ROOM WITH STICKS
Two choreographers and a composer construct a contemplative landscape where all sorts of images and sensations flourish. A long Zen poem that, by means of almost nothing, opens wide the realm of possibility.
FROM THE WOODS
It all started in a barn. Two choreographers and a composer experimented with living in the present moment, becoming one with the space, absorbing the influence of the wooden structure with no desire to put together a dance piece. Their mysterious performance clearly reflects that experiment. Dissolving into an immaculate décor, Tedd Robinson and Ame Henderson perform balancing acts with sticks, birch logs and small Buddhas. Nothing bothers them, neither the sound dance of Charles Quevillon that assails the space, nor a silence rife with foliage and imposing branches. Against all expectations, bit by bit their meditations in movement construct a landscape where myriad images and sensations flourish.
An unconventional proposal, Room with Sticks makes art the instrument of a ritual that liberates artists and spectators from the demands of physical or intellectual performance. A long Zen poem that, by means of almost nothing, opens wide the realm of possibility.
PRODUCED BY 10 GATES DANCING INC.
IN ASSOCIATION WITH PUBLIC RECORDINGS
CONCEIVED, CREATED AND PERFORMED BY AME HENDERSON + CHARLES QUEVILLON + TEDD ROBINSON
WRITTEN BY FABIENNE CABADO
TRANSLATED BY NEIL KROETSCH
WORLD PREMIÈRE AT RIDEAU CURLING CLUB, CANADA DANCE FESTIVAL, OTTAWA, JUNE 14, 2013
AME HENDERSON (TORONTO)
A native of Vancouver Island who lives in Toronto, the choreographer and dancer Ame Henderson bases her creative approach on research and spontaneous improvisation. The founder of Public Recordings, she is interested in the intimacy and the limits of the body in co-creative ventures. In each of her works, she takes both performers and spectators into unknown territory where each is free to find his own interpretation and meaning. This is her third appearance at the Festival, after /Dance/Songs/ (2009) and what we are saying (2013). Ame is an NAC Associate Dance Artist.
TEDD ROBINSON | 10 GATES DANCING (OTTAWA)
The nature of the collectively created Room with Sticks is no doubt influenced by Tedd Robinson’s studies in a Zen monastery in his home town of Ottawa, a city he returned to after six years of creating theatrical ensemble works for Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers. Renowned for his teaching and for his image-driven solos, he has created works for numerous dancers, including Louise Lecavalier. He is also founding member of Projet bk and an NAC Associate Dance Artist. Founder of 10 Gates Dancing, he relocated to the country in 2005 and there in a barn installed La B.A.R.N. studio theatre, a place for artistic residence, experimentation and performance, a site where he has collaborated with Ame Henderson and Charles Quevillon in particular. With the latter he founded in 2013 the Centre Q: A Centre for Questioning, a dance and music research space.
CHARLES QUEVILLON (MONTREAL)
Specialized in instrumental and electro-acoustic work since 2005, the Montreal composer Charles Quevillon uses sound recordings of objects in the studio as an inspiration to invent instruments that may be based on traditional instruments or on objects, such as branches in Room with Sticks. He has collaborated 10 times with Tedd Robinson since 2010, using the movements of the musician to push choreographic exploration. He pursues his passion for movement by presenting numerous solos, going so far as to compose a piece for a musician suspended from the centre of a chime of plucked string instruments.
