Co-produced by DanceHouse and 149 Arts Society, with support from the National Arts Centre 

December 15, 2021, 4pm PT
Live Stream Performance

FREE

DanceHouse, 149 Arts Society, and the National Arts Centre (NAC) have come together to envision a project in direct support of the dance community. On December 15, 2021 that vision will be presented virtually as NEXT: New Dance in Development – a residency and live stream sharing of works in progress from four  emerging Canadian choreographers.

Through NEXT: New Dance in Development, these emerging creatives –  All Bodies Dance Project artists romham pàdraig gallacher and Lance Lim, Shion Skye Carter, Ralph Escamillan, and Zahra Shahab – have been offered two weeks (November 29-December 14) of shared development time in the Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre at SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, a state-of-the-art theatre. Residency time includes access to technicians and all technical gear on site, allowing artists to begin playing with theatre resources they would not easily have access to in the studio. Following the development period, artists will gather on Wednesday, December 15 at 4:00pm PT for a 75-minute live stream of their works in progress. Everyone is invited to join the live stream as we witness new works beginning to unfold.

NEXT has been made possible with support from Canadian Heritage through their COVID-19 support measure, Canada Arts Presentation Fund Program, Support for Workers in Live Arts and Music Sector Fund. Through this unique funding stream, the three partnering organizations have generated contracts with over 30 arts workers, including choreographers and collaborators from across Canada, dancers, designers, composers, technicians, and production and administrative personnel. And for many of these creatives, NEXT will be one of the first times they are back in the studio and back in the theatre developing new work since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Additional support provided by the British Columbia Arts Council through Stronger BC: BC’s Economic Recovery Plan.

Read the full press release here.

All Bodies Dance Project

Residency Exploration 

As a company we aim to create opportunities for diverse artists to practice, research and create innovative, inclusive dance. As part of NEXT, All Bodies Dance Project has selected two emergent choreographers to explore and develop ideas in the making of duets. These creative processes question what it means to translate ideas from one body to another. How can dancers, ‘mentors’, outside eyes, and choreographers keep in mind the specific physicality of their bodies when giving and receiving feedback?

Creative Team
romham pàdraig gallacher (Choreographer)
Lance Lim (Choreographer)

Carolina Bergonzoni (Dancer)
Naomi Brand (Dancer + Mentor)
Rianne Svelnis (Dancer)
Jess Wilkie (Illustrator)

Shion Skye Carter

Residency Exploration 

I’m grateful to be one of the selected choreographers in NEXT Residency, where I will continue to explore ways to honour my heritage through embodied performance. I will dive into the first phase of research for a new collaborative performance, co-directed with two Ontario-based artists: dance artist Mayumi Lashbrook and fibre artist Hitoko Okada. I’ll work with my collaborators to share the history of washi paper and shifu, thread made from washi paper that can be woven into garments, expressing how we each connect to this age-old, hands-on and slow practice as Japanese-Canadians living in the present day. Hitoko feels a deep calling to carry on the legacy of this old weaving technique; the remaining generation of artisans in Japan who produce washi paper and shifu thread fabric in these traditional methods are very elderly, and this knowledge will disappear with them when they pass on. Sharing Hitoko’s personal storytelling of washi and shifu, woven together with dancers exploring connection as they interact with one another, with objects, and with shadow, we strive to create an intimate performance that honours our Japanese ancestry, which can be presented in a variety of arts spaces.

Creative Team
Shion Skye Carter (Choreographer)

Katie Cassady (Dancer)
Mayumi Lashbrook (Core Collaborator)
Cindy Mochizuki (Outside Eye)
Hina Nishioka (Lighting Design)
Hitoko Okada (Core Collaborator)
Prince Shima (Composer)
Wakana Shimamura (Production Design)

Ralph Escamillan

Residency Exploration

I’m interested in the examination of unison, its necessity within the context of bodies and light, and the synchronicity between the two. A face covering that withstands an intense light bombarding the performers will be designed by myself in collaboration with costumer Robyn Jill Laxamana, with lighting design by Jonathan Kim. The dancers in the piece will be Daria Mikhaylyuk, Simran Sachar, Rina Pellerin and Marisa Christogeorge.

Creative Team
Ralph Escamillan (Choreographer + Costume Designer)

Marisa Christo-Kondola (Dancer)
Jonathan Kim (Lighting Design)
Robyn Jill Laxamana (Costumer)
Daria Mikhaylyuk (Dancer)
Rina Pellerin (Dancer)
Simran Sachar (Dancer)

Zahra Shahab

Residency Exploration 

Through the generous support of NEXT, I am excited to explore the multiplicity of characters that we use to adapt to the world both as a tool for survival as well as portals of expansion into ways of being that are beyond our cultures normative script. I am interested in the idea of composting ourselves/our identities as a way to welcome the Anthropocene/Chthulucene. What does it mean to dance in partnership with the end of the world? What rhythms must we attune ourselves to, to be able to listen to the digestive processes of the earth beneath us?

Creative Team
Zahra Shahab (Choreographer)

Chimerik 似不像 (New Media/Projection Design Team)
   Sammy Chien (New Media/Projection Design Mentor + Facilitator)
Caroline MacCaull (New Media/Projection Design Collaborator)
Hannah Eriksson (Costume Design)
Oksana Hayduk (Dancer)
Alder Sherwood (Dancer)

Top photo: Oksana Hayduk and Alder Sherwood by Zahra Shahab.