The ROMP! Festival Returns!
Dancers Danielle Baskerville and Brendan Wyatt in HARD CANDY. Photo: David Hou
Suddenly Dance Theatre's 9th ROMP! A Festival of Independent Dance will take place October 13 - 15, 2006, at the Metro Studio Theatre in Victoria, British Columbia. There are 10 events over 3 days!
This year's program features choreographers: Jung-ah Chung, Sara Coffin, D.A. Hoskins, Margie Gillis, James Gnam, Caroline Liffmann, Donna Belmont Isobel, Butoh-A-Go-Go, and triPOD dance collective.
Also featured are new dance films made in Victoria by: Jung-ah Chung, Karen Kaeja, Stacey Horton, Kelly Hargraves, Patricia Kim, Anthony Morgan, and Miles Lowry & David Ferguson.
Plus! A professional development forum led by Andrea Gunnlaugson from the Dancers Transition Resource Centre and Robyn Campbell of Made in BC - Dance on Tour
This year's Romp! Festival is made possible with a grant from the Spirit of BC Fund.
CAKE ON THE STAGE
Opening Reception (admission free)
You are invited to join us at our opening reception to celebrate the 9th ROMP! A Festival of Independent Dance and to welcome our guest artists. At CAKE ON THE STAGE, you can stand, dance, or mingle on the stage and eat a piece of our special-made Romp! Festival cake! Guest musician TBA/cash bar.
Program A:
Butoh a Go-Go (Vancouver): IN THE RED (55mins) 
BUTOH-A-Go-GO perform a 55 minute Butoh-duet called IN THE RED. Photo: Peter Eastwood
One show only! This mesmerizing 55 minute Butoh-duet features Thomas Anfield and Kevin Bergsma on a journey - both scientific and mythological - exploring cultural and elemental West Coast themes. IN THE RED premiered internationally in Moscow in June 2006. “Do not let anyone tell you that butoh is not beautiful…” Deborah Meyers, Vancouver Sun
Program B:
HARD CANDY
Dancer Danielle Baskerville in HARD CANDY. Photo: David Hou
Jung-ah Chung (Victoria): CONNECTION (27mins)
Invited artist Jung ah Chung's CONNECTION harmonizes Korean-style dance motions and traditional aesthetics with the techniques of Western modern dance. This vigorous solo embodies Korean shamanism and modern culture, evoking a sense of freedom from natural limitations. In her recent Globe and Mail review, Paula Citron wrote Jung-ah Chung is “gorgeous, charismatic…' and ‘one to watch'.
Sara Coffin (Vancouver/Halifax): BLINDSIDED (12mins)
BLINDSIDED investigates the loss of one's senses and the loss of one's sense of self. This trio interprets virtual and conceptual blindness and deafness, within the possible intersections and impasses of life. “My sense of view became tactile not colourful, immediate not distant. Something with arms' reach” - Ryan Knighton
DA HOSKINS (Toronto): HARD CANDY (22mins)
The words hard candy conjure up a fountain of implications – from the evolution of cynicism, sex and sexuality, to a streetwise toughness and hardening of spirit. The work sits in a theatrical and sensory playing field and conceptually explores the blocked walls we can easily develop as individuals. Featuring spoken word artist Jill Battson and dance artists Danielle Baskerville and Brendan Wyatt, Hard Candy premiered in May 2006 at Tangente in Montreal.
Program C:
SHAPECODING
Tanja Podlozniuk in Caroline Liffmann¹s TANTAMOUNT BEHAVIORS. Photo: Eleanor Rosenberg
James Gnam (Vancouver): shapecoding (11 mins)
This solo by choreographer and Ballet BC dancer James Gnam can be described as live-action stop-motion. Performed by his wife Natalie LeFebvre-Gnam and set to Patrick Gnam's haunting, otherworldly score, shapecoding sets up impossible divisions of the body and connects the lines meticulously.
Caroline Liffman (Vancouver): TANTAMOUNT BEHAVIORS (13 mins)
This hilarious dance/theatre solo by Caroline Liffmann is inspired by odd things. Performer Tanja Podlozniuk endures a pair of walking snowpants, a bad telephone connection, and an open improvisation section. Without giving away the punchline, she eventually disguises herself by waving six arms while using the other two to tiptoe away!
Donna Belmont Isobel (Seattle): COMPROMISE (10 min)
Strong athleticism, sharp detailed movements, and primal positioning are contained within this solo by Seattle's Donna Belmont Isobel. Rooted in shadows, COMPROMISE explores the way past experiences untwist from the body in a visceral way, revealing hidden behaviors.
Margie Gillis (Montreal): AT THE HEM OF MY NORTHERN COASTAL CLOUDS (18mins)
This solo, choreographed by Margie Gillis for dancer Holly Bright, is inspired by the great expanse of the coastal skies and the idea of dancing on the coast. The work is a rhythmic mediation involving the costume, unfolding through images of timelessness, childhood secrecy, absence, peace and noise. In essence, the work is the travelogue of a coastal cloud, holding a place for calm, fury, breath and beauty, and asks the audience to ‘take time as on a summer day'.
Programs D & E:
triPOD dance collective (Victoria):
PART ONE: Butter… (50 mins)
PART TWO: And something just as good. (50 mins)
triPOD dance collective's late night romp features eleven dancers and musicians who get down into the metaphorical grease, butter, and soul foods of life. Presented in two episodes - PART ONE and PART TWO, this serial moves from the mundane to the fantastic - but how many courses will it take? Be there or be hungry.
Featuring performers: Rachel Anderson, Dan Beer, Jung-ah Chung, Brandy Baybutt, Lori Hamar, Stacey Horton, Kate Richmond, Treena Stubel, Shelly Tognazzini, Rachel Wadham, and Mariko Ihara.
Program F: FRAMES: Dance Films Made in Victoria
video still from Kelly Hargrave's CARGO featuring dancer Joseph Jurd
This program of brand new dance films made in Victoria suggests dancers and choreographers have a natural understanding for the construction of motion pictures.
The ‘star' of FRAMES is the city of Victoria, which is becoming a hotspot for the creation and exploration of dance in media thanks to the work by non-profit societies such as Suddenly Dance Theatre, Media Net, Cinevic, and Open Space.
The first half of FRAMES features dance shorts made during MediaNet's DANCE FOR THE CAMERA WORKSHOP. These films all have a raw and spontaneous quality; a product of fine work generated from a two-week intensive led by Ellen Bromberg. The multiple appearances of dancers Celeste Lyon and Joseph Jurd in several of the films creates the added effect of a through-narrative.
The second half of FRAMES presents Suddenly Dance Theatre's French language version of OPIUM, which premiered on ARTV (Quebec) in May 2006. This is a chance to see our ‘foreign film' version of OPIUM, a stylized period piece inspired by the French artist Jean Cocteau (1889 - 1963) and his famous struggle with addiction. Written by Miles Lowry, OPIUM stars Canadian choreographers David Ferguson, Jung-ah Chung, and Dominique Porte.
Jung-ah Chung - DRIVE (4 mins)
If you are brave enough to take your eyes off the road, you may see some of Victoria's familiar streets, though Jung ah Chung's rapid-fire movement and quick cutting will bring you back to the wheel.
Patricia Kim - MOMENT (7 mins)
The ritual of tea, relationships and a woman remembering.
Stacey Horton SELF STORAGE (4 mins)
Alone in an old storage warehouse, a woman breaks through her confinement, both physical and emotional. Her movements leave traces of her existence down the abandoned corridors of her world.
Karen Kaeja LINOLEUM (7mins)
In her directing debut, Karen Kaeja brings an ethereal flavour to the beauty and turmoil that unfolds as the inevitable shift of time intensifies a fleeting relationship. Amidst a lush summer landscape, the playful and sacred bond between a young woman and her child is captured, revealing the challenges and solitude of motherhood.
Kelly Hargraves - CARGO (6mins)
CARGO is one man's pit stop in travels through life. A time to breath, stretch and decide whether to move on.
Anthony Morgan - Zoomorph (3:20mins)
A quirky and charming celebration of evolving creatures animated and portrayed by the human body.
Miles Lowry & David Ferguson - OPIUM (24mins)
Suddenly Dance Theatre's OPIUM imagines Jean Cocteau's harrowing stay at a clinic near Paris in 1929, where he had hoped for a cure for his addiction to opium. Here, we encounter a Poet desperate to create, despite the disruptions of his rebellious Shadow, an armless Statue, waltzing Nurses, and a seductive Sphinx. Choreographed and performed by David Ferguson, Jung–ah Chung, and Dominique Porte, OPIUM observes the artist through fits of creative madness and addiction.
SPECIAL FORUM: Empowering Dancers
Saturday, October 14th, 2006
10 am – noon @ the Metro Studio Theatre - FREE
This professional development forum led by Andrea Gunnlaugson from the Dancer Transition Resource Centre and Robyn Campbell of Made in BC - Dance on Tour is open to all dance artists and public.
Come to this session and learn more about promoting your work, networking opportunities, and developing and presenting for audiences in regional British Columbia.
Sponsored by The Spirit of BC
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