Public Screens

Amanda Sum, Justin Calvadores
Duration: 4:32

Wide Stance Dance addresses Asian Canadian identity with the objective to confront stereotypes, internalized belittlement and the sense of estrangement within the framework of whiteness. Two humorous clowns overcome the challenges felt within their identities of race, queerness and general awkwardness. Directed, choreographed and performed by Amanda Sum and Justin Calvadores, Wide Stance Dance aims to overcome distorted ideas of self and traits in character that are conceived through the experience of being defined as other.

Credits:
Directors, Choreographers, Dancers: Amanda Sum and Justin Calvadores
Cinematographer, Editor: Jo Hirabayashi
Music: Kimia Koochakzadeh-Yazdi
Colourist: So Young Park
Crew: Dan Loan

Special Thanks
Sarah Wong and Linda Sum

Shannon Cuykendall
Duration: 8:54

FLOATING DEPARTURES, an independent dance film and meditation, is a response to life during the pandemic. It was created remotely during lockdown, January-May 2021, and recorded with smartphones. Through dance movement, poetry, painterly styles, and sound, we seek to find meaning in an ever-emerging illogical world and take the audience on a journey through multiple layers and abstractions of reality. Using everyday objects (e.g., balloons and bubble wrap) and AI art systems, we transform our everyday spaces and demonstrate how technologically-mediated dance collaboration can provide a new lens for understanding our body and movement beyond physical barriers.

Credits:
Video/Movement Director, Editor, Sound Designer: Shannon Cuykendall
Performers, Movement/Text Creators, Recorders: Shannon Cuykendall, Alexandra Pickrell, and Roya Pishvaei, AI Painterly Styles
Poetry Director: Steve DiPaola

Cheline Lacroix
Duration: 7:55

Judith Halberstam proposes in his book The Queer Art of Failure, that “[failure] could be the source of misery and humiliation…it also leads to a kind of ecstatic exposure of the contradictions of a society obsessed with meaningless competition”. MAY THE BEST LOSER WIN subverts our conventional definitions of success and failure, characterising uncontrollable events as absurd, unseen opponents that play both with and against us in the game of life. Throughout the film, tribulations are met with curiosity and intrigue, losing is celebrated, and the preconceived rules of winning are twisted to become a rapturous, inspired failure.

Credits:
Choreographer: Chéline Lacroix
Artistic Direction: Chéline Lacroix
Dancers: Mathieu Herard, Madelleine Bellefeuille, Solene Bernier
Cinematographer: Louis-Philippe Michaud
Montage: Louis-Philippe Michaud, Anny Gauthier
Composer: Al Haytame Farsane - Monsieur Madame
Assistant Production: Noam Auger
Mentor: Alexandre Morin

Sevrin Emancen-Boyd
Duration: 6:27

AION refers to a concept developed by the philosopher Gilles Deleuze which denotes "the indefinite time of the event, the floating line that knows only speeds and continually divides that which transpires into an already-there that is at the same time not-yet-here, a simultaneous too-late and too-early". It refers to a time-sense that is outside of Chronos or the chronological, linear, everyday measure of time which both organizes and is organized by "normality". These twin concepts demonstrate that time is anything but neutral, and that it organizes our perception of reality and our visions of the future.

The film AION plays with the conceptual disruption of Chronos by molding together both forward and reversed movement while creating an ulterior continuity between night and day. It is a dance that refuses the constructed time-sense of the everyday, one that is instilled in us by capital and has remained mostly imperceptible for many until COVID-19. As we edge closer to normality, AION serves to remind the viewer of the possibility of constructing time and ultimately our lives outside of "the normal" that drove us here in the first place.

Credits:
Director, Performer: Sevrin Emnacen-Boyd
Cinematographer: Alinar Dapilos
Sound Design: Amine Bouzaher

Clarence Tang
Duration: 1:43

Conceptualized while practicing vogueing* at Robson Square behind a bush, The Bushwaackers and Paddy Show features Banana and Strawberry as they try their hand at gardening. Armed with an unwavering enthusiasm, and a good tune to dance to, they show us that there is always a good time to be had with the right friends by your side!

*Please note that although we were practicing voguing when we had this idea, this video features waacking, not vogueing. If you want to understand the difference, we encourage you to take your local waacking or vogueing class! Knowledge is power!

Credits:
Choreography/Concept: Clarence Tang
Strawberry Dancer: Rina Pellerin
Banana Dancer: Antonio Somera
Paddy Operator: Kaylea Mercer
Editing & Graphic Design: Rina Pellerin

Sarah Hin Ching U 余衍晴
Duration: 5:11

FORTHCOMING explores how the glorification of overstimulation and overconsumption will shape and transform our bodies in 300 years from now. This work is a collaboration between Sarah and the machine learning process (VOS system). This film centers on speed, dynamism and restlessness of the modern body. Sarah is grateful for the support of ArtStarts Ignite and The Dance Centre in the early stages of this work.

Credits:
Choreographer, Performer, Editor: Sarah Hin Ching U 余衍晴
Music: "Among Us pt 4,9", remixed by Sarah Hin Ching U 余衍晴

Roya Pishvaei
Duration: 7:45

Authentic self-reflection takes vulnerability, but it is necessary. SHARDS OF SELF explores the bitter-sweet nature of examining one’s self-image; where do our value and worth come from? There is both pain and beauty that comes with answering this question, and it is so vital to have others who will walk alongside you in the most challenging moments.

This film is an interdisciplinary collaboration by dance, film, and music students at Simon Fraser University. Featuring a 90% POC cast and crew, "shards of self" was conceptualized and choreographed by Roya Pishvaei, with artistic contributions from Mikela Vuorensivu and Andrea Isea Galindo.

Credits:
Choreographer, Dancer: Roya Pishvaei
Dancer, Collaborator: Mikela Vuorensivu, Andrea Isea Galindo
Director: Kevin Jin Kwan Kim, Ren Yue
Producer: Cathy Huynh
Cinematographer, Editor: Peter Lee
Cinematographer: Lauren Yim
Editor: Niall Creegan