Learn more about the project from choreographer Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg: 

“This past February and early March, I stepped into Vancouver’s Arts Umbrella studios with 7 talented dancers from Arts Umbrella’s Performance Research Program, and several of our powerhouse actors from Bard’s 2020 A Midsummer Night’s Dream cast, with the task of exploring and workshopping choreographic ideas. For two and half weeks we worked, played, laughed, questioned, danced and danced and danced. By the end of our time I was in “art-love” with these 7 amazing dance artists: Gaby, Marie, Alex, Ashley, Ain, Noemi, and Samatha, who were to be our Dream fairies. They embraced my collaborative and experimental style of creating movement and also brought their own individual inspiration to the material.

When the call was made to cancel Bard’s 2020 season, Lesley Telford – the brilliant and talented director of Arts Umbrella’s Performance Research Program – and I put our heads together to find a way to create a sense of completion for these 7 artists. Over the months of April and May the dancers made videos of themselves, using my prompts based on the work we’d created together in the studio. Each week we met virtually to give feedback and new assignments until we accumulated over 100 clips of these artists discovering how the spirit of our Dream world can live virtually. From these clips I put together a rough edit, which I handed over to Lesley and her partner, professional video editor Andrew Mackenzie, who made this final version. I am so proud of these fabulous artists and what we’ve made together.”

Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg has choreographed 8 productions at Bard. She is also Bard’s movement coach. Tara is the Artistic Director of Tara Cheyenne Performance www.taracheyenne.com

Video Credits:

Choreographer: Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg
Composer: Mishelle Cuttler
Collaborators/Performers from the Performance Research Project at Arts Umbrella:
Alex Kolarcik
Ashley Eleby
Samantha Krystal
Noémi Valois
Ain Tominaga
Gabrielle Richie
Performance Research Project Artistic Leader: Lesley Telford
Editor: Andrew Mackenzie