Robyn Jacob, Nancy Tam; photo Daniel O’Shea

Double Happiness: Detour This way

Mar 12 – 22, 2020 / Left of Main

Sounding two parallel histories, Double Happiness: Detour This Way winds through complexities of the Chinese diaspora by tracing migration paths of two families, connecting both shores of the Pacific using live music in a multimedia performance.

direction, sound design Nancy Tam

performance Nancy Tam, Robyn Jacob, Emily Cheung, Amanda Sum, Emma Postl, Molly MacKinnon, Kevin Romain, Jeff Gammon

songs composition Nancy Tam, Robyn Jacob

projection design Josh Hite

A Nancy Tam and Robyn Jacob Production. Produced in association with plastic orchid factory, Neworld Theatre and Music on Main.

Erika Mitsuhashi, Francesca Frewer; photo Cara Tench

Left of PuSh #3

Jan 28 – Feb 6, 2020 / Left of Main

A plastic orchid factory platform for experiments-in-process showings during the PuSh Festival. Now in its 3rd incarnation, Left of PuSh #3 offers 3 mixed bills by local and visiting artists working across disciplines:

1. Experiment #4 featuring works by James Gnam/plastic orchid factory, Thea Patterson, Marie France Forcier, Melanie Kloetzel/ReLoCate and Nikki Carter. This BC-Alberta migration project, initiatied by ReLoCate, makes space for experimental works that chart new pathways through questions of resilience, delineating how the body and its radical performances can illustrate empowered – and potentially surprising – prospects for individuals, species and communities.
2. DOUBLE BILL: New research by olive theory (interdisciplinary duo Shion Skye Carter and Stefan Nazarevich) examines the relationship between nature and artificiality, contrasting the embodied and the semi-organic with the synthesized and purely electrical. Francophone theatre artist Gilles Poulin-Denis/productions 2par4 confronts the end of his life by attempting to make his last-ever piece, right now. The Swan Song. The Farewell Tour.
3. DOUBLE BILL: A new work in progress by Bo Dyp centred around the thunderbird. Kwanxwalaogwa, one who possesses thunder is rooted in Bo’s ancestral name, Kwanxwalaogwa and the spirit in Kwakwaka'wakw culture known to connect the spiritual world with the physical. Bo works from their developed practice as a non-binary drag artist from the Dzawada'enuxw nation, to explore their culture and their intersectional position in body politics. Erika Mitsuhashi and Francesca Frewer examine the precarious space between otherness and togetherness. When we find ourselves faced with fundamental uncertainty, how do we make sense of ourselves, our perceptions, and one another? With movement, text, and theatrical artifice, they use these questions to explore ideas surrounding agency and subjectivity.

production team Heather Barr, Natalie LeFebvre Gnam, Gabriel Raminhos

Hanako Hoshimi-Caines, Zoë Poluch, Elisa Harkins; photo Kinga Michalska

ᎦᏬᏂᏍᎩ ᏦᎢ Radio III

Nov 24, 2019 / Left of Main

This is an indigenous futuristic concert, a beautiful and uncomfortable dance performance and a perverse triangle of shifting power that seeks to be unfaithful to both minimalism and postmodern dance’s claims to so-called “neutrality.” As we live, layer and situate form in our bodies, we hurtle through past, present and possible futures. We invite you into a supportive co-existence, separate but aligned, an anthem for xenophilia, a complicit dream, a consensual prophecy: video

creation, performance Hanako Hoshimi-Caines, Zoë Poluch, Elisa Harkins

original lighting design Paul Chambers, adapted by Jonathan Kim

costume design Jade Tong Cuong

Radio III is the first collaboration between Hanako Hoshimi-Caines, Zoë Poluch and Elisa Harkins and was supported by Canada Council for the Arts, Swedish Arts Council, Swedish Arts Grants Committee, Dance Victoria and Agora de la danse. Premiere, Montréal, June 2019, with co-producer, MAI, Montreal Arts Interculturels. A plastic orchid factory presentation.

Shion Carter, Stefan Nazarevich; photo Brenda Nicole Kent

reach-close

Oct 6, 2019 / Left of Main

Existing at the intersection between live sound, embodied performance and installation art, this immersive experience investigates what defines an “instrument.” It attempts to transform an entire room into a structure that both performers and audiences can directly interact with: video

creation, performance olive theory

mentorship Sabrina Schroeder, Arne Eigenfeldt

technical consultant Paula Viitanen

special thanks James and Natalie Gnam (plastic orchid factory), Jean Brazeau, Mauricio Pauly, Jarin Schexnider (What Lab), Stefan Smulovitz

An olive theory and plastic orchid factory co-production.