This performance and research takes place on the unceded stolen lands of the Coast Salish People: the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh Nations, and engages with the plant life found on these lands- in forests, in our homes, and in our communities. In learning to listen to, and understand these plants and their lifecycles, we offer gratitude for the lessons and learnings we have been able to discover through this process, and gratitude to the hosts on whose lands we have been able to work, dance, and engage in this process. This piece taught us how to listen closely to the life around us. We hope it encourages you to consider your own connections to this land, and the ways you can listen closely in your daily lives.
About the Performance
“Queer’ not as being about who you’re having sex with (that can be a dimension of it); but ‘queer’ as being about the self that is at odds with everything around it, and that has to invent and create and find a place to speak and to thrive and to live.” – Bell Hooks
Photo by Javier Sotres Porres
To become is cause for celebration. There is a deep pleasure to becoming. There is an eroticism to speculation, to becoming a version of yourself that feels closer to an intrinsic truth, one you may or may not already know. With that comes rot, and decay, and rebirth, and the necessity to become nonetheless despite these things. Plants serve as idyllic subjects in this way of thinking- they do not need to speculate becoming for themselves. They simply are. As stated in The Vegetative Soul: “the body of a plant is never given in advance, it is not prescribed, the extent of its metamorphosis can never be predicted.
Photos taken by Javier Sotres Porres
Director’s Note
“There is a palpable magic to filling a space with queer people; one that has been felt every step of this process alongside this incredible team. It has been a true honour to have them help bring this piece to life, and to have them support me every step of the way as we tended this garden together. I am forever grateful for them, and for their endless generosity and effort they put into growing this piece with me.
Plants respond to waves of purple light differently than they do sunlight. This, alongside a steady flickering of light and darkness, accelerates their process of photosynthesis, of becoming. When I think of becoming, I think of joy. The kind of joy that is akin to resistance. To reclamation. To thrashing your body on the dance floor covered in glitter and sweat and dirt. The kind that can only take place in a sanctuary designed for growing, grieving, and celebration. A space to be seen as much as we will allow it. Let us offer you a glimpse into our greenhouse. Into the moments of our in-betweens. The germination, the wilting, the rot, and the flowering. For decades, plants have acted as symbols of resistance after being used as devices to liken queer and feminine subjects to a false submission. Tonight, we will be menaces dressed in lavender. Loud pansies. Decadent and shining dykes on a dancefloor, unapologetic, planting gardens so we may give each other our flowers while we are still here.
This is your invitation to celebrate what we’ve shaped into.” – Alexandra Capara (she/her)
Alexandra Caprara (she/her) is a queer interdisciplinary artist from Toronto, Ontario whose practice is grounded in performance making and design, with a focus on devised processes, movement, and design lead creation. She has worked internationally as a director, performer, and designer for lighting and video projection, and has presented her work across Canada alongside companies such as WorkMan Arts, Factory Theatre, Theatre Replacement, and GoodWoman Dance. She believes in making and producing work that fosters queer joy. Select credits include direction and creation of “EVREN” (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), devised performance in “A Hunger Artist” (Prague Quadrennial 2023), lighting design for “Song from the Uproar” (City Opera Vancouver), and projection design for “A Silent Howl” (Dancing on the Edge). She currently resides in Vancouver where she recently completed her MFA in interdisciplinary arts at Simon Fraser University.
Desirée Keresztes James received her training at Simon Fraser University and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. She currently holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in contemporary dance and is continuing her to explore her practice in Montreal, Canada through the Big Bang program at Espace Ouvert. Having a strong base of Cunningham, Gaga technique and floor work techniques she is constantly seeking out ways of broadening their movement vocabulary and training. She has had the opportunity to work under the guidance of Emmalena Fredrikkson, Stéphanie Decourteille, Vanessa Goodman, and Justine Chambers. In her artistic practice, she explores queering the lens and investigating the presentation of camp. This involves challenging traditional norms and embracing diversity, particularly within gender, sexuality, and identity. She embraces the rich aesthetic of camp, incorporating elements of irony, exaggeration, and theatricality. By blending high and low art, she creates bold performances that celebrate authenticity and embrace difference, inviting audiences to engage with alternative perspectives.
Sydney Bluck (she/they) is a queer contemporary dance artist based in Montreal, Quebec. They are a graduate of Simon Fraser University (2023), receiving a BFA in dance from the School of Contemporary Arts, during which she also completed a semester abroad at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. While at SFU, Sydney trained in many forms including Gaga, Cunningham, floor work, and release technique under the teachings of Margarida Macieira, Justine A. Chambers, Emmalena Fredrikkson, Nini Dongnier, and Megan Walker Straight. She is currently continuing her training with Stephanie Decourteille in the 14th edition of the Big Bang program. As a dancer, Sydney values self discovery through movement. She has worked most recently with Robert Kitsos on his film Moving Matter 1 (Dance on Camera, Oslo, WildDogs). As a choreographer, Sydney centres her choreographic practice around the embodiment of everyday inspirations and places attention on the relationships naturally occurring between performers.
Aisha Wewala (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Vancouver’s lower mainland, on the Katzie First Nations traditional territory. She has extensive training in theatre, dance, and music. Her work is collaborative and non-hierarchical, devising with different types of people from her closest friends, the oldest members of her family, to children. Her work often touches on themes of family, growth, altered reality, and dreams. An essential part of her performance-making is to enjoy the process and have fun. Aisha wants her performances to create a memorable experience for the audience; something they can leave with and not leave behind. She is currently pursuing her BFA in Theatre & Performance at Simon Fraser University, School for the Contemporary Arts.
Natalia Martineau (she/her) is a queer emerging dance artist of Filipino and Canadian descent based in Vancouver, on the unceded Coast Salish territories of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. She holds a BFA in Contemporary Dance (Hons) from Simon Fraser University. In the process of expanding the physical bounds of her dance practice, Natalia hopes to investigate how embodied sensations can reveal inarticulable truths about identity through movement.
Natalia is grateful to have worked on projects with Margarida Macieira, Vanessa Goodman (Action at a Distance), and Shion Skye-Carter. She is currently in the process of devising an original interdisciplinary work with musical duo Sapphire Haze, and is thankful to have participated in EDAM’s Fall 2023 Training Scholarship Program.
Charlotte Samuel is a queer interdisciplinary dance artist living on the unceded, traditional lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations. They’re engaged in processing and channeling visual landscapes in their mundanity and interconnectedness through movement, deeply invested in fostering attentiveness to the body’s reactions to the world, its endless and exciting arrangements. They are excited about portraying nature and challenging anthropocentricity through movement, projection and installation work.They are currently finishing up a BFA in Contemporary Dance at Simon Fraser University where they’ve had the opportunity to train with and learn as a performer in works by Vanessa Goodman (Action at a Distance), Justine A. Chambers, Erika Mitsuhashi, and NiNi Dongnier. At SFU, they have discovered a great love for interdisciplinary collaboration and devised collective creation.
Claire Brown Stage Manager
Claire Brown is an emerging multidisciplinary artist who works as a performer, designer, director and creator on xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) lands in so-called Vancouver. They are currently pursuing their BFA at Simon Fraser University with a major in Theatre Production & Design. Claire’s most recent works explore memory, nostalgia, and the intersections between art and science. With an interest in non-verbal communication, tabletop scale performance, and intergenerational connections, select credits of theirs include creator/director of Water Park for the LIVE ACTS Vol. 1 Festival, co-creator and performer of Tall Tales: Tabletop Transmutations for the Miniature Multitudes Showcase, and stage manager for Controller by Mily Mumford presented at rEvolver Festival in 2022.
Charlie Cooper is a musician who works across live performance, installation, and sound design. His performances and recordings often combine electroacoustics with video and text. Charlie is an active cross-disciplinary collaborator, regularly working with dance, theatre, sound and digital media artists.
Production Team
Directed & Created by: Alexandra Caprara Choreography created by: Alexandra Caprara, Sydney Bluck, Desiree Keresztes James, Charlotte Samuel, Aisha Wewala, Anna Wang-Albani, Natalia Martineau, Primary Performance by: Sydney Bluck, Desiree Keresztes James, Charlotte Samuel, Aisha Wewala, Natalia Martineau,
Lighting, Video, & Set Design: Alexandra Caprara Sound Design & Composition: Charlie Cooper Costume Creation: Anna Wang-Albani Stage Management: Claire Brown
Additional credits and thank yous:
Movement developed through the close study of: Calethea Makoyana Plant, under the care of Alexandra Caprara Weeping Fig Tree, under the care of Anna Wang-Albini Calamansi Plant, under the care of Aisha Wewala Jade Pothos, under the care of Desiree Keresztes James Arrowhead Plant, under the care of Sydney Bluck
Thank you to Rob Kitsos, Erika Latta, Justine Chambers, Wladimiro Woyno Rodriguez, Ben Rogalsky, Heather Lamb, Stephanie Wong, Debi Wong, Zaarah Lopez, Keagan Elrick, Nico Dicecco, VACT, Pacific Theatre, SFU School for Contemporary Arts, and Anna Wang-Albini.
