Studio Salon Series: Fall 2022
Our Studio Salon Series returns, featuring works in progress by four local artists. This event will be live at What Lab (#202-1814 Pandora St, Vancouver) on November 25 & 26, 2022 @ 5 PM, both evenings. In-person audience capacity is limited to 30 people.
November 25, 2022 @ 5 PM:
Justin Calvadores (with Shana Ai Wolfe) and Sarah U (with Alexandra Caprara)
November 26, 2022 @ 5 PM:
Rachel Maddock and Sevrin Emnacen-Boyd
///
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Justin Calvadores (they/them) is a freelance contemporary dance artist based in so called “Vancouver” BC, the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. Justin grew up on Treaty No. 1 territory, what is known as “Winnipeg”, MB. At the age of 16 they were introduced to dance through the Filipino hip hop dance community. Their interest in contemporary dance led them to complete a post graduate contemporary program at Arts Umbrella Dance. They have danced with Ballet Edmonton, worked as an apprentice with Ballet BC and have been freelancing in “Vancouver” over the past several years. Currently in their own work they are curious about exploring queerness and their identity as Filipinx.
Shana Ai Wolfe is a Canadian-Japanese freelance dance artist based in so-called Vancouver on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh Nations. Shana is currently in her second season dancing with OURO Collective, a street and contemporary dance collective. She has shown work through the Vines Arts Festival, Dance West Network, the response’s Dance Cafe, Co.ERASGA’s Winter Salon and is currently working as an artist with The Falling Company. Her favourite Japanese food is natto and favourite sweet is Mitarashi dango. She is a freelance dancer, monthly instagram poster and crochet blanket maker. Her middle name translates to ‘love’ <3
With music by:
ALGER JI-LIANG 梁家傑 (he/him) is an emerging interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker, and DJ based on the unceded territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and Musqueam nations (Vancouver). Alger’s works explore lived and shared experiences of navigating identity, grief, and space. Alger thinks a lot about forms of kin, love, and (re)orientations.
"The work in process is described by queer transgression. The process of discovering hope and transformation through metabolizing loss and utilizing imagination to dream and propel forward."
--
Rachel Maddock is dance artist, choreographer and arts writer living and working on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations, Vancouver and Port Moody, BC. She has a BA in Visual Culture & Performance Studies from SFU and Diploma of Dance Studies from Trinity Laban, UK. Rachel has danced for and collaborated with companies locally and in the UK since 2013.
UnFill —"In this work I am investigating water as a source of inspiration and the historical landscape of the False Creek Flats."
--
Sarah U 余衍晴 (she/her) is a Chinese-Canadian emerging dancer, choreographer and creator in live and digital performances. Her work examines human relationships, identity, and desire, and is grounded in experiences that have touched her deeply and personally.
Sarah’s work has been presented by National Arts Centre, Capsule: Video series (Ottawa), The Dance Centre (Vancouver), NewWorks (Vancouver), DanceWorks (Tornoto), Impulse theatre (Victoria, BC), Free Flow Dance Theatre (Saskatoon), SpringWorks (Ontario) among others. In 2022, Sarah received the Professional Performing Artist Award from BC Arts Council, and is 1 of the 3 annual Artist-In-Residence at ArtStarts Gallery. Sarah holds a BFA in dance and kinesiology from Simon Fraser University.
Alexandra Caprara (she/her) is a queer multidisciplinary artist from Tkaranto, Ontario, whose practice focuses primarily on devised processes, projection and lighting design, and installation work. As a theatre maker her work has been staged internationally at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2018), and has worked alongside companies such as Canadian Stage, Starvox Entertainment, Workman Arts, and Electric Company Theatre. She is currently pursuing her MFA in interdisciplinary arts at Simon Fraser University, with a research focus on interactivity between performers and design technology.
"Silent Howl" is a multimedia performance that showcases a visual representation of neuron activities in a highly sensitive person’s brain. The primary composition tool in this performance is lines; including straight, curve, zig zag, and dotted lines, with each line representing a different emotional response. Sarah is inspired by lines from her personal experience of practicing “re-foucs therapy” which is a recovery tool for HSP, ADHD, and anxiety peoples. During “Re-focus therapy”, highly sensitve people bring their attention to an imaginary line/dot to reduce the magnitude of overwhelming senses.
In this performance, we hope to give the audience an insight to the challenges of the constantly overstimulated and over processing highly-sensitve people. In this piece, we incorporate improvised movement and animation design by Alexandra Caprara that responds to each other in real time, composing a profoundly interactive and engaging world for the audiences to experience.
--
Sevrin “Sevi” Emnacen-Boyd is a half Filipino b-boy, all-styles dancer, and an enthusiast of all things rhythmic and expressive. Seeking to push forward the vibrant spirit of the Vancouver street dance scene, Sevi’s style has become attuned to musical details and movements uncommonly explored in breaking. As an active member of the Vancouver street dance community since 2006, Sevi has sought to play a prominent role in building what is quickly becoming a prominent force in the local art scene. He has organized a number of youth dance battles with the City of Surrey and currently judges, performs, and teaches across Canada. Sevi is also a renown competitor in the international breakdance scene and has traveled to many creative corners of the world including Amsterdam, Tokyo, New York City, and Manila. He is currently an active member in the Now Or Never Crew, Scndrlz, and Think Twice Japan.
///
Our Studio Salon Series is a recurring series featuring local artists sharing works-in-progress with the community in an informal setting.
These events are free to the public in an effort to create more communication between artists and the community while their works are still in development. After short excerpts are shown, the featured artists engage in conversation with the audience around the topics presented in the work, creation, and development.
What Lab is wheelchair accessible by a set of doors leading from the alley between Pandora St. And Franklin Ave. The front entrance has a flight of stairs.
