Method Dance

A Matter of Deviance explores how visible and invisible markers of difference shape our social identities. Through movement, the work examines the weight of stigma—something we carry, yet cannot separate from—revealing how the body disrupts or conforms to moral expectations within everyday human interaction.

From the Artist: It’s a matter of deviance; we can have these bodily signs that expose something unusual about the signifier. Something apart, something a part of us that is inextricable and yet exposes a decided upon moral status within the routines of social intercourse. And we are forced to wear it, this stigma, like a backpack full of unknown and unnecessary weight.

www.methoddance.ca

Choreographer: Cai Glover

In an ever-going discovery and study of dance, Cai Glover has been training, performing and creating in the art form for over 25 years. From 2012 to 2022 Cai was working as a dance interpreter and choreographer for Cas Public and has been a part of 8 creations for the company. Most recently Cai has been developing his expression in poetry and a language of movement putting the dancing body to task in a search of an embodied expression of poetics through the transposition of language into movement under the name of his company, A Fichu Turning.

Composer: Adrian Copeland

Adrian Copeland is a renowned cellist and composer. He writes using a counterpoint of two extremes - one of violence and cacophony, the other of introversion and stillness. Adrian uses inventive cello textures to create minimal classical music, with influence of doom metal, ambient, post-rock and noise.

Performers: 

Samantha Presley: Sam is a devoted dance artist originally from Vancouver, Canada who is currently training, creating, teaching, and performing in Northern BC. Her primary focus in dance is in Modern, Contact Improvisation, Contemporary, Jazz and Hip Hop styles. After graduating from SFU with a Bachelors in Fine Arts majoring in Dance, Sam continued to grow as an artist by engaging in professional development workshops lead by master dance teachers such as: 605 Collective, Helen Walkley, EDAM Dance, Modus Operandi, Charles Slender-White (Countertechnique) and IADMS. Sam has performed work professionally across Canada and in Australia for companies and independent artists including: The Body Orchestra Collective, O.Dela Arts, Marissa Wong, Gemma Crowe, Holly Durant, Heather Laura Gray, The Lovers Cabaret, CollabArt Creations and Method Dance Society.

Abigael McCormick: Abigael McCormick was born and raised on the traditional territory of the Lheidli T’enneh. She began dancing at the age of four in her family’s studio and has remained rooted in movement ever since. After high school, she relocated to Vancouver to study in the Intensive Training Program at Harbour Dance Centre. Abigael has danced with Method Dance Society for two full seasons, performing in works such as Behind Veiled Eyes and A Matter of Deviance. She has toured to cities across BC, with performances at festivals including Northern Compass and Dancing on the Edge. She has worked with artists including Giselle Liu, Shelby Richardson, Cai Glover, and Kym Gouchie. Her professional development has included workshops with Natalie Lefebvre Gnam, Calder White, Arash Khakpour, Sophie Dow, and many others.

Abigael is drawn to work that blends genres and explores the poetry in the “ordinary,” seeking inspiration in the everyday as a source of artistic possibility. Angela Piche: Angela Piché is honoured to live and work on the traditional, unceded territory of the Lheidli T’enneh, known today as Prince George, BC. She has been dancing professionally with Method Dance Society for the past three seasons, touring to cities throughout Northern British Columbia.

A standout experience from the past season includes performing in A Matter of Deviance and Elsewhen as part of Conversations in Six, created by choreographers Cai Glover and Gwynne Bilski. Angela also performed in Bilski’s interdisciplinary installation Limbinal Mappings at Two Rivers Art Gallery. Angela is committed to dancing through every phase of life, nurturing a dedicated personal practice and continually expanding her movement vocabulary.