Monday 21 May 2012

To the Power of Dance


In the weeks until the Festival gears up, we will be featuring several GCDF dance artists here on the blog. Please join us each week as we get an intimate, behind-the-scenes glimpse into the artistry, process, and experiences these talented dancers and choreographers from across the country are bringing to this year’s Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival. We encourage you to not just read their amazing stories, but to ask questions or engage in conversation about dance in our comments section below.  Get ready to Power Up!

Vancouver-based Kinesis Dance somatheatro company manager, Jason Karman, speaks to us today about working with award-winning artistic director and choreographer Paras Terezakis. Paras is the choreographer of BOX4, which presents at our On the Stage, Stage B series on Saturday, June 2, at 8pm.

Jason: After watching Paras Terezakis’ Perverse Accumulation this spring with Simon Fraser University’s repertory company, I became very excited to work at Kinesis Dance. His creative process is very Dionysian. He choreographs from a place of instinct, chaos, and unbridled passion, and this can be a challenge when one has been trained to follow order, rationality, and formalism. Paras loves to provoke, challenge, and discover. It is what makes his works exciting to watch for many because the unfamiliar can be more rewarding than the familiar. 
Box to the Power of 4. Dancer: Hayden Fong. Vocals: Paras Terezakis. Photo by Chris Randle 
My background is in filmmaking and administration. Dance is an artistic expression that many filmmakers do not fully understand and there is value in learning to articulate it. Paras describes his choreography as “a spontaneous combustion. It looks like it happens on its own, but it actually comes from a very complex hidden process.”


BOX4 uses print media as a metaphor; the work is an intense exploration of male aggression, competition and negotiation. Paras writes, “Tensions are explored under the paternalistic eye of society’s mass media and the constant barrage of information we receive daily that has become as much of an impediment to knowing ourselves as it is as an enlightenment.” 
Paras Terezakis – 02-10-2011. Photo by Paras.
One of the things I’m learning from my working experience with Paras is to be bold and take the road less travelled. Challenge yourself and choose the unknown because the rewards often outweigh the perceived risks. As an artist, I find his works relevant because change is inevitable and often unpredictable.  

Paras has amassed a substantial body of work over the years with each piece showing an evolution into the next. The works that he deems as most important are those which provide the greatest challenge, open new avenues of discovery, or instill confidence in a given direction. I look forward to working with Paras and articulating his vision through Kinesis Dance somatheatro.
Jason and Paras. Photo by Jason Karman.
Kinesis Dance somatheatro is a Vancouver-based Dance Company celebrating 26 years of excellence through the guidance of Artistic Director and founder Paras Terezakis.  An internationally acclaimed choreographer, he has created over 40 works which have toured the Americas and Europe including Turkey.  His 2009 work BOX4 won the Isadora Award for excellence in choreography and the Vancouver Sun highlighted this work as one of the year’s most memorable performances of 2010.

Paras is also hosting a Public Workshop on Performing: Beyond Technique on Sunday, June 3 from 9:30-10:45am at Dancetheatre David Earle, 42 Quebec Street. All levels welcome!
http://www.youtube.com/user/KinesisDance677

2 comments:

  1. Katharine Bourgon22 May 2012 at 13:24

    Thank you for these articles. Whenever I attend an artistic event whether a dance performance, a music concert, or a gallery I always want to know more. More about the piece, more about the artist, more about their decisions, more about their message or lack thereof. I appreciate the chance to know more before attending as I believe it helps me approach the work with more understanding and generosity. I suppose I should use the internet more often before attending rather than after....hmmmm

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Dance outside the box here!