The Outside/In Canadian Performance Series is a special presentation occurring between January and March 2023 and will feature national performing artists from across Canada. The series is made possible with a grant from the Department of Canada Heritage (Celebration and Commemoration Program). As part of the series, there will be six live theatre performances, including Outside/In Prairies – A double bill featuring New Dance Horizons and Farhad & Daniel.
New Dance Horizons will perform in Set 1 of the double-bill, Outside/In Prairies, featured on January 28, 2023 at 7:30 pm. SET 1: RE-Tangled was created through an intermittent process and that was realized through the intensity and lockdowns of COVID. We worked through every season from the deep freeze of prairie winter to the blazing heat of prairie summer and with the wonderful seasonal transformations between. Travel between our respective homes has been a part of the process and through this back and forth like the mysterious tumbleweed, with uncertain origins and unknown destinations we began one day with Anna and Anastasia entangled on the floor of New Dance Horizons studio to Théâtre Cercle Molière, in Winnipeg where this version of Re-Tangled ended with a complete separation of their bodies moving in concentric circles to opposite directions. We are grateful for the rich research shared and to collaborators: Chiyoko Szlavnics for her brilliant composition Gradients Of Detail, to Derek Tomilin for making the set pieces, to James Proudfoot for Lighting Design, to Farley Chatto for costumes, and to Anastasia and Anna for their curious, persistent, generous and creative movement. “Imagine a human body rebuilt in the alchemy of something which is not from the body, but is from the landscape, from the world.” Brazilian artist known simply and sonorously as Tunga. . FLOWERS: an ode to the beginnings and ending of life. Flowers hold a plethora of meaning and associations. The creation of Krista Solheim’s solo commission began in the fall of 2019, and was sparked by a bouquet of fresh stem flowers. Upon arriving in the studio for our first rehearsal, Edward and I picked flowers from the NDH garden to give to Krista as a gesture of commitment to this new creation. With each rehearsal we had the pleasure of working with one or more of the stem flowers. While formal Floriography (the language of flowers) was considered, we invented our own symbology through actions and gestures. The giving of flowers has a long history with birth, death and dance performances. Dance, like flowers, share an inherent ephemerality. Originally planned for NDH’s 2020 Secret Gardens Tour, the pandemic postponed it. Krista, Edward and I were thrilled to finally premier FLOWERS on NDH outdoor Summer Stage in the 2021. FLOWERS is dedicated to all the wonderful gardeners and volunteers who make New Dance Horizons Secret Garden Tours so successful. We want to recognize two special supporters. The first flowers in NDH’s garden came from the late Maitland McNeil—they reappear every spring. We dedicate FLOWERS to the late Tim Murphy, a dearly beloved, generous and committed contributor through art actions, administrative support and love. Thank you to Jeff Morton for the composition and sharing of live music for FLOWERS. FLOWERS was made possible with the generous support of SK ARTS, City of Regina and Regina’s The Flower Hut.
New Dance Horizons gratefully acknowledges the funding support toward this tour from: SK Arts, City of Regina, Creative Saskatchewan, and Dance Saskatchewan. This series has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada. Ce projet a été rendu possible en partie grâce au gouvernement du Canada.