EDAM Choreographic Series
Online Video Presentation of New Works by:

More About The Works

plexi-Delerium

EDAM’s Artistic Director Peter Bingham reflects on the early days of the pandemic with a resonant new directed dance improvisation, plexi-Delirium, which gives space for the strange, peripheral, vulnerable, and playful to unfold. Building on the ensemble's research into associative vocal interjections and supported by EDAM’s creative grounds in Contact Improvisation, the dancers navigate spatial and sensorial parameters reminiscent of their passage through the pandemic. Above all, the work underscores the intrinsic care, trust, and commitment between the seven adept performers.

Direction & Score: Peter Bingham
Composer/Performer: Alex Mah
Dancers: Delia Brett, Anne Cooper, Arash Khakpour, Walter Kubanek, Diego Romero, and Olivia Shaffer
Video: Chris Randle
Lighting Design: James Proudfoot and Taylor Janzen

Program note: This group of dancers has been working under Peter’s direction for a number of years.

from the river to the length of my spine

from the river to the length of my spine is a settling into a landscape carved out by body, impulse and memory.  Leaning into these moments of isolation and distance, the resonance of the land that we stand on and the land that is deep within us becomes a more present song.  This song is what will take us from this moment to the next as we soften into the hard edges of our present reality and let go of what is necessary. We dance to the music of Wayne Lavallee, Cris Derksen, and Russell Wallace, are lit by designers Taylor Janzen and Gabriel Raminhos and filmed by Chris Randle.

Created by Michelle Olson
in collaboration with dancers Jeanette Kotowich and Issiah Bull Bear.
Video: Chris Randle
Lighting Design: Taylor Janzen and Gabriel Raminhos
Music: Breath and Drum by Wayne Lavallee, Missing Mom (featuring Sheldon Sundown) by Cris Derksen, The Healing by Russell Wallace

Special Thanks to:
Peter Bingham and Julia Carr for creating the opportunity to do this work during this time.  To be in the EDAM studio to connect, dance and create with others has been a gift and being able to roll around on the beautiful floor has been nothing short of healing.

Soft Palate

Soft Palate is a warm switch, a precious shattering, a vivid feel. A dreamscape not far from here. Close your eyes. Submerge yourself. Under the surface sensitive creatures thrive. Hidden, nestled, burrowing. Soft Palate is a choreographic exploration on perspective and texture as experienced through three characters' journey into a dream world of subconscious reflections.

Created and performed by Emmalena Fredriksson
in collaboration with Hayley Gawthrop and Jessica Keeling (dance, voice).
Costumes: Alaia Hamer
Video: Alex Thornton
Lighting Design: Taylor Janzen and Gabriel Raminhos
Music: Linda Fox
Photography: Luciana D'Anunciacao

Thank You to all the artists contributing to Soft Palate and to EDAM and Peter for the opportunity to create and dance together in this strange and difficult time. The past dances of EDAM were deeply felt as we worked in the studio, it inspired and held us through this process. 

More About The Participating Artists…

ISSIAH BULL BEAR is a Blackfoot actor, dancer, singer and physical theatre artist from Calgary, Alberta. Issiah currently studies at Studio 58, where he has completed two years of the curriculum under Courtenay Dobbie, David Hudgins, Kathleen McDonagh, Kathryn Shaw and Wendy Gorling. He was featured in theatre with Simply Theatre, CMHS and the Calgary Youth Singers. Issiah is grateful and excited to work with these generous artists and to show his creativity to the Vancouver audience. 

PETER BINGHAM, Artistic Director of EDAM Dance, has been exploring the boundaries of improvisation and choreography since 1975. His work has been performed across Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia.

DELIA BRETT has been a contributing dance and performing artist in the unceded Coast Salish territories since 1992. She’s had the privilege of evolving as an artist under the guidance of Peter Bingham for over two decades now and she is grateful for another opportunity to dance amongst such outrageously talented humans. Delia has co-directed MACHiNENOiSY Dance Society with her creative partner Daelik since 2005. Their most recent work includes: PROX:IMITY RE:MIX, Rotary Arts Centre ’19, We are by which we are moved in return, SFUW ’19 and Fragile Forms, Anvil Centre, PuSh’19. She is a contact teacher, yoga teacher, actor/devisor, mother and stepmother to two (nearly) adult boys.

ANNE COOPER is a dancer, choreographer, improviser and teacher. Hailing from Vancouver Island via South March, Ontario, she trained and performed for companies in Winnipeg and Quebec City prior to Vancouver. She has been a company member of EDAM since 1994. She has danced for Vancouver companies Mascall Dance, Chick Snipper, Karen Jamieson, Co.Erasga, Kinesis Dance and others. Improvisation projects have included 4 ‘Glimpse’ projects in the USA under the direction of Nancy Stark Smith. Anne has choreographed 24 pieces presented at Performance Works, The Firehall Arts Centre, EDAM, UBC Green College, The Dance Centre (Pulse) and others. She’s taught Contact Improvisation and Improvisation at EDAM and other locales since 2000.

Juno nominated CRIS DERKSEN, originally from Northern Alberta, is an internationally respected Indigenous cellist and composer. Derksen braids the traditional and contemporary, weaving her classical background and her Indigenous ancestry together with new school electronics to create genre-defying music.

© LINDA FOX came wandering out the shadowy rainforests of the Pacific North West singing songs that emerged out of an advanced sleep technique called Dreaming™. Those Dream Songs found their true home in Vancouver, a city that never sleeps but is always dreaming.  https://kopyrightlindafox.bandcamp.com/ 

EMMALENA FREDRIKSSON is a contemporary dance artist, living and working in Vancouver, as a guest on the ancestral unceded lands of the Coast Salish peoples. Her practice is defined by choreography as a relational practice in the expanded fields of dance, often collaborating with artists of other disciplines, creating choreographic experiences and dance for social events, film, galleries and performance. Born in Sweden, she received her training at Balettakademien in Umeå and at SEAD in Austria. Emmalena has presented choreographic work, performed and taught internationally with Daghdha Dance Company (IE), Canaldanse (FR), Malta University (MT), Pact Zollverein (DE), and Falmouth University (UK) among others. Based in Vancouver since 2013 her work has been presented in Dancing on the Edge,The Dance Centre's Discover Dance Series, Dance Days (Victoria) and at the Audain Gallery. Commissioned by the National Film Board in 2017, she co-created Tidal Traces - a VR 360 dance film together with Nancy Lee. Emmalena holds an MFA degree from Simon Fraser University and regularly teaches at Modus Operandi, Training Society of Vancouver, Harbour Dance Centre and Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. www.emmalenafredriksson.com

Originally from White Rock, BC, HAYLEY GAWTHROP received their contemporary dance training through Modus Operandi in Vancouver BC. Since graduating in 2016, Hayley has had the pleasure of performing and interpreting works by Emmalena Fredriksson, Arash Khakpour, Antonio Somera Jr, Fight With a Stick, Dumb Instrument Dance, Omer Keinan, Kelly McInnes, The Response and MACHiNENOiSEY Dance Society, and has worked as a dramaturg/outside eye for Kelly McInnes and Marissa Wong. Their current interests in regards to making/doing are driven by their desire to disrupt gender binaries and are deeply rooted in radical tenderness and gender nihilism. Patience, rigour and generosity is essential to their practice.

ALAIA HAMER is a designer and artist located in Vancouver, BC. Growing up with a creative family on coastal Pender Island, Alaia has experimented in art and craft as long as she can remember. She holds a degree in English Literature from UBC in 2012 and this interest in text and narrative storytelling has been a huge influence on her drive to pursue theatrical design. She returned to school to finish a B.F.A in Theatrical Design and Production in the spring of 2017 to bring these interests together. Theatre is the perfect opportunity to share a visual interpretation of a literary journey. www.alaiahamer.com

TAYLOR JANZEN graduated in 2016 from Simon Fraser University with a BFA in Theatre Production and Design, and recently started working at Tightrope Impro Theatre as their Technical Director (2020-present). Her recent lighting designs include Rapid Pitch Production’s “Big Sister” (2020), The Happening Dance’s “Accelerate 3.0” (2020), Zee Zee Theatre’s “ Holiday at the Elbow Room Cafe” (2019), and Eric Cheung’s “iye” (2019).

Born In Toronto, JESSICA DAWN KEELING spent early years immersed in dance, music and theatre.  Her ever-changing relationship and career in Dance has brought her to over 30 countries, memorable stages, and to the big screen. Her devotion to internal exploration continues to expand her range of expression. A few projects that are very close to her heart include her work with Linda Garneau and the Helix Dance Project, "Becoming" (Wandering Eye Productions), working with the choreography team of Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist, and "West Side Story"(Stratford Shakespeare Festival). "One can only hope to walk towards grace and sincerity on and off stage"  www.jessicadawnarts.com

Originally from Tehran and based in Vancouver, ARASH KHAKPOUR is privileged to be a dance artist who has immigrated to the ancestral and unceded 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 4 years.

JEANETTE KOTOWICH is a multi-disciplinary iskwêw, independent dance artist, creator, choreographer and Auntie Culture enthusiast of Nêhiyaw Métis and mixed settler ancestry. Originally from Treaty 4 territory Saskatchewan, she creates work that reflects Nêhiyaw/Métis cosmology within the context of contemporary dance, Indigenous performance, and Indigenous futurism. Fusing interdisciplinary collaboration, de-colonial practices and embodied research methodologies; Jeanette’s work references protocol, ritual, relationship to the natural/spirit world and Ancestral knowledge. Kotowich’s practice is intergenerational and vocational; it’s a living and lived experience. Jeanette resides as a guest on the Ancestral and unceded Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) əl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ/ (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) territories, colonially known as Vancouver. movementhealing.ca

WALTER KUBANEK is a graduate of the Grant McEwan and Simon Fraser University dance programs. Originally from Red Deer, Alberta, he has worked as a dancer for two decades. He spent four years as a member of Le Group Dance Lab in Ottawa where he collaborated on 30 some dance performance projects. He spent 7 years based in Alberta where he worked with artists Tania Alvarado, Davida Monk, Robyn Poitras, Heidi Bunting and Brian Webb. Now based in Vancouver, Walter has worked with many creators on Canada's west coast, including EDAM, Company 605, Plastic Orchid Factory, Vancouver Opera, Jennifer Mascall Dance, Co.Erasga, Fight with a Stick performance society, Judith Marcuse and Dumb Instrument.

WAYNE LAVALLEE is an award-winning recording artist, singer-songwriter, record producer, Film Score Composer of Métis heritage who lives in Vancouver, Canada.

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.. He recently completed a Master of Research Composition under James Saunders at Bath Spa University (U.K.) www.cargocollective.com/alexmah

MICHELLE OLSON is a member of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation and the Artistic Director of Raven Spirit Dance. She studied dance and performance at the University of New Mexico, the Aboriginal Arts Program at the Banff Centre and was an Ensemble Member of Full Circle First Nations Performance.  Michelle works in areas of dance, theatre and opera as a choreographer, performer and movement coach and her work has been seen on stages across Canada. Selected choreography/theatre credits include Shawnadithit (Tapestry Opera,) Gathering Light (Raven Spirit Dance), Salmon Girl (TYA - Raven Spirit Dance), Map of the Land, Map of the Stars (Gwaandak Theatre), Frost Trees Exploding Moon (Raven Spirit Dance), Mozart’s Magic Flute (Vancouver Opera), The Ecstasy of Rita Joe (Western Canada Theatre/National Arts Centre), Death of a Chief (Native Earth Performing Arts/National Arts Centre) and Evening in Paris (Raven Spirit Dance). She was the recipient of the inaugural Vancouver International Dance Festival Choreographic Award.  She graduated as a Certified Movement Analyst from Laban/Bartenieff and Somatic Studies Canada and is currently teaching at Langara’s Studio 58.

GABRIEL RAMINHOS holds a BFA from the SFU SCA Theatre Production and Design Program. He is an active Vancouver freelance Technical Director, Production Manager, Lighting Designer, Stage Manager, Technician, and is a member of IATSE Local 118. Past projects include Technical Director/Stage Manager for The Outliner (Mascall Dance); Lighting Design for Vidya Kotamraju's Longing (VIDF 2021). Additionally, he has recently worked on a few film projects as an electrician and Cam Op, and travels around the country as a lead technician for corporate events.

DIEGO ROMERO is a Vancouver-based dance artist. Diego is also the co-producer of Boombox with Katie Lowen (who he admires on the daily) which is a performance space located inside of a semi-truck. Diego's most recent piece with Billy Marchenski and Daria Mikhaylyuk is called Satan Sketches--an attempt at a full-length work which turned out pretty good considering the budget. Diego enjoys boxing and long walks in the rain and sometimes thinks sharks are coming for him when swimming in shallow pools.

OLIVIA SHAFFER’s dancing began with years of ballet, a degree from SFU, some training in Europe, and then a deep dive into the world of somatics, improvisation, and Contact Improvisation. She has been performing with EDAM since 2014 and still loves it. Olivia is also a choreographer and a dedicated scholar of dance and composition; she shares her knowledge through the classes she teaches to professional, pre-professional, and community dancers locally and abroad. / www.oliviashaffer.ca.

ALEX THORNTON is a cinematographer and emerging filmmaker, living and working in the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, also known as Vancouver BC. His body of work is expanding around a curiosity about where our humanity can be further uncovered and articulated by cinematic language, particularly through observation of human interaction in manipulated spaces.

RUSSELL WALLACE is a composer, producer and traditional singer from the Lil’wat Nation in B.C. His music has been part of a number of soundtracks (film and television) and theatre/dance productions across Canada. He has produced CD’s that have been nominated for awards at the Juno’s, Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, and at the Native American Music Awards in the USA. Currently, Wallace works and teaches at the Native Education College, Simon Fraser University, and Capilano University.

EDAM

Artistic Director        Peter Bingham

Assistant to the Artistic Director                  Olivia Shaffer

General Manager                                          Julia Carr 

EDAM respectfully acknowledges that our activities and events take place on the ancestral and unceded indigenous territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. EDAM is grateful for financial from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Province of British Columbia, BC Arts Council and the City of Vancouver.

www.edamdance.org

Photograph of Jessica Keeling by Luciana D’Anunciacao