Preview
CHOREOGRAPHIC HOTHOUSE
Springboard Dance
Choreography by Helen Husak, Maya Lewandowsky, Mathew Popoff, Davida Monk and Nicole Mion
Runs November 13 to 15
Vertigo Studio Theatre (Tower Centre)
Tedd Robinson walks into the lobby of his Calgary hotel to meet me. I had been told to watch for someone dramatic with a black hat and a black coat, but I would have known it was Robinson without any description.
The award-winning choreographer, dancer and teacher emulates presence, whether building a dance or relaxing in conversation. And dance, he tells me, is a conversation itself – a dialogue between choreographer, dancer and audience that turns words into movement.
"Dance transcribes language – it’s information filtered through the body," he says.
Although Robinson’s chosen form is modern dance, he is hesitant to give a pat definition of it. Each performance can be quite different and to define modern dance completely would be to limit its scope.
"It may seem cerebral because it’s abstract… and may be controversial because it is about the body," he says. It is a form that focuses on self-expression and therefore it is "individualistic – each individual has their own style."
Robinson is based in his home city of Ottawa, where he is artistic director of the 10 Gates Dancing company. An artist whose work – including his recent solo Rigmarole – has toured internationally, he’s come to Calgary to serve as a mentor to five local choreographers for a special presentation by Springboard Dance. Entitled Choreographic Hothouse, it’s a process-based performance that encourages dialogue between the choreographer, performer and audience.
The high-calibre list of choreographers, who in this context refer to themselves as "questioning artists," are Springboard’s Helen Husak, Maya Lewandowsky, Mathew Popoff, Nicole Mion and invited guest Davida Monk. They’ve been working under Robinson during a 10-day choreographic intensive, or "hothouse," to refine their own creations.
The Hothouse, Robinson says, is a workshop to discover vocabulary and to help develop each choreographer’s work by bringing it to full fruition in performance. He stresses that the presentation of these pieces will be as works-in-progress and that each of the Hothouse’s three evenings will be a presentation rather than a final performance. The audience members will therefore be the "third eye" to this creative process and may participate by sharing their responses. Each evening Robinson will lead a discussion with the audience as part of the program.
"It’s a healthy way to work and have parts of the community come together," says Mion. "The (choreographic) process will continue during the showing, involving the audience in a dialogue as to what we are trying to explore."
There will be two shows each night – one at 7:30 p.m. and one at 9 p.m. – in the new Vertigo Studio Theatre. Husak, Lewandowsky and Popoff, who worked with Robinson earlier this year in a workshop at the University of Calgary, will present their dances in the earlier portion of the evening, while Mion and Monk’s work will be featured in the 9 p.m. slot.
Since the first three choreographers have had a longer time for their pieces to gestate, Mion is excited to see how they have developed, as well as how Robinson will have helped her and Monk with their own work.
Mion says that the lab with Robinson has already illuminated the process of creation for her as a choreographer, and that interaction with the audience will be additionally useful to everyone involved. |
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