Springboard Performance
Photo: Darin Gregson
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In this “serious contemporary dance solo” gone wrong, performer Jocelyn doesn’t realize that the audience can hear her every (doubtful and self-deprecating) thought. Desperate to fit in with other contemporary dance artists, Jocelyn performs her well-rehearsed “arm-noodling” and “invisible hula-hoop” sequences - that is, until her bloody tampon falls out unexpectedly onstage. To make matters worse, her giant tampon, Tony Tamponi, is a sentient, misogynistic a**hole. Drama ensues.
With pop-culture references spanning from Mary Poppins, to American election madness, to the performances of Marina Abramovic, Right Hand Woman is Mah’s comical feminist battle cry. Audience symptoms can include hysterical (or uncomfortable) laughter, self-reflection, and for a select few, googling “What the hell is an IUD??”.
Creator and Performer: Jocelyn Mah
Voiceover: Tia Kushniruk, Jocelyn Mah, Mary Lou Ditta
Puppet design and construction: Hannah Fisher, Juanita Dawn - Long Grass Studio
Jocelyn Mah
Jocelyn Mah is a mixed-race contemporary dance artist, puppeteer and avid interdisciplinary collaborator currently based in Mohkinstis Calgary (previously Toronto and London, UK). Lively and collaborative, her choreography weaves exaggerated fictional characters, grotesque imagery, and (often live) music into eccentric feminist tapestries.
Jocelyn’s work has been presented across Canada as well as in the UK and Europe, at The SummerWorks Performance Festival, Dance Ontario’s Dance Weekend, Springboard’s Fluid Fest, Dance Made In Canada, EDge on Tour, The Alberta Ballet School, The Festival of Animated Objects, Calgary Folk Music Festival, and Kaeja’s Winddown Dance, among many others.
Jocelyn is a graduate of Dance Arts Institute (The School of Toronto Dance Theatre) and holds her Master of Arts in Contemporary Dance Performance from The London Contemporary Dance School (London, UK), with her thesis focusing on the relationship between music and dance in authentic and vernacular jazz forms.