Video Gestures Angela Joosse

[Facing, East?] Gesture Sequence Sarah Chase

Dramaturges/Creative Consultants Angela Joosse, Natalia Esling, Michelle Olson, Tedd Robinson

Guardian/Co-host & Production Assistant Alexandra Pickrell

Guardians/Co-hosts Jullianna Oke, Ursula Blanchard, Rachel Helten, Natalia Esling

Thank you to my project companions listed above; Angela Conquet; Mirna Zagar, Raquel Alvaro and all the staff at the Dance Centre; Julie Mamias, Katheryn Peterson and Cheyenne Goolcharan at New Works; Ken and Qwynn Cunningham, Karin and Ron Andrews, Caroline Liffman, Julie Lebel, Lee Su-Feh, Moberly Arts and Cultural Centre, BC Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, SFU Institute for Performance Studies and SFU School for the Contemporary Arts.

Special thanks to all the folks who’ve taken photos of my inversions.

Periods of research have been supported by LEÑA Artist Residency, Moberly Arts & Cultural Centre (Artist-in-Residence) and The Dance Centre (Associate Artist), and funded by the BC Arts Council.

First presented as part of the 13th biennial Dance in Vancouver

In partnership with the Roundhouse

Angela Joosse, PhD, (she/her) is a media artist and scholar whose work focuses on embodied movement, phenomenology, and cinematic poetics. Her artistic practice includes site-specific installations, digital videos, and experimental films exhibited at venues such as the TIFF Cinematheque, Korean Cinematheque, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Winnipeg Film Group’s Cinematheque, Toronto’s Nuit Blanche, aluCine, Montréal Festival des Films du Monde, and the Dawson City International Short Film Festival.

Sarah Chase is a performer and choreographer whose distinctive signature has garnered her an international reputation. Her work has been presented across Canada and Europe for over twenty-five years, at such venues as the National Arts Centre (Ottawa), Festival TransAmerique (Montreal), DanceHouse (Vancouver), the Holland Dance Festival, Klapstuk Festival (Belgium), Salzburg Szene Festival (Austria), Kaaitheater (Belgium), Tanz Quartier (Vienna), Fondation Cartier (Paris) and Theater der Welt (Germany).

Natalia Esling, PhD, (she/her) is a researcher, dramaturg, editor, and copy-editor. Since 2013, she has worked as a dramaturg on performance projects in Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver, collaborating with professional dance, music, and visual artists from across Canada. She co-convenes the Canada-based Articulating Artistic Research (AAR) working group. Her research focuses on devised and experimental performance with particular attention to sensory engagement and audience experience. 

Alexandra Pickrell (she/they) is a Saskatchewan born dance artist currently based in Vancouver, BC. She has completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Contemporary Dance from Simon Fraser University. Alexandra is an ex-world baton twirling athlete with interests in collaborative creation and exploring ideas of a softer world through her vulnerable and atmospheric choreography.

Born in Vancouver, Canada, Jullianna Oke has trained in various styles of dance but has found a passion for contemporary and interdisciplinary arts. As a recipient of the Beedie Luminaries scholarship, Jullianna is currently attending SFU as a dance major to further her theoretical understanding of how dance has evolved.

Ursula Blanchard is a contemporary dance artist currently based in Vancouver, BC, and originally from Princeton, NJ. She recently graduated from SFU's contemporary dance program. Ursula is currently investigating how to manipulate the visceral response movement elicits from its watchers, most recently through the use of spoken word and poetry along with dance.

Rachel Helten is a dance artist, choreographer, and teacher based on the unceded indigenous land belonging to the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō (Stolo), and Səl̓ílwəta/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. The cornerstones of Rachel's practice are found in deep listening, collaboration, interdisciplinary methods and unearthing the stories that live within our bodies.