Katrina McPherson R & D with Harold Rheaume

07—09.08.17

This short residency brings together Scottish screen dance artist Katrina McPherson with Quebec City choreographer Harold Rheaume for the development of a new dance film project, some 20 years since the pair first worked together.

Harold and Katrina met in 1992, at the Dance for the Camera workshop at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada. In 1993, they shared a residency at Le Group de la Place Royale in Ottawa, during which they made the dance film Mur Mur. In 1997, Harold came to Glasgow and together with Scottish writer Mariannne Carey and composer Haftor Medboe, they collaborated on Pictureshow, a live video dance performance work, premiered in Glasgow, and also performed in Montreal.

In 2015, Katrina attended the Cinedans Festival in Quebec City, and there Harold and she met up again after 18 years. During this encounter, they decided to re-ignite their collaboration and in December 2016, were awarded funding through the British Council/Canada Council QC/UK Connexions Scheme for a two-year long cultural exchange project.

Mixed landscapes/ Paysage mixtes brings together Katrina, Harold, Quebec dance company Le Fils d’Adrien danse, of which Harold is Artistic Director, Moray-based choreographer Karl Jay-Lewin and Bodysurf Scotland. The project involves establishing networks and programming and curating live and screen dance work in Quebec and Scotland.

Out of this networking opportunity comes the possibility for Harold and Katrina to develop a new dance film idea by spending time together, both in Scotland and in Quebec, in The Work Room studio and on location, developing the concept for a new dance film by creating a pilot film of around 10 minutes duration.

Artistically, the premise for this new work is to explore the effect of space on the physical and emotional activity of the on-screen performers (Harold and Katrina), with the expansiveness of the Highland spaces contrasting the built landscape of the Canadian city. The work will explore different textures and layered meaning of movement and of the spoken language, the fascinating ambiguity of un- resolved narrative and the dislocation of behavior from one specific environment to another.

 


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