Between Two Rocks
Artistic Statement
Between Two Rocks is a stage performance inspired by the Norse folktale East of the Sun, West of the Moon. Five performers animate scenic space with movement, words, & large piles of sheep fleece as they extract, flip,& spin an ever-expanding horizon.
The encounter between traditional handcraft & live performance, written story & oral telling, human & animal merge in a visual, sensory experience that emphasizes the physical & imaginary edges of the proscenium stage space.
The work draws from postdramatic theatre & theories of landscape on stage. B2R is at times a concert of objects, at others a fleecy dance, occasionally a display of traditional labour, yet ultimately a weaving of theatrical elements in a physical animation of space.
The Creators of Between Two Rocks
Robert Leveroos is a multidisciplinary artist and insatiable tinkerer. Using elements of live art, animation, and handmade objects, he aims to strike imaginations and skew perceptions by exploring worlds where weight is given to the minute, the understated and overlooked to uncover something recognizably human.
Under the moniker Macromatter, Robert creates original performance pieces for all ages and collaborates as a performer and scenographer with a number of Canadian companies. His work has been presented at World Stage Design ScenoFest, Taipei (2017), Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2016), Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey (2016), Kunstlerhauser Warpswede, Germany (2015), rEvolver Theatre Festival, Vancouver (2014, 2015), The Queer Arts Festival, Vancouver (2013), Theatre Skam, Victoria (2013), The Dance Centre, Vancouver (2018, 2012), The Gam Gallery, Vancouver (2012), and Zone Homa (ZH), Montreal (2010). His book works include A Lion in the Bedroomand Adrift/À la dérive, which was produced with support from Minnesota Centre for Book Arts. Some recent collaborations include puppet and set design on GIANT (Ghost River Theatre – Calgary); performance and set design on Sapientia (Scapegoat Carnivale Theatre – Montreal), performance and set design on la Somnambule (Cabal Theatre – Montreal), and set and object design on Other Inland Empires (Julie Hammond – Vancouver, Portland)
For ten years he trained with The Children’s Theater Company in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and graduated from The National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal (acting 2008). He holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Studies – Performance and Design from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC.
Kyla Gardiner: Areas: Design and production of visual and tactile environments for live performance; my media includes light, scenery, and costume. Creation, collaboration, and new work development. Technical direction & production management.
I am a designer and performance creator based in Vancouver, BC. My artistic research investigates non-human agency, design-based approaches to devised creation, and the ways deep collaboration might challenge ideas of artistic authorship. I hold a BA in Theatre and Philosophy from the University of British Columbia and an MFA from the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University. Recently, I have enjoyed being a part of such works as: Femme Fatales, and Ruminate(Meredith Kalaman), Thank You, You’re Not Welcome, Sho Me Wut U Gut, and DVOTE(Vision Impure); Lowest Common Denominator, 5@50, and The Elbow Room Cafe(Zee Zee Theatre); Sonic Elder(The Chop Theatre); Ordinary Catastrophes (Corbin Murdoch); Glass Menagerie(Fire-Escape Equity Co-Op); The Games We Play, and This Score Is(Emmalena Fredriksson); Klasika! (Barbara Adler & Ten Thousand Wolves); XXXX Topographyand OK Object(THE PARTY); The River Clyde Pageant; Lone Wolf (MOVE: The Company); andSafe/GuardandBetween Two Rocks(Robert Leveroos).
www.kylagardiner.com
Ben Wylie is a composer, improviser, and sound artist based in Vancouver, BC. His work is concerned with tuning systems, theatricality, light, space, coded text, natural phenomena, drones, resonance, amplification, among many other things. His music has been performed throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe by ensembles and performers including Boston Musica Viva, the Bozzini Quartet, Ensemble 2e2m, Chris Watford, the Ludovico Ensemble, Naomi Sato, and Sylvie LaCroix, among others. He graduated with a BM in Composition from the Boston Conservatory in 2014, where he studied with Marti Epstein, Curtis Hughes, and Jan Swafford. He received an MFA in Interdisciplinary Studies from Simon Fraser University in 2016, where he studied with composer Owen Underhill and theatre artist Steven Hill. He has participated in many festivals including the Darmstadt Summer Courses, Festival Mixtur, the Arraymusic Young Composers Workshop, and the Atlantic Music Festival, among others. During these festivals he taken lessons with composers including Jennifer Walshe, Johannes Kreidler, Rebecca Saunders, Michael Pisaro, Phyllis Chen, Evan Ziporyn, and Ken Ueno, among others. As an improviser he has created live scores for choreographers Linnea Gwiazda and Emmalena Fredriksson, he has also been featured in the 2015 Big Joy Festival, Quiet City concert series, and Sawdust Collector concert series. He has presented sound installations at the Vines Art Festival (2015, 2018) and has collaborated on installations with theatre artist Megan Stewart and interdisciplinary group The Public Swoon. He is also a co-host and producer of Soundscape, a show about experimental music on Vancouver’s Co-Op Radio.
Paula Viitanen Aldazosa, currently based in Vancouver, BC, is a versatile theatre deviser. She found her love for theatre and performing arts in the Finnish National Theatre, where she worked while completing a degree in Industrial Joinery in Helsinki, Finland. Since moving to Vancouver in 2014, she has completed a BFA in Theatre: Production and Designfrom Simon Fraser University, while working as a professional carpenter on the side.
Having worked as a technical director, stage manager, and designer on numerous productions in the performing arts, she has gathered wide-ranging experiences and expertise.
Recent selected work includes I miss doing nothing(Installation Design, Plastic Orchid Factory, Vancouver), Oh What a Beautiful Morning(Technical Direction, Fight With a Stick, Vancouver), Fuchsia Future(Light Design, Elysse Cheadle, Vancouver),Topophilia (Set Design, SFU, Vancouver) Cinerama (Technical Direction, Fight With a Stick, Vancouver), Between Two Rocks (Technical Direction, Macromatter, Taipei/Vancouver), Romeo + Juliet (Set Design, SFU, Vancouver), Repertory Dancers: 5 New Works (Light Design, SFU, Vancouver), and Revolutions (Stage Management, Fight With a Stick).
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