Interdisciplinary Imaginarium
Fringe Festival encounters Brief Encounters
Words by Alicia McLean Photos courtesy Kyla Bailey “When Two Worlds Collide, Anything Can Happen…” – Doctor Who, Series 3 On Friday night I hid from the falling sky at Granville Island‘s Performance Works and witnessed the 20th incarnation of Brief Encounters. This brilliant endeavour regularly brings together artists of diverse contrastive backgrounds, throws them […]
Don’t Stop Playing: Preview of a Brief Encounters Pairing
The first ever collaboration between Karen Jamieson, contemporary dancer, and Nathaniel Justiniano, bouffon
Photos and words by Ash Tanasiychuk What’s the expression? “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing” (thanks George Bernard Shaw, that’s a good one). Sunshine and laughter. Claps of hands and stomps of feet. Smiles of play and bulges of… ogre lumps?! The Dance Centre, Davie St, […]
OneLove @ The Cultch
ArtQuake’s two evenings of youth expression explore issues of identity through art and performance
Words by Celesse McCarthy Photos by Jensen Gifford and Ash Tanasiychuk — This year, ArtQuake, in conjunction with The Cultch, hosted OneLove – “a 2-day live arts celebration celebration honouring youth leaders who are using their art to initiate positive change in their communities.” (from artquake.ca) ArtQuake’s goal is to help youth (aged 13-25) capture […]
SoundEscape @ China Cloud
An ethereal yet powerful atmosphere permeates three live music and dance collaborative performances
Words by John Paton For whatever reason, the China Cloud always turns out to be one of my favourite Vancouver music venues. Maybe it’s the discreet entrance-by-stairway, or the vibe of the room itself, which resembles a good friend’s oversized living room. It certainly doesn’t hurt that when I arrived they happened to be playing […]
Six Fest @ 6th & Ontario
East Van community gathers for annual party in the street, complete with potluck, music, dancing... and a wedding!
Photos by Ash Tanasiychuk Six Fest is an annual, free, all day, all ages community event in East Van near Broadway and Main. This was the fest’s third year and featured a huge list of local creative talent, from a ton of musicians: Pitre Therapy Movieland Bushtit Leila Neverland Tyranahorse The Adulthood comedy & music […]
Powell Street Festival
The largest Japanese Canadian festival in the country celebrates 37 years through a variety of food, dance, performance, and ceremony
Written by Hailey McCloskey Tomomi Morimoto dances with ghost stories of Japanese lore. Performing at the Firehall Arts Centre, she begins with her back facing the audience. Some of the audience is privy to the sight of a mirrored mask she holds still by the clasp of her jaw. As she moves in fractions, we […]
Spatial Poetics XII: Release Me @ SFU Woodwards
Interdisciplinary and experimental evening binds both performers and audience through challenging conceptions of space and expectations
Words by Shalon W-H and Celesse McCarthy To kick off the 37th annual Powell Street Festival, an interdisciplinary event entitled Spatial Poetics XII: Release Me took place on July 6th 2013. On the top floor of SFU Woodwards Goldcorp Centre for the Arts is a small stage – Studio D – equipped with scaffolded seating. […]
Dancing On The Edge: Wobble Tops
Dynamic duo bring a colourful and festive performance to SFU Woodwards
As part of 2013’s contemporary dance festival Dancing On The Edge‘s programming, Wobble Tops performed their high-flying acrobatics for a delighted audience during an outdoor performance at SFU Woodwards. VANDOCUMENT’s Leslie Kennah caught the action in this exciting piece of photojournalism. Click here for the full gallery of Leslie’s photos. For more information: Wobble Tops […]
Music and Movement Mondays
A weekly collaboration of always changing dancers, musicians and locations, Ben Brown's experiment in cross-discipline dialogue is the stepping stone for Shapes In Sound
Written by Shalon W-H and Ash Tanasiychuk Photos by Ash Tanasiychuk and Yvonne Chew A unique series of evening events featuring a variety of multidisciplinary arts – Extravagant Signals – is about to launch into its inaugural year (June 15-22 2013). To prepare, Vandocument’s Shalon and Ash got a sneak preview of the improv music […]
Safe/Guard and Feast: Mystery and Intrigue at the rEvolver Festival
A teasingly mysterious look a pair of original dance/performances by local Vancouver artists as they begin their run at Upintheair Theatre's rEvolver Festival at The Cultch
On an overcast afternoon in May, Hailey McCloskey and Ash Tanasiychuk of VANDOCUMENT headed to the soon-to-be destroyed green house at The Cultch to get a sneak preview of Safe/Guard and Feast. This show, featuring two separate, yet curiously connected, original works, has been notoriously advertised with very little literal explanation. “A Visual Poem & […]