my battery is pure love

For my final feature covering the CanAsian Dance Festival of 2015, I am lucky again in getting to interview another great of Canadian dance, Lata Pada.  Her career is vast and varied, her work personal and universal in its storytelling. Vivarta,  Lata's work for her company, Sampradaya Dance Creations, will be part of this year's festival. Lata Pada photo by Onward & Upward photography LR: How do you begin creating? What is it like in the studio at the start of a process? LP: Ideas for a new work come sometimes out of nowhere; a phrase from a song, a personal turning point, reflections on life. Even though the ideas have been percolating in the head for over several years and start taking shape for a new work, collaborators contacted, discussions had, outlines formed, when one gets into the studio, it is a terrifying experience. Where and how to start is the most traumatic feeling I am confronted with.  For me, the most intuitive and important sta...

Lee Su-Feh is a Canadian dance force. A choreographer, a teacher, a dancer, a dramaturge, an innovator, she has been rocking the Vancouver dance realm since 1988. Cofounder of battery opera with multi-disciplinary artist David McIntosh, Su-Feh is a fiercely intelligent, fiercely gripping performers. And she'll be here next week with CanAsian Dance Festival 2015. Don't miss her. Despite a hectic time for her, Su-Feh was gracious, frank and wonderful in answering my questions.  I am inspired. I hope you are too. Lucy: Y ou have referred to the dancer as activist not object. I am curious: how do you make this happen? What steps do you take, approaches, goals, physical or psychological tactics re alize this goal? Su-Feh: A fundamental tool I use is the eyes, the gaze. On a concrete level, I, the dancer, must ask myself, what do I see? Do I see the room I am dancing in, do I see the colours in this room? Do I see the shapes? Do I see the other people in this room? And do...

If you know Bageshree Vaze, you know these things (and if you don't know her, here's the short and sweet): she is funny she is multi-talented she is ambitious she is dedicated to dance in all its expanses  she is a sparkling and inviting presence on stage Following my line of interviews on collaborations this year, Bageshree answered a few of my questions about collaborative processes as they relate specifically to her inter-disciplinary projects, working with her husband and sources of inspiration. h     LR: How did you come about gathering this particular cast of dancers? They are an interesting intersection of dance. BV: I have worked over the years with dancers trained in various styles – in fact I have worked with very few professional-level Kathak and Indian classical dancers in group works. Whenever I am working on a piece, I look for dancers who are very physically-versatile, and able to interpret music and movements from cultural styles outsid...

One of the most exciting occurrences throughout my interviews on the theme of collaborations is when there are two creators and I can ask them the exact same questions and have them answer these questions without knowing what each other will say.  And truly delightful: when the co-creators are a married couple. This month Dance Matters hosts its first residency week leading up to performances April 18 and 19th (see bottom of interview for details!) and that first residency was given to the couple-dynamo of Louis Laberge-Cote and Michael Caldwell.  Exquisite dancers on their own or together, and each a creator is his own right, this is the first project they are co-creating. Michael Caldwell and Louis Laberge-Cote I am driven to write these articles and interviews by an insatiable curiosity about how artists create and shape their craft, whatever their discipline and their role within that discipline. So I sent four questions to Louis and Michael, they...

I am in dance class, lying on the floor, eyes closed, listening intently. An image is offered to me: my body as a glass of water with sand swirling and settling to the bottom, imbuing me with clarity. The teacher says, "This is your self. Not the self you put on for the world. Not the self you think you should be. This is the real you." This is a ballet class. The teacher is Christine Wright. Christine has been teaching in Toronto for over a decade through Toronto Dance Theatre, School of Toronto Dance Theatre and Peggy Baker's Summer Intensive. Last summer she  relocated from New York City to Toronto, giving local dancers of all sorts a chance to experience her insightful and unique classes on an ongoing basis. I have been a diehard fan of Christine's classes since the early 2000s. In my first class with her as I lay on the ground -- the usual beginning to her ballet classes, which takes dancers through images intended on functionally c...