heidi strauss – a field of crowns

dossier: Marie France Forcier of Forcier Stage Works for IN absentia

Slowly but surely, it seems, I’m getting to all of the current and past ADs of hub14. The amount my hub colleagues work is astounding to me, and I feel like I can never keep up with their ability to constantly produce. At least, in terms of this project. I’m happy about what my dossiers can do, but sometimes they feel inadequate as I keep wanting to promote the amazing work folks like Heidi Strauss, Cathy Gordon and Kate Nankervis are doing. This project, however, would get overrun with the same names too quickly, and that’s definitely not the direction I want to take this. I want each dossier to be unique.

I am lucky to be working closely behind the scenes at hub14 with Marie France Forcier. She radiates a maternal energy, one that is always in control and capable of steering the ship safely through the storm. She helps bring stability to what can otherwise easily turn into chaos, and the amount of trust she has in others is admirable. I can only imagine what it’s like to work with her creatively.

Enough gushing, on to dossier #25:

Marie France Forcier

Who are we talking to?

Marie France Forcier, artistic director of Forcier Stage Works (forcierstageworks.com) and MFA candidate in Dance at York University; co-artistic director at Hub 14. Montreal-born and raised, Toronto-based for the last decade. Graduate of The School of Toronto Dance Theatre’s professional training program, performer, writer, pedagogue, road warrior but most predominantly choreographer ever since. Academically researching the expression of trauma and dissociative states in contemporary choreography.

What gets you going in the morning?

Since I started my grad studies while keeping up my professional life? The sheer fear of not being able to stay on top of an ever growing pile of work! …In all seriousness: the excitement I feel about my work and my research.

What is your earliest memory of realizing, yep, this is what I’m going to do with my life?

I was in my first of a three year as a double major in Psych and Dance at CEGEP de St-Laurent in Montreal. I noticed that the director of the dance department and senior dance majors were addressing me with the assumption that I was planning on a career in dance.

I’d always vaguely dreamt of it as I was growing up, without ever allowing myself to believe that I had the chops. Finding out that others thought that my going in that direction was plausible allowed me to get there myself.

Have there been times you seriously question why you pursue this lifestyle/art form? If so, what was it that keeps you in it, or has brought you back?

I never question why I do. The drive is always very present although it constantly renews and redefines itself. There certainly are times when the hardships that come with a career in the live arts seem to outweigh the benefits, but those dips never make disconnect with the impetus.

Why IN absentia?

Three choreographic projects make up my MFA’s practical component: an autobiographic solo in studio theatre, an ensemble work for the proscenium stage and a self-produced dance event including the candidate’s choreography off campus. IN absentia is my off campus production. My choreographic contribution to the program is entitled Levity as IN (absentia); it is a short duet, it explores the experience of dissociative states in the presence of the other, revealing the dissonance that creates for the viewer.

My piece being less than 15 minutes long, and since I had Hub 14 for the event at my disposal, I figured: why not create a mixed program, providing an opportunity for other artists to present new work in a casual setting? Lucy Rupert (Blue Ceiling dance) and Brandy Leary (Anandam) are prolific creators, whom I admire and have know through collaborations on various projects. Heather Berry-MacPhail has been a pillar in my work since Forcier Stage Works’ inception.

Half Second Echo is an emerging collective of recent York dance graduates. Offering them a spot addresses my personal mandate to create opportunities for the emergence wherever I can.

In the year that followed my own graduation years ago, I was blessed with opportunities that kept me active and persevering in a competitive world. I am very grateful to those who provided me with such opportunities; the first year often determines the course of a career; whether the young person will persevere in the arts or abandon. I believe that returning the favor is a good way to make the dance community sustainable, on a micro-level.

Anandam_2013_021 — Dancers Heather Berry-MacPhail, Justine Comfort (photo credit: Walter Lai)

What kind of atmosphere do you wish to create with IN absentia?

With Levity as IN (absentia), I am creating an atmosphere where coping mechanisms keep the characters standing. Where “retreating within following an episode of trauma” becomes the new normal. Where they have to share physical space with one other, externally present, internally elsewhere, trapped in a snapshot that may never be successfully processed; in absentia.

The other pieces on the program will bring their own atmospheres.

This is part of your MFA thesis work with York University. Did you ever think your work would bring you to IN absentia?

It has been a gradual process. The awareness that my own history of trauma had been seeping through the symbolism in my choreographic work arose within me over the course of 2 years or so, in phases. This insight about my own work led to my decision to dedicate my MFA research to the expression of post-traumatic stress in choreography. The process for Levity as IN (absentia) is a part of that.

What’s your favourite story about working on this project?

Levity as IN (absentia) is a work that has been in progress for nine months now, re-adapted twice for presentation over the course of that period. The most recent one was presented at Collective Space in Toronto, where the walls are curved, and the two dancers were climbing, reaching for unattainable levity, and sliding off walls as a choreographic feature. It was fun to watch, playful despite the contrasting content.

Describe IN absentia in three adjectives, a phrase, or with sound.

An assignment adapted for the better into a community event.

Do you have anything else you’d like to share? Photos, videos, links, posters, stories, wishes?

dossier: Kevin Rees for OUBLIETTE / Summerworks

Coincidence, chance, serendipity: each of these are beautiful forces that wander through our world uninterrupted. They are reminders that, as soon as you think you understand the world around you, there will always be something unexpected that will, once again, fill you with wonder. The world is mysterious and if you’re open enough to accept this you will begin to welcome these little (or big) surprises.

Last week, I was walking home through a residential street I had only walked through maybe twice before after completing my roster of Volcano classes for the day. As I navigated this unfamiliar street I saw a woman shaking out some bags on the sidewalk. Getting closer, me walking, her shaking out dirt and hitting canvas, she turned towards me and we immediately recognized each other. This woman shaking the bags was an artist I met maybe three years ago now at the annual, or biennial, Unconference by Small Wooden Shoe (which is happening again very soon and you should go to it) by the name of Michelle Polak. Last I heard from her she was participating in a tour of I, Claudia. We very easily began talking about theatre, I was throwing her some stuff that had me very inspired from the recent classes I was taking with Volcano, and she began telling me about her experience working on OUBLIETTE, a show opening this week at Summerworks. We asked a lot of “How”-questions and walked away from each other, I think, with a bit more wonder in our minds than when we began.

Later that night, Michelle got me in touch with Kevin, the writer / director of the show she’s working on. I’m quite curious to see OUBLIETTE. After talking with Kevin and reading his responses to my questions, it seems he is full of as much wonder and awe as Michelle and I.

So, without further ado, I give you dossier #21:

Who are we talking to?

I am Kevin Rees. I have been creating theatre, acting and writing for the past 15 years or more. A lot of my original work has been with emergency exit – a company Sean MacMahon and I started about 12 years ago when we wanted to shake shit up a bit. We do multi-media performances that use improvisation quite heavily and we do everything ourselves (call cues, operate lights, music etc.)

This year I began Think, Pig! to have a platform for performances I want to do that don’t sit in the perimeters of emergency exit. I’ve got a project in development right now (section 2 will be at the Performance bar on August 15th) called I am Trying to Lose my Mind.

I have also written a few plays – Rabid (which won the Summerworks Jury Prize back in 2001 alongside Matthew MacFadzean’s richardthesecond), which was all about skinheads and fratricide, and Madder which was about a town with a missing girl and a tainted water supply. Fast – my first play was about excruciating love.

I’ve been a performer mostly though for companies like Clay and Paper, DNA, Modern Times, bluemouth inc., Afterglow, and some other delicious dance and theatre companies.

What drew you down this path? (to theatre, to playwriting, to directing, to this particular show, to wherever the hell you are in life)

I began acting in high school and have to say it was all about escape back then. I wanted to act my way out of my actual life because it was harsh a lot of the time. I was awkward, I was deeply angry, and I found that theatre was a fount of things I didn’t allow myself or just couldn’t find in reality. It also allowed me to unleash. Theatre gives you permission. You never have to apologize for your actions. Theatre is the opposite of hiding.

Oubliette originally began because I wanted to write something for women only. I wanted to work with some particular women- and I wanted to write something I could not cast myself in. I have always been fascinated by and read about war and watched films about it, been deeply disturbed by the idea that seems to float around that it is somehow necessary. It fucking isn’t. Then I started thinking about the body-counts – TV says – 300 people died in Baghdad last night during “shock and awe”; but who were they? And why are we treating this like the playoffs?

What is your earliest memory of realizing, yep, this is what I’m going to do with my life?

Probably when I sat in the audience watching about 3 of my friends in a production of ”You Can’t Take it with You?” in high school. They all auditioned and I was terrified and didn’t. We went to Cawthra Park which had an arts programme. I remember thinking – that was the last time you turn away from that kind of fear. The ball was already rolling then though. I also recall realising what an ACTOR was when I was watching an episode of Dallas with my Mum when I was maybe 10. I thought John Forsythe had a very interesting occupation.

Theatre is terrifying.

I used to think acting was the most nerve wracking job, I still tremble in the 15 minute call before curtain, but then I wrote something that I did not perform in – so I had to sit in the audience; that taught me a lesson. I didn’t know my guts could feel like that. Fear is healthy.

Why OUBLIETTE?

It’s such a great word. David Bowie says it in Labyrinth, that was when I first heard it. When I began researching what they were I was really intrigued but also amazed at the effort someone would go to to make someone forgotten. It seemed a perfect setting and symbol somehow to explore ideas surrounding genocide.

What kind of atmosphere do yo intend to set up, or can someone expect while attending OUBLIETTE?

I’d prefer not to answer this one. I think the atmosphere of the play is one of the most vital aspects, so I’d rather leave it unexplained. My friend Hillar Liitoja (of DNA) covers the synopses on the backs of books so that while reading it everything is new information as he comes across it. The synopsis hasn’t pre-conceived anything for him. I think Hillar is a very smart man.

I understand this piece has been in development for a long time. Can you speak a bit about the history of it? Why now?

I don’t recall precisely when I began writing it but it was first workshopped in June 2004 with a TAC grant I received. The first cast was Viv Moore, Heidi Strauss, Michelle Polak and Allison Cummings. That was an incredible experience. My friend Heather Lash directed it. She has experience as a theatre director and has worked first hand with refugees at a centre here in Toronto. We did a couple staged readings in the back room at the Playwright’s Guild where I worked at the time.

In 2006 I ran away from home and moved to Budapest, Hungary for 4.5 years. Near the end of my time there I hired 4 more actors Patricia Hughes, Rachel Lambinon, Gretchen Meddaugh and Liana Andrews and we did another workshop at this amazing bar/hostel in Pest called Roham. That was odd and awesome. The audience there didn’t know me really, many of them didn’t have English as a first language – I got some very useful feedback, made the language more stripped down and I began to concern myself much more with the rhythm and tone of the play.

Now, here we are. I am returning to Summerworks after not having produced or performed at this festival for about 9 years. I am very pleased to be back.

What is your favourite memory from the development of OUBLIETTE?

Probably early on this time around when Michelle Polak and I had a meeting at her house. We were a couple weeks in and she wanted to “get inside my head” so she could help out with rehearsals as an assistant director. We sat down at the kitchen table and went through the whole script and she poked and prodded with her fabulous actor brain – she asked me all kinds of really detailed questions and drew stuff from the script and suggested the temperature and made links where I didn’t realise I had written them and whatnot. I think that meeting was fuelled by ginger tea. She is the best question asker ever. I was going to say “interrogator” but that is too aggressive for Michelle. She helped me realise all the detail that was there.

She’s been there from day 1 asserting that I should follow my instincts. She is a great ally.

Describe OUBLIETTE in three adjectives, a phrase, or with sound.

Sonnet 55 by William Shakespeare does a nice job I think…

Not marble, nor the gilded monuments

Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;

But you shall shine more bright in these contents

Than unswept stone besmear’d with sluttish time.

When wasteful war shall statues overturn,

And broils root out the work of masonry,

Nor Mars his sword nor war’s quick fire shall burn

The living record of your memory.

‘Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity

Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room

Even in the eyes of all posterity

That wear this world out to the ending doom.

So, till the judgment that yourself arise,

You live in this, and dwell in lovers’ eyes.

Do you have anything else you’d like to share? Photos, videos, links, posters, stories, wishes?

I’ve included postcard image, a drawing, and a mugshot.

For showtimes and performance info, click on the picture above and you’ll be redirected to the facebook event page. Or check out the Summerworks site. That also works.

dossier: Heidi Strauss, Kate Alton and Luke Garwood for “for me?” / Summerworks

Heidi Strauss, another of the past ADs of hub14, has been instrumental in helping us get up on our feet and making sure we are headed in the right direction. Her care for detail and efficiency is quite motivating. I’ve never seen her work before, so am definitely looking forward to catching this original, site-specific Summerworks show. I’ve also never met Kate Alton or Luke Garwood, but if Heidi was commissioned to choreograph / direct this piece, I’m sure the dynamic created between the three artists will be an experience worth seeing at Summerworks.

I’m grateful all three of them decided to participate in this dossier, so without any further ado from me, as this is a super-sized post, we’ll get right into it.

dossier # 20:

Who are we talking to?

Heidi Strauss, Kate Alton and Luke Garwood.

What drew you down this path? (to dance, to wherever the hell you are in life)

Heidi: Many people are probably responsible for where I am and what I’ve learned to this point. But the bottom line is that I love dancing, the simple act of moving and the possibility of what it can do to move people, to transform.

Kate: I was always drawn to dance. As a child there was never any question in my mind about what I wanted to do. It has always felt like part of me. It feels particularly good to be doing it now, with one of my favourite choreographers, a fabulous partner and after a hiatus from performing while I stayed home with my young twins.

Luke: Mostly street signs. oh…the figurative path? The figuratively gravel laden, dusty, dance path? Well I started because I saw it on TV and thought it might be fun to do. I was about 10. I enjoyed it so much I haven’t looked back at a map or gps (trying to stay in theme) since.

What is your earliest memory of realizing, yep, this is what I’m going to do with my life?

Heidi: Going haywire on a ballroom floor when I was 2 at a wedding reception. I was wearing a violet dress with purple flowers that I called a dirndl, even though it wasn’t (my mom bought it at JCPenny). But seriously, it’s a question I keep asking: is this what I want to be doing? So I am not continuing out of habit – that it’s a decision — because some days it’s a hard decision.

Kate: I don’t remember ever thinking anything else.

Luke: There was no ‘one’ moment but rather a culmination of experiences. I have trained for the goal of becoming a professional dancer since the age of 11. So I was pretty set early on, but it was through the teachers I was lucky enough to work with, encountering fellow students/colleagues who shared the passion, and the performance opportunities I was able to gain, that truly made me want to commit “my life” to the art form.

Why “for me?” ?

Heidi: ‘for me?’ because it is a commission made think very much about Kate who asked me, and about the nature of what developed in the first process with she and Luke a few years back. I often think a duet is able to translate so much so clearly about behaviour, about why we react certain ways, why we do certain things for each other, and why we don’t. The commission also came about at a particular time when I was/am asking a lot of questions about whom we are doing all this for, what is performance? On a personal level these questions relate to acts of generosity in life, and professionally (though a distinction between personal and professional is often blurry) through work we make and perform. In the latter part of the process the question ‘for me?’ became one the three of us asked about our city – which will be evident when (if) you see the show.

The sweet answer, however, is that there is stage when a toddler is growing up and given things, from a glass of water to a new toy, when they ask with disbelieving delight: ‘for me?’ I think, as adults, we do this too — but silently and particularly when we are taken by surprise, or something we are given has a special kind of weight.

Kate: Really a question for Heidi, but one sense of it is the exploration of who a performance is actually for. Is it for the performer, the creator, the audience, and what are our respective roles in those relationships? What does it mean to give and to receive, in the context of performance and beyond? What are the gifts that are given to us by our ancestors, the gifts of our personal history?

Luke: My interpretation is that it’s a play on the give and take that happens in a theatrical performance. We’re trying to create a piece for an audience to enjoy while actively pursuing our own artistic and aesthetic goals, which could generate the question: who is this performance for? I think Heidi hits a rare balance with her work by creating pieces a wide-ranging audience can truly enjoy while still being artistically relevant and challenging. As far as I can tell “for me?” is actually for all of us.

What kind of atmosphere do you intend to set up, or will someone experience while attending “for me?”

Heidi: One where the weather co-operates, the audience is welcomed and feels comfortable.

Luke: We unfortunately have little control over our atmosphere and seeing as our piece takes place outside it’s especially disconcerting. We have all doubled up our efforts to recycle and reduce our green house emissions so that the atmosphere maintains it’s healthy-ish state of protectiveness. Fingers crossed.

Have you worked with each other before? How did this specific collaboration begin, and, if applicable, how did the very first collaboration between you begin?

Heidi: I danced with Kate Alton in a work of Laurence Lemieux’s shortly after I finished school and then again in stage and film work of Michael Downing/dancefront. Later on I danced in a number of her works when her company Crooked Figure Dances was Overall Dance. Those works included Tartan Briefs and Great Leap Forward. She is one of my mother’s favourite dancers. This is the first time I have worked with Luke, although while I was a co-director of hub14 we commissioned him to create something for Full Stop, and Luke and I are working on and off on a gallery project with Jenn Goodwin. It has been a real pleasure, and honour to develop something with these very generous folks.

Kate: The three of us have never worked together before. I have worked with Luke both as a fellow dancer at Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie, and also as rehearsal director there. I think the first time Heidi and I worked together was on a solo I did for her way, way back for Series 8:08. So long ago I don’t know what year it was! I have never worked for Heidi as a dancer before but she has been involved in two of my projects. I have been admiring her work for years.

Luke: I had worked with Kate at CLC and Heidi and I had done a collaborative project together but I had never worked on a piece like this with either of them, so I was more than eager to come on board.

What is your favourite memory from working on “for me?”

Heidi: Being unable to continue working because of uncontrollable laughter, speaking in double negatives, rehearsing in a baseball diamond when we were double booked in the Lower Ossington rehearsal space.

Kate: Off the top of my head I would say it was the last run-through we did, the first full run-through onsite. I had a sense of the whole work coming together and it was very satisfying. We laughed a lot in the process, worked hard and I rediscovered the dancer in my body, so lots of good things.

Luke: There was a day of gift giving where we ended up sharing more than just material gifts, we gave each other our stories, memories and histories, and that was pretty special.

Describe “for me?” in three adjectives, a phrase, or with sound.

Heidi: What we do is what we do.

Kate: Colour, Connection, Conversation. Not adjectives, but those are what come to mind.

Luke: ohhhhhooooooooooo (that’s a sound)

Do you have anything else you’d like to share? Photos, videos, links, posters, stories, wishes?

Luke: I wish you’d all come see the show and let us know what you think.

turning a new leaf.

Some of you may know this but, as of last Tuesday, June 18th, I can officially announce that I am part of the new leadership team that will be transitioning live performance arts incubator hub14 from its second cohort to its third!

Along with new artistic directors Marie-France Forcier, Kate Nankervis and Coman Poon, Aria Evans and myself will be joining the team as associate directors (or artistic-directors-in-training). I’m excited to be part of this transition and to work alongside the current/exiting artistic director team of Cathy Gordon, Jeremy Mimnagh, Meagan O’Shea, and heidi strauss. Things have really picked up since being voted-in at the board meeting on the 18th and a lot of great things are underway. In fact, one of them was just released today!

hub14 is looking for applicants for the various residencies we offer. If this is your first time hearing about hub14, I’m posting our mission statement and descriptions for each residency offered below, taken directly from our site and from the call. If you’re a physical/movement-based performer this will definitely be of interest to you. Check it out!

hub14 is an artist-run live arts incubator and presenter. Our focus is interdisciplinary work as seen through the lens of independent contemporary performance. We contribute to the arts ecology through giving support to artists wanting to experiment and collaborate creatively with each other. We offer an evolving roster of programs including artistic residencies, dramaturgical services, workshops and presenting opportunities as well a variety of community-engaged initiatives.

hub14 encourages inventiveness and excellence by granting free and discounted rehearsal space so that artists may afford more time for process-based research and development.
Professional artists at all stages of their career who want to explore within or outside of their core discipline(s) and live art practitioners from a diversity of backgrounds and abilities are encouraged to apply.

launchpad residency
Intended to support previously unworkshopped new ideas or the development of commissioned or currently programmed work. launchpad residency offers a flexible plan that includes either free studio space (up to a maximum of 50 hours) and/or heavily subsidized studio time (up to 60 hours). A public/invited showing is required for commissioned and previously workshopped/produced pieces. New works have the option of a public/invited showing.

live in residency (outside of Toronto / Canadian / International)
Intended for artists living outside of Toronto. Artists are invited to live and create inside hub14 for up to a maximum two-week stay. A showing is required at the end of the Residency.
Simple live/work arrangements consist of studio, bed, 3-piece private bathroom, mini fridge, hotplate, basic flat wear and utensils.

community chest
Open proposal for special initiatives proposed by and/or supporting the community.
Proposals can range from performance-lectures, a curated series, artistic think tanks and professional development opportunities. We are open to other initiatives that fit strongly withhub14’s mandate.

Deadline: 5PM July 19th, 2013
Response: July 24th, 2013
Eligibility: all applicants must be a member of hub14 (membership is a yearly fee of $40 that allows you to rent the space and can be paid through our PayPal account)

If you are interested in applying, follow the link to the site and apply online!