Our DanceWeekend’24 Artist Feature is The Chimera Project as apart of our online film screenings!
Friday, January 26th, 2024 at 7pm VIRTUALLY.
About Chimera Project:
My name is Malgorzata Nowacka-May, and I am the Artistic Director of The Chimera Project, and also the director and choreographer of Bears Stars the Trees, the film.Chimera is a contemporary dance company that has now existed over 20 years. At the heart of Chimera are exceptional dance artists that literally embody the vision of each project and each work.The idea of being contemporary is interesting because it’s part of our job to define what that means at each creative interval. It places the focus of exploration into different areas over time.
The company has a range of programming, including children’s shows, new work to be shown this coming spring in April at Harbourfront called Soft, and educational and mentorship programs.We are grateful for the support of everyone engaged with Chimera, our presenters, the TAC Dolphin Gaming, and our agent Raphael.
What will you be sharing at DanceWeekend’24?
I’m excited to share with you Bears Stars and Trees, the short film version.
This is the first film I directed. This piece is very special to my heart, as it has been thriving since 2016, when I first had the meeting to create it with Elder Shirley Horn, and Donna Hilsinger, director of the Algoma Fall Festival of Learning who conceived of this project. It’s amazing to consider how many people are involved over time in this piece, which has much later been captured in a shortened format as a film.
Arik Pipe is especially important in this work, as he is the core interpreter, Cultural Advisor, and has now performed this work to an audience of over 10,000 people. Arik brings with him the hoop-dancing vocabulary seen in this film.
How has the pandemic shifted your work as a professional dance artist?
There is a general state of urgency in assessing how to pick up performance and in-person work after a long period of time, trying to predict what will be the great problem ahead next time, and working within evolving parameters of balancing funding and time versus numerous impossible expectations.
What interests you about film as a medium and how does if differ from a live performance?
I love the symbolic potential of film, where the visual image can be manipulated to capture messaging in a way that is not possible live.
In Bears Stars and Trees I was not diving into this aspect as a focus, as I was interested in balancing the dance and what it actually is, versus what is hopefully not boring to look at on film.
In live performance the audience can rely on reality to communicate energy and emotion, on film the messaging is only through image and sound. It’s hard to explain how humans understand body – to – body communication, but most of us just do. That’s how film and live performance are different.
What does dance mean to you?
It means that horrible thing that I thought would be such a good idea, and now is the endless piles of grant applications and reports that need doing, sorting, and sending double-factor authentications for. It means hearing “no” a hundred times each year, and “yes” twice a year.
The magic of being with dance artists in studio, and seeing transcendence of doubt, fear, and expectation is the most unique element of dance. I wish that we had the means to share this with more audience members, because it’s impossible to not fall in love with the artform seeing it.
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Stay Up to Date with The Chimera Project at their social media links below: