Triptyque > saison 2012 - 2013triptyque > saison 2012-2013

Circuit-Est centre chorégraphique, Operaestate Festival Veneto et The Dance Centre ont poursuivi leur collaboration et réalisé la troisième édition du projet Triptyque, qui rassemble des chorégraphes de la Colombie-Britannique, de l’Italie et du Québec. Cette année, Ziyian Kwan, Marco D’Agostin et Peter Trosztmer se sont retrouvés lors de trois résidences de deux semaines à Bassano del Grappa, Montréal et Vancouver, qu’ils ont mises à profit pour faire de la recherche et expérimenter. Guidés par la répétitrice et mentore Ginelle Chagnon, ils ont partagé leurs expériences et ont travaillé sur des problématiques liées à leur processus de création individuel. Le projet a été documenté par les écrivains Andreas Kahre, Giulia Galvan et Mylène Joly.

présentation du projet

Andreas Kahre[Colombie-Britannique]

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Ginelle Chagnon[Québec]

Giulia Galvan[Italie]

Mylène Joly[Québec]

Peter Trosztmer[Québec]

Marco D’Agostin[Italie]

Ziyian Kwan[Colombie-Britannique]

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“Triptych ignited my curiosity and reminded me that risk is worthwhile, even if the results are banal and especially if what follows is uncertainty. As I travel alone into the studio now and in the months ahead, I am accompanied by the research, confusion, and epiphany that began just by virtue of being in the room with Ginelle, Marco, and Peter. These are artists whose ideas I find challenging, people whose honesty I find deeply moving.” Ziyian Kwan

“I like to wait. I like to tinker. Sometimes you just hang out so that when the thing comes, you can pounce on it. Is there a kettle here? Did you handwash all your clothes? I thought that maybe I could just go to the mountains and do the work that is there. I went to the river again. I don’t know. Maybe. I wish we always had this kind of rapport.” Peter Trosztmer

“There is what we have and then there is what we want. I always start with an idea. Then I had a crisis: I was empty. For me this is the first time. OH DIO! Next time you are crying, go to the mirror and look at yourself. I always do this. An artist must… go back to loneliness. An artist must.” Marco D’Agostin

“What is the intelligence of the work? What is the key ingredient? What traces of the process does the audience see? You don’t need to understand; sometimes it is enough to just listen. If you need a ride to Home Depot to get what you need, I will take you. Consider the space.” Ginelle Chagnon

11 juillet 2012, Triptych 2012 has started

This is the first week of Triptych 2012. This year the involved choreographers are Ziyian Kwan [Vancouver], Peter Trotszmer [Montréal], and Marco D’Agostin [Italy]. In this journey they are accompanied by Ginelle Chagnon.

One of the first meetings the participants have is with Dany Mitzman, introducing the arts of sounds in radio-features. The subjects brings up various issues related to timing, rhythm, the use of sound both in a radio work and in a dance work.

The three choreographers are invited to a soundwalk through Bassano del Grappa, having at their disposal two microphones and a recorder. One microphone is for environmental noise, it hears everything; the other is a sort of zoom in to focus on specific sounds. Which sounds did the choreographers choose?

par Giulia Galvan

The Triptych choreographers had a soundwalk on Tuesday with Dany Mitzman, during which they recorded the sounds of Bassano del Grappa. I was also invited to take part in the experiment... These pictures will give you an idea of the sounds which grabbed our attention.

12 juillet 2012, The soundwalkpar Giulia Galvan

The Triptychs didn’t listen to their recordings immediately. On the contrary, on Wednesday, July 11, they were invited by Ginelle to reflect upon the experience and try to remember those sounds.

They worked following these three stages:1. Try to remember the soundwalk and transfer it into movement individually;2. Re-live that experience by taking the space into account;3. Teach a selection of that movement material to the other two choreographers.

The last stage makes the transfer issue arise. Which methods do you use to transfer the movement material? How similar should it be to your own movement? This is a moment when the choreographers’ different approaches come to a dialogue. Marco: “My method is creating little boxes, frames where I give instructions, and the dancers can create their score starting from there. In this moment, I am interested in what we mean by presence and being present, in the sense of being here and now, and the methods I can give a dancer to grab what he/she’s doing, how that can make sense for them. This is connected to what I learned working with Alessandro Sciarroni.” He quotes Marina Abramovic, who states that “the present is the last tense we’ll ever have, which is not the past and not the future.”

The subject of presence inspires one more issue for Ziyian and Peter: the idea of being present is somehow intertwined with the one of autenticity.

12 juillet 2012, The recollectionpar Giulia Galvan

13 juillet 2012, The scary placespar Giulia Galvan

After letting their movement material emerge, after reprocessing it according to Ginelle’s guidelines, on Thursday the question is asked whether to go on with what was done on Wednesday or whether to develop it.

What is the difference?

Ginelle: “You can either work from the inside of the work or in perspective. I want to go to the scary places, we’re not here to avoid continuing with one thing.”

The time is left at disposal to reflect on these two options, for preparation.

But what does preparation exactly mean?

Ginelle: “Sometimes choreographers need space to think, by themselves. It may be preparing not for today but for what you’re going to do in the future. Because you are articulating, you are in a different process than in the studio. We are all preparing for the next moment. You lead the creative process but the process also leads you. It’s not true that the process needs the same approach every day. It is important that you challenge your way to deal with it.”

Marco: “Sometimes it’s also good to be comfortable. I had a workshop called “Killing your darlings”. Well, sometimes you also have to live with your darlings, not kill them. Maybe I am not in love with the material I’ve created, but I am in love with the idea of making things I am not necessarily in love with.”

Peter decides to start composing with what he has, because composition is more pertinent to him at the moment.

Marco will start alone, then he will ask the others to work with him.

Ziyian creates stations in the studio, as a mapping of the space, involving the other two choreographers. Then she will go on by herself.

14 juillet 2012, In the mountainspar Giulia Galvan

On Friday, the Triptychs went in the mountains. After getting to know the city of Bassano from within, it is the right time to try and have a glance at it from a distance.

Ginelle: “The mountains are the perfect place to understand dimensions. You are also asked to add dimensions in your work, because you deal with a human body. Getting to know the geography of a city gives you a different perception of space.”

16 juillet 2012, Proposalspar Giulia Galvan

On July 15, the three choreographers experiment with their ideas resorting to each other as interpreters.

After inquiring on the subject of water in the previous days, now Peter is building a “bridge“. He wants to reveal the secrets of objects, open up the possibilities they have. Peter would like the actions to have an unconscious feel. “As soon as they become conscious, they distract me. If you take a path, we don’t have to see that you’re taking the path, we need to see the path.”

Ziyian’s idea is the one of falling and getting up again and again. A chair in the space may be the goal or, quite the opposite, the starting point. New quality of movement is then added to this process and the sensation is that Ziyian is “making things appear” [Peter].

The instructions are very clear, although sometimes the timing may differ in the choreographers’ approach to new information.

Marco has been working on the idea of a set, with one source of light and two sources of darkness. The point of light stands for a place of pleasure or a place for revelation.

The first box, as Marco calls them, is protection, for that Marco gives specific tasks.

The second box is intimacy, loneliness, where the performers enter the space.

There, “light is what you want, but maybe what you have is darkness.”

The third box is a moment in which the performers will take the microphone and say what they want from their work.

17 juillet 2012, Building bridgespar Giulia Galvan

18 juillet 2012, Last steps of the researchpar Giulia Galvan

On July 17, Ginelle invites the choreographers to focus on the sounds, visual aspects, aesthetics, and proximity to the audience of the research they are going to present on Wednesday night. The aim is to visualise a bigger picture within which the work may set itself.

Ziyian has realised that her development is deeply rooted with her precision in physicality.

Peter appreciates the struggle in her to succeed more than her actually succeeding.

The core of this work of hers consists of movement, physical ideas. So much that the text part in it has a specific reference to bodily processes, words like “pituitary”, “pulse” are repeated, so digging profoundly in the essence of movement and of what can become of a body.

The piece is divided into 5 states, each one embodying a part of Ziyian. Marco detects a wave-like form in these states, which he doesn’t perceive as separate at all.

“I am mostly interested in the poetics of movement, because that’s why I dance.” [Ziyian]

Peter goes on with his research on creating an environment through objects and their relationships with each other and with the performers. Ziyian and Marco are invited to experiment with this concept. It is more about building things than about “real” dancing. The structure should be circular.

The issue raised by Marco is to whether the performer is informed by the object or the other way around. “The focus is on how and where you are putting objects. Then I want you to play a game. The game is catch.” [Peter]

Tonight at 9 p.m. the informal sharing of the first step of Triptych 2012 will take place at the CSC Garage Nardini, in Bassano del Grappa.

Marco D’Agostin, Peter Trosztmer, and Ziyian Kwan will share with the audience their work in progress. It is a very sensitive part of a creative process since the choreographers are opening up the private diary of their inquiry. The audience will play a fundamental role in providing a feedback for the artists.

Feedback can even imply a sheer watching—as a conscious outside eye—because the artists can feel the involvement of the audience. A more active feedback can mean asking questions, or expressing what one has seen there.

Polar judgement is banned: it may be harmful, unsensitive and, in my opinion, unrespectful of the artist’s journey. The focus is on research, there is no right or wrong.

18 juillet 2012, Just a few hours to gopar Giulia Galvan

Yet, the Bassano audience has been accustomed to attending this kind of public sharings and their participation has often been fruitful.

Physicality, building an environment, shadows, and protection. What will happen tonight?

31 août 2012

Time has gone by of course, and as usually, more quickly than expected, since the Triptych project was presenting its research in Bassano. In a few days, the trio will meet again but this time in Montréal. It will be really good to be a part of this gathering in its 2nd phase, as one grows so fond of each individual. It will be interesting to see how much more familiar we will be with one another this time around.

Preparing for this moment, I was gazing at the images of the last day’s presentation in Bassano. I wish to share them in case you want to access this information. Therefore, I am sending you a few shots of Marco’s, Peter’s, and Ziyian’s presentations. I am not necessarily expecting to continue this research but it can be good to review where we were when we left the project six weeks ago.

As the second part of this project is under way, once in a while I will keep you in the loop with what is going on in the studios of Circuit-Est!

In the meantime, ENJOY!

par Ginelle Chagnon

3 septembre 2012, Arrêts sur imagespar Mylène Joly

Marco D’Agostin, Peter Trosztmer et Ziyian Kwan. Trois danseurs choisis par trois centres, respectivement Operaestate Festival Veneto [Bassano del Grappa, Italie], Circuit-Est centre chorégraphique [Montréal, Québec] et The Dance Centre [Vancouver, Canada]. Les trois artistes se réunissent durant deux semaines dans un des centres pour échanger des réflexions, nourrir leur pratique de la danse. Après une première rencontre en Italie, Montréal est la seconde halte du périple qui se conclura à la fin du mois de novembre à Vancouver.

La première semaine se déroule au studio B, la suivante, au studio Jeanne-Renaud. Dans chaque lieu, quelques mots. Des carnets, des crayons et autres chaussettes, chaise renversée, perceuse, ballons, noix, pommes, ordinateur, cafés, bouteilles d’eau, ruban adhésif collé aux murs. Quelques livres convoquent d’autres sensibilités, d’autres présences. Banksy, Sally Mann, Slinkachu, Nan Goldin. Un univers se crée entre les murs, auquel s’accorde un rythme de travail imprévisible et souvent insaisissable. Difficile à circonscrire, fuyant, sans grand éclat, ce quotidien de la création échappe d’ordinaire à la représentation ainsi qu’au témoignage. Il demeure confiné aux coulisses de l’histoire écrite et de la scène. Ne restent que quelques mots ou quelques photos pour tenter d’en évoquer la fugacité.

Cet espace-temps associé au studio concourt néanmoins à l’ambiance intime et singulière du processus artistique. Il participe d’un écosystème de la création qui est tout aussi fragile qu’essentiel. Comme le sont les rencontres. Celles-là même, improbables et heureuses, qui motivent le projet Triptyque. Si le rapprochement géographique paraît être la pierre d’assise de cet échange [inter]national, le véritable défi de cette troisième cohorte consiste en la réunion d’espaces identitaires de même que chorégraphiques dans l’intimité d’une seule pièce. Car la démarche à trois peut représenter une aventure hasardeuse. Elle implique notamment un travail délicat des frontières individuelles qu’il importe à la fois de perméabiliser et de préserver, qu’il faut ouvrir, mais parfois défendre.

L’étape montréalaise ne laisse en rien présager la naissance d’une pièce à trois à la fin du processus. Elle a plutôt suscité une conjonction d’individualités, ayant motivé chacun à prendre conscience de ses propres nécessités, de sa propre gestuelle, enfouies sous des couches d’épidermes, sous des épaisseurs d’images formatées, incorporées, sous les innombrables strates de pratique, d’enseignement, d’interprétation, de vécu. Une cohabitation chorégraphique en trois lieux, trois temps, trois artistes, de laquelle semblent vouloir émerger des amorces de propositions bien distinctes, mais encore mouvantes.

L’espace rayonnant de Ziyian / “Awaken heart”par Mylène Joly

Comme certains le feraient d’une pièce de tissu ou d’une feuille de papier, Ziyian découpe le noir du studio. Elle y fait apparaître des zones claires, toutes blanches, comme autant d’îles à la surface de la pénombre, des territoires de souvenirs et de questionnements à défricher. Une table, de grandes feuilles de papier, un tapis, un oreiller tel un nuage rempli de vent. Sa danse se déploie dans les espaces, à travers eux. Ses métamorphoses s’esquissent au fil des allers-retours et des tableaux. Quantité d’objets épars, un ventilateur, des chaussures à talons hauts, un tout petit mouton…

Au départ, tout donne à croire qu’elle veut être seule dans ces sortes de microthéâtres, à la façon d’un enfant rêveur qui règne sur ses royaumes imaginaires. Bien vite, ses mouvements, sa musique, ses regards, ses paroles sollicitent d’autres présences. Celle douce et attentionnée de Ginelle, celle amicale de Marco. Ziyian se déplace, un origami au bout des bras contenant quelques mots repliés au creux de la main, à la recherche d’un comparse avec qui partager le jeu.

Autre langue, autre pays, autre continent. Pour Marco venu d’Italie, cette escale nord-américaine est l’occasion de s’inspirer d’une nouvelle métropole, de chercher de quoi alimenter des questionnements intérieurs. À l’extérieur, il observe beaucoup, se fait poreux, glanant çà et là tout un composé d’affects, de dialogues, d’images, de musiques. Ces récoltes teintent ses expérimentations chorégraphiques, entre autres par l’entremise de projections. Quelques parcelles d’un automne montréalais qui s’offrent en contrepoint d’une recherche gestuelle, méditative, silencieuse et solitaire.

Ainsi, son regard s’est attardé à la devise de la province qui circule partout dans les rues. L’adage parfait pour le retour au soi chorégraphique que propose le projet? Il en projette les mots dans l’espace du studio et tente d’en saisir le sens, la portée, les nuances, la consistance. Au fil de ses mouvements, son corps intercepte le subtil jet de lumière, offrant, par sa danse, une matérialité aux mots qui brillent dans l’apesanteur.

L’espace lumineux de Marco / « Je me souviens. »par Mylène Joly

L’espace mécanique de Peter /“This is me. And here we are.”par Mylène Joly

La présence de Peter est davantage volatile. Elle est matérialisée par une constellation de morceaux de rubans – collants, blancs, verts, transparents, métalliques –, disséminés dans le studio. Chaque pièce semble figurer des corps et donne envie d’imaginer l’ensemble comme des bonshommes allumettes suspendus dans la lueur de la fenêtre. Sortes de personnages flottants, soudainement figés, comme des lettres sur du papier, ils évoquent le corps de Peter, sur lequel ils ont pris forme.

Ses pantins dessinent autant d’empreintes de la danse, de sa danse, tel un groupe de figures qui s’articulent les unes avec les autres. Tout donne à croire qu’elles cherchent à s’activer sous l’effet des rayons de soleil, qu’elles s’efforcent de créer des ponts entre elles, de relier ce « là où je suis » à cet « être ensemble ». Leur apparente simplicité suggère la complexité d’une mécanique gestuelle justement incarnée dans le duo qu’il dansera à la toute fin avec Marco.

10 septembre 2012, End of week 1, Montréalpar Ginelle Chagnon

The first week of the Montréal phase of Triptych has already come to term. During this period Ziyian, Marco, and Peter each started individual research processes and are working on their own. As you will see in these images, the studio B of Circuit-Est allowed us to work in broad daylight, which was a change from Bassano’s Garage Nardini.

As our dance “aboratory” moved to the Édifice Jean-Pierre-Perreault today, our artist will benefit from the Jeanne-Renaud studio and they have already divided the space to suit themselves for their own work.

par Mylène Joly

Les présences sont contrastées, au même titre que les interrogations et les projets chorégraphiques. Or, par-delà les apparentes différences, chacun semble sonder à sa façon l’espace tantôt profond de la mémoire, accompagné de l’œil sensible et bienveillant de la répétitrice qui les accompagne. Ginelle sait fertiliser les démarches sans les diriger, parvient à dénouer les résistances pour assurer plus de fluidité. Elle puise dans la richesse de ses expériences antérieures, en raconte quelques-unes, comme on sème des fleurs au vent, colorant ainsi le paysage à sa manière, finement, au hasard des terrains féconds.

Au terme de ces deux semaines, une présentation publique. Comme si les chaises vides qui meublaient un côté de la pièce invoquaient depuis le tout début du processus d’autres présences, priaient pour une multiplication des regards. Il est vrai qu’il y a tant à observer dans le travail en studio. Par ailleurs, la présentation dans ce contexte-ci ne se veut pas une démonstration performative d’œuvres. Il n’importe pas là de spectaculariser une forme finie, encore, comme toujours, parce qu’il n’y a que ça que l’on sache faire en danse. Il s’agit simplement et humblement d’offrir en partage une brève image du long plan-séquence qu’est le mouvement de la création. Dans l’espoir de faire briller un éclat furtif de ces perpétuels processus.

14 septembre 2012, présentation publique

22 novembre 2012, Vancouverpar Ginelle Chagnon

There is something to be said about knowing that you are going to meet with three colleagues for a project, not having too much contact with them beforehand and trusting that the point of departure of this encounter can only happen then.

How prepared should one be for this kind of project?

Making oneself available is all the preparation I feel we need for this Triptych encounter. That feels refreshing and makes one’s sense of time and sensitivity to “where we are” challenged and it accentuates the understanding of oneself.

There is a point in a recent relationship where you wish you were at the beginning again, when all was to be discovered and first impressions were to be confirmed... Now, here we are at our third meeting and novelty is not a part of the game any longer. More so, we still wish for proximity to happen and engage in games and discussions that turn around the same circles. That is ok, that is what we do when we were put together by some magical wand and are expected to do something valuable together. Because we are sensitive people, we test each other out and try to identify how we all belong together.

This the question that arose yesterday: “How much of this person do I need to know in order for me to work with them?”

The question that I will launch today is: “What do I need to know about this person in order to work with them...?”

Triptych Vancouver is on its way.

24 novembre 2012par Ginelle Chagnon

At the moment, all are working on their own but will soon join in action. Marco set up a collective proposition yesterday and all three artists participated. We will see how this grows into a project and where it will take us next week.

It will be interesting to see how everyone’s voice will intertwine and maybe interfere with one another and how shaping and poetic result will come out of this joint project.

We will get to work and see!

26 novembre 2012par Ginelle Chagnon

Today’s trio session is a promising continuation of last week’s proposition if I may say so.

Choreographers need to observe, identify for themselves what interests them in this trio, what shape this project can aim for, what is the individual body and the collective one of this proposition...

We have a lot of work to do. This is great stuff.

28 novembre 2012, Utopia and Catastrophe: performing researchpar Andreas Kahre

This is the third and final stage of the process, and marks the end of the project—not in the sense that a final work emerges, but that it constitutes a final opportunity to reflect on the individual and collective research, on the relationships that have developed and informed the process, and to explore the process in a different architectural and geographic frame.

Visiting the studio during the first week, it soon becomes apparent that the location has a profound impact on the process. Marco especially remarks on the ‘aseptic’ quality of the studio space; its stark, “fishbowl” architectural that bears no trace of what has come before and will take no imprint from the work taking place now. This clearly contrasts the setting in Bassano, for example, where the physical frame imposes and reflects its own history.

Can one begin a sentence without knowing how it will end?

It also becomes apparent that the process itself is still very much a matter of negotiation and discovery. For an afternoon, the question of the relationship between the choreographers’ individual research and their shared frame for exploring movement in this space dominates the discussion. Language is very much a part of the negotiation, framing and preceding, defining and excluding the movement. It is apparent how delicate the balance of their experiences, and how they express them, remains, and that the transition from working mostly individually, as they did during the first two stages of the process, to working collaboratively, or collectively, is in itself a delicate negotiation.

“Dramaturg” [she expresses discomfort with the term] Ginelle Chagnon reflects on the outside experience of the experiment, and acts as witness to the negotiation of the choreographers individual experience; they continue to search for a ground that includes aspects of their individual research and to explore the question of what is brought into the room from research outside of the project. What is the framework for exploration, and the balance between the work that each brings from their own practice with the work they create together, in this space, at this time?

“For me, chance and choice are inseparable. Without one there is not the other and yet, neither actually exist.” Ziyian Kwan

Considering that this is the last leg of a long journey, it is surprising to see how fundamental the questions being asked are—on other words, I realize that I had arrived with the tacit assumption that I would be witnessing a process that had developed a shared “project culture”. What I discover instead is very much a process of questioning, and of true research.

What is the proposition? The question re-appears several times as the group reflects on the result of the physical exploration, and curiously their individual abilities don’t seem to make it easier to negotiate a shared response. As Ginelle points out, all three are exceptional performers, and could create something interesting to watch, no matter whether they agree or not. But what is the conceptual and the physical frame of the experiment?

They talk of glass, of transparency and opacity, and for two days I witness negotiations that relate to a space of readiness, of waiting for something to arise, and for the conditions under which it can be explored or expressed. Can one begin a sentence without knowing how it will end?

There appears to be both a shared and a separate search for connections, for sources, and for the impulse to move together. Time becomes a central aspect of how they negotiate their presence in the physical space and the movement space, and all three attempt to articulate the premises they operate from. Tension between descriptions of the internal states and the formal frame. For a while, I sense a language impasse.

The studio space becomes part of a discussion that ranges from the history of Vancouver’s location at the edge of three tectonic plates to the history of its dance community, and the fact that the building serves a dual role as a disaster response centre becomes a point of departure to reinterpret its role.

It is the future of the space that informs the research for the next few days, leading to a collective movement exploration based on a theme: dance after a catastrophe.

“It’s not about improvising together.” Marco D’Agostin

It is not an improvisation, however, although the frame remains open, but a deliberate framing of the movement. Physically, a set of ideas centered on circular and spiralling motion grounds the exploration, and over the course of more than twenty minutes develops into an almost hypnotic motif. The formal restrictions are challenged at several points, especially in the individual explorations—framed in the narrative as “rescue missions”—but the narrative sustains the “apocalyptic” quality to the space and the movement.

Two days later, the exploration has moved in to Faris Family Studio performance space, and it has become a duet: Ziyian decides to continue with her individual research, while Peter and Marco explore the hypothesis of the Dance Centre as a post-apocalyptic space. The circular motif remains—now referred to as the “generator”, and the “rescue missions” expand into more complete explorations, both of the space and as forays into realms of character and relationship.

The conditions of the space are now negotiated in terms of text and subtext, and in their relationship to sound, and Ginelle’s role becomes more active as the exploration becomes more focused on including an audience. Which will be witnessing an extraordinary group of dance artists very much in the thick of a process of discovery. It is true research, and I look forward to the experience of seeing how they present the process in tomorrow’s sharing event.

The day of the sharing at the Faris Family Studio. Peter and Marco are preparing themselves and the space: a set of laptops as sound sources, a camera, and an alarm clock taped to their chests; they are preparing for the catastrophe that has become the thematic anchor, and the invitation to the audience to experience the space they share with the dancers as an apocalyptic space where all that is left is the moving body in something Giorgio Agamben calls “the time that remains”. The “generator” returns, but its formality gives way to the body as a shape set free by the catastrophe to a circumstance beyond culture, beyond measured time, beyond clothing. The end of days is the end of the human.

Ziyian Kwan’s sharing opens a completely different world, in which facing, direction, and distance are carefully articulated decisions. Opening with a gesture that appears to monitor the body’s pulse, the investigation roams the space but remains tightly focused on the body itself, accompanied by language fragments that transmit some of the “data stream” back to the dancer and to audience. The process of sitting down is relayed back as a series of messages: “no chair... no chair.... no chair...” We witness the body’s awareness of itself, its condition in space, its consciousness.

Many thanks again for letting me witness and participate.

1er décembre 2012, Ending Triptych in Vancouverpar Ginelle Chagnon

As much as I hated deadlines in school, I love them now. They give us a measure in time before which something needs to be accomplished. We need them in order to compress our actions as we aim to finish any project so that we can give ourselves the opportunity to stop, access, and move on.

Having the sharing Thursday late afternoon made this last segment of the Triptych project a day to aim for. Decisions were made and work was done with the sense of the clock ticking, ticking, ticking... So when do you let go?

The Thursday happening at the Dance Centre begun by the collaborative research work of Marco D’Agostin and Peter Trosztmer and was followed by Ziyian Kwan’s solo research. After the two presentations, the audience [of about 30 people] was invited to share comments, which they did and it informed all of us about what they had just experienced.

In the case of sharing research that is tending to engage in the shaping of a work, it is very generous on the part of the performer, the choreographer, the audience—and especially on the part of the producers—to allow for this work to be seen at that stage of the process, since it informs the artists of where they have arrived in the eye of the viewer with their respective projects.

I have been on a journey as well with this last phase of the Triptych project and I am grateful to the artists and the producers for trusting me with this quest of personal artistic strive. It has been quite a journey.

Thank you to Roberto Casarotto of the Operaestate Festival Veneto [Italy], Francine Gagné of Circuit-Est centre chorégraphique [Montréal], and Mirna Zagar of The Dance Centre [Vancouver]. Your work and dedication is immense.

Thank you also to all concerned in welcoming us in all three choreographic centres: coordinators, writers, technical help, receptionnists... Your work is done in the shadow of what is shown on stage. It is important in facilitating our stay away from home, our work on our craft on a daily basis, and allows the experience to be a part of something larger than what happens in the studio. Your work, support, patience, and smiles are a big part of our team effort. Thank you.

Thank you to the artists Marco D’Agostin, Ziyian Kwan, and Peter Trosztmer. Your wish for the profoundness and authenticity of your craft was very inspiring.

9 janvier 2013par Ziyian Kwan

Triptych came at a time of reinvention in my artistic practice. After decades as an interpreter, I decided in January 2012 to try choreography. I had planned to pass the year alone in a converted church in Saskatchewan, observing the slow expanse of Prairie time. Fate intervened and in the absence of a structure to promote emptiness, I chose instead to empty myself into what is for me, a new role in the creative process.

For this reason, Triptych arrived as a welcome intervention. Though I began without expectations, I soon viewed the project as a recognizance mission. I wanted to find out if I had the raw materials to make a dance, to find a vulnerability and strength that would allow me to create. Mostly, I wanted to cultivate a beginner’s mind all over again. In retrospect, I see that I was I trying to concoct some kind of mother yeast from which to mold a few loaves of unbaked inquiry.

Towards this building of something that is not yet anything, Triptych was a profound experience. It was a chance to inhabit discomfort, to embody the chaos and void inherent to the creative act. All this within the unpredictable confluence of three very different places, times, and artists. In an ecology where there are few such opportunities, it was a blessing, to participate in an adventure where impulse is the primary consort.

Triptych ignited my curiosity and reminded me that risk is worthwhile, even if the results are banal and especially, if what follows is uncertainty. As I travel alone into the studio now and in the months ahead, I am accompanied by the research, confusion, and epiphany that began just by virtue of being in the room with Ginelle, Marco, and Peter. These are artists whose ideas I find challenging, people whose honesty I find deeply moving. Lately, revisiting the creative act, my bodymind has already been transformed by our exchange. This to me is the root of collaboration, the alchemy that transpires when we breathe with others.

Collaboration is a word that conjures varied meanings and potentials. At this juncture in my practice, a little juice to keep searching and sharing is enough to bring me to my knees. I am deeply grateful to my Triptych colleagues and the many people behind the organizations of The Dance Centre, Circuit-Est and Operaestate for the generosity that makes inspiration possible.

This is the big cadeaux that I received from Triptych. A creative pulse can be roused quite simply by a question, a mystery, an observation or a team of people working towards a common unknown. A question invites exploration. A mystery is an emblem of the unconscious. An observation makes space for agreement and opposition. If I can attend such tensions with the kind of generosity that Mirna, Francine, Roberto, Raquel, Heather, Dominique, Daniel, Élodie, Andreas, Giulia, Mylène, Marco, Peter, Ginelle all shared; if I can integrate work, ethic, and muse, then I have a place to start creating from. Herewith a few fond remembrances of ideas that resonated with me:

Ginelle: “What is the intelligence of the work? What is the key ingredient? What traces of the process does the audience see? You don’t need to understand; sometimes it is enough to just listen. If you need a ride to Home Depot to get what you need, I will take you. Consider the space.” Peter: “I like to wait. I like to tinker. Sometimes you just hang out so that when the thing comes, you can pounce on it. Is there a kettle here? Did you handwash all your clothes? I thought that maybe I could just go to the mountains and do the work that is there. I went to the river again. I don’t know. Maybe. I wish we always had this kind of rapport.” Marco: “You cannot do this [but] an artist must. There is what we have and then there is what we want. I always start with an idea. Then I had a crisis: I was empty. For me this is the first time. OH DIO! Next time you are crying, go to the mirror and look at yourself. I always do this. An artist must… go back to loneliness. An artist must.” Ziyian: “Does anyone want to go for a drink?”

These are just a few reflections and some select words from the many gorgeous exchanges and artful moments that I had the great privilege to be with during Triptych 2012.

21 janvier 2013, After the fact: writingspar Ginelle Chagnon

Imagine this. Someone [probably a Simon] says that in July of this year, you will meet three other artists, join forces in Italy to spend two weeks together dwelling on the creative process. Then, two months later, you will meet again for another two weeks in Montréal and, two months later, in Vancouver. Doesn’t that sound great?! Well...

So you make space for this in your agenda, work on other things in the meantime and then, before you know it, you are in Bassano, Italy, jet lagged [or not] in an old garage that has been organized as an empty studio, meeting these collaborators, some of them for the first time.

So you try to remember what the project is supposed to be and you realize that you don’t know what that is. We have to work with each other on what...? What do you mean we have to make it up...? What is the goal again?

How to trust that this first encounter is enough for something of value to be experienced in the long run of this project...?

So you wonder, not so much about who these people are, but who am I, what am I doing here in this foreign place? Am I prepared for this? The puzzle starts here and doubt is in your pocket.

Let’s start with something simple, a conversation. Let’s observe where we are, see what is in the room and pay attention to one detail that keeps coming back to our gaze. Can a simple starting point become a source of inspiration for a singular journey? It can’t be that simple but it will do for today, tomorrow, and the next day...

Creative process is not about accomplishment but about experience. Making oneself truly available and aware of the present moment is all the preparation I feel we needed for this Triptych encounter. I admit that I miscalculated the depth of this statement and failed to communicate that to my fellow collaborators.

There is a point in a relationship [or project] where you wish you were at the beginning again so that you could start over in a more informed way. But is this wish connected to making things easier or because you think you are going in the wrong direction?

When I was younger, I hated deadlines because I had to stop daydreaming around the task and was obliged to produce something. Now, I appreciate them, as they carry the responsibility of measuring time during which something needs to be accomplished. To meet this deadline, I need to compress my actions as I aim to finish a project. That being done, it will enable me to shift away from the driving task, offer what has been done, absorb the immediate consequences, and enjoy the fact that the project is coming to a halt. Have we succeeded?

That depends on what we individually consider to be a success. It is certainly not measured by how much applause was rendered for our work and implication. I feel it is contained within oneself and will be part of the link into another journey.

I have certainly been on an unpredictable ride with the Triptych project. I am very grateful to the artists and the producers for trusting me with this quest of personal artistic strive. It has been a time to reflect and to grow in my ability to observe, listen, and communicate and that is quite a gift.

Thank you again to Roberto Casarotto of the Operaestate Festival Veneto [Italy], Francine Gagné of Circuit-Est centre chorégraphique [Montréal], and Mirna Zagar of The Dance Centre [Vancouver]. Thank you also to all concerned in welcoming us in each choreographic center: collaborators, coordinators, writers, technicians, and supporters. You allowed us to not feel so alone.

Last sharing in Vancouver. There is such beauty in differences.

1. Machisma, animalistic energy, apocalyptic bodies, saturation of muscle tone, raw movements, and turmoil in the space, the clock is ticking...2. Architecture of the body and objects in a widely open space, refined movements, channeled energy, and specific drawing in space, time standing still...

Two different dramaturgical propositions revealed themselves at the very end of this process. Two unique ways were put in front of our eyes in using the body to show and transmit our individual yet common organic humanity. What a treat.

Marco D’Agostin, Ziyian Kwan, and Peter Trosztmer, your authenticity and the profoundness of your artistry was very inspiring. Thank you for sharing that with me.

8 février 2013, Triptych 2012, final reportpar Marco D’Agostin

There’s something violent in the way four people who don’t know each other meet in a hot summer in Italy and try to work together. I immediately perceived our first meeting as a collision, underlined by the unbereable heat of Bassano.

“How much do we need to know in order to work with the others?” Ginelle formulated this question in Vancouver, at the end of the process, but looking at it from now, it seems like it had always been there, hidden under our discussions, our meetings, our misunderstandings.

For me, it’s always a matter of language and vocabulary: how do we establish our own territory, how do we share words and expressions, where do we meet? And as language brings with itself a huge amount of information dealing with the background, with the past, with the identity, the four of us were looking at each other revealing or hiding what was behind. Sometimes protecting it, sometimes offering it.

“Silence is like an island in the middle of a turbolent ocean.” M. Abramovic

We were fighting loneliness; we knew we didn’t know each other, we were aware of the great opportunity we were living and we were trying to open, little by little, not to feel alone in the big garage, or under the crazy blue sky, or walking in the mountains.

Sometimes it seemed like we were avoiding physical contact, but then a hand, an arm or a leg was unconsciously looking for it.

The dynamics between the four of us were developing around the idea of communicating.

As four creatures on a desert island would have to do, we were looking for a way to reach the others, to share our own way of working, our esthetics, our practice, and of course our crisis, the difficulty of being a choreographer today, to be an artist today.

Montréal in September is shining. It’s my first time in North America and the first thing I have to deal with is the city, the structure of the city, the identity, once again, of the place where I am. We try to work and live in the same space but this time it seems to be difficult. We suddenly realize that we need to come back to loneliness, the same loneliness we’ve been fighting against in the very beginning.

We maybe need some space and time for silence, to come back to our own practice, to our personal channel of communication with the world.

Montréal becomes a space for coexisting.

We look at each other as suspicious animals, having Ginelle as our point of reference and balance. We’re tired, maybe a bit sad, we miss conversation.

The city is magic in its undergoing musical vibration.

Where and what do we belong to? Now that I’m so far from what I usually consider as my territory, how do I articulate my needs and my research? What does define the belonging?

All these questions are vivid and present, especially when I begin to notice the linguistic separation this town is living. Words as weapons of an invisible fight.

“Je me souviens” is written on all the cars, but what do you remember? Are your memories defining your identity, your present? Can memories be spread in a new territory, build a new island?

I look for a choreographic translation of all these ideas. I look for people I can talk with about language and culture, about how we consider ourselves as part of bigger groups in order to orient ourselves in the world again, belonging to something.

It’s difficult to be beautiful, it’s been hard to get here, warriors also break, and again: this is me, this is what I have, and with this I’m gonna work.

And what I have is walking in the parks, feel how the city is today, looking at it from above, working alone, again, trying to connect with everyone who’s around me.

When we meet again in Vancouver winter is already there, behind the windows.

When suddenly it stops raining and a ray of light breaks the clouds, we look at it from the studio as a memorable event, we scream to each other: the sun, there’s the sun!

Tireness and emptyness, the island has the shape of a fish tank, the aseptic studio we’re working in.

But we look at each other looking for help and comfort. We try to share our lonelinesses, to make them understandable, accessible to the others. We more or less understand the rules of the island where we have to work and we feel ready to cocreate.

Again, I need to connect with the place where we are, I want to find the story of this place, a sense in the things.

Ginelle suggests us to go into the city and find a place where we can identify something.

I find myself staring at the English Bay, just outside the city centre, where the chaotic and artificial world of the town collides with the immobile and slow world of nature, with the sea, the big boats standing still, the mountains. You can hear the traffic as well as the wind. And this is exactly where I am in the island, in a place where the loud noise of the months that I’ve just passed is crashing with the blank pages of the present.

Andreas comes into the room and tells us what he thinks it’s just a banal information: The Dance Centre has been built in order to resist against any kind of natural disaster that would occur to the town. So: will dancers have to save the world?

Suddenly, the place where we are has a clear identity and something to tell. So we begin to work together, lost in a movement in loop, and we see ourselves as creatures, left on a shore, somewhere. After the end of the world, maybe.

How can we build our own Utopia? What does happen after the end of the world? How will these bodies move, and what will they become? How can we save it, will we save it?

13 février 2013, Triptychpar Peter Trosztmer

Open ended free research time, with no specific goal attached. -Artistic renewal.-Time and space for an encounter with new places, new people, other idea’s. -Studio time and studio space with a couple of peers and a mentor. -A chance to develop new artistic ideas or work on old ones.-A great way to get to know Mirna, Roberto, and Francine will be there too. I don’t know Ginelle very well… And I will really get to know Ziyian and Marco.

Thank you, thank you Francine for calling me last year. I know we cannot do it again but I will keep looking for ways to repeat this experience.

Bassano del Grappa, unbelievably beautiful… Accommodations in a bright, airy, perfectly Italian beautiful bed and breakfast overlooking the mountains, being looked after by Carla. Already I knew this was going to be special. I would not have to re-invent myself as I feel like I have been re-born. The sun is setting and people are walking about—just incredible. Sorry to write about this: I realize you all had an experience with Bassano like this as some point.

The Garage: old, a nasty echo, a little dirty, lots of junk in the back; hot, a breeze blowing through, no one else about, close to the home, unlimited access. I think I have dreamed of such a place—just perfect—unbelievable. And Oh yes… the river: the almost daily retreat of a cold swim to break the heat of the day.

My time in Italy re-enforced my belief that when you can, it is so important to take your time. To not produce, to share experience as well as ideas. I thank you all so much for your generosity and patience.

Montreal – “Hang on to your hat.” Things will be moving a little faster here. The pressures of the big city will take hold. [Lets do Montréal again—what do you say]. The space in Jeanne-Renaud was so beautiful that it is almost difficult to remember Saint-André. Mathieu was there to provide us with anything we need.

Montréal gives me a chance to personalize my experience. I am giving a chance to see my own life in relation to Triptych. I think I realize that I need to create more space, that it is not sustainable to cram so much into every day/week. I am proud to say I have reduced a little for the coming year.

Montréal continued: I have the chance to introduce my family to Marco and Ziyian. Well, I think Sigrid had to go out but at least Thea was there. And beside this I can share Triptych with my community.

Vancouver – I think I am beginning to realize that this does not go on forever. If I want to do something specific [and I think I do], I had better get on with it. But the mountains are so beautiful and the ocean… I just want to take walks, bike rides, and meet people and talk about things. Ok, but not during studio hours… It works. Make your appointments with the space, people, and work. Be ready: inspiration might not be there all the time. Stick it out long enough and be ready to notice it when it does come.

Ginelle, I like what you wrote about preparation: “Just make yourself available and present in the moment.” I will add: let yourself transform, re-molecularize.

Live art practice: get together with people you don’t know or people you kind of know and spend intimate time together. Then, when it is over, you move along to the next. If you are lucky—and we often are—you see some people again. Maybe you even work with them again. Feels like falling in love and moving away.

Thank you for all the hard work and energy [Roberto, Mirna, Francine]. I sincerely hope that this project can continue and grow. It is invaluable. This kind of initiative is so essential to the growth of the milieu affording: a chance for an artist to visit and revisit himself over a period, in the company of peers, a chance for artistic research and development without the pressure of accomplishment, a chance to “share” with even more peers, an opportunity to experience different places/cultures, an exchange of idea’s and methods.

Triptych for me, I think, is a platform for dialogue: this is where it begins and it can go anywhere.

Via Vendramini, 3536061 Bassano del GrappaItalie

+1 514-525-1569info@circuit-est.qc.cawww.circuit-est.qc.ca

677 Davie StreetVancouver [British Columbia] V6B 2G6Canada

Le projet Triptyque a bénéficié du soutien financier du ministère de la Culture et des Communications et du ministères des Relations internationales du Québec.

Édifice Jean-Pierre-Perreault2022, rue Sherbrooke EstMontréal [Québec] H2K 1B9Canada

+39 0424-217807operaestate@comune.bassano.vi.it www.operaestate.it

+1 604-606-6400info@thedancecentre.cawww.thedancecentre.ca

partenaires et collaborateursrs

Conception graphique © Valérie Laurin / Photos © Ginelle Chagnon et Élodie Malroux