Winter 2024
Dance Central A Dance Centre Publication
Content A Conversation with
Andrea Nann Page 4
Ritual and transformation: Salome Nieto's collaborative choreography
Page 16
Editor's Note Welcome to the Winter 2024 issue of Dance Central. Happy (Lunar) New Year and Black History Month! 2024 is going to be a special year; it is a leap year and the year of the Wood Dragon, a zodiac sign that is full of energy and dreams of changing the world. In this first issue of 2024, I shared a heartfelt conversation with Andrea Nann about her zodiac sign, her grandmother and her work in Vancouver's Historic Chinatown. One of my biggest joys of being the editor is that I get to interview amazing artists like Andrea. Born in the year of the Fire Horse in Vancouver, Andrea’s luminous dance career which has spanned over 36 years defies the superstition of the Fire Horse girl as she continues to shine her bright light on dance in Canada and to inspire the next generation of artists. I am also thrilled to welcome Tessa Perkins Deneault, who joins Dance Central for the first time as a contributor. She brings us an article about Salome Nieto on her MFA dance thesis, The 13th Chronicle, as a response to violence against women and feminicide. Salome is no stranger to Dance Central and has graced the stage in Vancouver for decades as a butoh dance artist and long-time collaborator of Kokoro Dance. Let us take the time to honour our female ancestors, grandmothers, mothers and all the tremendous work that has been done by activists, feminists, scholars and artists to raise awareness of gender-based violence. As we enter the Period 9 Feng Shui in Chinese astrology, the next twenty years (2024- 2043) will be ruled by the Fire element. It will be a time of great transformation, passion and dynamic energy. The time has come for women and girls to be seen, to be heard, to be loved and respected for who we are, and more importantly, to lead the world into a better future. I hope Dance Central continues to be a platform for dance writing, and in a way, a place for archiving dance in Vancouver. We thank all the artists who have contributed, and we welcome new writing and project ideas at any time to make Dance Central a more vital link to the community. Please send materials by email to editor@thedancecentre.ca. We look forward to many more conversations! Shanny Rann Editor
2
Dance Central Winter 2024
Nicole Dreher, Lauren Han, Kaitlyn La Vigne, Krystal Tsai, Anna Wang-Albini in The 13th Chronicle © Carl Craig
Dance Central Winter 2024
3
A Conversation with
Andrea Nann Re-membering the stories we never heard and the renewal of a place we call Vancouver's Historic Chinatown by Shanny Rann
In October 2022, Andrea Nann, Annie Katsura Rollins, Sarah Chase and Cindy Mochizuki with creative producer Kelsi James, began a year-long series of public outreach workshops and embodied activations in Vancouver’s Historic Chinatown. The outreach both preceded and followed the premiere performance of Dreamwalker Dance Company's production Firehorse & Shadow, co-presented by plastic orchid factory and Chinatown Storytelling Centre at Left of Main in May 2023 for ExplorASIAN during Asian Heritage Month. In Firehorse and Shadow, Andrea summoned women from her matrilineal line, in particular her grandmother Lin Lee, whose story was one of many that was waiting to be released. On February 17, 2024, Dreamwalker will return to Left of Main in Vancouver's Historic Chinatown for Firehorse & Shadow in Community, an immersive evening of movement, stories, music, shadow play and film.
SR: Hi Andrea, I am happy to have you here on Dance Central for the first time! Before we get started, can you introduce yourself briefly to our readers?
my career, I have gone through many different ways of being a dance artist—from dancing full-time in a company performing concert stage repertoire, to choreographing, producing and presenting my own work,
AN: Hi Shanny! My name is Andrea. I also go
designing site-specific participatory
by Dreamwalker, which has been my moniker
installations, devising improvisational score-
for many years. I think it says a lot about me.
based experiences...
As a whole person, I am experiencing myself in the realms of possibility, as I am grounded on this Earth.
SR: Thank you for this beautiful introduction. Can you bring us back to your early days, what got you started as a dancer?
I am a dance artist. My work is rooted in embodied practices, collective communal
AN: Well, I didn't know that I was a dancer
processes, and collaborations. Throughout
in theofearly days, but I was.Prince I amand Chinese Artists Dance//Novella © Racheal Brandon Alley
4
Dance Central Winter 2024
Andrea in Firehorse and Shadow © Camille Rojas Dance Central Winter 2024
5
Dance Central The Dance Centre Scotiabank Dance Centre Level 6, 677 Davie Street Vancouver BC V6B 2G6 T 604.606.6400 F 604.606.6401 info@thedancecentre.ca www.thedancecentre.ca
Canadian, fourth generation on both sides and I have come to learn a lot more about how this has shaped me. In my early days, I
Dance Central is published quarterly by The Dance Centre for its members and for the dance community. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent Dance Central or The Dance Centre. The editor reserves the right to edit for clarity or length, or to meet house requirements.
Editor, Art Director & Layout Shanny Rann
Copy Editor Kaia Shukin
Design Layout Becky Wu
Dance Foundation Board Members: Chair Linda Blankstein Secretary Anndraya Luui Treasurer Janice Wells Directors Samantha Luo, Mark Osburn, Andrea Benzel
Contributors to this issue:
was very quiet, and extremely shy to use my voice. I'm still practicing finding my voice. Early in my life, I experienced the world a lot through sensation; I expressed myself physically. I loved moving, I loved being out in nature, I loved stamping my feet around and travelling around our house doing cartwheels. I loved using all my senses to experience myself
Andrea Nann, Shanny Rann,
Dance Centre Staff:
Tessa Perkins Deneault, Salome Nieto
Executive Director
in the world, but I had a very hard time putting
Mirna Zagar
any of that into words. I would get extremely
Photo credits
Associate Programming Director
Front Cover: Barbara Bouget in The
Raquel Alvaro
13th Chronicle © Carl Craig
Associate Producer
Back Cover: The 13th Chronicle
Linda Blankstein
installation © Alberto Renteria
Director of Marketing Heather Bray
shy and anxious if I had to actually speak, even in family situations. I always found physical expression and non-
Dance Centre Board Members: Chair
Digital Marketing Coordinator
Linda Gordon
Membership Coordinator
Vice Chair
Kaia Shukin
that a language of embodiment now. I discovered
Andrea Reid
Outreach Coordinator
music at quite a young age. I loved the way music
Secretary
Yurie Kaneko
Tin Gamboa
Technical Director
Treasurer
Darren John
Mark Weston
Comptroller
Directors
Elyn Dobbs
Jennifer Aoki, Yvonne Chartrand,
Development Manager
Judith Garay, Arash Khakpour,
Catherine Butler
Lindsay Curtis
Anndraya Luui
verbal expression to be my language. I can call
made me feel and after hearing a friend's sister playing the violin, I asked my mom if I could pick up the instrument. She was thrilled. Music in the Asian family is a big part of our life 'training'. At age 5, I became a Suzuki violin student and later on, a piano student, my brother already played cello, and my mom would accompany us on the
Founded in 1986 as a leading dance resource centre for dance professionals and the public in British Columbia, The Dance Centre is a multifaceted organization. The Dance Centre presents an exciting season of shows and events, serves a broad membership of 300 professional dance companies and individual artists, and offers a range of activities unparalleled in Canadian dance. The Dance Centre is BC's primary resource centre for the dance profession and the public. The activities of The Dance Centre are made possible bynumerous individuals. Many thanks to our members, volunteers, community peers, board of directors and the public for your ongoing commitment to dance in BC. Your suggestions and feedback are always welcome. The operations of The Dance Centre are supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Province of British Columbia, the BC Arts Council, and the City of Vancouver through the Office of Cultural Affairs.
piano for our daily practices! With the violin, I always enjoyed what my bowing arm was doing. I realized I didn't even care about what my fingering hand was doing other than making different sounds for my bowing arm. During my music lessons at the Vancouver Academy of Music, ballet master Soonee Lee was teaching classes in
6
Dance Central Winter 2024
the basement. I would go down during my breaks and watch the dancers. I wanted to move my upper body with that freedom I saw in the dancers’ port de bras. I was 12 years old by that time. That was when I discovered dance as a language I could learn more about, communicate with and commit to. SR: What was it like growing up in the seventies in Vancouver as a Chinese Canadian? What was your connection with the arts community in general? AN: In many ways, I was not directly connected to my culture. I went to an alternative school and got introduced to the punk rock movement scene. I resonated more with wanting to know myself outside of the establishment.
Playing the violin (age 7) © Andrea Nann
For my mom and dad, who were third generation Chinese Canadians, assimilation
SR: What were you resistant against?
was the greatest achievement. Fitting in, being part of the status quo, belonging and
AN: Everything! I just had this feeling of dis-
finding a place for yourself was their value.
ease in myself, but I didn't know the source
That was the environment I grew up in. We
of it. Punk music was great. Just dancing! At
would go to the symphony orchestra, the
the peak of my teenage years in Vancouver,
ballet, or the art gallery. I was also exposed
I went out dancing six nights a week. We
to a huge diversity of arts and culture,
would go to new wave clubs and gay bars
because my mom worked in the field of
and tried to be fashionable and groovy and at
multiculturalism and race relations.
punk venues, thrashed, slammed and threw our bodies around. It was very cathartic.
I rebelled against structure and organization. In some ways, I feel like I cheated myself out of a lot of opportunities where I could have learned more, but I had a resistance and anger in me that I didn't know why or what it was directed towards.
SR: It was symbolic of that era, wasn't it? You have come a long way round. What is the inspiration behind the Firehorse & Shadow in Community event that is coming up in February in Vancouver's Historic Chinatown? Dance Central Winter 2024
7
My mom Beverly Chin with my PoPo Lin Chin © Andrea Nann
How do we learn about the people that nobody spoke about? AN: The Firehorse & Shadow project started
Canadian born, but she still upheld those edifying qualities of a 'good wife'. People loved her because of her silence. SR: What was your relationship with your grandmother like?
as an autobiographical piece. I was exploring matrilineal stories, the women's experiences in my family when I discovered I knew so little of them. As I started asking more people around me, it turned out many did not know much about their mothers, their grandmothers, or their great grandmothers either. I thought it was just my family—the silence that I held. My grandmother was 8
Dance Central Winter 2024
AN: It was actually a tough one. I think if we had better communication skills, we would have had more experiences together. We would cook together, I would spend time with her doing things around the house, but we didn't talk. She came to stay with us once and it was really hard on her because my brother and I didn't have her rules. To her, we were
misbehaving the whole time (chuckling).
Some say it is disrespectful, but why didn't we find out more about their experience?
There wasn't a lot of understanding between us, but I felt comfortable with her. She was
Why didn't we even think to ask about the
round and soft, like a dumpling. My memories
experience of women in this whole thriving
of her was this incredibly warm, quiet, and
population? Women were at the heart of
beautiful person that I never really got to know.
the family. They were always busy cooking,
Our relationship could have been different, it
cleaning, and ironing, but we never asked:
was a deeply embodied relationship but I feel
“How are you today? What are you thinking
like I missed getting to know her.
about? Do you have a passion? Do you have a dream? What do you wish for? If you weren't
What are the stories we have never asked our families about?
cleaning all the time and cooking for us, what
Firehorse & Shadow is about the stories we never
This is what this project has been about. It's
asked our family, especially the women's stories.
about the inner lives of women, those small
would you be doing?”
histories that we just overlooked, how they're
What do we carry inside of us that hasn't been expressed, that nobody has ever heard?
vanishing and how re-membering can bring
How can we learn from the questions we didn't ask?
Can artistic process and collective embodiment help us recover family stories that have been severed, fractured or lost?
Why did we never ask our grandmothers what their names were?
forward a sense of renewal.
It's about the inner lives of women, those small histories that we just overlooked, how they're vanishing and how re-membering can bring forward a sense of renewal. Dance Central Winter 2024
9
My mom's grandmother came to Canada as a
SR: Can you share with us the artistic process of
young servant girl and lived in Chinatown. My
the Firehorse & Shadow project?
grandmother and my mother were born and raised in Chinatown. My grandparents founded
AN: I made the dance piece of Firehorse
a home for Seniors on Cordova Street—The
& Shadow with tremendous support from
Harry and Lin Chin Foundation Golden Age
Sarah Chase, my longtime friend and creative
Court, where my mom and dad served on the
collaborator, and Annie Katsura Rollins, a
Board for decades. Because of my Mom’s work
shadow artist. What came forward during
in multiculturalism, we have never really left
our collaboration process was the correlation
Chinatown. Her belief in Chinatown as a place
between shadow and silence. Without a light
and her connection to it as a community driven
shining on an object, a shadow doesn't exist.
citizen is still very much alive in me. But I still
When we don't ask about people or ask them
feel unconnected...
to speak... As relationships, choreography and
Andrea during Dance Artist in Residence at The Banff Centre © Andrea Nann
10
Dance Central Winter 2024
concepts formed, we invited Cindy Mochizuki
collaboration with filmmaker Henry Mak
to be our dramaturge. Cindy is a Vancouver-
and web designers Elysha Poirier and Omar
based multidisciplinary visual artist, who
Faleh for the creation of what we call an
in her own work explores stories of people
interactive 'web performance experience',
and places, often generations before her,
www.firehorseandshadow.com. You can
particularly female ancestors. The four of us
even go to the website and learn about your
participated in the Dance Artist in Residence
Chinese zodiac animal sign and your element.
program at The Banff Centre and that's where
This speaks to the way I want to be putting
the piece really came together.
work out into the world. To be able to offer opportunities for people to experience the
We were scheduled to premiere the Firehorse
world I'm inviting them into. In the web
& Shadow stagework in Toronto on March
performance, they are free to choose how to
19th of 2020. That quickly turned into a
interact with the website, whether they want to find out more about themselves, or sit back and watch a dance piece.
How do we learn about the stories that we still can’t speak about? SR: I am curious about the meaning behind Fire Horse and how you came in touch with the Chinese zodiac? AN: There was a time where Chinese restaurants (that cater to a Western crowd, not necessarily in Chinatown) would have placemats with the Chinese zodiac—the animal signs, the birth years, and the characteristics of each sign. It was a fun and charming conversation piece. Even though in my family we often attributed specific behaviours to our zodiac signs, I associate my knowledge with these placemats! As it turns out, Sarah Chase and I are both fire horses, she first brought this to my attention! Dance Central Winter 2024
11
And Julia Kwan, a Vancouver filmmaker, made
much about destiny, as it is about creating a
an incredible film called Eve and the Fire
better future.
Horse. There was a stigma about how bad luck it was to have a girl born in the year of
AN: Yes, exactly. We were fortunate to receive
the Fire Horse. They would bring devastation
a Canada Council public outreach grant, which
to the whole family like financial ruin and
came on the heels of the pandemic. The
early death to their husbands. It is the worst
Ontario Arts Council took one of their market
possible zodiac year for a girl to be born in.
development programs and they turned it into a
In 1966, the year I was born, and in 1906,
program called Artist-Presenter Collaborations.
(and in previous Fire Horse years dating back
This support was pivotal because the funding
500 years ago), the rates of infanticide and
gave us an opportunity to have an extensive
abortions for baby girls (not for boys) were
consultation process with collaborating artists,
remarkably increased (Kaku, 1975). There were
documentarians and contributing presenting
also more Caesarean sections performed just
partners in Vancouver months before we started.
before the lunar new years of Fire Horse.
We designed the public outreach programming from this consultation process. On February
SR: Did this happen only within Chinese
17, 2024, the event Firehorse & Shadow in
communities?
Community will be a celebration of the people and places that are part of this phase of our
AN: It was across the globe, especially in parts
project. Some of the delights on the program
of the world that adopted the Chinese lunisolar
include short performances by Vancouver based
calendar, like Japan. We are about to come to
dance artists Kay Huang, Juolin Lee, Lance Lim,
the next Fire Horse year in 2026; we shall see
Lynda Sing, and Mermaid Li, who will be sharing
how the birth rates are affected in two years.
their own moving stories around the themes of
With all the destruction the sign brings,
Firehorse and Shadow. We will also premiere a
clearly the Fire Horse has transformational
collection of short films and a performance by
power! If the Fire Horse girl could harness this
Rosa Cheng of Vancouver Cantonese Opera.
power, channel it in the right direction, could
And, of course, there will also be savoury and
there be a positive outcome that changes the
sweet snacks and tea!
fate of her family and herself? Sarah, Annie, Cindy and I laughed about this a lot, but in all
SR: Are the films a culmination of the year-
seriousness, we pondered the potential that
long community engagement in Vancouver's
all of us have to take anything that is ill-fated
Historic Chinatown?
and use that in a transformative way. AN: Yes, two of them are documentary style SR: The Firehorse & Shadow project is as 12
Dance Central Winter 2024
and the other two are cinematic. One of the
Andrea Nann and Annie Katsura Rollins in May 2023 performance of Firehorse and Shadow at Left of Main © Camille Rojas
beautiful things that the filmmakers Jennifer
discrimination, loss, resilience, renewal and
Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier, Ran Zheng
celebration. I'm so grateful my grandmother's
and Sarah Genge have been able to do is to
and my family's life continues to exist in these
interweave my family's archival super 8 film
small snippets of films.
footage (circa 1940s–70s) with present day Activations filmed by Vancouver artists Yasuhiro
SR: What are your concluding reflections upon
Okada, Sophia Mai Wolfe and Daniel Loan. In
all the changes you have witnessed over the
addition to filming my grandmother, my mom,
years in Vancouver's Historic Chinatown?
my aunties, uncles, and cousins, my grandfather also filmed scenes of significant places and
AN: During the Chinese Exclusion Act
events that shaped the Chinese community
between 1923 and 1947 (Chinese Immigration
living in Vancouver. My grandfather was a
Act, 1923, the legislation that restricted all
budding filmmaker; I think we thought he didn't
Chinese immigration to Canada by narrowly
even know it, that he just had a gadget toy that
defining the acceptable categories of Chinese
he loved. But I appreciate that he was telling
immigrants), the Chinese community came
stories very intentionally. My grandmother's
together and created their own societies, an
stories, his stories, the stories of daily life, of
entire economy and social network that was
community, of a culture of gatherings, fortune,
vibrant in Chinatown. Dance Central Winter 2024
13
To know that, for many Chinese Canadians,
mom, but different generations of people who
Vancouver's Historic Chinatown is not a
participated in this project talk about places their
place where they belong anymore, is really
families would frequent. There has been a sense
heartbreaking for me. Even my family members
of renewal that has come out of this project.
say, “We can't go back”, “That has all changed”, “All of that is in the past”. For many of us, it was the heart centre of our community. It is where the incredible resilience of the Chinese
SR: I am grateful that we have this conversation. I got to know more about you and your work after our interview today.
Canadian community was embodied. AN: Thank you very much for reaching out, In some ways, my family has never left.
Shanny I really appreciate it. I would also like to acknowledge the many people and
My artistic practice tends to lead me to more
organizations doing amazing work in Chinatown:
questions than statements. My collaborators
Chinatown Storytelling Centre, ExplorASIAN,
and I ask:
Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society, Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for
How are community gatherings and embodied practices helping us to re-member (literally putting a missing part of our selves, us as bodies back into the whole)? How is it helping us to plant seeds of reconnection between generations, and return us to a renewed sense of place…to Chinatown itself?
Contemporary Asian Art, Strathcona Community Centre, Natalie and James Gnam of plastic orchid factory and Left of Main, Ziyian Kwan of Morrow to name just a few. I think it's important that when we are coming together as individuals and artists, to directly connect with the people who are already doing the work we want to do. These partners have been on the ground way before we came in so I want to thank them for welcoming us and joining me on this journey.
What do we each carry and hold, sealed and contained, in our bodies, hearts, minds, souls? What are the inner lives and small histories that are vanishing as architecture is demolished
Andrea Nann’s artistic practice brings her in to
and washed away?
relationship with her self and Others — other
Does situating the embodiment of memories
other realms. She is a contemporary dance
bring a sense of reconnection and renewal to
artist, deep listener, founding artistic director of
the place itself? For me it does. Through the
Dreamwalker Dance Company, and founder/
Firehorse & Shadow project, I got to walk around
co-creator of Conscious Bodies Methodology,
the streets of Chinatown and hear not just my
an embodied community practice. Through
14
Dance Central Winter 2024
people, other places, other environments,
her work Andrea enlivens Dreamwalker's
by over 70 dance and theatre creators from
invitation to awaken and experience one’s
across Turtle Island and has been recognized
self in relationship with All that Is. She creates
with awards for choreography, performance,
experiences by activating attunement to
contributions to the performing arts sector
memory, sensation, perception and nature, and
and for her work in community actioning.
is curious about how contemporary approaches
Andrea dances to reach across distance and
can emerge through collaboration with
to experience herself and others in celebration
individuals of diverse backgrounds and diverse
of possibility, plurality, imagination, originality,
ancestry. Based in Toronto/Tkarón:to, Andrea
and belonging. She believes that dance and
is a graduate of York University’s Department
embodiment can shift attitudes and ways of
of Fine Arts, and was a member of the Danny
being, tuning us into what makes each of us
Grossman Dance Company for 15 years. She
distinct, to what we share, and ultimately how
has contributed to the creation of new works
we can live together in wonderment and peace.
Dance Central Winter 2024
15
Ritual and transformation: Salome Nieto’s collaborative choreography by Tessa Perkins Deneault
With a strong butoh influence, Salome Nieto’s works are grounded in a sense of life and death, of rebirth and transformation, and intense spirituality. She has been an integral part of the
via religious iconography and Mexico’s Realismo Magico (magical realism), which was most evident as Nieto embodies the female deity Tonantzin or Virgin of Guadalupe, who
Vancouver dance scene for over 30 years as a choreographer, teacher and performer.
represents the convergence of two distinct belief systems. The work was performed in a traditional theatre setting as well as a sitespecific venue that allowed audiences to become part of the ritual.
Before launching her performance and teaching career in Cuernavaca, Mexico, Nieto studied ballet and modern dance in Mexico City. In 1992, she immigrated to Vancouver and began studying under Barbara Bourget at Kokoro Dance. She continues her work as a teacher and choreographer while working with companies including Kokoro, Raven Spirit Dance, and Donna Redlick Dance. In 2013, Nieto co-founded pataSola dance and has performed her works in Argentina, Canada, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Thailand. The Vancouver International Dance Festival recognized her contribution to contemporary dance in 2017 with their choreographic award. Nieto recently completed her Master of Fine Arts at Simon Fraser University’s School for the Contemporary Arts. Inspired by intersectional feminism and cultural blending, her research explores ritual and ceremony in contemporary dance. Her 2011 solo work Camino al Tepeyac explored these themes 16
Dance Central Winter 2024
Similarly, Nieto’s MFA thesis, The 13th Chronicle, presented as a public performance in June 2023, is a site-specific work that invites the audience to participate in a ritual that travels the halls of the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts. When she began her master’s program, Nieto felt like there were certain spaces in the building that were off limits, and it took her some time to settle into the space. This prompted her to conceive of her thesis as a sort of transgression into the space or a disruption of space. The audience arrives in the lobby where the piece begins before it moves through the building. “I felt that it would be interesting to interrupt this informal gathering, when everybody arrives to a performance, you are mingling, you're chatting, you're meeting your friends, and you're relaxed; I wanted to interrupt that with my presence,” she says. The audience
Salome Nieto in The 13th Chronicle © Carl Craig Dance Central Winter 2024
17
Installation piece for The 13th Chronicle © Yvonne Chew
is greeted by a banner displaying names of victims of feminicide and welcomed by a Oaxacan elder. This set the tone for the theme of ceremony that runs through the piece as the audience becomes a procession moving through the building. The 13th Chronicle is a response to Sabes Algo de Mariana? (Do You Know Anything About Mariana?), by Mexican scholar and dramaturg Andres Cuestera-Micher. The play involves twelve chronicles that describe terrible stories of violence against women. Nieto’s 13th chronicle imagines how to break the cycle of violence, while honouring women who have been victims of feminicide. "I have witnessed gender violence and as many women, I have experienced micro-aggressions," says Nieto. “I 18
Dance Central Winter 2024
have been touched by feminicide very closely in my family, so it is very close to my heart.” Nieto’s personal connection to the subject matter in The 13th Chronicle makes the work all the more meaningful. While Nieto usually does solo work, for this piece she felt it was important to have 13 dancers. “I needed to do what the work needed me to do,” she says. Her fellow performers were students in the dance and theatre programs at the SFU School for the Contemporary Arts. “We created a safe space because the topic is difficult to deal with; it was really emotional,” she says. “I have so much gratitude to the performers because they were so committed, and I saw their journey which added so much to my project and to my experience in school. I
felt that I could give something to the university,
After thinking about pursuing her master’s for
to the students in the programme.” Nieto’s
20 years, Nieto finally felt that she was ready
initial goal of an all-Mexican cast became less
and had enough work behind her. “Barbara first
important as she considered the universality
inspired me; I saw her do her master’s in the
of her subject matter and the beauty of a
early 2000s, and since then I always felt that,
diverse cast of women from different cultural
yes, I can do it. When I decided that it was
backgrounds and ages.
time to apply, I talked to Barbara and there was no doubt after our conversation that I needed
Other collaborators emerged organically, such
to do it. She supported me 100%,” says Nieto.
as sound designer Jami Reimer who was in one
Both Barbara and her partner Jay Hirabayashi
of Nieto’s classes. They travelled to Mexico City
checked in often and offered to read her work
together to gather field recordings and we had
or provide rehearsal space, supporting her
conversations with other women about their
along her journey through the program.
experiences. “It was a beautiful trip. When you sit down at a table with women and you
After encountering Bourget and the other
start sharing things, the conversation can
performers in the open hallway spaces, the
go for hours. It was informing me, telling me
audience is led into one of the studio spaces
you're going the right way; it was gratifying and
and guided into a circle formation. “It wasn't
inspiring.” Reimer ended up joining the work as
very successful because we are used to having a frontal view to witness performances, so the audience stayed mostly on the north side of the room.” A final processional march leads the audience back to the lobby where
a performer, playing the accordion, and singing. After the audience gathers in the lobby and becomes integrated into Nieto’s work, they move up to the second floor where they encounter Barbara Bourget performing on the stairs, dancers running through the space, and
I have been touched light and perspective. “I don't remember how it all happened, but I thought maybe I should by feminicide very ask Barbara to perform,” says Nieto. “Then I thought, how am I going to direct my mentor?” It closely in my family, turned out Barbara didn’t need much direction, as Nieto explains, she knew what she needed to so it is very close to do, and it was a rewarding collaboration. my heart. Bourget has been a mentor to Nieto for many Nieto moving along the hallway playing with
years and encouraged her to pursue her MFA. Dance Central Winter 2024
19
they are now a community with shared ritual and history, no longer strangers in their individuality. Nieto says she was intentional about this circular structure and hoped to shift the consciousness of the audience. “I felt that we arrived as performers and audience, and then we went through this journey witnessing performances and sharing the space. We came back as a community.” Similarly, Nieto began her MFA in a cohort of individual artists and finished it part of a new creative community that she can continue to draw on as she conceives of her next projects. She says she found the process validating as she had never worked with a large group of dancers in this way and with so many collaborators. Nieto plans to choreograph for a group of dancers for her next project, which will explore the subject of mass migration. “I am
contemplating the journey of migration where there is a process of letting go, of generosity or sacrifice, and to ensure that those that come with you or after you arrive at the destination,” she says. “I think of the monarch butterfly and how it is the first generation that arrives at the destination to procreate. Once that generation arrives in Mexico, there are many generations to come back all the way up to Canada so that they can reproduce and then go back. They are demonstrating incredible generosity to ensure that the other ones can continue.” A longstanding member of The Dance Centre, Nieto has performed there in other artists’ works and hopes to bring her own work to the space in the near future. Nieto is also interested in further exploring the idea of dance as disruption in unconventional spaces.
Nicole Dreher, Lauren Han, Kaitlyn La Vigne, Krystal Tsai, Anna Wang-Albini in The 13th Chronicle © Carl Craig
20
Dance Central Winter 2024
Barbara Bouget in The 13th Chronicle © Carl Craig
“I am not so attached to the traditional or the controlled environment of the theatre anymore,” she says. “I think in the context of the realities of the world right now, we need to be more progressive to go out there and make ourselves present. In Spanish, we say “poner el cuerpo” we need to ‘put the body;’ I want to explore that idea of interrupting spaces more."
ceremony during process and in performance in the context of contemporary dance. In 2017 Nieto was awarded the Vancouver International Dance Festival Choreographic Award in recognition of her contribution to the art of contemporary dance as a solo artist. She has performed her work in Argentina, Canada, Mexico, Nicaragua and Thailand. As an interpreter and collaborator, Nieto has worked prominently with Vancouver-based Kokoro Dance, Donna Redlick Dance and Raven Spirit Dance. As an arts administrator Nieto
Mexican born, Salome Nieto is a Vancouver-
held the position of Fine and Performing Arts
based dance artist known for her transformative
Programmer for Dance at the Shadbolt Centre
works and evocative performances. Highly
for the Arts with the City of Burnaby in British
influenced by butoh, the cultural syncretism
Columbia for ten years. In 2023, Nieto earned
of Mexico and intersectional feminism, her
an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts in the School for
research considers the significance of ritual and
Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University. Dance Central Winter 2024
21
Dance Central Winter 2024
