12 minute read
Dance//Novella on STANCE and creating safe spaces for dance
by Rachel Silver Maddock
In the early part of this year, Dance//Novella developed and presented STANCE, their largest ensemble piece yet, with eight female-identifying dancers. The burgeoning dance company run by Racheal Prince and Brandon Alley (former members of Ballet BC) is tackling the potent topics of protest and the urgency for change in our troubled world.
On the final day of their residency at the Polygon Gallery, I had the pleasure of watching a run of the multifaceted work, which involves flags, video and dance, and then sat down with Alley and Prince to chat. As the January rain fell outside, we discussed unique aspects of their process, including how they opened rehearsals to the public, the role of their mentor in New York, and the ways in which they are trying to build their company with infrastructure to give artists a voice and make a safe, equitable workspace.
Rachel Silver Maddock (RSM): How did you two get connected to the Polygon Gallery?
Racheal Prince (RP): Brandon and I actually danced in this room as part of Ballet BC for a site-specific work made in collaboration with John Wood and Paul Harrison (Very Clear Instructions). That’s how I knew this room worked for dance. When we moved to the North Shore, we wanted to make connections here rather than doing everything downtown. I reached out to the Associate Director, Jessica Bouchard, and she was really interested in utilizing the room at certain hours. This room particularly is a huge money maker for the Polygon. They wanted to see ways to bring art to the room but still have it generate revenue to support the beautiful building they have.
RSM: It’s a great space! And as part of your process, you’ve made all your rehearsals open to the public, which is pretty unique. Normally the public only gets to see the finished product in dance and they miss all of the interesting artmaking that happens behind closed doors. Why did you decide to do it that way?
Brandon Alley (BA): It opens up everyone to the process. It’s more inviting—people can see decision-making, not only the choreographers but the dancers. And this process was super collaborative. We had [the dancers] build solos to text or generate movement together for certain sections. As an audience member, especially for people who don’t know dance, it’s incredible to see movement come to life, and see the humanity in that.
RP: We were asking, how can we make use of the fact that we’re not at The Dance Centre, or a studio we are used to? In this place there are benches, there is a bit more space, there is other art in the building, [we asked] how can we utilize that? When people walk by, it sparks curiosity. We hear them say, “Oh, there’s a dance class in there” and I’m like, "No, not quite!" When they peek in, they can see “Oh, they are making something.” [It’s about] building awareness for people that have not had the exposure to see people get together and craft dance—it’s a whole process.
RSM: How many people have actually taken advantage of it and stayed for more than 30 seconds?
RP: Quite a few!
BA: In the past few days there have been more. At first, people were scared,but they don’t just walk away, they linger and ask “Can I come in?”, and we say “Yes, come in!” That has been really nice.
RP: If we are not running a section, I noticed, people think nothing is really going on—when the dancers are working independently and moving around the space, but when we’re doing the flag section for instance, people tend to be more excited, there’s more draw. We wanted it to be accessible, to not just a dance audience per se, and the flag section was another way to represent our theme other than the body alone. The video too—because the Polygon is a lens-based gallery it was important to us to try to incorporate some influences from this building. There are all these different elements…even if contemporary dance is not someone’s thing, there are other parts they can connect to.
RSM: Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is the first major group piece you’re doing with Dance//Novella?
RP: When the Walls Come Down technically has a cast of six, but it had more solos. This one is really our first ensemble, which is exciting and scary!
RSM: What has it been like transitioning into that role of company director/rehearsal director/choreographer?
BA: It was daunting at first, but we had the privilege of knowing all the dancers before from previous projects, so there was already a level of comfort. A process last fall helped [set the stage] and then coming in here, it was all about building an outline, or a structure for them to fill. There is a goal and we know where we are going.
RP: They are just very easy to work with! You can see [the product] after only ten rehearsals, and quite a few missed three—because they are independent artists, we wanted to respect that this project is a little sparse and they have their everyday commitments—so some have only been at like six rehearsals. But their expertise and knowledge in their bodies and hopefully the clarity we’re providing allows it to take shape very easily. It lets us see the ideas very quickly, to see what works and what doesn’t work.
BA: Also, we trust them a lot, there’s a lot of trust within the room.
RP: As for rehearsal directing, I don’t even think about it, I think I was born rehearsal directing, [laughs]… But Brandon and I have different strengths, so we don’t step on each other’s toes very often. There are parts where Brandon goes into detail and others where I naturally take over and they don’t cross that often.
RSM: It sounds like you are finding a good balance within yourselves, and working within a larger group. About the theme of protest—obviously it’s very topical right now with women, or female-identifying dancers, with the unrest in Iran, social protests around the world, and the many other areas where women are being oppressed publicly. I can see how this piece would connect with a lot of people deeply. How is it navigating the topic with so many women of different backgrounds?
RP: Since Brandon and I don’t identify as members of a diverse community, right away we were asking, what is our connection to the work? We wanted to talk about the urgency for change— that’s a message I feel everyone, no matter who you are, can connect to when we are open to the world around us. There is an urgency for change [both] here in Canada and across the globe. So that became our way in. With the artists, we allowed them the freedom in the [video] interviews (before we got into the studio) to ask what these topics mean to them. They opened up and shared what they felt comfortable sharing. They could pass on any question, and the editing was all collaborative.
BA: We really wanted to amplify the artists and have a platform for their voices—what they are thinking about, what they are passionate about. Some felt very empowered in being able to have that opportunity.
RSM: It was definitely nice to hear the voices. You get a sense of someone when they’re dancing and then when you hear them speak [on the video], especially from the heart, you see a different side of them. And after experiencing their perspective, I found that I watched them dance differently because I had a little more information to connect with them, which was really nice and gratifying as a viewer. Can you explain how Gilbert Small II was involved?
RP: So, Gilbert is a very good friend of ours that we trust a lot from Ballet BC—I danced with him for ten years, and Brandon for four years. He’s now the director of the Gibney company in New York which prioritizes diversity, inclusion and creating a platform for the artists’ voice. The artists at Gibney have a different title, they are called…
BA: Artistic Associates.
RP: That’s right. They really try to build up artists as individuals not just as company dancers, and they influence what the company does, it’s really collaborative. Before we got into the room, we sat down with Gilbert [remotely] for a few hours and described what we were trying to do. We talked about how we could make a safe space, talked about tools—not to just say “this is an open space, come to us”—but actual tools that we can use to bring that out in a more organic way. For instance, daily check ins: even if we only have a 3-hour rehearsal day, the first 15 minutes we don’t dance, we just sit in a circle and talk about what we’re going to do today. Then we go around and share a little about how we are feeling.
BA: It’s about having an open dialogue around any kind of subject that someone could have a feeling about. For instance, we drew images or postures from certain monuments throughout the process, and we wanted to have a conversation about that, because we are also building a monument of our own [in the piece].
RP: Gilbert also talked about being careful of what he called “white fragility,” that sometimes we feel like we can’t have a voice because we don’t want to step on other’s voices. But at the same time, he says when we’re talking about injustice, everyone in the world has faced injustice, and it is important for artists not to undervalue our lived experience. Gilbert is there to help guide us, provide support and ideas, support the dancers and the project overall. In a next phase he’s going to meet with the artists without Brandon and I there to see how they feel inside the work. When we work with sensitive subject matter, we want to navigate that [well] and not just shy away because it’s difficult or we don’t want to do or say the wrong thing.
RSM: The way you are engaging Gilbert is very interesting, I don’t know if I’ve heard of that type of role. It seems like you’re setting up your company with infrastructure to keep it healthy. And because you both have company experience with Ballet BC and other companies, you probably know what works and doesn’t work. What other values are you trying to bring into Dance//Novella?
RP: Not having a hierarchy—that we can value our emerging artists as much as our experienced ones. There are strengths to everyone, of course some people have more lived experience and more tools, and we’re going to learn from them and trust their guidance, but it doesn’t mean they’re above you in any way. We’re all equal. We really want to honour each person at each stage in their career, and as Brandon and I take on more of a leadership role in this work, that doesn’t put our voice above or below anyone else. We can all be heard and seen. That is something you cannot just say—you have to really practise it.
RSM: That is so great! And what are the next steps for STANCE?
RP: We are working on a bit of a shoestring budget for the work, but after the February show we’d like to do a three-week creation process if we get the funding. We would love to bring Gilbert here for a week, so he can spend time in the studio with us and we can go deeper into the layers of the work, and to translate into a more traditional performance venue for dance. We could have one version for more of a gallery setting, and one version for more of a dance venue. I would love to grow both. Once we get a beautiful filming of the work, we want to see if any other galleries are interested in having this as part of their programming.
RSM: I look forward to seeing where it goes next! It’s great to see what you two are doing, especially, making group work which is rare in our city.
RP: Yes, thank you so much!
BA: We are so excited about it honestly.
D//N recently received funding from the City of Vancouver to showcase STANCE at the Annex on July 27th, 2023 featuring all 8 original cast members and understudy Nancy Li.
Founded in 2019 by Racheal Prince and Brandon Lee Alley, Dance//Novella is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the research and development of contemporary dance theatre. We believe that by developing daring societal stories and concepts that challenge and inspire the performer and viewer, we can positively engage humanity while sharing our stories in the 21st century. A large part of what motivates Dance//Novella is the idea of collaboration, not only with other dance artists but cross-disciplinary partnerships that engage and uplift all artists involved. We believe in making dance accessible for a wider audience and seek to do so in balance with a high level of artistic merit.
Rachel Silver Maddock is an independent dance artist, choreographer and arts writer guided by artistic curiosity. She has a BA in Visual Culture & Performance Studies from SFU and a Diploma of Dance Studies from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, London, UK. Rachel writes regularly for local publications including The Dance Current, Dance International and Dance Central. She has presented choreography at Mascall Dance’s Bloom, Chalk It Up, Small Stages, 12 Minutes Max, Open Stage and Co.ERASGA's Studio Salon Series, and has performed with artists and companies locally and in the UK since 2013.
