Day 2 - Département de danse - UQAM

of this form of performance. Through the case studies of The Ride (the performance of my 2008 horseback ride across
Canada); productions by Cavalia, Canada’s equestrian ballet company; and the equestrian cabarets of France’s Théâtre
Zingaro, I explore the manners of human/equine collaborative performance in an attempt to further define the parameters of
inter-species performance. At the core of non-invasive equestrian is a subtle, human/equine reciprocal interaction, in which a
circulation of intent, energy and action results in two animals performing together—an inter-species performative exchange.
If not all acts that engage humans and non-human animals are inter-species, but rather that there is a spectrum of
engagement, from animals in performance to inter-species collaboration, what are the characteristics that incite inter-species
performance? I propose that inter-species performance is not a fixed state, but rather a continual negotiation that ebbs and
flows with both parties involved, and that it is in the nuances of this engagement that the inter-species quality of a performance
may be found.
12:30pm-2:00pm
Lunch & Launch
George
Lunch courtesy of Talonbooks, featuring Lucia Frangione, an award-winning playwright and actor. Her twenty plays have
been produced by theatres such as The Belfry Theatre, Alberta Theatre Projects, Lambs Players San Diego, Ruby Slippers,
Solo Collective, Chemainus Theatre, and Prairie Theatre Exchange. Lucia resides in Vancouver and is a member of the
Playwrights Guild of Canada.
2:15pm-5:30pm
a) No Happy Endings: What Can Applied Theatre Really Do? George
Seminar Organizers: Warwick Dobson (University of Victoria), Monica Prendergast (University of
Victoria), Lauren Jerke (University of Victoria). Participants: Matthew “Gus” Gusul (University of
Victoria), Kathy Bishop (University of Victoria), Amy Clausen (University of New Brunswick), Kimberly
Richards (University of Calgary), Nikki Shafeeullah (University of Alberta, 2013 CATR Intercultural
theatre award winner), Danette Boucher (University of Victoria), Trudy Pauluth-Penner (University of
Victoria), Warren Linds (Concordia University), Bronwyn Preece (University of Victoria), Sandra
Chamberlain-Snider (University of British Columbia), Babatunde Bakare (Stellenbosch University,
South Africa), Aida Jordão (University of Toronto), Ursula Neuerburg-Denzer (Concordia University)
In the wake of the October Revolution, Lenin said: Theatre is a weapon to be used in the service of the socialist revolution.
Latterly, the idea that theatre is a weapon has become an article of faith for most applied theatre practitioners; and many an
extravagant claim has been made by those who see theatre as a powerful means of ameliorating the conditions of the
vulnerable, the marginalized and the oppressed.
In the past fifty years, a large number of well-meaning, good-intentioned projects with ambitious aims have taken place
globally—all, no doubt, fuelled by the hope of a truly happy ending. But what kinds of happy endings are we legitimately
entitled to expect from our endeavors?
This seminar seeks to pose one question that applied theatre practitioners have traditionally been reluctant to engage
with: What can applied theatre really do? By posing this question, we hope to encourage practitioners to re-discover the
irrefutable role that art plays in the impact of their work.
Using this question as a framework to guide our seminar, we will look at selected graduate students’ projects from the
University of Victoria over the past decade. We will also look at accepted participants’ projects from the rest of Canada or
elsewhere. The projects will be grouped together thematically according to the extra-theatrical purposes that we have
identified at UVic: theatre used for (1) educational purposes, for (2) community building, or (3) to address social change. We
will evaluate each project by asking the question, what did it really do? And how do we know?
Ultimately, we hope that practitioners and researchers will leave with an increased understanding of what theatre can
legitimately claim to do. Specifically, we expect that this seminar will better enable participants to make deliverable promises to
the communities with which they work.
2:15pm-3:45pm
b) Fictive Transitions, from the “Real” through “Performance” Bishop
Open Panel Moderator: Paula Sperdakos (University of Toronto)
“Nina Arsenault’s 40 Days and 40 Nights: Teetering on the Edge of Discovery.” Judith Rudakoff
(York University)
In 40 Days and 40 Nights, the exploration of the body as home was part of an ongoing ritual investigation: if the
constructed vessel, the body, is home, how does the inner, authentic Nina house herself in it? How does the living home
nurture, challenge, cradle, even reject the being living within it??
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