Director | Peter Bingham
Name of piece | Dead Weighting
Venue | Firehall Arts Centre
…about giving assistance and taking support to get along, creating mutual benefit…
In memory of Steve Paxton and Nancy Stark Smith.
EDAM (Experimental Dance and Music) was formed in 1982 by seven independent artists. In 1984 the group condensed to four artistic directors, and in 1989 Peter Bingham assumed sole directorship. This season we mark EDAM’s 42nd anniversary and celebrate Bingham’s 35 years of visionary leadership. Peter has been making choreography and improvised scores for over four decades. He’s worked with an ensemble of EDAM improvisors since 2017. This work is an expression of these years together.
Thank you to our collaborators Raïna and Erika, to iDance Studio, and to all the performers for their dedication and artistry throughout this process. A heartfelt thank you to Donna Spencer for inviting us to be a part of this fantastic festival.
Director: Peter Bingham
Direction by Peter Bingham. Peter Bingham is the Artistic Director of EDAM Dance, a Vancouver-based company dedicated to the research, creation and production of contemporary dance, particularly Contact Improvisation, improvisation and complementary practices. Bingham’s dance career began in 1975; for over 40 years he has been creating choreographed works and taking part in improvised performances in Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia. Notable collaborators include Andrew Harwood, Chris Aiken, Steve Paxton, Nancy Stark Smith, Lisa Nelson, Marc Boivin, Lin Snelling, Ray Chung, Wen Wei Wang, Tom Stroud, John Alleyne and Crystal Pite.
Composer - Alex Mah
ALEX MAH is a composer and interdisciplinary artist whose scores use verbal notation to deal with ideas of indeterminacy, performer choices, and the sensing body. He has participated in festivals, workshops, and performed across Canada, Germany, Denmark, and the U.K.
www.cargocollective.com/alexmah
Lighting Designer: James Proudfoot
James Proudfoot is a lighting designer/director based in Vancouver, Canada. He is originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, where he received his initial theatre training. Self-taught in the realm of dance lighting, he has contributed designs to many artists and companies over the past 25 years. James is grateful to live and work on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations
https://www.jamesproudfoot.com
Dramaturg - Raïna von Waldenburg
Former full-time faculty at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, adjunct at SFU and UFV, currently teaches workshops in Grotowski-based physical performance. Raïna is a dramaturg, writer, director, and performer in Vancouver and the experimental downtown NYC theatre scene. She has been facilitating artists in the development of original performance material for thirty years.
Collaborator/Costume Consultant: Erika Mitsuhashi
Erika Mitsuhashi is a dance artist based based in on the unceded territories of the Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw), Tsleil-Waututh (səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ) and Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm) Nations. Her practice spans disciplines using the body as a site for conceptual thematics including in-betweenness and intimacy. She often utilizes DIY performance tactics to observe what the materiality of bodies/spaces can reveal and attempts to create with a non-hierarchical approach to determine who, what and where movement is possible.
Performers:
ANNE COOPER has danced in EDAM/Peter Bingham’s works since 1994. She’s also danced in the US ‘Glimpse’ Performances with Nancy Stark Smith and for choreographers and companies in Vancouver, Winnipeg & Quebec City. She has created and presented her own work in Vancouver. She’s taught Contact Improv at EDAM and elsewhere since 2000. Anne is grateful to live and work in Vancouver, BC, on the unceded, ancestral land of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.
FRANCESCA FREWER is a contemporary dance artist living as a grateful guest on the unceded, ancestral territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh first nations. She loves dancing with EDAM.
ARASH KHAKPOUR originally from Tehran, Arash is privileged to be a dance artist who has immigrated to the ancestral and unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples. Arash is very lucky to work with and learn from Peter Bingham. He is overjoyed to have been dancing and performing with the exceptional EDAM ensemble for the past 7 years.
HAYLEY GAWTHROP Born and reared in Semiahmoo territory Hayley is an independent performing artist residing in the unceded ancestral territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil- Waututh Nations. Music and Dance make Hayley feel more radically alive. Their passion for autonomy and interest in improvisation led them to explore Contact Improv under the tutelage of Peter Bingham in 2015. They have been dancing professionally with the EDAM ensemble since 2021 and teaching CI at EDAM since 2022.
OLIVIA SHAFFER, EDAM’s Associate Artistic Director, has been with the company since 2014. She shares her passion for movement as language and somatic research through her classes and her projects as a choreographer. She is finishing up a four year comprehensive training program in the Feldenkrais Method®. Over the past decade and a half, Olivia has worked as a freelance performer. She has taught and performed in Europe, the US, and Asia. www.oliviashaffer.ca.
June 14th @ 9:00 PM
June 15th @ 9:00 PM
Approx. Running Time: 45-60 minutes
