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Iris Garland Emerging Choreographer Award recipient Anya Saugstad’s new work Paper Mountains premieres as part of Dance In Vancouver on November 23. We sat down with Anya to discuss her dance career, the inspiration behind Paper Mountains, and what the award means to her.
Tell us about your dance career to date. How did you first come to dance?
From a young age, I had a deep passion for creation, and I was always making something. My childhood on Bowen Island provided mental and physical space to explore my imagination and cultivate my creativity. As a visual thinker, I often found myself dreaming and envisioning, closing my eyes to see more.
At the age of nine, I began my dance career at ArtsUmbrella, where I found my love for dance, and inspiration for choreography by learning from choreographers and teachers from around the world.
I think a large part of how I found my love for choreographing was through improvisation with teachers like Gioconda Barbuto and Bobbi Jene Smith. I then pursued a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance at Simon Fraser University while spending my summers at The San Francisco Conservatory of Dance. At SFCD I was introduced to artists who had a big influence on my career and drive.
SFU was a place where I had time and space to develop my choreographic voice and engage with artists outside of my own discipline – this is where I explored collaboration and creation.
Since then, I have embraced freelancing, establishing my own company, choreographing works, and dancing in others works. I have been blessed to be a dancer for many projects with Vanessa Goodman / Action at a Distance.
Over the last year I have been building a company, Furious Grace Dance Theatre (originally Judith Garay’s company Dancers Dancing that was generously passed to me this last year).
I have had the opportunity to create commissions for companies such as Ballet Edmonton, ArtsUmbrella, Lamon Dance, Coastal City Ballet, Method Dance, and Performance Research Project, as well as present my work throughout BC, and most recently in Edmonton, Toronto, and Montreal.
What inspired your work ‘Paper Mountains’?
At its core, Paper Mountains is a work that embodies themes of transformation and growth. Originally created during the first wave of the pandemic, it reflected a world marked by separation and uncertainty.
Since then, the piece has evolved significantly, shedding its original form. This new iteration of Paper Mountains explores concepts that currently resonate with me, drawing inspiration from various recent commissions.
Inspired by nature and animals, the updated work delves into the sorrow and celebration that coexist within us amid a climate crisis. Retaining the title Paper Mountains embodies the paradoxes of strength and lightness, urgency and yearning, toughness and softness, and surrender and resilience.
Paper Mountains continues to grapple with the inevitability of change and the process of emergence.
The world premiere of ‘Paper Mountains’ is supported through the Iris Garland Emerging Choreographer Award – what impact has the award had on you?
I am honored to receive the Iris Garland Emerging Choreographer Award and for the opportunities it has given me over the last year. This award is what makes it possible to be a part of Dance In Vancouver, as I get to show our work for the first time in a full-length scope in a theatre.
I am excited to pool ideas I have had from a whole bunch or smaller projects into one longer work – and experience and learn what my choreographic voice looks like in a full-length production.
The work is presented as part of Dance In Vancouver, what does that mean to you as an artist?
I am very excited to get to share this work alongside a line up of shows by so many smart, inspiring, and bold artists in Vancouver. I feel a real sense of community in this year’s Dance in Vancouver and I am honored to be a part of that.
I am also thrilled to share this work with presenters as we wish to tour Paper Mountains in the future, as well a share this piece with friends and the dance community.
What is your next project?
Lots of wonderful collaborations! Next year I’ll be continuing to work with my sister Sophia Saugstad in creating our dance theater work Gravity in Your Eyes along with a big, beautiful cast of dancers and actors.
I will also be working on a new project that incorporates poetry and dance with the wonderful and talented writer Dora Prieto. And a new outdoor work created and performed in the forests of BC.
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Anya Saugstad
Paper Mountains
Saturday November 23, 2024 | 8pm
Tickets $37/$28 students & seniors (+ $1 facility fee)
Details
Presented through the Iris Garland Emerging Choreographer Award and as part of Dance In Vancouver 2024.
Photos: Bray Jorstad and Yohan Kim
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