Dance Artists & Writers in Conversation: Ancillary Residency Project

2020 Ancillary Dance Artists & Writers  -

April 1 @ 1pm PST

Moderated by Angela Cooper

with

Jennifer Aoki, Juolin Lee, Simran Sachar with Sophia Gamboa and Sharon Lee, Anaheed Saatchi, Yana Schwannecke and Marissa Wong

Supported by the Deux Milles Foundation 

BIOS

MODERATOR: Angela Cooper is a multidisciplinary artist who is currently immersing herself in flamenco training, revitalizing her Cree culture, and finishing her Bachelor of Arts in Professional Communication. She is grateful to be in artistic community, and would like to acknowledge that her development takes place on the unceded territories and land of the Coast Salish peoples–Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations.

WRITER: :Anaheed Saatchi (writer: Juolin and Marissa) Anaheed Saatchi writes fiction, creative nonfiction and covers themes of sustainable community building, diaspora, the outdoors industry and identity politics as a freelance journalist. They are a settler on the unceded territories of the šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmaɁɬ təməxʷ (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh-ulh Temíx̱w (Squamish) and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ təməxʷ (Tsleil- Waututh) Nations . They've written for various publications including The Malahat Review, Melanin Base Camp and The Alpinist.

WRITER: Yana Schwannecke (writer: Jennifer, Simran and collaborators) Yana Schwannecke is a German-Chinese illustrator who graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver in 2019. Her artistic practice in illustration touches on cultural displacement and the splicing of cultural and personal environments. The inspiration for this stemmed from a mixed cultural upbringing in the United States, Germany, and Singapore before living in Canada at age 18. Her practice also wandered into the realm of curation, having curated two group shows at ECU in Vancouver. She is currently living Düsseldorf, Germany where she is pursuing a MA in Art History at Heinrich-Heine-University. Due to this endeavor, Yana is spending less time illustrating and more time doing art historical research, and exploring her interest in the history of the representation of romantic love in the western didactic of art.

DANCE ARTIST: Jennifer Aoki is a fourth-generation Japanese Canadian dancemaker/performer and educator who lives and works on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples. Her formative dance training began at Simon Fraser University 2006 - 2010. After obtaining a BFA in Dance from SFU, she studied Contact Improvisation on scholarship at EDAM Dance and she co-founded Triadic Dance Works collective. Jennifer is currently co-Artistic Director of The Body Orchestra, a collective with the mandate to create highly physical, accessible work to original music, and she is also a Body Orchestra dancer, choreographer, and co-producer. Over the past eight years, her choreography has been presented at Dancing on the Edge, Nah Dran (Berlin), Summer Solo Series (Amsterdam), Vines Arts Festival, Winnipeg Fringe Festival, Calgary Fringe Festival, Winter Celebrations and Art for Impact. In her choreographic practice, she draws inspiration from the news industry, social media, childhood memories, nature, environmental issues, and most recently Japanese Canadian history. Jennifer is interested in cultivating a choreographic language that extends beyond the form of dance, experimenting with intersections between lighting, music, and embodied performance. She strives to take part in the creative process by investigating how she can be both physically and psychologically involved in the work. As a dancer, she has been fortunate to collaborate with and perform in works by Meredith Kalaman, Machinenoisy, Jenn Edwards (Toronto), Tomoyo Yamada, Body Narratives Collective, Jamee Valin(Toronto), Patricia Alison (Toronto), Jacinte Armstrong (Halifax), Barbara Lindenberg (Toronto), Anna Kraulis and Gemma Crowe. Interdisciplinary collaborators include composer Mary Jane Coomber, sound designer Jakob Liljenwall, creative editor Gemma Crowe, musician/songwriter Zane Barrett, and lighting designer Jonathan Kim.

DANCE ARTIST: Born in Changhua, Taiwan, Juolin Lee relocated to Langley, BC at age 13. Currently she is in her fourth and final year at Modus Operandi Vancouver Contemporary Dance program, under the direction of Tiffany Tregarthen, David Raymond and Kate Franklin. Through M.O. Juolin has worked with Shay Kuebler, Vanessa Goodman, Paras Terezakis, and Company 605, amongst others. Juolin feels grateful to live and play on the unceded Coast Salish territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. As a dancer she is fortunate to collaborate with and perform in work by Zahra Shahab, Emmalena Fredriksson and Arash Khakpour. Juolin is excited by the potential of dance as a tool to continuously unpack her idea of self, and to shine a light on what is hidden in the subconscious. She is on a quest to further deepen her understanding of her Taiwanese heritage, in part by reclaiming her Chinese Folk Dance background, and applying the coexistence of force, beauty and precision within the form to her contemporary movement practice.

DANCE ARTIST: Simran Sachar is an emerging artist, choreographer, and teacher, second generation East Indian immigrant born in Canada. She’s been dancing since she was 3 years oldin: Ballet, tap, modern and contemporary. At 18 Simran began learning about hip hop, heels, and has started exploring other street styles in depth such as: Waacking. Simran is grateful to always be a student in various dance forms. She is a melting pot. The biggest responsibility of an artist in her eyes is: to be the storyteller, the one who tells the truth. Rather than labelling her movement to a single dance style, she recognizes the multiple places her foundation stems from and therefore never abandons foundation, but rearranges it. She believes there is always an underlying reason, beyond technique or training, to why people move the way they do, and that reason has to do with the lives they live. She has trained and performed in multiple shows across New York City, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and most recently: Manila. She is an alumni of various creative programs and collectives across North America such as the world-renowned: Gypsy Project. Her latest achievements include performing at Fringe Manila, with Immigrant Lessons as an interpreter in their latest work titled: Origins. Simran has created various full-length works, and is in the processof her most recent solo, titled “This is What Makes Us Girls.” She is most recently a 2020 commissioned artist with FORM Vancouver, for her newest full length film: LUNACY. Her recent film entitled: “No Alarms” was chosen to be presented for “Isol-art,” by Teddy Tedholm and Sara Richman.

DANCE ARTIST: Sharon Lee is an emerging professional artist who has trained with the best in the street dance community and industry. Always actively seeking opportunity to learn, train, and create has opened many doors to Sharon’s knowledge and movement. In Vancouver, she has trained under Kim Sato, and is one of the original members of twofourseven Company. Sharon has also trained in New York with Buddha Stretch, Henry Link, Poping Pete, Caleaf, Majory Smarth, and so many more. She’s also trained in Los Angeles, and in Europe with many known industry choreographers. With Sharon’s background in training, it has lead her to work with local and international artists and choreographers such as A Tribe Called Red, Mandy Moore, Christopher Scott and many more. Her talent has also opened doors to perform at many high profile events such as Juno Fest, Fringe Manila,TED talks, and Takashi Murakami’s preview Art Gallery Night/Birthday Bash. When Sharon is not training, and/or performing, she partakes in many local and international house battles and events. As well as, she tries to travel as much as she can to expand her knowledge and connection within the street dance culture.

DANCE ARTIST: Sophia Gamboa - On the blazing soils of southern Manila, located within the islands of the Philippines, music and celebration was an everyday practice of freedom where Sophia “Sosa” rooted 13 years of her life. She grew up inspired as she witnessed how much music was surrounding her. Captivated by the soul and the stories she was able to tell through them, she always felt free. A natural born artist, leader and a powerhouse dancer who also spent half of her life as an immigrant in Vancouver, Canada. She molded and cultivated her skills and love for art as an escape to break through all the pressures of fitting in to the western society. Along the way, she became one of the original members of a dominating fashion/dance/art collective in the west coast Canada: "Immigrant Lessons". Since then, she has broken through all the barriers of what it means to be a street dancer and a high caliber artist. She is a dancing phoenix on the rise. A force to be reckoned with both in the freestyle battle scene and on stage. Her passion for culture has gotten her to work with some of the best up and coming artists of this generation. Whether it is performing on big stages, working on set for Disney, or a featured dancer in music videos, Sosa will always bring it to you as if she's the main event of the show. In time, she will give back and create home dedicated to the street kids of Manila to inspire peace, love, unity and having fun.

DANCE ARTIST: Marissa Wong is a Vancouver-based dance artist who has the privilege to create, play and share on the unceded territories of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Səlílwətaɬ (Tsleil- Waututh), and xwməθkwəyəm (Musqueam) Nations. She received her postgraduate studies through Alonzo King LINES Ballet and Ballet Austin. Her engagement with the Vancouver dance community has demonstrated her capability to produce, perform, and host works. She is currently a member of TWObigsteps Collective, which she founded in 2015. Since then, she has choreographed works that have been presented internationally, including at TEDxSoma (San Francisco) and Dance in Vancouver. In addition to performance, Marissa engages in the community through workshop facilitation, project managing, stage managing and teaching.

Interested in sharing dialogue, she seeks expansion through the language of movement, and a practice of continually challenging assumptions. She hopes to achieve this through choreography, education, and engagement in various arts practices.

MENTORS

Natalie TY Gan (Juolin Lee’s mentor)

Jill Henis (Jennifer Aoki’s mentor)

Lee Su-Feh (Simran Sachar and collaborators’ mentor)

Chick Snipper (Marissa Wong’s mentor)

RESIDENCY: Recognizing the need for support for early career artists, MiBC began an ancillary project to the Re-Centering/Margins Creative Residency to provide free rehearsal space, mentorship support, professional development, and showcase opportunity for short works for a group of another five dance artists who had expressed interest in the residency project: Angela Cooper, Jennifer Aoki, Juolin Lee, Simran Sachar and Marissa Wong.

Made in BC- Dance on Tour is dedicated to building a culture for dance throughout British Columbia. MiBC connects BC communities with dance artists, and fosters an appreciation of contemporary dance through its collaborations with multiple presenters and other community partners across the province.

This Creative Residency project supports Made in BC’s mission by strengthening emerging and contemporary dance artists in Vancouver for future engagements both locally and provincially.

The MiBC Creative Residency is an initiative of ED, Dr. Jane Gabriels, and is a partnership project between Made in BC - Dance on Tour and participating studio: 45 W Studio.

PROJECT COORDINATOR: Juolin Lee

Made in BC - Dance on Tour gratefully acknowledges that our work is situated on the traditional, ancestral and unceded Coast Salish territory of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations. Thank you.