Day 2 - Département de danse - UQAM

In this paper, I want to articulate how disidentification was mapped and experienced as a form of dis-orientation in Here
Be Dragons, a multi-media, site-specific performance staged as part of IMPACT ‘11, wherein the audience were invited on a
journey of displacement; a mytho-geographical mapping of queer, Asian-Canadian identity in downtown Kitchener, Ontario. In
Here Be Dragons, identities-in-difference are experienced as the audience—the tourists to this domain—walk within the
testimonial terrain of two young men, navigating a landscape of edges and antagonism in their hometown.
“The Objects of Performance Ethnography: Traces of a Mega Event.” Keren Zaiontz (Queen
Mary, University of London)
Here is what remains: a pair of blue doc martens, a synthetic gown designed expressly for the purposes of twirling in one spot
(also blue), and a certificate of appreciation from the organizers. Stuffed in a plastic bag, squeezed between old files and burnt
out Christmas lights, these objects once knew a larger scale—a stadium and a global audience. They are the traces of my
involvement as a performer in the 2012 Paralympics opening ceremonies. That moment is now passed and so have the
repertoire and gestures associated with it. In the interval following the London Summer Games these objects occupy the
space of half-remembered choreography that I shared with 300 other performers. Over the summer, in East End soundstages
and in empty car parks, we rehearsed the same ten-minute sequence for over eighty hours. Our section, called ‘98-Whirl’ by
our mass choreographers was part of six scenes of Enlightenment, the title of the opening ceremonies. In the end, 3,000 UK
residents of mixed physical ability performed the scenes—the majority of them volunteer performers like myself. While the
purpose of our display within the given location of the Games is now over another practice is just beginning. This one
possesses no spectacle, no movement, and a commitment to a solitary raking of past traces. I am describing the work of
translating my embodied experience as a performer into an ethnographic account. My paper will aim to engage these
Paralympics performance objects alongside my ‘formal’ sites of information including field notes, interviews, and scholarly
literature. By bringing these sites together into a single account I seek to entangle the micro and macro perspectives that
constitute my participation in a mega event.
b) Nature, Narrative, Nativity: Performing Indigeneity in British Columbia Bishop
Open Panel Moderator: Jerry Wasserman (University of British Columbia)
“On the edges of heritage: Locating decolonized performances in BC Historic Sites.” Amy
Clausen (University of British Columbia)
How do living history performances at BC historic sites invite visitors to understand the heritage of the lands and peoples of
BC’s Lower Mainland? In this paper I examine performative pedagogical experiences at three BC historic sites: Fort Langley
National Historic Site, Burnaby Village Museum, and New Westminster’s Irving House. Costumed performances at these sites
draw school groups and other audiences into Euro-Canadian settler narratives, and to a lesser extent, First Nations narratives.
As the latter are often separate, both physically and thematically, from ‘the main event,’ in this paper I explore how they are
marked as peripheral or at the edges of the main heritage narrative. I demonstrate how performing these narratives ‘at the
edge’ misses an opportunity to engage with the complexities of colonial history.
I trace the development of historical narratives through costume, props and artifacts, staging, dialogue, separation or
entanglement of staging and audience areas, and gender, age, race and ability of performers. How are some performances
marked as central and others as peripheral and how might these markings be undone to prompt greater awareness of
colonized histories? My analysis critiques liberal and nostalgic traditions in historic sites, in favour of more deliberately
provocative theatrical practices. In addition to beginning the process of decolonizing the ‘heritage’ experience in BC, I argue
that this approach makes for a far more complex and fulfilling audience experience. My research draws from Scott
Magelssen’s Living History Museums (2007), an analysis of living history performance in the United States.
“Honest and Humble Beginnings for Edgy Intercultural Canadian Theatre: The Artwork of
Anthony Walsh and the Inkameep School Children.” Matthew “Gus” Gusul (University of
Victoria)
The Provincial Archives of British Columbia holds a collection of Anthony Walsh’s work with the Inkameep reserve from 1932-
42. In the archive are several versions of a play script that was written by the Inkameep School Children. In the introduction for
this play Walsh writes,
This play is based on a Nativity Tale which has been written by the children of the Inkameep Day School in the Okanagan
Valley, British Columbia. The Tale which was recently published, depicts the Nativity as seen through the eyes of Indian
Children. Instead of the events taking place in Palestine, they occur in the Okanagan Valley, and the rabbits, deer, and
chick-a-dees take the place of the ox and the ass. (Walsh)
The story being told is neither an Indigenous folk tale nor a biblical text. It is a new shared memory. This play script is a shared
cultural enunciation between the Christian Nativity story and the spiritually significant land and animals of the Inkameep
people. In this re-conceptualized artwork, each religion is simultaneously risking being tainted by an outside force while also
opening itself to gain a new perspective on their stories and sacred images. What occurs in this artwork is a look at the nativity
story that opens a dialogue between Indigenous spirituality and Christianity. Intercultural theorist Homi Bhabha posits a space
where intercultural communication occurs. He refers to this as the “Third Space.” This is an area in which communication
happens between two cultures. It is in this space that two cultures can communicate both their collective and individual
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