CITIE BALLET EXPLORES INNER THOUGHTS AND INTERACTIONS
Gate 3 plumbs idea of chance meetings in crowds, while See Me tackles mental health
Remember the last time you found yourself on a subway platform, or in a line at the airport?
Most of us don’t spend a lot of time interacting with other people we meet there, but have you ever thought about how your lives might intersect?
That’s where choreographer Brett Taylor’s piece Gate 3 — part of Citie Ballet’s Intersect show — takes off with a playful look at how short, chance meetings can develop into something greater.
“My first inspiration came when I was touring with Les Ballet Jazz de Montreal,” Taylor said. “We toured so much and I started paying attention to the anonymous people you see and how they go about their everyday lives. Sometimes you would see moments of very small connections or what people might do to isolate themselves in a crowded area.”
Being a good observer was its own learning experience.
“I came to love how people from all walks of life congregate in the same train or bus station or airport. I think there’s something beautiful in that, some sort of lesson in tolerance, and I feel those experiences have impacted my life in some way, large or small. That’s kind of the basis of my piece. It was designed to be sort of a crosssection or a slice out of time, but there is kind of a through-line or a missed-connections theme over the different sections.”
Collaboration is all-important for Taylor when he creates a work like Gate 3.
“The dancers are the vessels in which I voice my language and they all have their own specific way of moving. As a dancer, the best choreographers were able to use my strengths, so observing how people move is very important.”
Taylor still takes the subway every day in Toronto where he has been based for three years.
Raised on a farm near Regina, he started dancing at age seven, inspired by an older brother. After high school, he apprenticed with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and eventually became a principal dancer with Les Ballet Jazz de Montreal. He has put in numerous guest roles with other companies, in theatre, television, film and music videos.
Along the way, Taylor came to enjoy varied dance styles including music theatre.
“I like being able to combine my experience, to act and tell a story, and to form thoughts that you can’t really articulate with words, through dance. It’s a really special mix and, as a choreographer, my background in theatre has come in handy because I enjoy making a fusion of things.”
Along with developing work as a choreographer since his student days, Taylor continues to dance, and his next role is tied to a touring
production of West Side Story in Ontario.
Citie Ballet’s artistic director, Jorden Morris, calls Intersect his “young guns” show since it offers new works by two rising stars, respected dancers still emerging as choreographers in their own right.
Edmonton’s Kiera Keglowitsch last danced for Citie Ballet in the final show of its 2017 season, so she’s very in tune with the company ’s boundary-stretching spirit. But her contemporary ballet work, See Me, takes a more introverted, personal route to the arts.
“My piece is about mental health and mental illness and struggle and I think it’s really tied in to the arts, because the nature of being a dancer or musician or whatever is that your personality can be very hard on yourself. It’s really important to talk about it, to say ‘I have these issues and hurdles to overcome,’ but that doesn’t mean you can’t be a happy, successful person.”
In gestation over the past year, See Me is rooted in her experience, but it’s informed by her observations of friends, family and the world around her.
“Awareness about mental health is going up, but it’s still a bit stigmatized. It makes people uncomfortable and I wanted to change that. I’m a super-anxious person and I can get panic attacks for no reason, even physical feelings as if there are bugs crawling under my skin, something I’ve dealt with since I was a kid. I’m lucky that my family has been so supportive and dance has made me so in touch with my body, so I have an awareness of that where some people don’t have the tool kit.”
See Me uses the company’s nine dancers in short permutations that “flow through different moods” over nearly 40 minutes. She chose to use music by composers who coped with mental health issues such as Brahms, Chopin and Tchaikovsky, “pieces that came out of dark times but that are so beautiful.”
Finding the right visual moves was something else.
“I like having a full stage and lots of bodies working together, but some things call for solos.”
There’s a multimedia aspect, too. She was offered a chance to work with artists from the Nina Haggerty Foundation and became inspired by the images of visual artist Scott Berry, images that made her think about how we can judge each other without seeing the inner person. His large-scale, black and white backdrops complement her piece, and Berry is altering the dancer’s costumes, too.
Keglowitsch was drawn to dance and ballet around age five, admitting it appealed to her “super meticulous type-A personality.” Her love of music was just as strong and she was a natural performer. From junior high, she attended a sports performance school, exploring a wide array of dance styles, from jazz and modern dance to tap and hip-hop.
“In today’s dance world, you need to be very versatile, to do different styles and to be able to change your style quickly, so I’m grateful I went to a school that gave me that foundation.”
Her first professional role was a small part as a witch with Alberta Ballet at 13. Following high school, she hit Pittsburgh Ballet’s graduate program and took artist residencies or in-depth stints in Arizona, at New York’s Joffrey Ballet and at the Banff Centre. After seeing Citie Ballet shows since her childhood, she has choreographed four works for them since she started as a dancer in 2013.
“I just really love connecting with people, sharing your emotional self, being on stage, and being able to encourage storytelling between people. It’s a universal language that people from all walks of life and different cultures can interpret in some way.”