The Dance Centre and BC Movement Arts Society present
Maria Nurmela & Ville Oinonen
The Days
June 24-25, 2022
Scotiabank Dance Centre
The Dance Centre acknowledges that it is located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy’əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl’ílwəta?/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. It is an honour and a privilege for us to be guests in their lands. We are grateful.
—
I did not hesitate when Mary-Louise Albert of BC Movement Arts asked if The Dance Centre would partner with her to bring The Days to Vancouver, after her North American premiere of the work in Sointula and ‘Namgis Nation/Alert Bay. I already knew the work of Maria Nurmela from my travels to Finland, and had worked with Theo Clinkard in an EU project at the onset of his international career. Mary-Louise is based in Sointula, which was established by Finnish settlers over a century ago, and it was perfect timing for the Canada-wide Nordic Bridges program which runs throughout 2022.
The Days is the type of project that I love: it reflects on and resonates with daily life, inviting the audience to share an encounter with the performers, and exploring care, resilience, our desire for connection. I am also thrilled to welcome two courageous community dancers from our Power of Dance program – we thank them for their curiosity and contributions! The Days is a performance that shows that contemporary dance truly belongs to all.
Mirna Zagar
Executive Director, The Dance Centre
I could not be prouder to have presented The Days this past week as our third – but first international – show, in the BC Movement Arts’ inaugural annual rural Contemporary Dance Series. It was the North American premiere of this beautiful work in the remote coastal communities of Sointula on Malcolm Island, and the ‘Namgis Nation/Alert Bay. The core sentiment of BC Movement Arts is to develop equitable and affordable access to a range of professional contemporary dance for rural communities, and in particular remote coastal communities, of British Columbia.
Maria Nurmela and I met in 2019 at a dance conference in Jerusalem, and after meaningful discussions about Finland and Sointula – which was one of the first intentional Finnish settler utopian/socialist communes in North America – we knew that The Days was a perfect fit, and have worked tirelessly, along with Ville, throughout the pandemic to make this happen. Thank you to Nordic Bridges 2022 and Laura McCloud for understanding that small rural presentations of high-quality dance have equal value to that of big presenting organizations.
Thank you to The Dance Centre for presenting with us these two extended shows in Vancouver, allowing for Maria, Ville and Theo to share this intimately profound work with an urban audience as well.
Mary-Louise Albert
Artistic & Executive Director, BC Movement Arts Society
THE DAYS
Concept, direction and design: Theo Clinkard
Realisation and Performance: Maria Nurmela and Ville Oinonen
Community Participants: Patricia L. Morris and Jim Dobbs
Sound score: James Keane
Light design: Kalle Ropponen
Outside eye: Leah Marojević
Production: Inari Pesonen (Premier 2018), Maria Nurmela ja Ville Oinonen
Premiere: 10.12.2018, Pori Dance Month Festival, Finland
Supported by: Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Wihuri Foundation, Riksteatern, Helsinki Festival, Studio Wayne McGregor/FreeSpace programme, Turku City Theatre, Pori Dance Company, Theatre Academy/University of the Arts Helsinki, Alexander Theatre Helsinki/Tero Saarinen Company studio, Liikelaituri, The Finnish Cultural Foundation, Dance House Helsinki, TelePart/Finnish Institute in Berlin, Regional Dance Center of Western Finland, The Finnish Institute in London (Finnish Exposure 2020), Dance Info Finland – Russia Programme.
The BC tour is supported by The Finnish Cultural Foundation, Arts Promotion Center Finland and Regional Dance Center of Western Finland.
The Days was made possible as part of NORDIC BRIDGES 2022 in collaboration with Harbourfront Centre, Toronto. Official transportation partner of Nordic Bridges: Icelandair.
BIOGRAPHIES
Theo Clinkard was born in Cornwall, England and his current practice spans choreography, theatre design and performing. Following 20 years dancing for some of the UK’s most celebrated choreographers, he launched his own dance company in 2012 and has steadily built an international reputation for creating affecting and visually arresting contemporary work for small, middle and large-scale theatres as well as non-theatre settings.
Past company productions include Ordinary Courage (2012), Chalk (2014), Of Land & Tongue (2014), This Bright Field (2017) and The Elsewhen Series (2019) a co-creation with Leah Marojević. Theo’s next company work Century Project will launch with an event in 2022, but complete beyond our lifetimes in 2121. International choreographic commissions include new works for Tanztheatre Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Danza Contemporanea de Cuba and Candoco Dance Company.
Theo regularly leads intensives workshops, residencies and classes internationally for professional companies, dance organisations and training institutions, including engagements in Chile, Belgium, Ireland, Germany, Wales, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, United States, France, Spain, Cuba, Italy, Slovenia, Finland, Sweden and Norway. He is an Associate Artist at Brighton Dome & Festival and The Hall for Cornwall and is an Honorary Fellow at Plymouth University. www.theoclinkard.com
Ville Oinonen graduated in 2006 from Kuopio Music and Dance Academy to be a dance teacher but was immediately after studies engaged with Dance Theatre MD (2006-2009 and 2014-2017). With Dance Theatre MD he danced in pieces by many well-known Finnish choreographers. He still works with MD as a regular guest dancer. The rest of the time Ville has worked as a freelancer. This has taken him to Sweden to work with choreographer Helena Franzén and the award-winning dance company Art of Spectra. Occasionally he also works as a dance teacher in places like TROIS C-L Centre de Création Choréographique Luxembourgeois. Ville has been awarded many grants for work as an artist (Wihuri Foundation, Arts Promotion Centre Finland and Finnish Cultural Foundation). Dance film has been one of his interests in recent years. Tammi and Strange Birds are dance films made in cooperation with Helena Franzén and have been seen in multiple international dance film festivals. Strange Birds has received awards at ScreenDance Festival Stockholm (2019) and Athens International Digital Film Festival (2020). Ville also worked on the board of an international dance film festival Loikka (2018-2019). www.villeoinonen.com
ABOA Cultural Price 2020 recipient Maria Nurmela has been working as a freelance dance artist since 2002 in the field of contemporary dance and performance. Since 2016 Maria has been creating her own works, which have been presented in various festivals in Finland and abroad in prestigious venues such as Critical Path Sydney (2019) and Palais de Tokyo Museum Paris (2018) among many others. Her own work often takes place on interdisciplinary interfaces and in different performance spaces, communally and in film format. She collaborates regularly with Finnish filmmaker Vesa Loikas. Their first short film ECHOES / Kaikuja (2020) was nominated for Prix Lumieré Prize 2022 in Cinedansé Festival, Quebec, Canada in March 2022. Many internationally esteemed choreographers such as Tero Saarinen (Maria was part of Tero Saarinen Company 2002-2017), Avidan Ben Giat (2019) Susanne Linke (2012-) and Susanna Leinonen (2019-2020) have as well employed her in their works.
In addition to her work as an freelance dance artist, Maria teaches contemporary dance, movement and dance pedagogy, mentors and works as an advisor in different institutions such as Theater Academy of University of Arts in Helsinki and Helsinki Summer University. Maria’s artistry has been recognized by numerous grants and awards such as ABOA Cultural grant from the City of Turku 2020. In 2008 she was nominated in the Ballet/Tanz Year Book as one of the most remarkable female contemporary dancers in Europe. Maria holds an MA in Dance (Uniarts in Helsinki) and is currently studying to become a Feldenkrais practitioner in The Instituto Feldenkrais Madrid. www.marianurmela.com
BC MOVEMENT ARTS SOCIETY
The BC Movement Arts Society (BCMAS) brings rural and urban together by presenting vibrant national and international professional contemporary dance performances; facilitating creation residencies and outreach to enhance community and artist engagement in culturally under-served areas of British Columbia. Based in Sointula on Malcolm Island, BCMAS is one of the few professional dance organizations in Canada, based in and serving, rural and remote coastal communities. www.bcmovementarts.com
Artistic & Executive Director Mary-Louise Albert; Artistic & Program Advisor Rebecca Margolick; Cultural and Artistic Advisor Andrea Cranmer; Artistic & Program Advisor Livona Ellis; Community Advisor Annemarie Koch
Board of Directors Artemis Gordon, Pamela Rosa, Dr. Michael Margolick, Laurie Rowan and Brenda Jemar
The operations of the Movement Arts Society is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Canada through Canadian Heritage, Province of British Columbia, BC Arts Council, and the Regional District of Mt Waddington.
THE DANCE CENTRE
The Dance Centre was established in 1986 as a resource centre for dance professionals and the public in British Columbia, and offers a range of activities unparalleled in Canadian dance. The Dance Centre offers programs and resources supporting the professional development of artists, presents public performances and events, manages Scotiabank Dance Centre, one of Canada’s leading dance facilities, and works to promote BC dance. www.thedancecentre.ca
Executive Director Mirna Zagar; Programming Coordinator Raquel Alvaro; Associate Producer Linda Blankstein; Member Services/Outreach Coordinator Nazanin Oghanian; Director of Marketing Heather Bray; Digital Marketing Coordinator Lindsay Curtis; Venue and Operations Manager Simran Ghesani; Lead Technician Chengyan Boon; Comptroller Elyn Dobbs; Dance Central Editor Shanny Rann
Board of Directors Jason Wrobleski (Chair); Andrea Reid (Vice-Chair); Annelie Vistica (Treasurer); Tin Gamboa (Secretary); Judith Garay; Linda Gordon; Arash Khakpour; Rosario Kolstee; Anndraya Luui, Rachel Maddock; Katia Oteman
The Dance Centre is grateful for the generous support of The Choreographer’s Circle, Anndraya Luui and the BC Arts Renaissance Fund.
THE CORPORATE LEADER’S CIRCLE
Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP – Ingrid M. Tsui, Partner;
The Holiday Inn and Suites Vancouver Downtown – Angela van den Byllaard, Sales Manager;
Jarislowsky, Fraser Limited – Beau Howes
THE CHOREOGRAPHER’S CIRCLE
Impresario: Charles and Eve Chang Foundation; Anndraya Luui
Choreographer Anonymous; Anonymous; Beau Howes and Genieve Burley; Tony Giacinti (in memory of Lola MacLaughlin); Stephen Jarislowsky; Anne Hildebrandt
Artistic Director Linda Blankstein; Marnie Carter; Joyce Ozier; Yosef Wosk, OBC; Moh Faris; Pamela Goossen; David Matte
Principal Dancer David Cousins; James Felter; Mike and Kathy Gallagher; Ken Gracie and Philip Waddell; McGrane – Pearson Endowment Fund; Jean Orr; Don and Jane Shumka; Janet and Ron Stern;
Dance Artist: Anonymous; Anonymous; Ken Alexander; Santa Aloi; Rosario Ancer; Mary and Herb Auerbach; Gary R. Bell; Andrew and Andrea Benzel; Trent Berry; Noel Best and Barbara Shuman; Matthew Breech and Shino Watanabe; Richard Cavell and Peter Dickinson; Amanda Collinge; Norm and Dorothy Cross; Count and Countess Enrico and Aline Dobrzensky; Jason Dubois and Clayton Baraniuk; Nicola Follows; Judith Garay; Peter Harmon; Karim and Christina Jandali; Linda Johnston; Emily Klukas; Amy Millar; Kathy Scalzo; Kemo Schedlosky and Mark Gatha; Betty Scheltgen; Ingrid Tsui and Matthew Heemskerk; Annelie and Dan Vistica; Denis Walz; Michael Welters; Mirna Zagar; May Wyman and Susan Mertens; Jason Wrobleski
THE ARTIST’S CIRCLE
Linda Aristizabal; Brent Belsher; Denis Blais and Paras Terezakis; Val Brandt; Deborah Dragon; Sheila Evani and Jeffery Ramkellawan; Lorna Froidevaux; Megan Halkett; Lynn B. Johnston; Lorita Leung – The Lorita Leung Dance Association; Barry McKinnon; Dubravko Pajalic; Dr. Mary Robertson; Frank Salisbury; Selma Savage
The operations of The Dance Centre are supported by the Government of Canada, Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of British Columbia, the BC Arts Council, and the City of Vancouver.
The VDC Dance Centre Society is a registered charity no. BN 11925 8754 RR0001