Suddenly, Digital: The National Arts Centre’s newest stage
By Sheenagh Pietrobruno
When COVID-19 darkened and emptied the four performance spaces at Ottawa’s National Arts Centre, the executive producer of NAC Dance, Cathy Levy, swiftly engaged with the Centre’s lively digital stage.
Levy invited dance artists across Canada to apply to present their shows through #CanadaPerforms on Facebook Live, a relief effort launched by the NAC in collaboration with Facebook Canada, which contributed to artist fees. This first step toward online dance programming began in late March 2020, when it faced challenges. According to Levy, “Recording dance for Facebook Live without much warning meant basically propping up an iPhone on a bookshelf.” Makeshift home technology could not adequately reproduce the expanse of movement integral to the three-dimensional art form of live dance.
NAC Dance came up with a more ambitious solution to presenting the art form on the digital stage in October, with #DanceForth. This series of seven livestream performances was, says Levy, designed to support “artists who had live performances they had to rethink.” In other words, pieces that had been cancelled mid-tour due to COVID-19 restrictions or that had been in development when theatres entered lockdown.
Contending with the pandemic’s travel constraints, the NAC collaborated remotely via Zoom, phone calls and emails with four artists in locations across Canada: Ziyian Kwan of Dumb Instrument Dance and Shay Kuebler of Radical System Art, both based in Vancouver and co-presented with The Dance Centre; and Louise Moyes of Docudance and independent director Charlie Tomlinson, co-presented with Neighbourhood Dance Works in St. John’s. In addition, rehearsal space and recording studios at the NAC were offered for three projects by companies based closer to home: Bboyizm of Gatineau/Ottawa; Andrea Peña and Artists of Montreal, co-presented with Ottawa Dance Directive; and choreographer-performer Mélanie Demers of Montreal’s MAYDAY.
This time, Levy says, the shows were created in collaboration with videographers, whose recording techniques conveyed “the depth of scale and character” possible with live performance. The livestreams were filmed with two fixed cameras on either side of the stage and with one roaming camera in order to capture close-ups and varied angles. The intention was to create what Levy describes as “a three-dimensional experience in a two-dimensional rendering” in order to give viewers “as much as possible the feeling that they are in the hall with the artists.”
The first #DanceForth livestreams took place on Facebook, but by mid-November the NAC had set up a platform for screenings on its website. Since then, many hundreds of people have viewed the free livestream shows, which are available for 24 hours afterward.
The NAC’s commitment to presenting artists across a diverse spectrum is evident in #DanceForth’s cultural engagement. Kwan’s autobiographical solo Odd Volume delves into her painful memories of 1970s Vancouver, overturning the racialization that she experienced. Demers’ solo Icône Pop erodes clichés of female identity through a cross-cultural prism that interfaces the Virgin Mary, voodoo divinities and the popular stardom of Beyoncé. Long’s Hill Walk: I live(d) Here, choreographed by Moyes, evokes community and diversity through performances by neighbourhood artists, Inuk throat singer and drummer Sophie Angnatok and Caribbean Canadian singer-songwriter Winnie Churchill. With fewer COVID-19 restraints in St. John’s, the larger cast of Long’s Hill Walk, performing in the streets, stood out.
A new series of #DanceForth is upcoming, with shows from Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa.
Levy has recently added a cinematic dimension to her programming, which she says is “about showing Canadians an international perspective and showing international audiences a Canadian one.” In November 2020, supported by the German Embassy, NAC Dance produced Dance Portrait: Stephanie Troyak. The 20-minute film takes us on a journey from Troyak’s training in Kitchener, Ontario, to her being chosen in 2017, at just 22, to dance with the German company founded by the legendary Pina Bausch (1940-2009), Tanztheater Wuppertal. With artistic maturity, intuition and talent, Troyak embodies both the beauty and raw energy of Bausch’s female roles. Clips of Troyak in the dramatically complex role of Anna II in the 2017 remount of Bausch’s 1976 Seven Deadly Sins are impressive.
Clearly, the pandemic’s closure of international borders has not stopped Levy from pursuing her vision of exposing audiences at home to the global dance scene and to the Canadian dance artists within it.
UPCOMING: The National Arts Centre’s showcasing of Canadians in the international arena continues Feb. 17–23 with Paris Opera Ballet in Body and Soul by Vancouver-based Crystal Pite, recorded at the 2019 premiere, at Palais Garnier. The screenings are an initiative by DanceHouse (Vancouver) in collaboration with the NAC (Ottawa), DanseDanse (Montreal), Harbourfront Centre (Toronto) and Springboard Performance (Calgary). Open the links for more info.
Tags: #DanceForth Canadian dance news Cathy Levy COVID-19 dancers of colour lockdowns Louise Moyes Mélanie Demers NAC Dance National Arts Centre online dance screenings Pina Bausch Stephanie Troyak