between dog and wolf is an expression from old French commonly used to describe a time of day when the light is so dim you can't distinguish a dog from a wolf. In that time, we might feel deceived by our eyes, caught somewhere between comfort and fear, between what is real and unreal. It is a time of transformation, “the hour in which every being becomes their own shadow, and thus something other than themselves. The hour of metamorphoses, when people half hope, half fear that a dog will become a wolf.” (Barbara Bray, from the translation of Jean Genet’s Prisoner of Love).
In this new solo work, Gnam embodies multiple layers of the “dog and wolf” expression to expose his process of making a solo during a pandemic. The work develops through cosplay and child-like inquisitiveness, reaching into the thresholds of the familiar and unfamiliar, of safety and threat, of human nature turning wild and uneasiness replacing certainty.
choreography, performance James Gnam
producer, rehearsal direction Natalie LeFebvre Gnam
lighting design James Proudfoot
media Eric Chad, James Gnam
music Loscil
outside eye Vanessa Goodman
images David Cooper
presented as part of plastic orchid factory’s 2021–2021 adaptives series, with the support from the City of Vancouver, BC Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, The Province of BC, Lena Artist Residency, Lake Studios Berlin, Mile Zero Dance, ReLoCate, Sawdust Collector and productions 2PAR4.
We acknowledge that we live, work and play on the unceded territories of the xwmǝθkwǝy̓ǝm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations. We strive to learn from, and be allies with, Indigenous Peoples.