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MEET THE 2020 CREATIVE INCUBATOR PARTICIPANTS

woman bending gracefully to the right, her arms outstretched and eyes staring into the camera.

 

Deviani Andrea is a dancer from the parallel 20º recently established at the parallel 50º. ⁠ ⁠

“Moving to Canada, and specifically to Edmonton, was a turning point for my practice. I started to be more involved with the local dance community – although I have to admit at the very beginning, I doubted its existence…sorry. Anyways, after watching several shows, festivals, classes, and meeting amazing dancers here it became clear to me: in Edmonton, dance equals experimentation.”

What work do you plan to develop or pursue during the creative incubator?

I will develop my piece Puzzle Parts for Next Fest. That piece will be a video around 10 minutes long with the recording of different parts of my body. I’m working on two body parts that I’m 100% sure I want to use but I have 4 other body parts I would like to experiment with but I can’t take the initial impulse to a concrete idea, I want to discuss this with the other participants to see what they have to say.

woman wearing glasses is sitting in a park staring to the side, away from the camera

Gabby Bernard is an Alberta based performer and creator

“I attended sharing day at 2019’s Creative Incubator, and it very vividly reminded me of why I love the Edmonton arts community…there are so many exciting minds making work in this city, and the Incubator is an amazing opportunity for different disciplines to collaborate!” 

How are you staying inspired during quarantine? 

I’ve really sunk my teeth into writing during quarantine and been reminded of the intrinsic joys of creating for the sake of creating. I have a relatively new interest in art history after some recent travelling, and am intrigued by the story of French sculptor Camille Claudel. As I tinker around with writing and solo creation, she has become a focal point in exploring how artists observe and are observed, create and are part of their creations, and how their legacies fall to the hands of those with the power to share them.

Headshot of woman in black and white

Meredith Kalaman is global dancer, creator, thinker, mover, and choreographer

“My hands have actually been creatively on fire during this uncertain time. I am a long time knitter and taught myself to crochet off of YouTube one night in the early weeks of being at home. (I had previously found crocheting challenging to learn). I’ve since been crocheting vibrant baskets, pot warmers and a mermaid shell inspired blanket for my niece. It’s been interesting to see how creativity always finds a way out from within. It’s like this deep-seeded force that wishes to be expressed.”

Who are your biggest influences?

John Ottmann, Emily Molnar, Margie Gillis, Christine Wright, Karen Kain, Shirley Temple, and Margaret Atwood.

Woman wrapped in plastic during art performance

Rebecca Sadowski is an Edmonton-based Métis performer, choreographer, and dance instructor

“I am so excited to dive back into the “studio” this week with other creators! I’m looking forward to witnessing how other artists are approaching their creative processes in this strange time. It would be so great to get some outside perspective on a movement idea I have rattling around in my brain right now.”

What work or ideas will you explore in the Creative Incubator?

I’m interested in how my hobby of vexillology (the study of flags) can relate and inform ways of structuring choreographic patterns. Will this idea fly? Who knows! But I’m excited to play with it this week.

Erin Pettifor (she/her) is an emerging Albertan theatre actor and creator who employs clown, neo-bouffon, singing, movement, and text-based narratives to voice her feminist curiosities.

“It is very exciting as an emerging artist to connect with other artists of different disciplines and understand the way their practice works for them and suits their needs as artists. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to expand my understanding of the Pochinko clown technique through facilitator Amber Borotsik’s artistic mentorship. With her knowledge and the knowledge of other participants, I will gain a more intricate understanding of the intersection between dance, theatre, and clown.” 

What is one of your dream projects? 

Stigma, Pistol, and Style which is my current clown show that I am working on. They marry dance and clown, which is something I’ve not yet done, but it makes perfect sense!

Photo by Joanne Gervais

Ben Gorodetsky is a theatre maker, improviser, and movement artist based in Waterloo, ON

“I’ve moved more and more towards physicality and abstraction in my recent work. My roots as a comedian and actor really centralized the importance of narrative and text, and though this will always be where I come from, in the new stuff I’m making I’m trying to move into the more mysterious fragmented territory. I’ve been working to undo some of my hard-wiring by making performance that lives more with silence and movement in ways that don’t easily decode into a story.” 

If time and funding wasn’t a concern, what dream project would you pursue?

I’d like to do work that connects hiking/trekking with performance. A month in the woods. Find a form that allows spectators to come and go, but continues on regardless. Moving and speaking in conversation with the landscape, over a significant stretch of time.

a mixed race, Latinx person smiling

Sara Campos-Silvius is a queer, mixed-race Latinx playwright, screenwriter, poet, actor, singer, musician, and soon-to-be filmmaker. Sara will be exploring POWER and CONTROL in GWDC Creative Incubator⁠

“What are the healthy and unhealthy exercises of power and control in our lives and relationships — with ourselves, our environment, and our society?”⁠

How are you staying creative and inspired during this strange and uncertain time? 

I have a list of my all-time favourite movies and shows. I’ve re-watched a lot of them, observing, learning, taking notes, enjoying them all over again.

Riley Skworoda is an accomplished international performer, dynamic and innovative dance educator, and a highly respected original choreographer with many awards to her credit.

Riley holds a Bachelor of Arts in Recreation, Sport, and Tourism from the University of Alberta, with an out of faculty focus in dance and fine arts. With over 10 years of dance instructing experience behind her, Riley continues to maintain her reputation as a well respected and successful teacher and choreographer in many disciplines, but her true passion and focus is Tap.Riley is originally from Edmonton but has recently relocated to Vancouver and is on the faculty at the Vancouver Tap Dance Society

Facilitated by About Amber Borotsik Amber Borotsik is an Edmonton based creator, performer, and educator keenly interested in the intersection between improvisation, contemporary dance, and theatre practices.

Amber has performed in both theatre and dance across Canada, the United States and in Japan; and has received three Sterling Awards (Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role – Little One, Choreography/Fight Direction and Independent Production – Scythe) as well as the TELUS Courage to Innovate Award at the Mayor’s Evening for the Arts. In the fall of 2017 Amber travelled to Studio 303 in Montreal and Neighbourhood

Dance Works in St. John’s Newfoundland where she had a blast remixing the work of other choreographers as a part of the CanDance/Studio 303/Mile Zero Dance/NDW REMIX Exchange. Last May traveled back to Montreal to take part in Centre de Création O Vertigo’s Emerging Encounters International Exchange Project and to present a solo version of her newest work No Guesses Found as a part of En marge du Festival TransAmériques. Amber was to be performing in ONE right now at Factory Theatre in Toronto then heading to St. John’s to work on an adaptation of Oderin by poet Agnes Walsh but now she is getting really into online dance classes instead.
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