Photo: David Cooper
Graveyards and Gardens
"Graveyards and Gardens" is a collaborative performance installation conceived, created and performed by composer Caroline Shaw and choreographer Vanessa Goodman with lighting design by James Proudfoot and audio design by Eric Chad and Kate De Lorme. Co-produced by Shaw and Goodman, this new work examines memory as a process of reconstruction rather than an exact recall of fixed events, embracing the various elaborations, distortions, and omissions.
"A dance. A concert. A curious analogue driven performance experience. A visual and sonic album of reconstructed memories and distortions. Revealed in an immersive environment of nature and technology. The warm glow lure of antiquated innovations and embodied experience. It’s a living album that continues to fold and unfold into itself. Digging deep into the beauty of how the body remembers."
Text quoted from Nicole Mion
Co-commissioned by Music on Main and EMPAC. Created with the generous support from The Canada Council for the Arts, British Columbia Arts Council, Lēna, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Action at a Distance, SFU Woodwards Cultural Programing Unit, The Scotiabank Dance Centre and CCOV.
Vanessa Goodman/Action at a Distance
Photo: David Cooper
Co-created and Performed by: Vanessa Goodman and Caroline Shaw
Key Artistic Collaborators:
Kate De Lorme, Eric Chad, Taylor Janzen and James Proudfoot
Performance type: This work is built for a theatre and for outdoor and alternate venues. Full Length Work.
How do you define this work: Contemporary Dance
Length of performance: 55 minutes
Audience type: General Audience
General Technical Requirements:
STAGE/TECH Requirements:
Graveyards and Gardens is performed ideally in the round, but can be performed in a proscenium venue
Typical performance area of 28’ wide x 28’ deep (8.5m x 8.5m)
Black dance floor can be done on suitable alternative flooring agreed upon with the company and presenting organization.
No masking
6 small onstage speakers
Audio snake/cable capable of 7 sends and 7 returns to the control position
Lighting System: DMX controlled system, with a minimum of six conventional dimmers on stage
12 hours of setup, and 4 hours of rehearsal with 4 crew (16 hours total) before the first performance
Strike of 1 hour with at least 3 crew, this does not include a venue restore
SET/PROPS:
(at minimum) 6 potted house plants of varying sizes and varieties. A wide variety of sizes are appreciated
(at minimum) 6 table lamps of varying shapes and sizes with incandescent light bulbs and white/cream coloured lamp shades (see above photo for inspiration)
one medium (6-8”) pot, filled with fresh potting soil
We recommend sourcing these objects as a community outreach / promotional campaign.
We recommend sourcing more than are required, allowing some selection to be done by our team.
Plants will need access to daylight somewhere in the venue, and will need to be transported to and from this location between rehearsals.
The scenic elements will be pre-set by Action at a Distance company members and will be manipulated on stage by the dancers. Crew assistance in handling set elements may be requested.
The scenic elements will be used in all technical and dress rehearsals.
Does the work require tech residency: Completion of the work is anticipated within the residencies planned, however we are open to this opportunity for additional time in studio.
Number of Performers on tour (including choreographer): 2
Number of Support Staff on Tour: 2
Availabilities: 2024 Spring season (Mar - Jun), 2024/25 season, & 2025/26 season
Action at a Distance Dance Society is a contemporary dance company located on ancestral and unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples, including the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō, səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations. The company is directed by choreographer Vanessa Goodman, a woman and mother who shares her experiences through physical, visual and sonic practices. Focusing on creating experiential generative systems to build immersive environments. The company’s work is driven by questions surrounding intimacy through performance-based practices. Since Goodman became Artistic Director, the company's work has been presented locally, nationally and internationally in Canada, The USA, Europe, the UK and South America.
Performance History & Upcoming Performances
Premiere Date:
Covid Premiere
2021
Jan 28-29, Music on Main, Orpheum Annex, Vancouver
Touring
2022
April 15-16, Springboard and Calgary New Works, The Grand Theatre, Calgary
April 22-23, Brian Webb Dance, The Timms, Edmonton
April 27-29, 3rd Angel Music, The Bodecker Foundation (skate bowl), Portland, Oregon, USA
May 9, Tanz Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Sept 3, Tanzmesse (excerpt), Düsseldorf, Germany
Nov 10, Cinars, Pierre-Péladeau Center, Montreal
2023
Feb 16, Art Spring, Salt Spring Island
April 7, Seattle Symphony, Octave 9, Seattle Washington, USA
April 12-15, Music on Main + SFU Woodward's Cultural Unit, Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre, Vancouver
May 17, Spellbound Orbita, Teatro Palladium, Rome, Italy
Oct 26-28, The Mai, Montreal
Nov 1-3, La Rotonde, Quebec City
2024
Sept BC Movement Arts, Sointula
Project Details
Community Engagement
Vanessa loves to exchange with people through facilitating workshops and classes. She has taught professional, pre-professional and community classes locally, nationally and internationally. She has recently taught at Simon Fraser University, Modus Operandi, The Vancouver Training Society and Lamon Dance. She has also facilitated for the Roundhouse Community Dancers, Trinity Laban’s Co-Lab (UK) and been on faculty at The Banff Centre for the Arts (Alberta).
Workshop/class description 2-3hrs: Multi-generational, recreational, pre-professional and professionals individuals.
Vanessa's workshop $150 CAD:
Throwing Bones, Sheading Salt
Exploring what is real and imagined, my class plays with the possibility of the body's capacity. Working with generative systems, we will work through anatomical organisation and curiosity of state. This class begins with guided self-TLC to ground us before moving into folding, softening, sliding bones, expanding and compressing. Using scale and architecture to explore inner and outer landscapes, we will move through concave and convex systems to uncover different layers of ease and effort.
Vanessa and Caroline workshop $300 CAD:
Devised composition workshop with Caroline Shaw and Vanessa Goodman, exploring collaboration between sound and movement. Working with themes of repetition, decomposition and regeneration, this workshop will begin with a sound and movement warm-up and continue working with sonic and movement scores used in their collaborative process.
Contact information
Brent Belshers brent@belshers.ca / Hilary Maxwell Hilary@actionatadistance.ca
Website: www.actionatadistance.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/actionatadistance.ca/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/actiondistance/