Writing Dance with Kaija Pepper

Writing Dance

A Workshop with Kaija Pepper – March 2007

“An exhilarating environment…” Workshop participant

How can we capture a theatrical performance in words? Back by popular demand, this stimulating workshop explores the creative possibilities of writing about dance.

Participants will be inspired to deepen their understanding of dance through thoughtful written responses following selected performances of the Vancouver International Dance Festival March 6-April 1. This writing will be the basis for in-depth group discussions, which will include issues of objectivity and ethics, and will support the need to pay wide, reflective attention to performances. A selection of workshop writing will be published later in the spring in The Dance Centre’s publication, Dance Central.

The program is suitable for people from all backgrounds with a passion for writing, critical discussion, dance, performance and the arts.

Course fee: Dance Centre members $160 (including GST); non-members $215 (including GST). The fee includes tickets to three VIDF shows at the Roundhouse (evenings) and four workshops (totaling 11 hours) on Saturday afternoons at Scotiabank Dance Centre.

Performances: the Festival program includes 10 Gates Dancing (Canada), Deborah Hay Dance Company (USA), Kokoro Dance with the VSO (Canada), Ichigo-Ichie & Mari Osanai (Canada/Japan), Compagnie Danse Nyata Nyata (Canada) and AURA Dance Theatre (Lithuania). Schedule of performances to be reviewed TBA.

Workshops: Saturdays March 3 (2-4pm) and 10, 17, 24 (2-5pm).

To apply, please send a sample of writing on any topic and/or a letter outlining why you are interested in writing about dance, to Kaija Pepper at kaija@shaw.ca or c/o The Dance Centre, Level 6, 677 Davie Street, Vancouver V6B 2G6, tel 604 606 6400 fax 604 606 6401. Places are limited: early application is advised.

Kaija Pepper is a freelance writer, editor and lecturer, specializing in dance. She is a regular contributor to The Globe & Mail and The Dance Current magazine, and her quarterly View from Vancouver has run in Dance International for over a decade. She has written two books, The Dance Teacher: A Biography of Kay Armstrong and Theatrical Dance in Vancouver: 1880’s–1920’s (Dance Collection Danse Press/es). Her essay on the work of Paula Ross, Jay Hirabayashi and Judith Marcuse is published in Right to Dance/ Dancing for Rights (Banff Centre Press 2004) and an essay on Lola MacLaughlin is in The Responsive Body: A Language of Contemporary Dance (Banff Centre Press 2002). This is the third year Writing Dance has been part of the VIDF (the inaugural workshop was in 2002 during Dancing on the Edge). Kaija holds an MA in Liberal Studies from SFU.

Writing Dance is supported by The Dance Current and the Society for Canadian Dance Studies.