Unleash Your Imagination with Jody Oberfelder Projects

We want you to have the inside scoop, so in the weeks leading up to the 2015 Guelph Dance Festival, the artists will take you behind the scenes and you will hear from the Co-Artistic Directors about their creative vision. You can stretch your boundaries and unleash your imaginations before the Festival even starts! So go ahead, follow your instincts and read on...

This week on the blog, NYC-based choreographer and dancer Jody Oberfelder shares the story of how her piece for the Festival has evolved. You do not want to miss this unique experience as part of Stage B. Get your tickets for the performance on Saturday June 6 at 8pm through the River Run Centre Box Office!

Jody: What does dance have to do with the mind? The brain is everywhere in the body. Tracking, encoding, perceiving, the dance of neurons is happening all the time. 

I first met Catrina von Radecki and Lynette Segal in a Skinner Release based workshop taught by Stephanie Skura in NYC. It was the week after my piece about the heart, 4Chambers, had closed following 86 performances. It felt so good to move, go to a blank page, and begin again both physically and mentally. I talked afterwards to our Canadian guests about the nature of our performance installation. Small audiences were lead through four rooms, having different experiences of their hearts through different modalities: visual, tactile, physical and psychological.  It ended with a pulsing room: dancers dynamically rushing at the foam, and red curtained covered walls. I didn’t realize that Catrina was the producer of a festival. She was intrigued with the nature of this piece and sought to bring it to Guelph. We found a great space, but unfortunately it was not fully accessible. When asked “Do you have another piece you could do?” I said, “Yes”, quite heartily, as I was deep into the next process.

My research on the heart led to the brain.

Film still from "Dance of the Neurons".

In June 2014, I began to host brainstorming sessions/salons in my living room, with neuroscientists. They seemed just as game as I was to dialogue and envision an art piece culled from our discussions. I continued to research, and dive into scientific text. There were so many entry points. Finally, in early fall, I had to start somewhere. The first “rehearsal” was sifting through index cards. Mary suggested, “Why don’t we stand up and move?” Initiating this process: a chance to drop the brain down and see a bodily interpretation of the brain, the mind, proved the immediacy of your body at your fingertips, so to speak: the instantaneous connection of the physical with the cerebral.

Continuing back and forth conversations, we’d Skype into our rehearsals neuroscientists Dr. Weiji Ma, Dr. Gary Marcus, or Ed Lein (from the Allan Institute), who’d view and offer suggestions. They were also our fact checkers. Having non-dancers contribute in such an important way changed my own process. The ‘material’ of this study – of the mind – rising up and ‘materializing’ while choreographing has been a bountiful and imaginative process.

Jody Oberfelder Project dancers in rehearsal at Dancetheatre David Earle.

I call The Brain Piece a “choreographed experience”. Thinking of experiment and experience as similar, our end result being not data, but living breathing present artifacts of discovery, it is my goal to engage audiences in such a way so that they notice their own brain activity. People who come will translate and connect with their own brains and bodies.

Jody Oberfelder Projects is currently in the studio creating new material with three Canadian dancers – Lacey Smith, Robert Kingsbury, and Lynette Segal – augmenting our NY cast – Ben Follensbee, Mary Madsen, and Madeline Wilcox.  A New Music USA grant enhanced collaborations with composers Daniel Wohl, Sean Hagerty and Angelica Negron. Set is by Ioannis Oikonomou, and film is co-directed by Eric Siegel.

Local and international dancers together at last! The cast of the Brain Piece after their first full rehearsal.

Want a quick preview? Here’s a clip of a film segment that kicks off the show. Tickets for Stage B, featuring Jody Iberfelder Projects, can be purchased now through the River Run Centre Box Office. Interested in several shows? Purchase a Theatre Pass (3 shows) or Stage Pass (2 shows) and save up to 15%!

Robert Kingsbury for Women’s Voices

We welcome Robert Kingsbury to describe the process of creating his piece Can Be Is Hiding for tonight's performance of Women's Voices.

 

Robert: I was a little bit surprised when I was asked to be a part of the Women's Voices show this year. All the proceeds from this show go to Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis. I saw the show last year and was impressed with the strong lineup of choreography offered by local women. In contemplating what I felt might be right for this event, I immediately enlisted the help of a female acquaintance. Katie Ewald is a dancer with a strong background in conceptual work. She moved to Guelph with her husband to raise their son. I had been interested in connecting with Katie so I decided to make this piece a bit of a “get to know you”.

Katie went to an influential choreographic school in Belgium called PARTS and has worked for choreographers Daniel Leveille and Ame Henderson. She teaches a gentle Pilates class at Temple Studios on Wednesday evenings. During our first rehearsal, I have never had anyone ask for so much clarity. Katie wanted to authentically explore the tasks set out by my research. This is part of the rigour of some contemporary forms of dance and choreography. How much time in the process is invested into sensory research, what are the specific intentions of the work, and do the performers have a precise understanding of their role. I was challenged to answer why I want to present my work to audiences instead of just doing it for my own experience. I eventually realized that in the process of performing I am challenged to be receptive, which allows me to grow. I believe that the possibility of witnessing this is of value to the audience.

During rehearsals we talked about what was going on in our lives, how we were feeling. I realized that every moment that we shared was somehow going toward what would be created. We indulged in my sensory mapping improvisations, where the attention of the body is kept in specific visual or felt places for prolonged durations. After our first rehearsal, I was happy to hear that Katie's neck was feeling better than usual. A recurring injury that comes and goes eventually evolved the nature of our performance into something very specific.

One of the things that we talked about was the desire to dedicate yourself to deep research, yet finding this difficult when the available funding is limited. We agreed that compensation in different forms might allow us to feel more willing to be involved. Within the next week Katie asked me if I'd do some babysitting or vacuuming. I happily played with her son on several occasions, allowing her some time to relax or get organized. From our discussions and this mutual exchange I feel a shared sense of value in the process we've had. We created a space for community, friendship, and the mutual expression of our desires onstage and in life. This happened because we kept a specific intention for the work. The goal was for whatever happened to be mutually satisfying for each of us. For me this meant learning to be receptive in every moment both to myself and to someone else. This has become the gift that I would like to share with Guelph.

Working equally in dance, music for the stage, and choreography, Robert has had the pleasure of participating in many artistic collaborations. In his work he produces audio, film, and movement to create a sense of embodied performance installation. A graduate of York University's Fine Arts department, Robert is honoured to be part of Guelph's rich community of artists.

Tonight in celebration of International Women’s Day, the Guelph Fab 5 is proud to present Women’s Voices. This fabulous event will take place at 7pm at John F. Ross, E.L. Fox Auditorium, 21 Meyer Drive, Guelph. Tickets can be purchased at the door and all proceeds will go to Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis. After the show, we invite you to join us for a reception.  

Getting Ready to celebrate Women’s Voices

Janet: Women’s Voices is the Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival’s way of doing our small part in honouring and celebrating women on International Women’s Day. It is an event that encourages a sense of solidarity amongst our community of vibrant women, women facing challenges, and those who come in support of this important day.  On a local note, it is our intention that Women's Voices not only acts as a medium for focus and support of women, but that all proceeds go to Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis.

This year we’re partnering with the Guelph Fab 5, five Guelph-centered performing arts festivals that are committed to enhancing our community and which share a core belief in innovation, that the arts can change the world, and that education is a fundamental activity.

People of all ages will be uplifted by the power of our community to come together and produce great moments of artistic expression, reveal poignant elements of humanity, and find great solidarity in shared effort.  

Women's Voices is for those who believe in the ever-necessary change that needs to occur all over the world for women seeking equality, safety, and expression.  It is a fantastic event for bringing this awareness to our community by means of artistic expression.

We are thrilled that this year we will be featuring not only dance but music and film.  The performers will range from 12-years-old to adult and beyond!  The featured artistic works will be:  Fall on Your Feet performing a new work by Toronto dance icon, Karen Kaeja;

Karen Kaeja. Photo by Ella Cooper

Guelph's dazzling Robert Kingsbury’s premiere of a brand new work with newly-arrived-to-Guelph-from-Montreal dancer, Katie Ewald;

Robert Kingsbury

and born-and-raised-in-Guelph dancer/choreographer/teacher Kelly Steadman who will mount a beautiful work with Guelph's finest youth dancers.  

Choreography by Kelly Steadman

The Hillside Festival will be featuring a youth musician from their Girls and Guitars series. The Guelph Jazz Festival has put forward clarinetist, Tilly Kooyman, and the Festival of Moving Media has offered up a film entitled "Flawed" for this event.  

 

Women's Voices is accessible for all those interested and hopes to encourage a multi-generational, eclectic group of eager community members keen on the colours and hues which depict the vast arena of women!

Women’s Voices will take place at 7pm at John F. Ross, E.L. Fox Auditorium, 21 Meyer Drive, Guelph. Tickets can be purchased at the door and all proceeds will go to Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis. After the show, we invite you to join us for a reception. 

Robert Kingsbury at the CSA Nooner

On Wednesday, November 23, Robert Kingsbury performed as part of the CSA Nooner at the University of Guelph. We asked him to describe his experience.

Robert: My first piece of choreography as an adult was site-specific. I was studying music at York University and in an attempt at taking dance classes again, I found myself in site-specific choreography. The class culminated in a showing that toured the concrete jungle campus, stopping in places that the students had chosen for choreography. In studying this type of work before entering the realm of formal dance & technical training, I immediately began to see human movement as part of a larger context and environment. In site-specific work, the choreographer seeks out places where they think that they can make moments happen. For the CSA Nooner, the location is predetermined and so it's more of a case of bringing dance to an environment where it may be surprising.

Some people feel that to present dance in a public space tells people that they can look at art the same way that they look at a water bottle or shoelace. I think that the journey towards embodiment is accessible in every place, every moment and through any kind of interaction so this kind of work excites me. I feel as a choreographer a lot of my time & skill goes into sensing my environment. Through site-specific work I feel that my sense of being can be useful in having an affect on the space. For the Nooner I picked the flight of 6 steps facing away from the audience's seats. To make choices that go against audience expectations is one of the first rules.

The piece that I remounted was originally presented in a parquette just north of Queen & Yonge, in Toronto. This was a place that reeked of urine and was not maintained. I took photos of all of the litter, printed them and put them throughout the space during our performance. As a trio, we did a half hour meditation that moved along the surfaces of the space in an attempt at bringing some gravity and thoughtfulness to the environment. People who frequented the space interacted by joining us in climbing the structures of the parquette as though it were a playground. A man peed in the direction of the performance, but did it in a way that said 'this is what I do here'. We did not take offence, in fact a viewer cried at their perception of what seemed ironic and beautiful.

Needless to say the performance at the University Centre was less interactive. The students that I observed seem shy and in a rush. A little bit of this energy made its way into my performance too. I had set a strong intention to interact with the other dancers and be open to the audience, but felt a little less present than I like to be. Being raised above the audience disconnected me from them. In a theatre, they are usually raised above you. That day I was reminded of the frantic sense of disembodiment I experienced during University. This was for me, the major reason I started dancing again. Full circle.