Oral Histories

Coming Out of Chaos: A Vancouver Dance Story - KJDCHAOS.CA

In the beginning, there was Chaos…

In 2016, Pamela Tagle and Clare Asquith Finegan conceived of the idea to create an oral history project centered around Karen Jamieson’s collaborative choreographic work Coming Out of Chaos (1981); but it was not until years later, under the creative direction of Emma Metcalfe Hurst, that it was born. The resulting creation is a microsite that houses a multi-perspective understanding of the work, the era, and its resonance in Vancouver contemporary dance today, told through the voices and words of some of the original members of Coming Out of Chaos, as well as dance critics, dance historians, administrators, creative contemporaries, and current dance practitioners. View the oral history project here.

On October 30, 2021, we hosted an event at the Scotiabank Dance Centre to introduce the work to the community.

Here is a link to a blog post from the UBC iSchool about COoC and another post about our City of Vancouver Award for Living Heritage!