05 March 2013
Fondation Québec Jeunes raises $535,000 for At-Risk Youth
For the second year in a row, Artmistice dancers had the honour to perform at the Fondation Québec Jeunes’ 10th annual Valentine’s Day Ball. The Fondation Québec Jeunes’ mission is to help struggling and at-risk youth through the funding of community programs. Artmistice’s dancers rocked the Parisian Cabaret theme with style and sass, contributing to what has been deemed the most successful Valentine’s Day Ball yet.
05 March 2013
Sonia Clarke and Andrea Este to Perform at the Vancouver International Dance Festival
Artmistice’s own Sonia and Andrea will be performing with Muriva Dance at the Vancouver International Dance Festival. The three-week annual festival features dance companies from New Zealand, Switzerland, Denmark and Canada. Muriva Danse will be performing March 7-9 at The Roundhouse at 7:00 pm.
10 February 2013
Passion Portrait: Sandy Silva
SANDY SILVA-
DANCER & CHOREOGRAPHER-
I thought I was going to be a healthcare practitioner. I was on my way to college and stopped off at a festival and saw dancers and musicians playing together. I was completely blown away by their conversations. The way they talked to each other and listened with their instruments and bodies was all so rhythmic. Eventually I was living in a house with musicians. Between classes and studies, I would listen to them practice with a metronome and play tunes through the night. I couldn’t get enough of it and I wanted a piece of it. I knew that to fully immerse myself, I would need to travel, discover new cultures, embody their percussive dance language, listen and embrace their music. Everything I do now comes from my travels and life experiences. I don’t feel that it was conscious choice. I was simply obsessed.
The work became an unending process. When you repeat something a thousands times, you get it in your body and it becomes you. I think I found what I loved and just rode the wave. It wasn’t “should I” or “can I”, I just had to do it!
I never auditioned, because I never had to. I know this might sound slightly cocky, but I was one of the few people doing it! When I travelled for work, study or to festivals, I would listen to musicians and if I liked what I heard, I would ask if I could go in the corner and dance a little. They would reply: “Get out of the corner!”. Sometimes I would get a gig with them or even a small tour months or even years later.
There’s still more to learn and thankfully, there’s also more I want to do. As I get older and listen to my body, I have to adapt to where I am physically and spiritually while exploring what is true to me. That is where the work comes from. Naturally, I am not the same as I was in my 30's or even early 40's. I want to continue to explore and refine ways to speak with my body and share it with other people.
Website: http://www.sandysilvadance.com/
02 January 2013
Passion Portrait: Janet McNulty
JANET McNULTY-
COSTUME DESIGNER-
My involvement with costume design probably started with my first Halloween costume at the age of eight. I cut up a blue bed sheet and hand stitched an elf costume; boots, a tunic and a cape. No one showed me how, I just did it. In my adolescent days, I set trends with how I was dressing. I'd scavenge second hand stores and my friend’s attic trunks, always insisting on wearing old dresses and accessorising my look with modern day flair. At my boyfriend’s graduation, (I was a year younger) he wore the classic black top hat and tails with white spats on his shoes, and a golden headed walking stick. I wore a long black chiffon gown, white satin gloves and my hair in ringlets hanging to my shoulders. Everyone went crazy; black was not the norm for the occasion. The following year, many couples copied our style. I knew then that I had a sense of style that influenced others.
Later on, I became a dancer first and a costume designer second. Sometimes, I danced in the pieces that I had created the costumes for, and at other times, I watched my designs dance on stage without me. It was such a thrill! This was a passionate, prolific, and creative period in my life. In these years, I attempted to capture the meaning of the dance in the costumes.
Today, returning to costume design gives me a fresh attempt to capture dance; collecting ideas and putting them into some collage of inspiration, mixing and matching to find the final design that will accompany a choreographer’s work to the stage.
Website: http://fousdemiseenforme.weebly.com/styliste-et-couturiegravere.html
