Yes, we’ve changed our name from Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival to Guelph Dance! We talk here with Catrina von Radecki and Janet
Johnson, co-founders and co-artistic directors of Guelph Dance, to find out the
whys and hows, and also the “what’s next”.
Catrina: For
several years now when I spoke to people about the Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival, I’d have to let them know that
we weren’t only the 4-day festival, but actually have many other events
throughout the year. We have the camps,
the workshops-in-schools, we have productions and co-productions, we do
training for youth and adults. What we offer has been building every year! We
began to realize that our name no longer reflected our whole organization and
the work we currently do.
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Kinesis Dance Somatheatro at the GCDF 2012. Photo by Jamie MacDonald. |
Guelph Contemporary
Dance Festival is also a mouthful, and therefore many people already
shorten the name and refer to us as the “Guelph Dance Festival”. Guelph Dance was then chosen as an umbrella
brand for the whole organization’s activities, and our individual activities
are now labeled by sub-brands: Guelph Dance Camps, Guelph Dance In Schools, Guelph Dance Productions, Guelph Dance Training and, of course,
the Guelph Dance Festival. We can
now talk clearly about either our whole organization or the individual
programs. The public will now clearly see that, for instance, the Arts
Explosion Camps, are put on by the same people who run the festival! We hope
that this new name change will enable the public to clearly link all we do back
to our organization and see this programming as a whole rather than disparate
parts.
As it is also our 15th anniversary, we felt the time was
ripe for our name to catch up to the program development we’ve made over the
past 15 years.
Janet: I don't
think the new name change will inherently change the festival. The name
for me opens up possibilities and avenues, and creates a greater sense of
inclusion and celebration of all the great dance creations and endeavours going
on in our community. I hope the new name adds clarity and thus more
interaction with our public.
Catrina: I’m
fairly confident that the rebranding transition will be smooth. As I mentioned
earlier, people do already call us Guelph Dance Festival, and I think by adding
our slogan—15 years—the public will realize that this is not a new organization
in town. They will quickly relate this new name to what used to be the Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival. I also think people will really appreciate
that it’s easier to say!
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Kaeja d'Dance at the GCDF 2012. Photo by Jamie MacDonald. |
Janet: I’m
excited about where we’ll be going next. Just trying to keep a pulse on
the direction will be dictated by what’s brewing in the Guelph Dance scene as
well as by the greater Guelph community and Canadian dance population. I
love being part of something that is as fluid and malleable as Guelph Dance.
It gives us the ability to morph and respond as our community dictates.
It’s an exciting time, a new time, a time to reflect and react, a time to
create new ways to view, partake and be moved by dance.
Catrina: Along
with the rebranding, we’ve made many internal organizational changes. These developments will increase our capacity
to grow and flourish within each of the separate components that we offer, as
well as to better fulfill our overall mandate (see our website for our mandate).
Our focus can now expand to include more artist creation
support, artists’ residencies and commissioning, and co-productions with the
Guelph Fab 5. We’re extremely excited to
offer more support to our burgeoning local dance community. That was after all, our initial dream—that
artists could live, and dance professionally outside a major metropolitan
area. Dancers are living in Guelph and
have a very receptive audience to share their works with. Now that dancers are living here and have an
audience and places to train, we want to attract more artists and continue to
build more audiences, and we want to support innovative, cutting-edge, new
creations to inspire our community and beyond.
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Guelph Dance Arts Explosion Camps for students 4-19 |
Janet: In
relation to what’s cooking in the Guelph Dance scene, I see more local
dancer-driven direction: the creation and celebration thereof. I see more
collaborations between fantastic local dance artists and the bevy of stellar
other artists in the community. I see more community engagement and
activism coming our way through the medium of dance.
I see presenting heftier, more challenging works from across
the nation (and periodically from abroad) in the future. Our audience is
so developed, intelligent and open, we want to keep them stimulated and
challenged. I see more facility for new audience members to become
involved, either through the viewing of dance or through hands-on training
(workshops and camps, etc.)
I see Guelph Dance as a continuing means to build community,
strengthen our connection to our creative selves, and provide rich artistic
experiences.
Mark your calendars for our Guelph Dance launch New Year's Eve Party (details to follow)! Check our brand new website for details on upcoming Guelph Dance events and the Guelph Dance Festival lineup announcement on April 2, 2013. And join us here on the blog as we share our stories every week through to next July!