Terminal City disbands
Terminal City disbands
1982
“In February 1982, the company assumed a new name, TCDR Centre, and a new organizing structure. The new organizing structure was an umbrella organization with three main areas of activity: a program of Exchange Performances, initiated and curated by myself in the beginning and later by Barbara Clausen, I believe; a dance company directed by Karen; and dance collaborations by Terry Hunter and myself. We also assumed new roles: Karen [Jamieson] as Artistic Director and Terry [Hunter] and myself as Associate Directors. The Performance Exchanges started in 1981 and brought together choreographers and artists from many disciplines to meet and exchange ideas through informal studio-performances. This was also an opportunity for work-in-process presentations of new work at Terminal City Dance including Coming Out of Chaos.
On September 1, 1983, Karen, Terry and I resigned from Terminal City Dance. We went on to form two separate and independent performing and touring companies. Karen formed the Karen Jamieson Dance Company. Terry and I formed Special Delivery Dance / Music / Theatre, today called Vancouver Moving Theatre. In November 1983, the Board of Directors of TCD moved to recognize Karen, Terry, and myself as founding members of TCDR Centre.”
The above excerpt is Savannah Walling’s account taken from Coming Out of Chaos: A Vancouver Dance Story, Chapter 2.
A lesser known part of this story is the evolution of Terminal City Dance Research Society into what is today the Dance Centre:
In August 1986, a special resolution was passed by the Terminal City Dance Society Board to change its name to the VDC Dance Centre Society. By 1985, credits for VDC Dance Centre Society-funded projects were assigned to The Vancouver Dance Centre. VDC Dance Centre Society’s name, non-profit, and charitable status gave the organization access to funding, and a grant was received to begin a feasibility study for the creation of a new Dance Centre. Joyce Ozier was hired to coordinate the one-year “Dance Centre” pilot project from 1985-86. In 1986, The Dance Centre was officially founded as a resource centre for dance professionals and the public in Vancouver and by 1987, Barbara Clausen was hired as the first Executive Director of The Dance Centre, after her two-year stint at the Canada Council. Clausen stayed in this position until 1991. Afterwards, Clausen went on to co-found New Performance Works Society in 1993 with Wendy Newman, Julie Poskitt, Gina Sufrin, Fran Brafman, and Janet Miller “as a vehicle for the development, production and presentation of contemporary performance-based work and to provide support and performance opportunities for artists working in the contemporary performing arts.” Through New Works, Clausen began programming Dance Allsorts in 1997, which was a series of diverse and multicultural dance forms. All Over the Map, an outdoor version of Dance Allsorts, started the following year.
The Dance Centre officially opened as a physical space in Downtown Vancouver in 2001, under Executive Director Mirna Zagar, who has been at its helm since 1998.
The above excerpt is taken from Coming Out of Chaos: A Vancouver Dance Story, Chapter 3.