9 minute read
Interview with Amy Bowring
by Dr. Carolyne Clare
Over ten years ago, Dance Collection Danse's Executive and Curatorial Director Amy Bowring and I visited an aging dancer’s home because the dancer was not well and she wanted to give DCD her collection of dance books. I was struck by the dancer’s isolation and her gently masked grief. I also saw how Bowring was able to take on the role of caregiver, offering solace and meaning to a sick person, as if the dancer were family.
Since that day, I have seen Bowring as being more than an archivist. For dance, she is also like a trustee, or a trusted person who has been given the authority to administer a deceased person's effects. Or perhaps she is more like a spiritual leader who skillfully provides comfort to grieving communities by enacting rituals, opening honest discussions and checking in to ensure that people's basic needs are met. Either way, her work takes courage.
Our backdrop, a global pandemic, invites me to think about Bowring’s role in dance as being related to caregiving and grief. The pandemic has raised discussion about the positive impact of the arts on mental health, and other discussions about how caregivers, usually women, have been especially burdened by the pandemic. While I offer no analysis of labour and equity here, I am compelled to flag Bowring as a bit of an unsung hero for dance, as she carefully works with performance, at the cusp of being, passing and recollecting.
A Dancing Ghost...
CC: Amy, you have worked with deceased dancers’ stuff for almost 30 years. Have you ever seen a ghost dancing in the archive?
AB: No, I haven’t seen a dancing ghost. I did get to visit Toronto’s Eaton Auditorium before it was renovated, which originally opened in 1930. It’s a storied place that I never thought I would get to see, even though I knew it was still there, locked away at the top of a shopping centre. When I walked onto the stage, placing my feet where many great dancers had performed, I had this overwhelming feeling that I will never forget.
CC: So maybe you have felt a ghost… Can you please tell me how DCD is doing during the pandemic?
AB: We have had to cancel or push back some of our in-person programs, like exhibitions and our Hall of Fame, which honours remarkable dancers who have made lifelong contributions to dance. Although this was disappointing, we are excited about our new digital project!
DCD Discover
CC: What is your new digital project?
AB: We are creating an online, open-source hub for Canadian dance records. We secured the funding in April 2020, with support from the Canada Council’s Digital Strategy Fund, and we have been able to focus on this project despite the pandemic.
CC: What is an online, open-source hub for Canadian dance records?
AB: Well, we are in the process of working with dancers across Canada to figure that out. In short though, it will be an online portal for people to view dance records held by individuals and organizations across Canada, not just the collection at DCD. The public will be able to upload digital copies of their dance records to the hub, which will enable other interested people to find and view that information.
CC: If I am a Vancouver-based dance educator planning to make costumes for my students, I could search your hub and find hundreds of historical photos from across Canada that could inspire my work?
AB: Exactly. You could probably find thousands of relevant photographs.
CC: In order to contribute records to the hub, will organizations have to give their records to DCD?
DCD Discover screenshot
AB: No, some organizations might consider doing so, but most organizations will preserve their original documents and backup high quality digital copies. The records that are uploaded to the hub are for reference purposes only.
CC: Will DCD help organizations learn how to safeguard their original records?
AB: Yes, we offer grassroots archiving workshops in cities across Canada and remotely. We tend to do one or two workshops a year. In addition, we welcome questions from other organizations and dancers throughout the year.
CC: What will the digital hub be called?
AB: It might be called “DCD Discover” but we are soliciting feedback from the community about that too.
DCD Live Labs
CC: How are you getting this feedback?
AB: We are hosting a series of virtual discussions, which we call Live Labs, and anyone can take part. Details on how to participate can be found on the development site for DCD Discover. During our Live Labs, participants are introduced to DCD Discover and are given the chance to provide feedback or answer questions. We asked: “What would you like to see in the hub?”, “What colours do you like?”, “How can this be easier for you to use?” etc.
Leonard Gibson © 1950
CC: What kind of feedback have you received?
AB: A good example is a piece of feedback offered to us by a presenter. They noted the challenge of finding current artist biographies, and they wondered if we could use the DCD Discover to host biographies. Dance artists could update their biographies themselves, adding new shows once they have completed them, and presenters could easily download the biographies from the hub. This would be a simple and useful way to use the DCD Discover.
CC: That’s a great idea. Has anyone been concerned about restricting access to materials in order to respect cultural protocols or to protect their intellectual property?
AB: Yes, those concerns came up, and we are thinking through different ways of addressing the issue. For example, we’ve made it possible for creators to put watermarks on the records they upload so that images can’t be reproduced without permission. It’s also possible to restrict access to records altogether. For example, if a group of records are private, the database entry could simply inform a researcher that the record exists with further information on how to access the record itself.
CC: Is DCD getting help to gather this feedback and make DCD Discover?
AB: Yes, we are working with dgen, a data infrastructure design company. The company is based in the UK but they have an international team including staff in Canada. Once dgen has finished developing DCD Discover, our team at DCD will host it.
CC: What kinds of things have you learned from dgen?
AB: Accessibility is really important to dgen. That value inspired us to make DCD Discover simple, visually appealing, and free from archival ‘gobbledygook’ that is meaningless to the general public. We like this approach as we think it will capture people’s attention. Dgen has also encouraged us to use open-source software and to be transparent throughout the development of DCD Discover. It’s their philosophy to make something imperfect available to the public and then get potential users to help perfect it in an iterative process.
CC: Will researchers be able to search for records using keywords?
AB: Yes, we are trying to make it easy for users to include descriptive information about the records that they upload. We will have to offer tutorials on how to do that, and we will draw upon some of the descriptors we have already developed and used for our earlier database.
Artificial Intelligence
CC: I’ve heard that DCD Discover will make use of artificial intelligence. Is that true?
AB: Yes! dgen has incorporated AI into the system, which automatically creates tags and descriptors of records. The AI system can also transcribe text that is embedded in the images! We have tested the AI system, and sometimes it comes up with crazy things but humans can correct those errors and the system will continue learning over time. It even learns from outside our system too; that’s pretty amazing.
CC: Have you tested the AI function with some dance records?
AB: Yes, we had some fun seeing if the AI system could decipher the Maud Allan family’s handwriting; that family had the worst handwriting of all time! The system did not recognize some of the letters as using the English alphabet.
CC: That’s funny! When will you officially launch DCD Discover?
AB: The project should be complete by April 2022 and I hope that DCD Discover will make a big splash. (DCD Discover is now launched and accessible through https://discover.dcd. ca/items.)
We have an amazing dance history in this country. We are filled with inspiring people who have brought their art forms from other places in the world, and who have felt things deeply and reflected their experiences on stage. It’s remarkable and fascinating and I hope that we make more of these stories available online, which can bring all kinds people into dance. All of which will benefit dance communities as well.
CC: Interesting, are there many dance records across Canada?
AB: Absolutely, and hopefully DCD Discover will help us find out more. I do think it would be great if we could make the pockets of dance history from across Canada more visible. We know there are dance archives in museums, special collections, attics and basements across the country. I would love to see what teachers have done in other cities for example. It might be empowering for communities to keep their records and also build connections with other dancers by sharing information.
CC: Do you think people from outside dance will use DCD Discover?
AB: Yes, we hope they will. We are also toying with the idea that the hub could be used beyond dance, for other performing arts too, like theatre or circus. It could be a massive hub for performing arts history. If it will work for dance, it should work for other arts too.
Hopes for the Future
CC: That sounds great. Before we wrap up, can you also tell me about your hopes for the future in general?
AB: I have no crystal ball, that’s for sure. I’m hopeful that through the COVID-19 pandemic people will have a better understanding of how the arts affect the world. People have turned to the arts for their escape, for distraction, to be uplifted, to be moved, to engage with human emotions that we miss out on when not in regular contact with people. Hopefully, people will remember the value of the arts in their lives going forward.
CC: I hope so too. Thank you, Amy! And you will tell me if you discover a ghost dancing in the archive?
AB: OK Carolyne, will do.
Dr. Carolyne Clare is currently a Mitacs Accelerate postdoctoral fellow based at Simon Fraser University's School for the Contemporary Arts, where she is undertaking research with the BC Alliance for Arts and Culture. Her current research focuses on how the arts have supported wellness for BC residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Carolyne had the pleasure of working with Dance Collection Danse as a Metcalf Foundation Intern in 2010-2011. Her previous interview with Amy Bowring is published on https://www.dcd.ca/dhm/bowringdhm.html.
Amy Bowring is the Executive and Curatorial Director of Dance Collection Danse, a national centre dedicated to the collection, preservation, and dissemination of Canadian dance legacies. As a dance worker, Bowring curates exhibitions, arranges archives, creates educational programs, teaches dance history, writes, copy edits, presents lectures, develops grants and much more.
