Body to Body (2018 & 2019)
Body to Body
Choreographic legacy
2018 & 2019
A Research Project
“DANCE IS ONLY REALLY PASSED ON FROM BODY TO BODY…”
Body to Body (B2B) was part of our ongoing Legacy Program; of passing on a body of work through mentorship, work with scholars, and the creation of the KJD archive. This project ran from spring 2018 to summer 2019.
B2B investigated specific works considered Karen Jamieson’s most significant choreographic contributions to the art form. The goal was to develop investigative dance processes - to use the body as an 'investigative device" to get to the essence of the work; the powerful generative seed that is the mythic core.
The works are ones that embody a mythic narrative and have key elements in common: each speak of the inseparability of mind and body and each cohere around a mythic idea that is embodied through a danced narrative. Karen was, and continues to be, interested to see if working with young artists today could reveal the power of myth to be both timeless and absolutely contemporary.
The works investigated over the last two years:
Solo From Chaos (1982), Sisyphus (1983), Man Within (1989), solo|soul (2014)
The artists that participated in the project:
Amber Funk Barton (the response), Justine A. Chambers, James Gnam (Plastic Orchid Factory), Lisa Gelley (Company 605), Meredith Kalaman, Natalie LeFebvre Gnam (Plastic Orchid Factory), Josh Martin (Company 605), Darcy McMurray.
Sisyphus
Original Dancers: Paulette Bibeau, Alison Crawford, Jay Hirabayashi, Karen Jamieson, Lynne Lanthier,
Aaron Shields, Tom Stroud
Music Composition: David MacIntyre
Musicians: David MacIntyre, Sal Ferraras
Costume: Susan Berganzi
Sisyphus was first created in 1983 as a part of Vancouver Dance Week, with a score by David MacIntyre. It later was included in the official premiere of the Karen Jamieson Dance Company in February 1984. Dance Collection Danse named Sisyphus one of the ten Canadian Choreographic Masterpieces of the twentieth century.
“In 1983, the year of this work's creation, I had undertaken to try to build a dance company, something I experienced as pitting myself against impossible odds. I was interested also in the idea of dance itself as hard labour and the dancers forming the working class of the arts. As part of the research process, the company of dancers built our floor, the same floor that we then created Sisyphus upon.
During the creation and rehearsal of Sisyphus I did not know that it was Sisyphus that was coming into being. I was interested in the path of most resistance, I was interested in giving a physical, spatial and temporal form to the act of undertaking a monumental task, and I was looking for the rhythm and energy of effort, of building. I wanted to create an image of pitting the human spirit against the impossible. Neither did I start out with Jay Hirabayashi in the solo protagonist role. That also emerged to surprise me, as did the recognition, close to the completion of the work, that it was Sisyphus, the figure from Greek mythology that has come into being in this choreography.”
- Karen Jamieson
Photos below: 2018 B2B Sisyphus research in studio and 1980s Sisyphus performances
Man Within
Original Dancers: Catherine Lubinsky and Hiromoto Ida
Music Composition: Jeff Corness
Costume: Catherine Lubinsky
Originally titled: The Man Within
Premiered May 1989 at the Vancouver Playhouse.
The work investigates the weight of the body as a metaphor for the spirit.
“I was interested in the fact that one person carrying another has great emotional resonance. I wondered what would happen if a woman carried a man, what would the resonance and impact be? I discovered that it was a huge impact and resonated in a way that was different from anything I had done before or seen before. I was startled by this work.
This is a dancer’s piece. It is an interpretive vehicle. The first research process and inspiration was with Byron Chief Moon and Hiromoto Ida. I saw Byron carrying something in his physical demeanor. After the initial research period, Byron left the company to pursue a movie career. Catherine Lubinsky and Hiromoto brought the work to completion with me. Through the work with these dancers the piece grew to become a work of great power and toured extensively. Re-created in 2004 for the students of School for Toronto Dance Theatre, I was unprepared for the power of the work, and again astonished by how deeply felt it was for these student dancers and how well it served as a vehicle for the development of dancers as interpretive artists.
February 1 & 2, 1990 production at the Playhouse Theatre in Vancouver as part of The Dance Centre’s Discover Dance Series included: The Man Within. The performance publicity photo of the work caused an uproar amongst a group called Media Watch – National Watch on Images of Women in the Media Inc. – who viewed the photo as a menacing power of men over women.”
- Karen Jamieson
Photos below: 2018 Man Within research in studio and 1989 Man Within original cast
Solo From Chaos
Original Dancer: Karen Jamieson (Rimmer)
Music Composed and Performed by: Ahmed Hassan
Costume Design and Realization: Karen Jamieson
Premiere at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa for the Dance In Canada Conference, 1982.
“The original name of this work was Solo from Coming Out of Chaos as the piece was a response or commentary on a long and difficult and chaotic process of creative collaboration that resulted in the group work Coming Out of Chaos (1981). This work was commissioned by Grant Strate through SFU and toured across Canada to the National Arts Centre, to Quebec City and to Montreal. The dancers were Jennifer Mascall, Peter Bingham, Ahmed Hassan, Lola McLaughlin, Peter Ryan, Barbara Bourget, and Savannah Walling. Coming Out of Chaos was a pivotal work for me and for the group. The group, with the exception of Savannah Walling, went on to form the original EDAM and I left Terminal City Dance to form a company of my own.
In the work Solo from Chaos I was interested in finding a spatial expression for the idea of descent and ascent. I was looking for ways to create a sense of a layered universe that the dancer traveled through on her descent, and a physical language to differentiate the different levels or stages of the descent. The use of the ladder was a practical way to convey the sense that the work was taking place in the vertical dimension. The other was the use of spirals – huge spirals that sucked the dancer down, spirals that shot her back up. The use of breath was central to the work with its inside out and outside in focus.”
- Karen Jamieson
Photos below: 2019 B2B Solo from Chaos research in studio with Darcy McMurray, Amber Funk Barton, and Josh Martin, 1982 original, and 2009 recreation as a duet with Karen Jamieson and Darcy McMurray.
solo|soul
Choreographer/Dancer: Karen Jamieson
Composer: John Korsrud
Visuals: Josh Hite
Dramaturge: DD Kugler
Lighting: James Proudfoot
Photography: Chris Randle
Apprentice & Rehearsal Assistant: Hailey McCloskey
Rehearsal Director: Darcy McMurray
Stage Management: Philomena Sondergaard
Photographer: Chris Randle
solo|soul is a full length solo work created by and for Karen Jamieson that premiered July 2014.
“Time is running out for me. My body, the sole repository of rich dance experiences of a lifetime, is aging. Yet my understanding of the meaning and significance of the work that I have been doing these past years grows. There is a race going on – to render this understanding into choreographic form before my body ceases to be an expressive vehicle.”
- Karen Jamieson
Research Process 2012 & 2013
Danced Conversations & Studio Showings: Working individually with very different dance artists, in the studio, in conversations and exchanges in dance, creating studies and presenting studio performances. The first year the studio showings gave insight to the conversations, content and visual demonstrations as well as discussion. The second year built on those conversations. Concerned with the transformation from the muscle body to the energy body and the transformative process of aging. The body as a temporary garment.
Danced Conversations: Serge Bennathon (Les Productions Figlio), Peter Bingham (Edam Dance), Margaret Grenier (Dancers of Damelahamid), Meredith Kalaman, Lee Su-Feh (battery opera), Josh Martin (605 Collective), Jennifer Mascall (Mascall Dance), Darcy McMurray.
Photos below: 2018 solo|soul research in studio, 2012 danced conversations research, 2014 performance
The Curated Showing July 13, 2019
As part of KJD’s 35th Anniversary celebrations and in partnership with The Dance Centre, we shared a selection of the research conducted in B2B: Sisyphus, Man Within, and Solo From Chaos, with Amber Funk Barton, Lisa Gelley, Meredith Kalaman, Josh Martin, Darcy McMurray, and Karen Jamieson!
Below is a video excerpt from the showing (first 40 min) and some photos from rehearsal and event, all by Chris Randle and a few off Pamela’s phone…you guess which is which :)
