The 2013 BC Dance on Tour Begins!!
First stop, Golden, BC
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We arrived in Golden late on Monday October 21st, after a long journey from
Vancouver. The next morning we awoke to a thick fog blanket and some hungry
locals. We started our residency at Kicking Horse Culture with a bang and a
pucker, with Golden students and adults willing to "get their lemon
on". As you may or may not know, New
Animal includes two films and one live section where the performers play
with and fight viciously over lemons as a means to trigger their animal
instincts and release the inner beast. This idea originated a few years ago
with Dana Gingras' film project, What Is Mine is Yours, and we shot
similar footage for the New Animal Films. .JPG)
We thought that engaging the community members by recreating the idea of
the lemon fights would be the perfect way to dive right into the world of New Animal. With a lemon juice-proof
tarp and about 40 lemons of varying sizes and shapes, we spent three hours
egging on our brave volunteer community members, encouraging them to tear
lemons to shreds and grab them out of each others' mouths. The results were
both funny and feral, with Dave and Shay from 605, and several local
photographers capturing images of giggling sour-faced pre-teens to ferocious
female residents. By the end of our session, everyone was a little wilder, and
a lot juicier..JPG)
That evening we taught a class at the Golden Civic Centre, offering a
sample of techniques used in our 605 movementlanguage. The students were open
and receptive, ending the evening with a brand-new improv dance, the
"Noodle House", that allowed them to let loose, smile, and groove to
end the night..JPG)
On Wednesday we set out into the woods near the campgrounds, guiding 13
pre-teens, two local physical performers, and a bunch of energetic toddlers and
preschoolers, through a series of "animal" habitats and behaviors.
The goal was to capture some images of people in the wild, and what we ended up
with varied from running, climbing, rolling, skidding, and crawling, up hills,
behind trees, between rocks, across trails, and under
leaf piles. We caught a variety of animal-like action, from vicious stand-offs
on the beach to little bodies bouncing in excitement as the train passed.
In the evening we led a choreographic workshop at the Civic Centre, and had
a great session with some thoughtful and eager local movers, where we explored
some techniques and approaches that Dana and 605 used in the making of New Animal.
We layered task upon task and ended with a mini-battle, where the dancers
fought for, defended, and shared their territory. It was a fantastic evening
and we are so grateful to have had this exchange with the Golden community.
Our performance of New Animal was
on Friday October 25, set on a small but warm stage for a full house at the
Golden Civic Centre. (After all, Bill, the presenter, had given ticket holders
a "Money Back Guarantee"!) Previous to our live performance was a
video put together by Matt Coté, giving the audience a glimpse of our various
activities and accomplishments during our short but fruitful (no pun intended)
residency in Golden. We had a wonderful, rich, and, or course,
"sour-in-a-good-way " experience, and we owe a huge thanks to Bill Usher
and GolnazZad at Kicking Horse Culture, and Abby Watkins, our dear friend and
outreach coordinator, as well as our fearless participants from aged 2 to 62.
About the Lemons:
Source: Overwaitea/Sobeys
Price: Overwaitea non-organic: $0.79 each, organic: $4.99 for 4 lbs /
Sobeys non-organic: $0.99 each
About: USA grown
Size: Overwaitea non-organic -too large, organic-too small / Sobeys
non-organic -PERFECT
Written by Lisa Martin
