A Vancouver Dance Story: Chaos Edition
A Vancouver Dance Story: Chaos Edition
kjdchaos.ca
An event in three parts
October 30th, 2021
Karen Jamieson Dance, in partnership with The Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival and The Dance Centre, presented, A Vancouver Dance Story: Chaos Edition, an event in three parts discussing the emergence of contemporary dance in Vancouver through archives, digital media, oral history, documentary film, and live conversation.
This program traced the lineages of creative and choreographic influences between local dance practitioners, as well as the origins of Terminal City Dance Society (1976) and its evolution into The VDC Dance Centre Society in 1986, transforming into a resource centre for dance professionals and the public. 15 years later, the Scotiabank Dance Centre opened as a physical space to serve as a centralized, multi-purpose hub and resource centre for Vancouver’s dance communities.
In particular, this event shared and celebrated the 20th Anniversary of the Scotiabank Dance Centre building opening, and the launch of Coming Out of Chaos: A Vancouver Dance Story, an online exhibition and oral history project, produced by Karen Jamieson Dance and Creative Director/Dance Archivist Emma Metcalfe Hurst, that focuses on the early collaborative work Coming Out of Chaos (1982) and its enduring resonance throughout contemporary dance and interdisciplinary arts in Vancouver and beyond.
Through interviews, archival documents, and a historical timeline, Coming Out of Chaos: A Vancouver Dance Story offers a multi-perspective and dynamic digital storytelling experience that was supplemented by a screening of the documentary film Terminal City Dance At Work (1981) by Michael Goldberg and a live conversation between original Terminal City Dance members Savannah Walling, Terry Hunter, and Karen Jamieson, moderated by dance historian and critic, Kaija Pepper, which can be found below.
A Vancouver Dance Story: Chaos Edition
Saturday October 30, 2021
2:00 – 4:00pm
Scotiabank Dance Centre, Faris Theatre
Reduced theatre capacity, masks mandatory, and proof of vaccination required
Free event, all ages
Funding: Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, City of Vancouver
A link to the event can be found here.
Kaija Pepper in conversation with Karen Jamieson, Savannah Walling, and Terry Hunter following the screening of Michael Goldberg’s Terminal City Dance…At Work. October 30, 2021.
For video documentation of Emma Metcalfe Hurst introducing the Coming Out of Chaos: A Vancouver Dance Story website at this same event, click here!
And by the way, here’s a little bit more on the Coming Out of Chaos: A Vancouver Dance Story project!
Coming Out of Chaos: A Vancouver Dance Story is an oral history and web-based archival research project that looks back at the collaborative work Coming Out of Chaos (1982) to evaluate its impact on the emergence of contemporary dance in Vancouver in the 1970s and 1980s.
In addition to interviewing the original Coming Out of Chaos artistic collaborators, including: Karen Jamieson, Savannah Walling, Peter Bingham, Jennifer Mascall, Barbara Bourget, and Lola Ryan, we have also interviewed close contemporaries, dance critics, dance historians, and current dance practitioners to build a multi-perspective understanding of the work, the era, as well as its influence on dance practices today. The final result is a series of multimedia chapters telling these stories, an historical timeline, a selection of related archival materials, and interview audio and transcriptions.
1972 Vancouver - Dance Class - Michael Goldberg
Michael Goldberg on Terminal City Dance At Work
Photo above by Michael Goldberg circa 1972. Dance class held in an old church hall rented by the artists with Intermedia – a Vancouver artist association in the 60s and 70s.
When we asked Michael how the filming of the documentary "Terminal City Dance…At Work" come about, he was kind enough to send over some memories...
"In 1970 I moved to Vancouver from Montreal and became active in Intermedia. For reasons I do not recall, I became live-in custodian of the deconsecrated house next to the church hall, both of which Intermedia rented. I had studied mime under Paul Buisonneau and was aware of the dancers' activities, which practised in the hall. David Rimmer was one of the core group members, and I believe he may have been instrumental in getting video equipment purchased for artists' use. I was the one who used it most. "
Were you commissioned by Terminal City Dance to make the documentary?
"No, I approached them. My camera style involves handholding and moving while shooting, and filming dance was a special pleasure. At that point Terminal City Dance choreographed their pieces and rehearsed at the Western Front. I directed, filmed, and edited the video hoping it might serve useful for promoting their work."
Michael moved to Japan 40+ years ago and continues to work professionally in film and video. Thank you to Michael for his graciousness and support and VIVO for making it possible for us to screen this documentary on October 30th.
