#yegdance

[yegarts]

“I Am YEG Arts” Series: Darka Tarnawsky, Executive Director of Shumka

Photo credit: Aaron Pedersen

Shumka. Chances are just seeing the word makes you think of someone or some occasion that’s special to you. Maybe you took lessons as a child. Maybe you saw a performance during the holidays. Maybe you even danced on stage. If you’re Darka Tarnawsky, you did all three—and then built a life around it. Today, she’s not only Shumka’s Executive Director but also the founding president of Bottom Line Productions, an Alberta-based arts marketing firm. As you’re about to discover, no one cheers louder for Edmonton’s art scene.

 Topping that list of December events to cheer about? Shumka’s Nutcracker, which promises to be more breathtakingly spectacular than ever. Having skipped a live performance last year, it’s a reunion of culture and family that Tarnawsky is beyond grateful to be part of. Former Shumka dancer, current Executive Director, and lifetime honorary member—this week’s “I Am YEG Arts” story belongs to Darka Tarnawsky.

Tell us about your connection to Edmonton and how it’s influenced your path.

Through my young life, I lived in Sherwood Park and spent most of my time in Edmonton. That’s still the case. I love Edmonton’s arts scene for how “real” it is. I see it as a supportive community that embraces innovation and creativity in a cross-collaborative way. It’s a place where red boots are as common as pointe shoes on stages; where multiculturalism has remained a thing to be lauded; where we take a prairie landscape and make it dynamic, colourful, and beautiful with festivals and art and community participation. In our arts scene, it’s not about status. It’s about bravery. It’s about being genuine. I’ve always wanted to be a part of that, so I built my life around it.

Tell us about your history with Shumka and what makes it special to you and the arts community.

When I was a young girl, it was always my dream to be a Shumka dancer. I went to every concert at the Jube and was inspired by my dance instructors who were all Shumka dancers. I started Ukrainian dance lessons at five years of age and finally auditioned and made it into the company when I was 19. In the 80’s when I danced with the company, we were not only dancers but also tour organizers, marketers, fundraisers… we did it all as volunteers. I loved the behind-the-scenes work so much that after I got my BSc at UofA, I decided to go completely the other route and take the Arts Administration Program at MacEwan (now the Arts & Cultural Management Program). I put away my lab coat and started using the right side of my brain. My career path followed.

Photo credit: Oleh Cherkawsky

What advice do you have for dancers balancing more than one career or transitioning out of dance? What’s something you wish you had known?

I think all dancers—except those in large professional ballet companies—have more than one career out of necessity. That’s the reality of it. I feel dancers are hard-working, determined, and tend to be over-achievers by nature. They never cease to amaze me with their accomplishments on and off the stage. The most important career advice I can give is to pursue dance if you are inspired to do so; keep your creative energy and eye on other skills you can cultivate; then develop another avenue to continue your career once your knees are shot. Arts managers, publicists, film/video producers, artistic directors, and choreographers—even trainers and physiotherapists. There are many natural transitions that work for dancers.

In what ways has Shumka grown as an organization in its culture and storytelling, and in what ways has it held true to traditions?

Shumka recently hit the 60-year mark, so I’ve given this some thought and reflection. All that Shumka does is based on some element of tradition—whether it is dance lexicon, folk tales and music, costume themes, heroes in history, or celebrations. What it does outside of that is how it grows and develops the art form. We may use unique scenography, themes, movement styles, and collaborations to portray those traditional anchors, but we aren’t a movement-based museum piece. We aim to remain contemporary and relevant as a Ukrainian Canadian dance company that is accepted, enjoyed, and supported by audiences beyond our diaspora.

What’s one of your favourite memories of seeing The Nutcracker?

I have only seen our Nutcracker and that of Alberta Ballet in a live setting. This past year, I watched a few different versions online. There are some very interesting productions out there! (Check this out if you’re a Nutz fan.)

One of my favourite things is how magical Nutcracker productions are to the young audiences who are seeing live dance for the first time. It’s a great “starter piece” for emerging dance-lovers. When Shumka’s Nutcracker was part of the Dance Victoria Virtual Season in 2020, we heard from so many parents and grandparents who were amazed at how attentive and mesmerized their children and grandchildren were when watching it. Even three-year-olds stopped and watched quietly… and many naturally got up and started to dance in certain sections. I love those stories.

What in particular are you excited for audiences to experience at this season’s Nutcracker performance?

Because of the pandemic, seeing big-scale live dance again will be exciting. And this year, in addition to our leads from the Kyiv Ballet, we are bringing in four dancers from Virsky—the best Ukrainian dance company on the planet—to join us on stage. They are nothing short of breathtakingly spectacular! And that is by no means an exaggeration.

Photo credit: Marc J Chalifoux 

What has being part of Shumka taught you about yourself?

That I can accomplish many amazing things as part of the family that is Shumka. (Me? Performing on the stage of the Kyiv Opera House? Ludicrous. But it happened.) Surrounding yourself with creative, determined, and hard-working people who believe in achieving their goals is a recipe to creating magic.

When you think YEG arts, what are the first three things, people, or places that come to mind?

Jubilee Auditorium—I’ve performed there as young as five years old, saw a million shows over my lifetime, from Jesus Christ Superstar to La La La Human Steps, Gladys Knight & the Pip, to Virsky Ukrainian Dance Company, Ray Charles to Leonard Cohen… And I absolutely love working with the wonderful people there, with Shumka as a resident company..

Tommy Banks—Mr. Banks was a brilliant musician, an ardent supporter of young artists and ensembles, and a consummate entertainer who could have easily had a successful showbiz career in New York City or Los Angeles—but chose to stay in Edmonton because he wanted to. A class act through and through. Very genuine. Very “Edmonton.”

Churchill Square on a hot summer afternoon in July—International street performers, green-onion cakes, musicians on piano bikes, brilliant roving characters with accordions, artistic face painters, and the best balloon twisters ever. Lotsa things that make you go, hmmmm? As it should be.

Describe your perfect day in Edmonton. How do you spend it?

Saturday morning cartoons and Cocoa Puffs at Metro Cinema; a walk down Whyte Ave with a stop at the farmer’s market for fresh peas, pita bread, and labneh; people-watching with a locally crafted IPA on a crowded patio; strolling through a local Art Walk, followed by a stop at the Italian Centre and Zocalo for fresh pasta and a stunning bouquet of flowers to take home and enjoy.

What makes you hopeful these days?

Edmonton art. Oh, and Mayor Sohi!

Photo credit: Marc J Chalifoux

Want more YEG Arts Stories? We’ll be sharing them here all year and on social media using the hashtag #IamYegArts. Follow along! Click here to learn more about Darka Tarnawsky, and visit Shumka’s website for info about programs, performances, and much more.

About Darka Tarnawsky

Darka Tarnawsky is founding president of Bottom Line Productions, an Alberta-based arts marketing firm, and has been involved in the industry as a performer, volunteer, supporter, and professional manager for over 30 years. Her client roster has included Edmonton Opera, Edmonton International Jazz Festival; Royal Winnipeg Ballet, CKUA Radio Network, Catalyst Theatre, Cirque du Soleil, Cavalia, and Broadway Across Canada with their musical touring productions of Lion King and Wicked, to name a few.

Darka holds a BSc with a specialization in Psychology from the University of Alberta (1987), and an Arts & Cultural Management Certificate from Grant MacEwan College (1989). She was the recipient of the 1998 MacEwan Distinguished Alumni Award, won the Mayor’s Award for Promotion of the Arts in Edmonton in 2005, and was a part-time instructor and curriculum developer in the Faculty of Fine Arts & Communications: Arts & Cultural Management Program at MacEwan University from 2003 to 2016.

Darka is a former Ukrainian Shumka Dancer, a Lifetime Honorary Member, and the current Executive Director of the organization. As ED, she has overseen the development of several new artistic works and community engagement projects for the 60-year-old Canadian arts institution.

[andrehoraart]

#Repost @ceciliatakesover (@get_repost) ・・・ When your dear friends not only perform the most meaningful and powerful orixa dance at your wedding but also gift you the most beautiful painting to symbolize and bless your union ❤️ I have been a huge fan of the work of Brazilian artist @andrehoraart for a while, and my beloved @tylerbakerphotography bought one of his beautiful paintings of Iansa for me. And the day of our wedding, my dear Amanda (@sambaedmonton), @renidabahia, @drdancergirl and @paola_scholte surprised us with one-of-a-kind painting of Iansa and Xango by this amazing artist!!!!! It is beautiful indeed, but more importantly, it reflects the love and good energy our friends feel for us 🙂 A blessing indeed! The detail and symbolic meaning embedded in this beautiful painting is so special, like the heart of fire that embraces and contains the love and passion between Iansa and Xango. This painting will have a central place in our bedroom, together with the quartz crystal given to us by dear @myrahpenaloza and @robindra to amplify all the good wishes and positive energy bestowed upon our union by our friends and family. We love you Amanda, Reni, Paola and Andrea!!!! Axe ❤️ #tylerandcecilia #ctoandttowedding #onlyloveisreal #axe #afrobrazilian #iansa #xango #orixas #sambaedmonton #andrehora #andrehoraart #yegwedding #yegdance #yegmusic #yegdiversity #friendsforever #togetherwebloom

[yegarts]

“I am YEG Arts” Series: Jen Mesch

Photo by Aspen Zettel, 2021.

Contemporary dancer and choreographer Jen Mesch’s creativity is seemingly boundless. She doesn’t shy away from new adventures and challenges, whether it’s a fascinating new collaboration with an experimental musician or mastering a new artform (in recent years she’s added film to her repertoire). She’s a multi-disciplinary artist in the broadest sense and embraces cross-training not only in dance, but in other schools of thought such as philosophy and science, and by staying in tune with her community.

This week on the YEG Arts blog, we catch up with the multi-talented artist, Jen Mesch.

Tell us about your connection to Edmonton and what keeps you living and working here.

I moved to Edmonton a little over 13 years ago from New Jersey. My husband who's a composer got a job working at the University of Alberta and I started working here as a healthcare worker. I guess my sort of “Edmonton origin story” in dance is that I looked up what kinds of things were happening and found Mile Zero Dance. I saw this photograph of Gerry Morita [Mile Zero Dance’s Artistic Director] in a fake fur coat in front of a barn with these wild sunglasses, drinking a cup of tea, doing a little bit of a dance pose – and I knew I was going to be fine in Edmonton! Mile Zero has really been a great place for me, I have performed there as an independent choreographer, and since the beginning, I really was welcomed with open arms into that contemporary community and just this year I decided to be on the Board. It has been kind of a home base for me as an independent choreographer.

As a multi-disciplinary artist, is there a common thread you bring to all of your storytelling? Are there themes you find yourself revisiting time and time again?

I think people look at dance and see a story – that's a normal thing for humans to do – to look for meaning or a story, but [as dancers] we're not actually trained in storytelling. I think that's a specific skill, it's literary. People often don't ask the same thing of music, and dance is sort of uniquely situated in that we're connected very strongly to music. Obviously, we also have a strong connection with theatre and performance art. But we're also completely different from all of them. I definitely try to steer away from storytelling and I think that's hard in a big theatre town (it's a big literary and music town too.) I think it's hard for people outside of the dance community to find their way into non-narrative work. But the common themes for me are that I tend to work as a soloist as an independent choreographer. I'm pretty reclusive in my daily life so I do a lot of solo work and a lot of the themes involve solitude, organic sorts of landscapes and in the case of my current work Go Where Light Is, I guess outer space and the universe are included in an organic landscape.

What's one of the biggest professional risks you've taken, and how did it influence where you are today?

The biggest professional risk I ever took was deciding to become a dancer at age 22 because I didn't study dance as a child. [As a young adult] I did start taking dance classes, and then I went on to major in engineering. There was a talent show at my engineering university and I entered one of my little dance pieces and won first place. The $50 prize meant I could buy my chemical engineering textbook; I was so happy and relieved. Eventually, I dropped out of engineering and told my parents I wanted to be a dancer, which was, I think pretty wild of me to do. I mean, I'd had just twice-a-week classes at my community college in modern dance. I had come back from dropping out of engineering school and I asked my dance teacher what I needed to do. She said, Take as much ballet as you possibly can, and take jazz and modern – take everything. So I did. I took all the money from my minimum wage job and took every dance class that I could take. I was in classes five or six days a week. I don't see myself as a super high-level dancer at this point in my life, but I can't believe how much I've done and have been able to do. So, I guess that my advice to other people is to try. You don't know unless you do and put everything into it. It could have gone nowhere for me. I could have changed my mind, but here I am.

What's one piece of advice you wish that you had received when you were starting out in dance?

I was an adult when I started studying dance so it's a bit different than when you started out as a kid. I started with some already firm ideas of who I was and what I wanted dance to be for myself, but I think one piece of advice I wish I had (which I do anyway) is the notion of cross-training. Both physically and in terms of genres or disciplines, I think it's really important that people learn about other artforms, learn about other schools of thinking, about philosophy, and the sciences. All of those things make us more rounded human beings and should inform our practices as artists.

Photo by Aspen Zettel, 2021.

Tell us a little bit about the unique characteristics and challenges of dance in contrast with other art disciplines. What do you wish people better understood about dance?

Well, I think it's changing a little bit, but there are some biases against dance (at least in North America) that dance is sort of inherently female and that it's inherently recreational. So, I think it gets discounted. People understand that you can be a recreational photographer; you can be a professional photographer. I think people do understand that there are ballet dancers that are very highly trained, but it seems so unattainable for most people. That is a big wall that I think we're all trying to figure out how to break down a little bit – these hierarchies in dance.

Another disadvantage is that it costs a lot of money to put it on; it's very labor intensive; and it's a very personnel intensive art form. Dance is seen as being mostly for girls and women, even at young ages. It's very hard to find role models for boys who want to dance and yet it's often men who then become the major choreographers and the major directors of dance companies. Women are trying to find their voice at a time when we're also stepping aside to make more room for more kinds of people and more kinds of dancers. I think that's a challenge for everyone in the arts – to make more room.

Another significant problem for Edmonton and anywhere really, is that compared to other art forms, there are fewer dance programs at the post-secondary level. Edmonton currently has nothing like that as opposed to very fully realized theatre and music departments. It’s something that the dance community is trying to address. At the same time as we're trying to increase scholarships and increase awareness of dance, we're also trying to increase awareness of each other's dance forms and dance communities.

Tell us about your most recent dance project, Go Where Light Is.

Go Where Light Is has been a really exciting and challenging project. Because I normally work as a soloist, the larger-scale things that I've done have been with improv structures that have been quite loose. Like I construct a general timbre of the piece and they're usually people spread out over large areas so that people sort of come upon little things happening in different places in an area. With this one, I don't want to say this is my pandemic piece, but I did really miss dancing with everybody. I just had it in my heart, I wanted to do something really big with lots of people in it. I also had these really strong eerie feelings of the universe really not just being something out there in outer space or something that requires technology to perceive. That it's really just around us all of the time. And all these distances of course are relative. And even during the day, it's not something that happens at night, where we can see stars. The stars are just always there. And I just started thinking about how strange the world is as we've created these structures and systems around us. I started thinking more and more about the uniqueness of the human animal and the context of the universe without all of these constructs around us. So that's kind of where I started. There are a lot of themes that come through in the piece, the music steers a lot of it. The piece was written by my husband Scott Smallwood and his collaborative partner Stephan Moore.

Tell us more about your filmmaking.

In 2016-17, I was the artist in residence at Harcourt House. The residency is meant to support the work of an artist as they advance or emerge into a new area of their work. I was in my late 40s by then and I was dealing with lots of injuries and thinking a lot about what I wanted to be doing and about the online presence of dance. And I started thinking I would like to learn how to do dance for film and during the residency. I started taking film classes at the University of Alberta and FAVA. I made some little films in those classes, and they became part of the exhibition at the end of my residency, and then I found out that you could submit online to film festivals, so I got into a bunch of film festivals which was weird and fun. I felt a little bit upset because I'd been making films for, like, not even a year and I was getting awards for filmmaking. You could just never do that with dance! It’s said it takes ten years to make a dancer. I told my teacher that and he said, “Well it's different for you because you're already an artist.” I suppose that's kind of true, I already have strong compositional ideas and content ideas. It is a very different medium. It turns out I really love editing and it goes back to this whole thing of kind of being a person of solitude.

Can you tell us about a hidden gem in Edmonton’s dance scene that you think more people should know about?

Mile Zero Dance is opening up a new space in the next little while in the Ritchie neighborhood and I'm really excited to see how that's going to affect everything. Both in terms of having a more solid and secure location for themselves and what it's going to bring to dance. That's probably the thing I'm most excited about.

Want more YEG Arts Stories? We’ll be sharing them here and on social media using the hashtag #IamYegArts. Follow along! Click here to learn more about Jen Mesch. Listen to Jen Mesch tell her story on CBC Radio’s Radio Active show! Aired March 23, 2023.

Photo by Aspen Zettel, 2021.

About Jen Mesch

To say that dancer/choreographer Jen Mesch inhabits any performance she gives is an understatement. Described as enigmatic, unusually perceptive and artistically fearless, Mesch’s wide variety of interests often lead her to unique collaborations in unexpected places.

Mesch has created over 200 works for dance performances, film, and experimental theatre in the US and Canada. She has performed with Cindy Baker, Dawn Cargiulo Berman (Momix), Penny Hutchinson (Mark Morris Dance Group), Jack Magai (Troy Chainsaw Ensemble), Linda Mannheim (Martha Graham Dance Company), Jennifer Monson (Birdbrain Dance), Gerry Morita (Mile Zero Dance), Susan Tenney (Jane Erdman Dance) and Kimberly Young (a canary torsi). For over a decade, Mesch has worked primarily with experimental musicians and has performed with Roger Admiral, Nico Arnáez, Allison Balcetis, Stephan Moore, Will Northlich-Redmond, Scott Smallwood, and Nate Wooley. She was the 2016-2017 Artist in Residence at Harcourt House which culminated in a two month dance, film, and visual art installation in fall 2017. Her film Hard White Spring received the award for Outstanding Experimental Film or Video at FAVA Fest and it was a semi-finalist in Cinema d’iDEA festival in Rome. Her first film, Soft Red Winter was screened at the Venice Short Film Festival. Mesch also teaches dance improvisation and technique, and her writings on dance have appeared in The Dance Current (Canada) and on her own Dance Conspiracy blog.

[yegarts]

“I Am YEG Arts” Series: Erin Newman

First photo by Lauren Toma. Second photo by Kaylee Bergstrom.

Slowly is the fastest way to get where you’re going. For Erin Newman, that’s meant learning dance through sensing and embodiment of movement—finding connection through the relationship between choreography and meaningful movement. It’s a lifelong exploration that’s led her far beyond the dance studio. As a registered psychologist—and doctoral student—Newman brings movement and art into her therapeutic practices, approaching wellness and healing as both spiritual and somatic.

Dancer, forever student, and Artistic Associate at CRIPSiE—This week’s “I Am YEG Arts” story belongs to Erin Newman.

Tell us about your connection to Edmonton and why you’ve made it your home.

I was born on Treaty 6 territory Edmonton and have been living here all of my life. My roots in Alberta run deep. As a Métis person, I have ancestral connections to the St. Albert and Lac Ste. Anne areas. Edmonton is home.

What is it about dance that resonates with you as a form of storytelling?

To me, dance not only tells stories of people, culture, and land, it also tells the most intimate stories of all—that of the dancer and of the choreographer. Specifically for dancers, it allows a person to connect deeply into their own bodies, to resonate with their internal world of thought, emotion, and unconsciousness, and allows that to spill out in embodied dance form.

Tell us a little about your role with CRIPSiE and what makes it special to you and the city.

CRIPSiE (the Collaborative Radically Integrated Performers Society in Edmonton) is a unique group that I am privileged to be a part of. We are a collective of diverse individuals that create and perform integrated, inclusive, and anti-oppressive dance and art. Some of us experience disability, oppression, learning differences, mental struggles, or emotional issues. And some of us are allies committed to anti-oppressive art practices. We also are committed to performance, advocacy, teaching, and outreach for the Edmonton community.

I have been a dancer with CRIPSiE for quite a few years now. More recently, I’ve become an Artistic Associate, which is a team of CRIPSiE performers who make artistic decisions based on the needs and wishes of our CRIPSiE community.

As a dancer and a registered psychologist, what similarities do you see in the power of healing and the power of dance?

To me, dance and healing are interwoven, synergetic, and sometimes synonymous. In my own experience, as I found emotional and mental healing and wellness, I was better able to step into the art of dance, and, at the same time, when I stepped back into dance, I healed. There was a time in my life where I stepped away from dance. It took some time to come back to the art, but I am so glad I did.

I see dance as healing on a few different levels. It allows us to deepen into our own intimate relationship with ourselves through the process of embodiment, creative expression, and deepening our own knowledge and trust of ourselves. In the performance of dance, we can creatively move and express our inner world, and we are witnessed in doing so. This is a powerful experience of being seen, heard, and understood—which is an important human need. I think CRIPSiE is a fantastic group because we genuinely see, hear, and understand one another.

Dance can also be healing within the relationships it cultivates. There are beautiful bonds formed between dancer and choreographer, between individuals within dance groups, and in partnerships in social dance. In the case of the latter, healing can occur in the intimate connection that arises between follows and leads in couple dancing. A new dance form I am learning, Bachata, has taught me how to read signs of safety in my body, to lower my physical boundaries, and put trust into the closeness of another individual, while being present and mindful in my body in order to pick up cues of movement within the lead’s body. It has been an incredible experience of growth and healing in partnership with other humans.

Dance also creates healing through cultural connection and in groups of individuals. I am also a Ukrainian dancer with a group called Veselka, and when the war in Ukraine started, we spent the beginning of rehearsals circling together in unity and connection, bringing a sense of solidarity during a terrible time.

Photo by Mat Simpson

What’s one piece of advice you wish you’d had when starting out? And what’s something you knew instinctively that’s still serving you?

As a young person, I struggled to focus and concentrate in dance. I would watch choreography be demonstrated, and the expectation was to integrate what I was seeing into my memory and then be able to perform the movements in my body. I couldn’t easily learn dance in this way. I needed the choreography to sink deep into my body, and I needed to feel the sensations of the movement within my body before my brain structures could form the memory of the sensations and then form memories of the choreography itself. This “bottom up” processing wasn’t recognized or acknowledged by others in my world, and I knew that this way of learning dance wasn’t unique to just me and didn’t fit in with traditional forms of dance instruction. Thinking back, it may have been helpful to have had an adult validate and facilitate this kind of learning for those of us who learn dance through sensing and embodiment of movement, rather than rote and visual memory.

As frustrating as learning dance was for me at times, I knew that it felt better to be dancing than to not be dancing. And I think I instinctively knew that the dance community is big and beautiful and that I was fortunate to be part of it.

Tell us about someone who’s mentored you or helped set you on your path.

There have been so many people in my life who have touched my heart in so many ways, and that makes this question exceptionally hard to answer. My daughter, however, is the one I have to thank for my rediscovery of dance. As a new and single mom nine years ago, I started to lose myself in that role. Watching my daughter’s love for dance reminded me of my neglected dancer within. And so I began to learn how to create space for all parts of me—mom, dancer, therapist, and more—so that I could integrate all of these parts into my sense of self. To be honest, without my mom part I might not have learned how to nurture and care for my other parts. So without my daughter, I may have never reawakened my inner dancer.

What can people look forward to from CRIPSiE in 2023?

I’m excited to say that CRIPSiE has quite a few things in the works for 2023. We are currently in a project called “From the Inside,” where a number of our dancers are paired with choreographers to create solos based on the personal experiences of COVID-19. Also in the works is our regular fall performance—slated for October, 2023. We will be offering various workshops and classes as well.

What excites you most about the YEG arts scene right now?

I think the Edmonton arts community is big and vibrant, and within it, the dance community is absolutely thriving. I am excited for all the opportunities to be witness to others’ art and performances. I’m hoping to take in all the workshops, performances, and opportunities to join in dance wherever I can in the new year as a way to support, to connect, and to continue to find wellness within the arts.

Describe your perfect day in Edmonton. How do you spend it?

I love this question. A perfect day for me would involve picking up a chai or coffee at Remedy or Caffiend and then enjoying a nice walk in the river valley or Whitemud Creek. Or, if it’s cold, I would head to the Muttart Conservatory to breathe in plants. That smell is magical, especially in the middle of winter. This would be followed by an opportunity to dance in some shape or form, perhaps social dancing at a local Edmonton spot.

How do you hope to help shape Edmonton’s arts community?

I have a dream to one day open an arts centre that integrates dance, expressive art, and therapy. It would offer opportunities for neurodiverse and differently abled humans to create dance and movement within their own bodies, to co-create choreography in connection with others, and to have an opportunity to be seen, heard, and understood through performance. In the meantime, I will continue to explore sensation and movement in my body, learn new ways of being and moving, and connect where I can in the dance community.

Want more YEG Arts Stories? We’ll be sharing them here all year and on social media using the hashtag #IamYegArts. Follow along! Click here to learn more about Erin Newman, CRIPSiE, workshops, classes, and more.

Photo by Lauren Toma

About Erin Newman

Erin Newman (she/her) is a dance artist based in amaskwaciy-wâskahikan and has lived in Edmonton for all of her life. She has deep roots and connection to Treaty 6 territory, as well as Métis and Cree ancestral ties to the land. She has been involved in Edmonton’s Ukrainian dance community since a young age. As an adult, she has branched out into other dance forms, including integrated dance, contemporary styles, and is part of the Bachata dance team at ETOWN SALSA.

Erin has been moving creatively with CRIPSiE since 2013 and is forever connected through powerful relationships that are represented by meaningful movement and choreography. She has danced in New Constellations (choreographed by Lindsay Eales), Some of Our Parts (choreographed by Lindsay Eales), Succumb (choreographed by Alice Sheppard), On Being and Doing (choreographed by Peggy Baker), and has upcoming performance roles in CRIPSiE’s From The Inside project (choreographed by Krista Lin) and Alison Neuman’s piece, Crave.

Erin practices as an embodied psychologist at Honour Health and the Grief and Trauma Healing Centre, bringing body, movement, and art into therapeutic practices. She is currently a doctoral student at the University of Alberta, researching the impact of embodied practices, such as dance, on one’s individual healing and wellness. Her other pursuits and interests include Indigenous art, eco art, and being a mom.

[yegarts]

“I Am YEG Arts” Series: Gerry Morita, Artistic Director of Mile Zero Dance

When your work involves continuous inquiry into new ways of seeing movement, the body, and the spaces between us, you look for possibilities everywhere. If you’re skilled and passionate, you find them. For Gerry Morita, that place of endless possibilities is dance. Not only does she study and perform, she teaches others to do the same. Mile Zero Dance is where you’ll find her doing both. Since 1985, Mile Zero has been devoted to the creation, training, and presentation of original, dynamic, interdisciplinary performances. It’s a community that ignites her curiosity, tests her artistic limits, and brings her joy. Dance improvisor, risk-taker, and excited for the future—this week’s “I Am YEG Arts” story belongs to Gerry Morita.

Tell us about your connection to Edmonton and why you’ve made it your home.

I was born on Treaty Six Territory in between Onion Lake and Lloydminster, on a farm near the rolling hills of Rex. As a kid we used to call Edmonton “The Big Smoke,” and I never thought I would ever live here!

I arrived via Vancouver-Montreal-Tokyo, and Edmonton drew me in with its freedom, clear skies, and possibilities.

How did you become involved with dance? Was it a natural fit or something you grew into?

I was naturally active, taking Highland dance as a youngster, then ballet/tap/jazz, as every small-town studio could offer at the time. At the same time, however, I was always involved in sports like hockey, ringette, and track and field. I knew I had to escape to learn more and be who I was, which led me to Simon Fraser University’s dance program, where I was then able to branch out and continue lifelong study in dance.

Tell us a little about what makes Mile Zero Dance special to you and the city.

I have always found Mile Zero Dance to be a place of endless potential and possibilities, and the way the audience here has grown into a community of radical art lovers has always amazed me and brought me joy. It is an open place where performance can be regenerative and where improvisational and interdisciplinary work can be seriously explored.

What is it about dance that resonates with you as a storyteller and as a form of storytelling?

I had an art theory teacher once dismiss dance as all about sex or fighting and have resisted that ever since.

I don’t see a lot of dance as being about storytelling at all—it is more about being and being in one’s body. If it were storytelling, the dancers could just say words and be done with it. Why go to all the extra effort? What dance communicates is visceral feelings or a state of being, whether in a solo, a duo, or a group situation. When a dancer is really integrated in what they are doing, there is something communicated that is deeper than words (to me) because it is connecting to someone’s life energy.

Mile Zero Dance values the creative process, including failure. What wisdom can you offer anyone who struggles to see failures as valuable?

You cannot learn without failure, and it is a crucial step to testing one’s artistic limits and ideas. I think in an age of media and perfection, embracing the very human nature of risk of error is a radical idea. Every artist needs to take risks and get their work seen by peers and the general public in order to see how well it communicates, and to take feedback to learn to do it better. I see this as a lifetime process. As a dance improviser, I find this unknown element to be particularly potent, and I trust what comes out of it.

What’s your greatest strength as an artistic director?

I couldn’t say. I care a lot about people and the work they bring, and I also care about audiences and how they are feeling and receiving the work. It is an ongoing conversation.

Tell us about someone who’s been a mentor to you.

Linda Rubin is my mentor and art mom. She brought contact improvisation to Canada and taught the teachers I danced with in Vancouver. She was also Martha Graham’s class demonstration dancer, and her fearless integrity, deep knowledge of dance training and bodies, and her generous advice have always been a guide to me and to others. She is a treasure of Edmonton.

What does community mean to you, and where do you find it?

Lately “community” has become more ambiguous, as I have been in lockdown with my family and have become a voyeur. At the same time, I have connected with folks around the world and shared work internationally, which is incredible.

Community is your family, your neighbours, and your daily interactions with everyone you meet online or elsewhere. It can be “deep” or “shallow,” and I think we need both. Growing up in a small town, I can talk with anyone, and that is a good place to start. I still do not know exactly what “the art community” means, because it is so different for everyone and we tend to fall into cliques.

What can people look forward to from Mile Zero Dance this year?

This year Mile Zero is working on more site-specific events that will make you question where you are. I enjoy taking work off the stage and into irregular locations. We are also planning events that make you question what dance is, and performance that hits you in the core. That is if COVID allows! We have concurrent digital programming all season, but I do hope to have live events this winter as well.

When you think YEG arts, what are the first three things, people, or places that come to mind?

These days I think of:

Lowlands, with their beautiful outdoor gallery and gathering space.

Aiya Collective, with their activation of Chinatown and community.

The Indigenous and Metis arts renaissance that is occurring here.

What excites you most about the YEG arts scene right now?

Edmonton has had a young population for a while, but I feel like young artists are finally getting recognized and are very positively impacting the scene. It is difficult to live as an artist, and people are finding so many ingenious ways of making it work and are reaching the public in new and meaningful ways. I feel like there is a lot of collaboration happening too, between artists and businesses, and that there is so much more room to grow. It is exciting—even with the lockdowns and setbacks of the past couple of years.

Want more YEG Arts Stories? We’ll be sharing them here all year and on social media using the hashtag #IamYegArts. Follow along!

Click here to learn more about Gerry Morita and Mile Zero Dance.

About Gerry Morita

Gerry Morita (BA Dance/ MFA Theatre) is from the rolling hills of Rex, Saskatchewan, and has lived and worked in Vancouver, Montréal, and Tokyo as a dancer, choreographer, performance artist, and teacher before arriving in Edmonton in 2001. Her work has toured Poland, Turkey, Estonia, Canada, and Japan.

Morita’s body of work involves continuous inquiry into new ways of seeing movement, the body, and the spaces between us. She studies and teaches contact improvisation, Noguchi Taiso and other somatic-based and improving techniques, working with artists from all disciplines in a vast array of both conventional and site-specific venues. She has received the Mayor’s Award for Innovation in Artistic Direction, the Edmonton Salute for Excellence, Edmonton Artists’ Trust Fund and was one of Alberta’s 25 Influential Artists recognized in 2016.

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REPOST • @cafebicyclette What a great evening last night! Thanks to everyone who came out for the winter patio party and Christmas market!!! 🔥 The market will be on again Friday December 13th & 20th . . Quelle belle soirée hier soir! Merci à tous ceux qui se sont déplacés pour le party de la terrasse d'hiver et le marché de Noël !!! 🔥 Le marché sera à nouveau ouvert les vendredi 13 et 20 décembre 🎄 . . . #yegevents #yegdate #wintercity #yegdance #exploreedmonton #yegmusic #yegfood #imagesofcanada #canadianlife #exploreedmonton #edmonton #edmontonliving #yegmarkets #madeinyeg https://www.instagram.com/p/B5y0IPUAO91/?igshid=1075quvcr6tjr

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REPOST • @cafebicyclette We hope to see you Thursday at 8pm for the free French Canadian kitchen party... no need to know how to dance just know how to have fun! 🎶 . . . Nous espérons vous voir jeudi à 20 heures pour la veillée gratuite de danse franco-canadienne.. pas besoin de savoir danser, mais simplement savoir s’amuser!! 🎶 . . . . . #yegevents #yegcafe #yegfood #yegmusic #yegdance #yegdate #yegdatenight #dancingfeet #exploreedmonton #yegcommunity #yeg #edmonton #igyeg #getfit #yegfitness #frenchcanadian #frenchcafe #kitchenparty #danceparty #yegrestaurants #cafevibes https://www.instagram.com/p/B4garYnADcq/?igshid=1df2gx29sbiro

[yegfoodie]

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REPOST • @cafebicyclette We hope to see you tomorrow at 8pm for the free French Canadian kitchen party... no need to know how to dance just know how to have fun! 🎶 . . Nous espérons vous voir demain à 20 heures pour la veillée gratuite de danse franco-canadienne.. pas besoin de savoir danser, mais simplement savoir s’amuser!! 🎶 . . . . #yegevent #yegcafe #yegfood #yegmusic #yegdance #yegdate #yegdatenight #dancingfeet #exploreedmonton #yegcommunity #yeg #edmonton #igyeg #getfit #yegfitness #frenchcanadian #frenchcafe #kitchenparty #danceparty https://www.instagram.com/p/B3KjeQmAy_N/?igshid=1gcm0bh85y18m