Cabaret Bios 2010
Physical Therapy: Biographies
Spanish Joint – Danny Nielsen
Music: D’Angelo (Spanish Joint)
‘Spanish Joint’ is an exploration in rhythm to one of R&B’s most talented musicians, D’Angelo.
Danny Nielsen
A native of Calgary, now residing in Vancouver, Danny Nielsen began his tap dance career as a founding member of MADD Rhythms Canada. His mentors have included Lisa La Touche, Bril Barrett, Martin ‘Tre’ Dumas III, Heather Cornell, and Vicki Adams Willis. Danny is an emerging artist on the national as well as the international scene. He performed in the worldwide broadcast of the 2010 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremonies; for the 2008 Jerry
Lewis Telethon choreographed by Chloe Arnold; in the 2010 Edmonton Jazz Festival; and in the Chicago Human Rhythm Project. Danny has taught across Canada and the US and is the artist in residence for 2010-2011 season at the Vancouver Tap Dance Society.
He has choreographed for Decidedly Jazz Danceworks’s productions of Tinge and Tone and 25; the FEATS Festival in Edmonton; and Alberta Dance Explosions.
MU(無) -Choreography: Miku Tsuchiya
Music: In a Frosted Lake by Mika Vainio
MU is an exploration of zero vision.
Miku Tsuchiya
Miku Tsuchiya was born and raised in Shizuoka, Japan, where she began dancing ballet at the age of four. Tsuchiya moved to Calgary in 2005 to pursue her passion for dance and began contemporary dance training at the University of Calgary. In 2010 she graduated with distinction receiving a BA in dance specializing in the choreography and performance.
Tsuchiya now apprentices with W&M Physical Theatre 2 Company under the artistic directions of Melissa Monteros and Wojciech Mochniej. In addition to performing with the Company, Tsuchiya has performed in the University of Calgary’s Dance Montage and Main Stage; En Corps Dance Collective’s MOVE; and Dancers’ Studio West Dance Explosions.
Tsuchiya is also a choreographer and has, presented her work in the University of Calgary’s Dance at Noon, Dance at Night, and Feats Festival in Edmonton. Since she first embraced contemporary dance in Calgary, she has fallen in love with the beauty of it, and now she cannot imagine the life without it.
Muskoka – Mark Hopkins
In a cottage on the shore of Skeleton Lake, every piece of antique furniture resonates with family history, and there are stories hidden in freshwater ripples. This off-kilter photographic journey features death, drama… and drinks!
Mark Hopkins
Mark Hopkins is a Calgary-based writer, performer and community-builder. He spends his days in the offices of One Yellow Rabbit Performance Theatre and his nights in the creative trenches with Swallow-a-Bicycle Theatre. He is the host of regular ‘We Should Know Each Other’ parties, and you – yes, you – are invited! For more information, visit www.swallowabicycle.com.
Bloom: Helen Husak [Performing Saturday]
Dance Interpreter/Collaborator: Hilary Maxwell [Performing Sunday]
Music: Bist Du Bei Mir by Karina Gauvin, Luc Beausejour and Sergei Istomin
Helen Husak
Helen Husak received BA in dance from the University of Calgary and has studied with influential artists across Canada including Davida Monk, Darcy Mc Gehee, Tonya Lockyer, Tedd Robinson, Serge Bennathan, Susie Burpee, Sasha Ivanochko and Peter Boneham. She has been a resident artist at Dancers’ Studio West, the Theatre Arts Program at Banff Centre, and Ottawa’s Le Groupe Dance Lab.
Helen’s solo works have been presented locally and nationally, including Alberta Dance Explosions Festival, The Fluid Movement Arts Festival, Alberta Scene Festival, Canada Dance Festival, Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival, Victoria’s Romp! Festival and Edmonton’s Feats Festival. She has been awarded numerous federal and provincial grants for dance creation, and is the recipient of the 2008 Enbridge Emerging Artist Award and the 2010 Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award.
Hilary Maxwell
Hilary Maxwell began her formal dance training at the University of Calgary. She received a BA in dance (2002) and an MFA in drama, specializing in performance and choreography (2007).
Hilary trained in Austria, Finland, France, and Poland where she toured with W&M Physical Theatre in 2001. In 2008 she received support from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts to attend ImPulsTanz in Vienna.
Hilary has danced in the works of Jason Stroh, Neah Kalcounis, Michèle Moss, Sharon Moore, Melissa Monteros and Wojciech Mochniej (W&M Physical Theatre), Davida Monk (M-Body), and for Dancers’ Studio West’s Dance Lab and Creative Process (2010).
Hilary’s training and work with Davida Monk, Jason Stroh, Melissa Monteros and Wojciech Mochniej have had a notable influence on her development as a dance artist. Recently, Hilary finished her second season with M-Body creating and performing The Land Quartet.
Her choreography has been presented in the University of Calgary’s Dance at Night (2006); the Urban Dance Project MFA Concert (2007); Alberta Dance Explosions Festival (2008 and 2009); and as part of the Prairie Dance Circuit in Calgary and Regina (2010). Hilary is a sessional instructor at the University of Calgary and will be in her fourth season with Dancers’ Studio West as artistic associate.
All Grow’d UP! Allara Gooliaff
Music: Special Star by Mango Groove
A tall tale of a dancer who wished she could see the world from a higher perspective.
Allara Gooliaff
Allara Gooliaff is a dancer, educator, and breaker of boundaries. She is the artistic director of Three Left Feet, a dance company that travels throughout Alberta delivering the joy of dance to young children. It is an amazing job and still gives her time to play with other movement ideas like stilt work, statue-ing, acrobatics and climbing. Her primary passion is West African traditional dance, which she fuses with her contemporary background to produce a unique movement vocabulary.
Allara has been a part of the Alberta dance community for over 20 years. When she is not with Three Left Feet, she travels the world in search of new dance experiences and shared connections. She has studied in West Africa, Austria, France, Brazil, the US and throughout Canada. She has performed with Theatre of the Living Statue, Soulocentric and Blue Collar Dance Company.
Allara is excited to be a part of Physical Therapy and wants to thank the organizers, her Mom and her relatives for all their support and encouragement in bringing this piece together.
Ifegenia’s Dance – Neah Kalkounis
I would like to take this opportunity to rant about this and that and make myself sound smart. Only I can’t pretend to know anything about this and that and as smart as I sometimes feel, I usually share feelings. I try not to intellectualize a rose—instead I smell it. I think I shall start by saying Hello. I will dance my guts out, but first I will spit it out.
Neah Kalcounis
Neah Kalcounis is a dance maker who devotes her everyday meanderings intoideas of how to move through movements. Kalcounis was first trained in classical technique and moved into the modern ways through post-secondary studies. A dance major she graduated from a program, which had a strong focus in choreography. As well, she has well-rounded studies in philosophy, and other humanities, from The University of Calgary. A person with diverse interest, she never tires of learning and living amongst unique people and communities.
Santa Cruz- Veronica Benz
Music: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
‘Santa Cruz’ is an exploration of character, personality and circumstance. Originally, I was inspired by the musician, Alex Ebert, and the immense impression of his performance, since, the dance has evolved into someone completely new.
Veronica Benz
Veronica Benz has been dancing and creating dances in Calgary since 2005, when she began
to study contemporary dance at the University of Calgary. She received her BA in dance in 2009. At the university, Veronica met Davida Monk and Melanie Kloetzel, who have both since had a notable influence on Veronica’s work.
As a dance interpreter, Veronica has performed for M-Body (2009&2010), kloetzel&co (2009) and Neah Kalcounis (2009), for whom she performed in the 2009 Fluid Festival. Veronica is also a member of the W&M Physical Theatre Pro Division and is a rehearsal director for MoMo Dance Theatre. She will next be seen performing for kloetzel&co in Jan 2009 (Dancers’ Studio West).
Since 2005 Veronica’s choreography has been presented by Dancers’ Studio West, the High Performance Rodeo, The University of Calgary, Bubonic Tourist and Emmedia. A piece she created in 2008 with the M.eV Kollectiv was supported by Le Regroupement Artistic Francophone de L’Alberta (RAFA) and presented by Francoforce 2008 (Olympic Plaza). Most recently, Veronica’s choreography has been seen at Dance Explosions 2009&2010 (Dancers’ Studio West) and for WhyDance?Two (2009, University of Calgary).
Veronica is inspired by the unique space of the Physical Theatre Cabaret, and is full of joy to be creating for the Fluid Festival for the first time.
Barring an Act of Gawd - Jamie Tognazzini
Music: medley, written by Peter Cetera and David Foster, performed by Jamie Tognazzini (vocals, accordion, percussion, kazoo, and digital)
An underage catholic schoolgirl explores her queer mythology and religious experience through physical theatre and contemporary storytelling.
The story behind ‘Barring an Act of Gawd’ follows ‘Our Lady of the Pitz’, performed at Fluid Festival in 2007. In the previous episode, the holy apparition of ‘Our Lady of the Pitz’ appeared to Sister Mary Contrary at the tar pits in La Brea, Los Angeles. This episode is a continued exploration of Mary’s devotion and her spiritual journey, which has taken her to the most desolate, immaculate place she has ever been. Sister Mary tells the story using voice, improvisation, physical comedy, music and occasionally audience participation…
‘Our Lady of the Pitz/Barring an Act of Gawd’ both draw from Jamie’s living mythologies – based on a pilgrimage she made to the tar pits, and her actual experience building shelter and sleeping on an active lava field.
Jamie Tognazzini (Jamie Tea)
Jamie Tognazzini is currently appearing as ‘Ma/Mayor’ in Toxic Avenger, the Musical (Broadway West Productions). Recently, she performed in a collaborative creation lab for Move: the Company (Vancouver), Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog at the Calgary Fringe; and as Cheryl in Evil Dead: the Musical in Calgary and Vancouver (GZT/H&M/Keystone). Her piece Our Lady of the Pitz debuted at Springboard’s Fluid Movement Arts Festival in 2007 and continued at the High Performance Rodeo Midway (Calgary) and the Feats Festival (Edmonton).
She’s done Freak Show, formerly apprenticed Dean Bareham at Green Fools, creates installation animation for the Biannual Calgary Animated Objects Festival. Her work with local visual/performing artist Keith Murray is part of the permanent exhibit at the Erotic Heritage Museum in Las Vegas NV, and her first animation Fish & Bird in Space has been shown in festivals across Canada and in Hiroshima, Japan.
In mid-November, OLTP, Barring an Act of Gawd and the new third part of the trilogy, prospectively titled Return to the Oyster Cloister, will be performed together for LadyFag, a part of Exposure: Edmonton’s Queer Art & Culture Festival 2010.
Between shows, Jamie trains locally and internationally in solo/doubles aerial circus arts, creates homemade 2D animation, and builds costumes for playing dress-up.
Song Of The Anti-Hero- Istvan Kantor
(Saturday night only)
‘Song Of The Anti-Hero’ is an autobiographical video, produced in a narrative style exploring the form of the song, appropriated images and original performance footage. ‘Song Of The Anti-Hero’ is a playful, ironical and poetical statement about the subversive role of the artist. It relates to Istvan’s own “criminal history”, to his rebellious aesthetic and the experimentation his work represents. Istvan’s song echoes his “bad boy” relationship with institutions, the academic and mainstream art world and the media.
Istvan Kantor
Istvan Kantor, recipient of the 2004 Governor General’s Award for Visual and Media Arts, also known as Monty Cantsin, open-pop-star, the founder of Neoism and self-appointed leader of the people of the Lower East Side, is an action based media artist/subvertainer/producer, active in many fields, performance, robotics, mixed-media, installation, painting, sound, music, video and new media.
Istvan was born in Budapest where he studied medical science at the Semmelweis Medical University before committing himself to the arts. In 1976, at age 26, he defected to Paris and from there he immigrated to Montreal. He now lives in Toronto.
His main subjects are the decay of technology and the struggle of the individual in technological society. The media has been described his work as intellectually rebellious, anti-authoritarian, technically innovative and highly experimental. His radically changing creative ambitions are always related to his living environment and social situation.
In collaboration with legendary correspondence artist David Zack, Istvan launched the Monty Cantsin open-pop-star project in Portland, Oregon in 1978. He initiated both the international operations of Neoism and his major life-long performance Blood Campaign in 1979 in Montreal. In the mid 1980s Kantor/Cantsin relocated to New York City, re-emerging as “self-appointed leader of the people of the Lower East Side”.
Istvan’s performance-based work explores the body as well as technology, from blood to video to physical gestures via digital sampling, breathing, computers or pneumatic machinery. He often incorporates objects such as steam irons, coat hangers, clocks, flags and megaphones into his actions. He likes to break things and set things on fire. He uses conflict and crisis to present his cause, often placing himself in the centre of danger and uncertainty.
Throughout the past three decades he has been arrested and jailed many times for his guerrilla interventions in museums. He also received many prestigious awards, among them the Telefilm Canada Award for Best Canadian Film and Video in 1998 and the Transmediale Award in 2001.
Istvan is also bandleader/singer of the Red ArmBand and founder-member of several performance groups among them Puppet Government, MachineSexActionGroup and Kantor Family Circus.