9 days until #DanceWeekend21! Meet Vanguardia Dance Projects: a collective of Latin American-Canadian artists committed to supporting contemporary dance artists’ professional development through different events such as our bi-annual festival, producing artists work, workshops and touring.

As part of the DanceON Pandemic Pivots being presented at DW’21, they will be sharing what they’ve been up to and how they’ve responded to a pandemic year with some of their creative processes. “We have had the opportunity to go deeper into researching previous questions, even before the pandemic, about body and technology and opening new doors for research, creation and dissemination of our work.”

Tune in to watch on Sat May 1 – get your ticket to DanceWeekend’21 today! https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/danceweekend21-tickets-149965399547?aff= #ComeDanceWithUs And follow @vanguardia_projects to learn more about their upcoming projects, including the bi-annual Vanguarida Dance Festival happening in July!

 

Read more here:

Can you tell us little bit about yourself/your company/collective/school?

Vanguardia Dance Project is a collective of Latin American-Canadian artists committed to supporting contemporary dance artists’ professional development through different events such as our bi-annual festival, producing artists work, workshops and touring. We intend to promote an ongoing exchange and collaboration with international dance organizations and artists. We are interested in the dissemination of contemporary artistic practices of dance artists with Latin American background in Canada, maintaining conversation with the rest of the country and the world. We support innovative artists that include other art disciplines pushing the boundaries of what is called “contemporary” as well as works that having dance as the core, reflect a permanent search of expression through different languages. Currently, the core members of the group are Norma Araiza, Olga Barrios and Diana López Soto.

What will you be sharing at DanceWeekend’21?

We will be sharing material about what have been doing during the pandemic year and how we have responded to it with some of our creative processes. Also, we will talk about our upcoming projects, such as our bi-annual Vanguardia Dance Festival happening in July, presenting artists such as Newton Moraes, Carlos Rivera, Victoria Mata, Daystar Rosalie Jones, Daniel Fetecua, Daniela Carmona, and us (Diana Lopez Soto, Norma Araiza and Olga Barrios).

What interests you about film as a medium and how does if differ from a live performance? 

At this moment we are connecting through a screen for many activities, going from virtual parties, classes, work meetings, concerts, family encounters and of course creating through diverse experimental video formats to be out there somehow with our works.   Each one of the members of the collective has experienced this journey in different ways, going deeper in our research.  

Olga, for example, has had a previous exploration on video and film on the stage, researching the connection between the bidimensional body of the screen with the tridimensional body on live performance, as well as explorations between the body and landscape. This latter has included a deeper work in video creating for a video dance underwater, opening new potentials and profound explorations of movement research, creation and dissemination of the choreographic work in connection with film.

Norma, on the other hand, has concentrated on exploring the different art modalities and their possibilities in a virtual way, working with people involved in art making using music, movement, visual arts and poetry.

Diana’s work is often site-specific, she has worked as a media artist to document and create experimental film installations. However, at the beginning of the pandemic she focused on land connection and healing. Returning to performance as a digital medium has allowed her to reconnect with the process as a material that is full of possibilities. Yet, she feels that there is still a lot of learning to take place and continues to find a peace of mind in sustainable practices. 

For us, there are big differences between dance on film and dance in live performance, starting with the use of space and how we relate to it.  Also, the connection with the audience is very different.  In a live performance, there is a tension in the body, and a projection of the body that look for a receptor that normally it is not near.  The camera can go very close to the performer; there are possibilities of going into details of the body.  The viewer/audience perceptions depend on what the director decides to show, through the camera’s angles, planes, the editing, etc.  In a live performance, the body is there, nude.  The audience chooses where to look at.  Time is also very different when working with film/video. Within these formats, it is possible to play with time and change spaces.  In live performances the audience lives the moment with the performer. 

What it is interesting for us about film/video are the differences and connections with live performance, and the possibilities of working with both mediums. 

How has the pandemic shifted your work as professional dance artists?

At the beginning it was overly complicated, we had to let go of live performance projects, teaching, etc.  But after a year we have been adapting ourselves to the new realities and make the most of it, learning new ways of expression, creating new possibilities for ourselves. We have had the opportunity to go deeper into researching previous questions, even before the pandemic, about body and technology and opening new doors for research, creation and dissemination of our work.

Please share what you are most looking forward to at Dance Ontario’s first virtual DanceWeekend?

To share with other artists and with the community the diverse experiences and approaches to creation during this year. 

Do you have any up-coming performances/workshops/events you would like to share?

Yes!!     

“Hybrid Women”, a new Vanguardia´s creation by Norma and Olga, will be presented at the first Indigenous Fringe Festival in Peterborough, in June, 2021, and at our Vanguardia Festival.  The work is an experimental dance-theatre-ritual-action that departs from the pulsating of the body in connection with and response to nature and ourselves, specifically with plants, trees, water, natural environments, taking into consideration the diverse aspects of decadency of our planet.  

“Otros Rostros”, a site-specific and dance offering bringing together the work of masks and the natural symmetry of the Ontario forest, created by Diana and Norma as dramaturgy will be part of the Uxbridge Studio Tour in September 18 and 19 of 2021. 

Ongoing events and opportunities will also take place as part of the “Land Embodiment Lab”, a curatorial initiative between Diana and Coman Poon that supports the connections between art and ecology as a sustainable practice at Willo’Wind Farm. 

Vanguardia Dance Festival 2021 will be presented on July 19 to 25 at the Bentway with outdoor performances and workshops, as well as online presentations with the support of Native Earth Performing Arts (a video dance series, workshops and performances with international artists). 

In 1 or 2 sentences, what does dance mean to you?

Poetry of the Body.  Life. Expression. Healing and connection.