Edam Dance Presents:

Dead Weighting

at Dancing on the Edge

a new work by Peter Bingham

Festival Venue: Firehall Arts Centre

We are thrilled to announce our participation in DOTE 2024, where EDAM is set to present new work alongside a vibrant lineup of dance performances showcasing the best of Vancouver's talent. Under the direction of Peter Bingham, EDAM will present a new dance work that delves into themes of cooperation and reciprocity.

EDAM's featured full-length performance, Dead Weighting, will make its world premiere at the Firehall Arts Centre, offering a 45-60 minute exploration of human connections and shared experiences.

Join us on June 14th and June 15th at 9:00 PM

About EDAM: Founded in 1982 by a collective of seven independent artists, EDAM has evolved over the decades under the visionary leadership of Peter Bingham. As we celebrate our 42nd anniversary and honor Bingham's remarkable 35-year tenure, we invite you to experience the culmination of years of creative collaboration featuring a talented ensemble of performers.

Meet the Team:

  • Choreographer: Peter Bingham

  • Composer: Alex Mah

  • Lighting Designer: James Proudfoot

  • Performers: Anne Cooper, Francesca Frewer, Arash Khakpour, Hayley Gawthrop, Olivia Shaffer

  • Dramaturg: Raïna von Waldenburg

  • Costume Consultant: Erika Mitsuhashi

Thank you to our collaborators Raïna and Erika, to iDance Studio, and to all the performers for their dedication and artistry throughout this process—a heartfelt thank you to Donna Spencer for inviting us to be a part of this fantastic festival.

 

Dead Weighting

…about giving assistance and taking support to get along, creating mutual benefit…

In memory of Steve Paxton and Nancy Stark Smith.

  • Peter Bingham is the Artistic Director of EDAM Dance, a Vancouver-based company dedicated to the research, creation and production of contemporary dance, particularly Contact Improvisation, improvisation and complementary practices. Bingham’s dance career began in 1975; for over 40 years he has been creating choreographed works and taking part in improvised performances in Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia. Notable collaborators include Andrew Harwood, Chris Aiken, Steve Paxton, Nancy Stark Smith, Lisa Nelson, Marc Boivin, Lin Snelling, Ray Chung, Wen Wei Wang, Tom Stroud, John Alleyne and Crystal Pite.

  • Former full-time faculty at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, adjunct at SFU and UFV, currently teaches workshops in Grotowski-based physical performance. Raïna is a dramaturg, writer, director, and performer in Vancouver and the experimental downtown NYC theatre scene. She has been facilitating artists in the development of original performance material for thirty years.

  • EDAM’s Associate Artistic Director, has been with the company since 2014. She shares her passion for movement as language and somatic research through her classes and her projects as a choreographer. She is finishing up a four year comprehensive training program in the Feldenkrais Method®. Over the past decade and a half, Olivia has worked as a freelance performer. She has taught and performed in Europe, the US, and Asia. www.oliviashaffer.ca.

  • Anne Cooper has danced in EDAM/Peter Bingham’s works since 1994. She’s also danced in the US ‘Glimpse’ Performances with Nancy Stark Smith and for choreographers and companies in Vancouver, Winnipeg & Quebec City. She has created and presented her own work in Vancouver. She’s taught Contact Improv at EDAM and elsewhere since 2000. Anne is grateful to live and work in Vancouver, BC, on the unceded, ancestral land of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.

  • Arash Khakpour originally from Tehran, Arash is privileged to be a dance artist who has immigrated to the ancestral and unseeded territories of the Coast Salish peoples. Arash is very lucky to work with and learn from Peter Bingham. He is overjoyed to have been dancing and performing with the exceptional EDAM ensemble for the past 7 years.

  • Alex Mah is a composer and interdisciplinary artist whose scores use verbal notation to deal with ideas of indeterminacy, performer choices, and the sensing body. He has participated in festivals, workshops, and performed across Canada, Germany, Denmark, and the U.K.

  • Born and reared in Semiahmoo territory Hayley is an independent performing artist residing in the unseeded ancestral territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil- Waututh Nations. Music and Dance make Hayley feel more radically alive. Their passion for autonomy and interest in improvisation led them to explore Contact Improv under the tutelage of Peter Bingham in 2015. They have been dancing professionally with the EDAM ensemble since 2021 and teaching CI at EDAM since 2022.

  • Francesca Frewer is a contemporary dance artist living as a grateful guest on the unceded, ancestral territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh first nations. She loves dancing with EDAM.

  • James Proudfoot is a lighting designer/director based in Vancouver, Canada. He is originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, where he received his initial theatre training. Self-taught in the realm of dance lighting, he has contributed designs to many artists and companies over the past 25 years. James is grateful to live and work on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

  • Erika Mitsuhashi is a dance artist based based in on the unceded territories of the Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw), Tsleil-Waututh (səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ) and Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm) Nations. Her practice spans disciplines using the body as a site for conceptual thematics including in-betweenness and intimacy. She often utilizes DIY performance tactics to observe what the materiality of bodies/spaces can reveal and attempts to create with a non-hierarchical approach to determine who, what and where movement is possible.

Photo by Chris Randle; dancers Arash Kahkpour and Antonio Somera Junior; EDAM 2023


Thank You for Joining Us

EDAM TEAM

Artistic Director: Peter Bingham
Associate Artistic Director: Olivia Shaffer
General Manager: Margarida C. Macieira
Administrative & Communications Coordinator: Sierra Megas

www.edamdance.org

EDAM and all the participating artists respectfully acknowledge that our activities and events take place on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw), Tsleil-Waututh (səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ) and Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm) First Nations.

EDAM also acknowledges the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts; the Province of British Columbia, BC Arts Council and the City of Vancouver.