MAINSTAGE 2025
Ultra Violets
ALEXANDRA CAPRARA
photos by Chelsey Stuyt
ULTRA VIOLETS
Through a physical exploration of the ways queer club culture, plant growth cycles, and sapphic intimacy intersect, ULTRA VIOLETS subverts our expectations of what queer becoming looks like, and depicts this process as cause for celebration. In this new 55 minute dance-theatre work, we follow an ensemble of queer dancers as they move through phases of transformation on an individual and collective scale- manifesting as interpretations of germination, rot, and photosynthesis. Set within a world that is part greenhouse, part underground dance club, this piece draws on the history of disco and plant life to propose a new perspective on what it means to grow into oneself. Transforming our expectations of space and perspective with integrated design that pulls from disco aesthetics and ecology alike, this work unapologetically celebrates sapphic joy, intimacy, and the ways queer joy is akin to resistance and reclamation- to stepping authentically into yourself in your own process of becoming alongside your community. Created by a team of entirely queer women and non-binary artists, this work is performed by 5 core ensemble members, and the inclusion of 10 community members who will be cast from the Vancouver queer arts community to participate in select scenes that depict community in the show. Through this involvement, we hope to emulate the ways our community has persevered in our own process of becoming, and overcome adversity throughout history.
ALEXANDRA CAPRARA
Alexandra Caprara is a queer interdisciplinary artist from Toronto, Ontario whose practice is grounded in performance making and design for dance and theatre. As an artist, her practice centers movement and design lead creation, with a focus on the interactivity between performers and design technology, often treating her designs as an extension of the body, and the choreographic score of her work. Throughout her career she has worked internationally as a director/ creator, performer, and designer for lighting and video projection, and has presented her work across Canada alongside companies such as WorkMan Arts, New Works Dance, Theatre Replacement, High Performance Rodeo, and GoodWoman Dance. Her most recent dance work, “Ultra Violets”, premiered at IndieFest in 2024 in Vancouver, with a lecture and excerpt of the work also presented at the Prague Quadrennial Technologies Symposium in 2024. She is also an artist in residence with Plastic Orchid Factory for their 2026 season. Additional credits include the direction and creation of “EVREN” (Edinburgh Fringe Festival); lighting design for “Song from the Uproar" (City Opera Vancouver); and projection design for “A Silent Howl” (Dancing on The Edge; Convergence Festival). She currently resides in Vancouver where she recently completed her MFA in interdisciplinary arts at Simon Fraser University.
Performance History & Upcoming Performances
First studio presentation: September 4th-5th, Simon Fraser University, Studio D, Vancouver, BC
Premiere: November 20th-22nd, re:Naissance Opera’s IndieFest, Signals Studio, Vancouver BC
Upcoming: Spring 2026, Azimuth Theatre’s NextFest, Westbury Theatre, Edmonton, AB
Project Created by: Created by Alexandra Caprara in collaboration with Charlie Cooper, Sydney Bluck, Desiree James, Anna Wang-Albani, Charlotte Samuel, and Aisha Wewala.
Key Artistic Collaborators:
Alexandra Caprara (director/ creator, designer)
Charlie Cooper (Sound Designer)
Claire Brown (Stage Manager)
Sydney Bluck (performer, choreography)
Desiree James (performer, choreography)
Aisha Wewala (performer, choreography)
Natalia Martineau (performer, collaborator)
Charlotte Samuel (performer, choreography)
Anna Wang-Albani (costume designer; original contributor)
Performance type: THIS WORK IS BUILT FOR THEATRE
How do you define this work:
Dance, Theatre, Arts Ecology, Interdispinary Arts, Scenography
Length of performance: 55 minutes
Audience type: General Audience, Other (i.e. audiences who have similar embodied experiences with subject material)
General Technical Requirements: The following technical requirements are essential in producing this work:
Video Requirements:
-2 projectors: one projector with an internal shutter or DMX douser hung top down, and one projector on stage (stage projector provided by Company). Use of HDMI Splitter to project to both surfaces simultaneously.
Lighting Requirements:
-use of heavy haze throughout
-use of 12 Astera Titan Tubes; 4 mounted to the set, 8 hung from the grid across the length of the stage, at a parallel angle to the set
-use of 8 booms, with 8 LED Luster or Equivalent fixtures and additional LED equipment
-use of 1 motorized disco ball
-use of at least 4 LX specials; Source4 36deg or equivalent
Sound:
-Use of 1 subwoofer; Stereo playback
Set and Venue:
-Use of black or grey marlee or dance floor
The company travels with a set that consists of one 12’x12 flat (free standing with use of sand bags) and three wooden planting throughs
-Use of pipe and drape systems (8' x 8') on either side of set piece if venue cannot provide masking
-Use of indoor safe dirt, contained within set pieces
Required amount of time for tech set up: 1 day (8-12 hours) of install of set, dance floor, lights, video, etc with adequate technical crew;
1 day (8-12 hours) of technical rehearsal (q2q, tech dress)
Alternative Venues: Required space includes a 20' x 24' playing space; ideally sprung floor with black or grey marlee/ dance floor. This work is best suited for black box performance spaces or proscenium style perfomance spaces, with a raked audience. Capacity to use haze, and to rig top down projection and LX from grid are essential. Capacity to create as dark of a performance space as possible is ideal due to use of volumetric lighting throughout the piece.
Number of Performers on tour (including choreographer): 6
Number of Support Staff on Tour: 2
Availabilities: 2025/26 season, 2026/27 season
Project Details
Community Engagement
Community engagement is essential in producing this piece, as it requires the participation of 10 dancers from the community in which we are presenting the work. Our community engagement is specific to working with queer women and non-binary dancers, with a hope to engage emerging artists in particular as a means to further elevate our community participants. This is open to any dancer who self identifies as queer, at any age, ideally with some background in dance/ performance. It is a core element of this piece to engage our community, and to make space for of queer visibility, and queer joy in particular, on stage through this participation. Participants will engage in a 1-2 day intensive (8 hours total) where they will learn the choreography and score of the work, and get to devise and contribute movement to select sections of the work. Additional commitments we ask of our participants include attending our tech and dress rehearsals to ensure safe practices, ensemble building, and preparedness to perform. This is a paid opportunity, with a minimum fee of $400 per participant for no more than 13 hours of work ($30/h). This engagement requires access to studio space, or to the venue, to facilitate rehearsal. Rehearsals are run by director Alexandra Caprara with assistance from the core ensemble- therefore, a space that can accommodate up to 18 people is ideal for this activity.
Outreach Activities
This project includes the participation of 10 queer dancers cast from the community in which we are presenting the work. Our goal is to create visibility of the actual queer communities of the places we tour this work to on stage, with a particular interest in engaging emerging artists. This invitation to participate and collaborate in the work is our way of fostering queer joy both within our process, and in our final results on stage. In pervious iterations of this work, this included outreach to local university and training programs within Vancouver (Simon Fraser School of Contemporary Arts; Modus) in addition to general community outreach via social media, postering, and newsletters to cast our participants. More details outlined below.