Speaking of Dance – Future Memory: Session 2

Co-Presented with SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs

February 26, 2021 | 11am PST

Artists: Louise Lecavalier (Louise Lecavalier/Fou Glorieux), Stephen Page (Bangarra Dance Theatre) and Rodrigo Pederneiras (Grupo Corpo)
Free to the public
Running time: 60 minutes

DanceHouse’s new online series Speaking of Dance focuses the spotlight on the exceptional artists who have previously presented work on the DanceHouse stage. We will ask each of our alumni artists the same questions, centred around upcoming creative practice and projects, as well as their individual perspectives and histories. Utilizing the theme of future works is intended both as a protest against the uncertainty of our times, as well as a call to creativity and the importance of hope.

This series will feature eight artists from across the continents sharing 10-minute video presentations about their inspirations and plans for the future.

These events are intended to offer an interactive and live quality. Get ready to engage in meaningful conversations and dialogue via a live chat during the video-streaming. Moderators will select questions from the online chat sessions, allowing for the speakers to personally respond to questions.

Artist Bios

Louise Lecavalier – Choreographer

Dancer and choreographer Louise Lecavalier worked with Édouard Lock and La La La Human Steps from 1981 to 1999, a period of exceptional intensity punctuated by works that have since become mythical along with scintillating collaborations (David Bowie, Frank Zappa…). Her extreme dance, filled with a fiery energy, caught the imagination of a whole generation. Since founding her own company, Fou Glorieux, in 2006, her movement research has been emblematic of her whole career, emphasizing the surpassing of limits and risk-taking, a search for the absolute in which she seeks to bring out the “more-than-human in the human.” In 2012, she created So Blue, her first full-length choreography, followed by Battleground in 2016. Both works have toured extensively, nationally and internationally. In February 2020, her new solo work, Stations, premiered in Germany, and will tour for the next two years. Louise has received many prestigious awards during her career.

Stephen Page – Director and Choreographer

Stephen is a descendant of the Nunukul people and the Munaldjali clan of the Yugambeh Nation from South East Queensland. In 1991, Stephen was appointed Artistic Director of Bangarra and has developed a signature body of works that have become milestones in Australian performing arts.

Stephen continues to reinvent Indigenous storytelling within Bangarra and through collaborations with other performing arts companies. He directed the Indigenous sections for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies and created a new dance work as part of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony. Stephen has choreographed over 25 works for Bangarra. His most recent works include the Helpmann Award winning work Bennelong in 2017 and the work Dark Emu in 2018, choreographed together with former Bangarra dancers Daniel Riley and Yolande Brown, and which went on to become the most successful production in the history of Bangarra.

Stephen’s first full-length film SPEAR premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival before screening at various arts festivals around Australia in early 2016. He has also directed the chapter Sand in the feature film The Turning (2013) and choreographed the feature films Bran Nue Dae (2009) and The Sapphires (2011).

In 2015, Stephen was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Creative Arts by the University of Technology Sydney. In 2016, he received both the NAIDOC Lifetime Achievement Award and JC Williamson Award. In 2017, Stephen was honoured with the Australia Council Dance Award for significant contributions to the cultural and artistic fabric of the nation, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).

Rodrigo Pederneiras – Choreographer

Rodrigo Pederneiras has been Grupo Corpo’s choreographer since 1978, and his work is recognized nationally and internationally. He has choreographed for the most important Brazilian companies. Outside Brazil he has choreographed for companies that include Deutsche Oper Berlin (Germany), Gulbenkian (Portugal), Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal (Canada), Stadttheater Saint Gallen (Switzerland), José Limón Dance Company (USA) and Opéra du Rhin (France). But creating for Grupo Corpo remains his primary focus. “Grupo Corpo today has its own language, which is something hard to achieve and does not mean that things become easier. On the contrary, I may make a mistake one thousand times while creating, until I find that which I want. This is not possible with other dance companies. There are pressures for time.” Creation, almost by definition, means anguish. Grupo Corpo’s dancers learn what the body of ours is, as imagined by Rodrigo during the creation phase. They are like tuned up instruments ready to be played. If Grupo Corpo has a language of its own, it is Rodrigo’s language: it has his unmistakable accent, which is understood by everybody—because it is our body that he induces to dance.

Special thanks to the Consulate General of Brazil in Vancouver and the Australian Consulate in Vancouver in support of this activity.

Watch the recording of Future Memory: Session One, from November 26, 2020.

Photos: Top – Speaking of Dance 2018 © Heather McDermid. Portraits – Louise Lecavalier © Massimo Chiaradia; Stephen Page © Tobias Rowles; Rodrigo Pederneiras © Jose Luiz Pederneiras.