Jenn Edwards

This work has been in creation since 2022, over two ArtsNL-supported residencies that brought Vancouver-based dancers across the country to Labrador West. The Centre of Time draws inspiration from the subjective experience of time from within our bodies, through the imaginary lens of Einstein's Dreams, a 1992 novel by Alan Lightman. Time stretches, spirals, and bends back on itself in a dreamlike space, coloured by otherworldly imagery captured in Labrador.

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Choreographer and Performer: Jenn Edwards
www.jennedwardsdances.com

Originally from Vancouver, Jenn first fell in love with movement through competitive figure skating before earning a BFA in dance at SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts in 2010. Her career as a performer, choreographer and movement educator has brought her to Berlin, Vienna, Toronto, and Newfoundland and Labrador, where she is currently based. Since 2018, Jenn has been a company skater with Le Patin Libre, a contemporary skating company based in Montreal. She is a cast member in their internationally touring show, Murmuration, which was presented by the Venice Biennale in 2024. Edwards' work has been presented at 12 Minutes Max, Fusion Festival (Berlin), Vines Art Festival, and at Toronto festivals New Blue Dance, Your Dance Fest, and Dance: Made in Canada. Her film work, Shipwreck, won Best Experimental Film at Toronto’s Experimental Dance & Music Festival. Last year she was commissioned by Method Dance Society to present a new work entitled Re:Semblance, for their Community Moves festival in Prince George, BC. ​Jenn has also written numerous pieces for Dance International and Dance Collection Danse Magazine. She is currently based in Labrador West where she teaches dance, figure skating, and yoga, and plays in an alt rock band, Ptarmageddon.

 

Composer: Scott Neary
@Scottnearymusic

Scott Neary is an international touring musician and award winning guitarist, composer and arranger. He has a Masters of Music in Jazz Guitar Performance from the University of North Texas, where he was a member of the six time Grammy Nominated One O’Clock Lab Band, as well as a Bachelors of Music (Jazz Studies) with Honours from St. Francis Xavier University.

Scott has been a professional performing musician since 2003, and has maintained an active role as a performer ever since. Living in Toronto from 2013 to 2020, he was an in demand gigging and recording guitarist, vocalist, and pianist, of all styles. He has performed with Jully Black, Unidentifed Funk Object, Pheonix Jazz Quartet, Ilios Steryanis, After Funk, Larry Graves, Surefire Sweat, The Hit Pickers, Floral Marks, Sundar Viswanathan, Max Senitt, Selcuk Suna, Eric St. Laurent, among many others.

Since 2020, Scott has returned to his hometown of Wabush, Labrador, where he’s maintained a busy schedule as a performer, private music educator, and member of alt rock band Ptarmageddon. As a member of the local arts community, he’s helped create a local open mic/songwriters night, been an instructor in summer music camps, and has become a staple in the Labrador West music scene.

Video Artist: Brad Dillon
@brad_dillon_80

From the Labrador West area, Brad is a self taught photographer, videographer, producer, graphic designer, and musician. Notable past projects include wedding photography, product photography, music videos, and several commercial graphic design projects.

In 2016 Brad was part of a 3 person team, Creative Focus, filming and producing a documentary called “MAKE IT STOP” about a rare childhood cancer, Ewing’s Sarcoma, in partnership with the ECFC (Ewings Cancer Foundation of Canada). The film was premiered across Canada in various private and public viewings in September 2017, and can now be found on the Ewings Cancer Foundation YouTube channel.

Performer: Jennifer Aoki
@jenn_aoki

Jennifer Aoki (she/her) is a Japanese Canadian dancer and choreographer based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Known for her thought-provoking work and innovative vision, Jennifer has been steadily establishing herself as a voice in the dance community since 2010. She is passionate about empowering others through art, and strives to build meaningful connections with others through her creative work. She is inspired by the infinite possibilities of human movement and expression. Her work celebrates the intersectionality of her identities and is influenced by her ongoing research into heritage.

Jennifer’s choreography has been presented Canada, as well as in Seattle, Amsterdam, and Berlin, including Dancing on the Edge, Nah Drahn, 12 Minutes Max, Vines Arts Festival, and Fringe Festivals. She has had great fortune working with dance innovators Jenn Edwards, Tomoyo Yomada, Meredith Kalaman, Body Narrative Collective, and Machinenoisy.

Presently, she is a special events coordinator with City of New Westminster, Artistic Co-Director of Voirelia, and National Association of Japanese Canadians ACE committee member.

Performer: David Clennin
@yubyubcdr

David began his training with Ukrainian dance on Treaty 6 territory, the home of the nêhiyaw (Cree), Niitsitapi (Blackfoot), Dene, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), Anishinaabe (Saulteaux/Ojibwe), Nakota Isga (Nakota Sioux), Inuit, and Métis. He performed there with Ukrainian Shumka Dancers before moving to Vancouver.

David is privileged to now dance and create on the ancestral and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) territories (Vancouver, B.C.) He graduated from the School of Contemporary Arts with a BFA in Dance at SFU in 2015. Since then he has worked Toy Guns Dance Theatre and the Body Orchestra, among others, performing at numerous Fringe Festivals in Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Vancouver.

David’s has recently picked up the hobby of bodybuilding, and is excited and curious to move in space with his changed body during this rehearsal process.

Performer: Kayla De Vos

Kayla (she/they) is a human being made of approximately 7 octillion (7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) atoms residing on the ancestral land of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) territories (Vancouver, B.C.)

Kayla organizes their atoms to laugh, grieve, drink decaf coffee, rest, create dance, hike, and imagine new futures to resource artists and their relationships to material resources through bookkeeping and somatic financial education.

This imagination is currently taking me through the integration and application of amalgamating my artistic practice with my administrative/financial skills. I am deeply influenced by the study of phenomenology, and its emphasization of an indigenous animist worldview that feels we are so inseparable from the world around us, our ability to See is directly tied to the level we allow ourselves to be Seen.