff Centre for the Arts
Tickets Advance $20
Banff Centre box office info | www.banffcentre.ca | 403.762.8368
BEGINNING
Andrea Božić & Julia Willms (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
An exciting work that problematizes both the performer and spectator’s presence and perceptual attention. – Katha Šimuni
Beginning is a live discourse between dancer and visual artist—and it all begins with a white page and a simple question. “Where do we begin?” Julia Willms sketches in real-time alongside the movement of Andrea Božić in a collaboratively spontaneous exchange between two artists and two disciplines.
Andrea Božićis a Croatian dancer and choreographer based in Amsterdam. Known for her bold interdisciplinary collaborations with video artist Julia Willms and composer Robert Pravda, her performances and installations propose unorthodox strategies of viewing and deal with the nature of reality and perception. She frequently produces work at Frascati Theatre in Amsterdam and tours internationally. In 2009 she became the inaugural artist in residence at Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten’s ICK Amsterdam.
GUIDED TOUR
Peter Reder (London, England)
A tourist outing for deconstructionists. - The Scotsman
There’s so much history around, so many books, TV programs, museums, heritage sites, there’s no space left for the present. Or was it the other way round, it’s all present, without any past? (Guided Tour, final chapter)
A beguiling mixture of video and performance, Peter Reder’s Guided Tour takes place in the theatres and darkened passages of the Banff Centre for the Arts—a treasure trove of memories, desires and surprises housed in the buildings that make up the Banff Centre. From the London-based artist that brought City of Dreams to North America in 2011, Guided Tour similarly explores notions of memory and place through a combination of artifacts, video, text and performance. A guided tour for the post-modern age, this site-specific presentation evokes memories of the past, drawing the audience into a shared contemplation of the nature of architectural spaces and the memories they embody.
Peter Reder creates intimate, witty, and thoughtful work, often based on historical sources. His site-based work has been seen in some of the world’s great museums, galleries, and public buildings. He has produced work in the UK for LIFT, National Theatre, South London Gallery, and Somerset House, as well as internationally. Guided Tour premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in association with the Traverse Theatre as part of the British Council Showcase in 2005 and has since been shown at: the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow; the Coliseum (Bragadiru Palace), Bucharest; the National Museum of Singapore; Gammage Auditorium, Arizona; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; and La Laboral in Gijon, Spain.
Interrarium expands the horizons for artists and audiences with genre-bending, multi-disciplined, startling and original performance. An innovative re-purposing of the residency model focusing on a process-oriented, creative environment for dialogue, critical thinking and experimentation. Interrarium showcases acclaimed international, Canadian and local artists and brings them together with an alchemy that inspires audiences, rejuvenates artists, stimulates discussion and forges productive relationships.
exists to connect artists, mediums, audiences, the body and the mind through physical contemporary creation. Its artistic mission is to champion exploration of contemporary practices in the physical arts and support the aesthetic risk-taking that challenges both artists and audiences with new ways of seeing, representing and responding to contemporary life.
Under the artistic direction of Nicole Mion, Springboard Performance has designed and maintains three distinct arms of company activity: The Fluid Movement Arts Festival (Fluid Festival), programmed in Calgary, which presents outstanding contemporary dance and physical performance from local, national and international artists, Interrarium a professional level interdisciplinary creative residency and exchange held at the Banff Centre, and the Creation, Production and Dissemination of work by Artistic Director Nicole Mion.
Theatre of the New Heart is an Edmonton based “theatre” company run under the artistic directorship of Dana Rayment and Bobbi Westman for the past ten years. New Heart has produced seasons with reading series, site-specific production series and Festival participations. 2011, New Heart worked with Maggie Tree to co produce award winning “Shattered”, and Skyward Motion Pictures, “Static Motion”. New Heart is committed to the philosophy that there is room to play between mediums, between genres, personal challenges and fears. Creative process is a luxury to be encouraged. To that end, New Heart divides resources between self-production, co productions, workshops and artistic processes. New Heart has partnered with Interrarium since 2005.
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Dance Victoria’s $14,000 Chrystal Dance Prize
Dance Victoria offers a choreographic prize for artists with an international focus from Western Canada! It’s for emerging dancers and choreorgraphers who want to pursue studies at an institution outside Canada, or mid-career dance artists want to create an international work or course of study with a dance company outside Canada, with priority given to applicants from Victoria.
Applications forms will be posted on Jan 2, 2012 and the application deadline is March 30, 2012.
For more info, visit the Dance Victoria website or check out the Chrystal Prize Info Sheet.
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