Productions > The Echo Case

"Call them masochists or call them artists on the edge, but Vancouver's EDAM live for improvisation, and they've honed it into an art form."
A. Romanov, Vue Weekly

Each summer for the past ten years, Montreal-based dance artists Marc Boivin and Andrew Harwood have come to Vancouver to teach at EDAM's Summer Intensive, a three week workshop designed for pre-professional dancers. In order to show the students the potential of improvised dance as performance, Peter Bingham, EDAM's Artistic Director, suggested a show in which he would improvise with Boivin and Harwood. Musicians Ron Samworth and Coat Cooke, both experienced improvisers and key participants in the local jazz scene, were invited to join the dancers. The final member of the ensemble was Robert Meister, a lighting designer and visual artist with a rare talent for manipulating the moment through lighting and set design.

What began as an exercise for the students' benefit has become THE ECHO CASE, a highly successful improvisation ensemble that celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2003. In addition to yearly reunions at EDAM, THE ECHO CASE toured across Canada in 1999, impressing audiences with its spontaneity, creativity, humour and warm humanity.