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| Evelyn Hart -1995 |
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| Byron Chief-Moon & Karen Jamieson |
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| John Alleyne |
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| Crystal Pite and Emily Molnar |
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| Jennifer Mascall |
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| Wen Wai Wang |
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| Noa Lee Ashkenazi and Béatrice Larrivée - August 2023 |
Two events in the 90s changed my outlook to life and my photography. It was in 1991 that I saw a performance of Ballet BC that featured a May Pole Dance. I was sadly disappointed. Then in 1995 I saw Evelyn Hart and like two men before me, Malcolm Parry and Max Wyman, I fell for her.
At a second chance for me opportunity I saw the Ballet BC that Artistic Director John Alleyne had dragged from the 19th century to a lively 20th that included (perhaps the first time in any North American city) the choreography of William Forsythe. I was hooked to dance in Vancouver and have followed it ever since.
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| My extensive dance files. I also have scads of digital camera files from Arts Umbrella Dance |
But I have seen a decline, perhaps because of the demise of journalism and on written critical opinion on dance.
It was Arthur Erickson who designed the Vancouver Dance Centre on Davie and Granville. For a while it was an active place. Then (I believe this was a mistake) Ballet BC moved to the old Arts Umbrella building on Granville Island.
I have fond memories of going to Karen Jamieson Dance Company performances. She may have been one of the first in Canada who blended modern dance with Indigenous dance. It was in one of these events that I saw the most electric male dancer (my favourite of all time) Byron Chief-Moon. He combined Indigenous dance with modern dance while doing it in a grey suit.
It was with the Mascall Dance Company that I saw a terrific show that was based on the life of Emily Carr.
Alleyne’s Ballet BC nurtured many dancers. One was Wen Wai Wang who, on his own with his company, has created choreography that has wowed me. It was also Alleyne who was instrumental in the careers of Emily Molnar and Crystal Pite.
For many years, until recently, Ballet BC liked to get many of its new dancers from the stellar in all of Canada , Arts Umbrella Dance Company.
It was in 2022 and 2023 where I watched Béatrice Larrivée dance. The first time for one hour (alone!) and the second time with a partner. That Larrivée was a graduate of the Arts Umbrella Dance Company and is a member of the Batsheva Dance Company was all lost by our city remaining (if any) dance critics. The only people I saw in three performances where her students from Arts Umbrella.
The dance system Larrivée taught twice at Arts Umbrella is called Gaga. I would define it as dance with a theatrical addition where expressions on dancer are as important as their motions. Somehow theatrical companies in Vancouver might take not and seek collaboration.
I believe that the shine and enthusiasm of dance in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland has eroded since dance companies stopped working with each other. The lovely Dances For a Small Stage brought dancers from many companies together.
Alleyne may have lost it when he spent lots of money to
bring large orchestras to play for Ballet BC performances. That is what many said. The fact is that Ballet BC's Board, shocked by the 2008 financial crisis, pulled out financial commitment and left Alleyne holding an empty bag.
Now I can truthfully say that if I want to see a good dance performance I must go to anything featuring the Arts Umbrella Dance Company. There was one piece of wonderful choreograph by James Kudelka that featured almost 50 dancers who danced with no music. You could hear their feet. Another by Kudelka had dancers losing their balance and falling.
In that single most important (for me) moment in dance is when Evelyn Hart in Serguéi Prokófiev’s Romeo and Juliet walks slowly to the potion that will make her look dead for Romeo. When she almost gets there she reflects and dances on her tiptoes backwards.
What we need in Vancouver besides more cooperation with our dance companies is for the one entity that does not need to sell ad space. The CBC could easily feature dance criticism, and announcing performances on both radio and on TV. Could it be possible if our city and province put together a cultural web page?
Once Emily Molnar and Crystal Pite told me that all that remained after a performance were the ghostly memories in my head. Can that be what is left for our Vancouver?
As for me dance, thanks to my carte blanche to photograph what I wanted to at Arts Club Theatre Company performances and those of Béatrice Larrivée I have been able to experiment with new slow shutters with my most efficient digital Fuji X-E3. It is interesting for me to point out that Harold Edgerton in 1957 pioneered the fast shutter speed that recorded a milk drop falling. Most photographers want to freeze dance motion. I have done lots of that. But those swirls I do now!
Thank you Arts Umbrella Dance Company and Béatrice Larrivée.
