Jennifer McLeish-Lewis | Dancing on the Edge

Through a jagged timeline, set to live classical music, we see a man and woman fighting for power and control. Physical feats of strength and surrender, action and passivity, challenge beliefs about gender. Is it sibling rivalry or war of the sexes? Jack drags, manipulates, stands on and uses Jill. Then the story repeats with Jill returning an inverse role reversal replication (or vice versa, based on a coin toss). Inspired by Tarantino's out-of-order narrative timelines and a childhood rhyme written in the 1800s, the work is both disturbing and compelling.

Choreographer: Jennifer McLeish Lewis in collaboration with James-Amzin Nahirnick

Jennifer is a dancer, choreographer, teacher and bodyworker. She’s been making professional performances since 2002. She’s grateful to live and work on these stolen lands of the First Nations people. Her next show, Art Market, will premiere in Victoria as part of SKAMpeed; an outdoor performance festival, July 11-13. Her work deals with themes of gender, relationships, love and loss. Her greatest hope is that audiences will have an emotional experience when viewing her work; to feel something. She believes that live art is a public ritual and a personal ceremony that can not be replaced and that witnessing live performance is critical to our continued humankind connection. Thank you for coming.

Performer: Sarah Hutton

Sarah Hutton is a dancer, actor, choreographer, teacher, and rehearsal director. She was raised in Hanna, Alberta. She moved to Vancouver in 2013 and has since trained with the Source Dance Company, EDAM, Modus Operandi, and Peggy Baker’s Emerging Artists Program. Sarah’s other training includes RUBBERBANDance Method and scene study classes with Nadine Wright. She has had the pleasure to perform and collaborate in works by Paras Terezakis, Shay Kuebler, Rachel Helten, Isak Enquist, Khoudia Toure, Constance Cooke, and Anya & Sophia Saugstad. Sarah Co-Directs the contemporary dance company, Generous Mess, with her partner Aiden Cass. Generous Mess’s work has been presented at Dancing On The Edge Festival, the EDAM Choreographic Series, Left of Push, Dance Deck, Boombox, and Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers 60th Anniversary Season. Sarah is privileged to work and play as a guest on the unceded and stolen territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səlilwətaɬ Nations.

Performer: Max Hanic

Max Hanic is a queer Amiskwaciwâskahikan raised actor, dancer, singer and instructor who graduated with distinction from the University of Alberta Fine Arts Acting program and studied contemporary dance at La Faktoria Choreographic Centre in Pamplona, Spain for the 2021/2022 period after being awarded grants from the Edmonton Arts Council and the Canadian Council for the Arts. Max has been given training scholarships by EDAM (Vancouver), The Good Women Dance Collective (Edmonton) and Circuit-Est (Montréal) as well trained at Tic Tac Art Centre in Flying low and Countertechnique. He has performed with the Edmonton Opera, Firefly Theatre and Circus, Amoris Projects, Catch the Keys Productions and in his own choreographies; as well as worked with Molly Mcdermott, Francesca Frewer, Lin Snelling, Alexis Fletcher, Minggao Zhang, Susanna Hood and more.

Lighting Designer: Jennifer McLeish-Lewis

Composer: Stefan Smulovitz

Award-winning technologist, composer, violist, and laptop artist Stefan Smulovitz has performed with leading improvisers around the world and created more than 50 live film scores. He is one of Canada’s most in demand composers for dance and is recognized for his groundbreaking interactive work with Radix Theatre. Kenaxis — Stefan’s game-changing music software — is used around the world and his Mad Scientist Machine LED light cueing system has opened new possibilities for global collaborations. Recently Stefan travelled to Bhutan to collect sounds and create a score for the award-winning documentary “Power of the River”. He currently teaches at Simon Fraser University and Capilano University.