Sitting silently in a darkened theatre and watching performers under stage lights: It’s how most of us envision watching a dance performance.
MACHiNENOiSY is setting out to change that with the world premiere of its newest work at Anvil Centre, coming to New Westminster as part of the PuSh Festival Feb. 2 to 7. Fragile Forms will see the audience move to various locations around the Anvil Centre with the dancers, experiencing what’s described as a “360-degree” work created specifically for the building.
“I think they’re going to experience a lot of things differently,” says Delia Brett, co-artistic director of the dance company.
The work is inspired by the writings of Finnish architect and theorist Juhani Pallasmaa, who explores ideas of architecture and the sensing body: how we experience the spaces we’re in with all of our senses – not just sight – and what impact that has on our experiences and our selves.
For Brett and her artistic directing partner, Daelik, exploring that notion meant stepping out of the confines of a black-box theatre and into what Daelik describes as a “messier space.”
In many ways, Brett admits, the Anvil Centre is the opposite of the kind of space they initially envisioned working in.
“It’s impressive, but at the same time, it’s also very cold and sterile; there’s lots of glass, lots of hard surfaces,” she says, noting Pallasmaa focuses not on architecture that’s designed to impress but on what architecture can evoke through its more intimate, sensual aspects.
Fragile Forms works to find those intimate, sensory experiences in both the Anvil Centre’s very grand spaces and in its smaller, more utilitarian areas as well.
“That’s kind of what we’re trying to do, is direct the audiences to these discoveries,” Daelik explains.
The audience is separated into two groups of 15, moving simultaneously through the building along different paths. As people follow the performers, Brett and Daelik are hoping they will experience both the idea of performance and the building itself in a different way.
“How do we create more meaning from this art for people?” Brett says. “It’s not just about showing them how well we can dance and how well we can move.”
She points out that the very act of walking changes the experience for the audience members.
“Something happens to you when you walk,” she says, noting that it gets your blood pumping and your heart beating in a different way than sitting motionless in a seat. “You’re engaged with that movement. Just their own physical engagement will alter their perspective.”
Likewise, seeing things from different angles – standing at the edge of a railing looking down, for instance – changes the performance.
Daelik notes the show allows people to see the building in ways they wouldn’t usually experience, likening it to the feeling of being backstage in a theatre.
“You feel a little bit more included; you feel you’ve been let in on part of the process,” Brett says.
As in a theatre, the technical aspects of the show are integral to the experience – but in a radically different way than they would be within the confines of a black-box space.
For sound, Brett notes, an intercom system offers speakers throughout the building, giving them endless possibilities as the show moves from place to place. Plus there’s the change in ambient sound from the central lobby area - where, from upstairs, you can hear the proverbial pin drop on the main floor – to the more dampened sound in other areas.
Lighting, too, is much more complex than in a theatre, where the audience sits in a darkened area and watches the action unfold beneath stage lights.
“There are ways in which you can feel the effects of light – natural light, fluorescent light – in ways that you can’t get in the theatre,” Brett says, noting it will draw people’s attention to how light and shadow affect their day-to-day lives. “It’s huge and profound, the way light shapes our experience.”
In order to integrate the performance fully into the space, Brett and Daelik chose to create their work with a team, working from the beginning with visual artist Natalie Purschwitz, architectural collaborators Peeroj Thakre and Henning Knoetzele of Vancouver’s ph5 architecture inc., and sound designer Nancy Tam. (Lighting designer Conor Moore joined the process later.)
“The idea is that all these disciplines come together and we design the show together,” Brett explains.
They spent a year, off and on, visiting Anvil Centre, meeting the people who work there, getting to know its ins and outs and getting to know the qualities of the space. The work that grew out of that time was inspired by some simple things: reflections, staircases, perspectives from upper or lower levels, the shape and form of one side of the building versus the other.
At each stage, Brett and Daelik took the perceptions and ideas of the other team members to use them in their creation of the physical movement.
“The other perspectives are provocative,” Daelik says. “They send you places you may not have considered.”
The two are hoping the show will attract a diverse audience: PuSh Festival regulars, who appreciate the festival’s commitment to work that takes risks; fans of contemporary dance; aficionados of architecture and design – and, perhaps most of all, the broader New Westminster community.
Brett hopes the show will help to open up Anvil Centre to a new audience, particularly people who have never entered the building or who may not realize what’s contained beyond street level.
“We’re hoping they’ll have a chance, through our show, to experience it in a unique way,” she says, adding the Anvil Centre itself can look so imposing that people may not feel they belong. “Since it’s here to stay, we want to create a little bit more of that sense of welcome.”
Local audiences can also check out a free talk, Dance, Architecture and Public Space, as part of the festival’s Ideas Series. It’s on Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m., and features members of Fragile Forms’ creative team, along with its stage manager, Kanon Hewitt, and Lisa Spitale, the city’s chief administrative officer. Leslie Van Duzer, UBC professor and author, will facilitate the discussion. A reception follows. It’s free, but registration is encouraged (see www.tinyurl.com/PushFestivalTalkAnvil).
The PuSh International Performing Arts Festival is marking its 15th anniversary this year. It runs from Jan. 17 to Feb. 3 at a variety of venues around the Lower Mainland, featuring 26 works from 24 companies from 13 countries, including six world premieres.
See www.pushfestival.ca for full details.
CHECK IT OUT
What: Fragile Forms, the world premiere of a new work by MACHiNENOiSY, part of the PuSh Festival
Who: Choreographed and directed by Delia Brett and Daelik, featuring dancers Maria Autio, Minna Karttunen, Kelly McInnes, Diego Romero, Olivia Shaffer, Rianne Svelnis and Lexi Vajda
When: Feb. 2 to 7, with shows daily from 6 to 7 p.m. and 8:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Where: Anvil Centre, 777 Columbia St.
Tickets: $29, or $17 for seniors/students/children. See www.pushfestival.ca or www.ticketsnw.ca.
More info: www.pushfestival.ca or www.machinenoisy.com.
