my battery is pure love

Hong Kong Exile Arts Association is an interdisciplinary arts company made up of three emerging contemporary artists: Milton Lim (Theatre), Remy Siu (New Music), and Natalie Tin Yin Gan (Dance). These three met as students at Simon Fraser University's School for the Contemporary Arts and have been consistently creating and producing work since 2011 when the company was formed. Hong Kong Exile creates innovative, collaboratively-made work, investigating the possibilities of interdisciplinary work for their diverse, young voices. They are joining CanAsian Dance Festival 2015 with their quirky, dynamic work NINEEIGHT. Natalie Gan generously answered my questions about collaboration and creative process. Hong Kong Exile in rehearsal for NINE EIGHT LR: How do your (Hong Kong Exile’s) collaborations work — what is the creative process like? NG: Because of our shared training at Simon Fraser University, Hong Kong Exile collaborations are greatly influenced by devise...

Marie France Forcier's works have always created intense, moody worlds where humans are  almost exhaustingly human in their ability to manoeuvre and manipulate each other connecting without entwining. The first work I saw of Marie France's made my heart ache in a good way.   photo of Marie France Forcier by David Hou courtesy of the artist's website Her recent academic work delving deeply into dance as an artistic embodiment of trauma has taken her approach to an even more intense level. Her upcoming shared program with Tracey Norman in DanceWorks MainStage Series gives us a chance to see how it all comes together. Below are some thoughtful, honest answers to my questions about her process. 1      LR: Can you tell me  a little about the collaborations involved in your portion of the upcoming Double Bill show? MFF:  I am working with composer James Bunton again on this new piece. Over the last decade, our...

  Tracey Norman is one of the hardest working, most thoughtful dance artists working Toronto right now. And now she's a new mother to boot. You may have seen candid photos around on social media of Tracey and new baby Pearl in the studio rehearsing her choreography in the Forcier/Norman Double Bill opening at Harbourfront Centre as part of DanceWorks MainStage Series next week.  I have known and adored Tracey for about ten years and besides my wanting to dance for her, I have been fascinated by the dancers with whom she collaborates and continues to collaborate. In fact seeing Sky Fairchild-Waller dance in Tracey's works spurred me to ask Sky to dance in a new dance work with me. And now I adore him too. So here's a little interview with the two of them, answering the same questions in their very different ways. They reveal a little of the synergy possible between an intelligent and giving choreographer and a generous and imaginative performer. LR: How did you, ...