Richard Whitelegacy

The Legacy Project

Richard Whitelegacy
The Legacy Project

Sharing a life’s work

The Legacy Project

Archives – Physical & Digital, Mentorships & Commissioned Mentorships, Oral History, Body Transcription, Work with Scholars

Ongoing Program 2005-present

This umbrella program has five components concerned with the preserving and the passing on of Karen Jamieson’s life’s work. The KJD archives have set us at the forefront of dance archiving on the West Coast. We are committed to making the archives truly accessible, physically and digitally including in perpetuity; forming a strategic public engagement, social media and outreach program to create awareness of the work being done and the information available at the KJD archives.
 

The Legacy Project has been recognized as an important tool: to capture and share a unique and groundbreaking body of work by one of Canada’s contemporary dance innovators, a vital element in preserving an ephemeral art form, and a potential valuable resource to the contemporary dance community.


Archives – One of the key components of The Legacy Project is the creation of the KJD Archives (physical & digital). Cataloguing of the physical archive (paper, photos, media) and preparing the digital plan. Scanning all 2D based material, catalogue costumes and realia and upgrading online content.

Oral History – A spoken account is an important historical record for the archives, providing insight into the processes that begat the platforms of Karen’s choreographic creations. We started collecting oral histories on projects that created the greatest impact throughout Karen’s career (Sisyphus, Man Within, Agon, Gawa Gyani etc.). This material will be built into the online archival presence of KJD.

Mentorship Program – The work in these areas of mentorship led to the concept of ‘dance can only really be passed on from body to body’:

Community Engaged Dance Practice Mentorships: Mirae Rosner, Julie Lebel, Hailey McCloskey, Lindsey Ridgway.

Commission Choreographic Apprenticeship – Community Engagement Leadership, Meredith Kalaman – choreographic mentorship Femmes Fatales (September 2016-May 2017), Caroline Liffmann – Community based dance practice commission relating to working with “women at risk” through the Salvation Army and Vancouver Parks Board (2014-2016), Arts & Health Project (Elder Dance Project), Edmond Kilpatrick – BCAC Commission Still Breath Standing, Michael Caldwell (Toronto) Kyphosis – choreographic and creation commission.

Work with Scholars – We are developing new audiences for dance through collaboration with scholars writing on dance. The scholars, by disseminating the work of this company through their writing, make it possible to reach new audiences for dance: academics, professionals in related fields engaging with dance in order to further their discipline.