Dances for a Small Stage, Sept. 12-14 at the Ukrainian Centre, 154 E. 10th Ave., Vancouver. Doors open at 7 p.m., show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets: $20 cash at the door. 19+ admitted. Visit movent.ca for information.
At five foot 11, Lara Barclay has a large range of motion, so sharing a miniature stage with three other dancers comes with a real risk that somebody might catch a foot in the face.
But Barclay is confident she and the rest of the plastic orchid factory dance crew can execute - with elegance - their contribution to this weekend's Dances for a Small Stage. The 29th installation of the popular contemporary dance series, produced by Vancouverbased MovEnt, will showcase a selection of shorts all performed on a 10-by-13-foot stage.
"I'm a very tall woman so Small Stage is always such an ironic experience for me," says Barclay. "You're always hyper aware of other performers on stage. Typically (the dances) tend to be small pieces, like solos or duets or trios. That's a lot more comfortable."
Barclay has performed all over the world and is currently a director and choreographer at Lamondance, a contemporary training and performance company for aspiring professionals, run out of RNB Dance & Theatre Arts in North Vancouver. Born in Ontario, she started dancing as a toddler and attended Canada's National Ballet School. That's where she first met James Gnam, director of the plastic orchid factory.
At Dances for a Small Stage, plastic orchid factory will perform a remount of their contemporary work _post, which premiered two years ago at the Firehall Arts centre.
"The piece plays on the myth of ballet and misconceptions about ballet and modern dance, and it kind of joins them together," Barclay says, noting one of the four dancers will perform wearing a single pointe shoe.
In one instance on stage, Barclay finds herself cocooned in a long, bulky veil.
"I have one solo where I'm completely wrapped in that and I have to cross the stage and it unravels as I'm walking across and eventually I leave it behind," she explains. "It's always fun having a prop like that that's so flexible and so precarious because you never actually know how the solo's going to end up."
During rehearsals, there were times when the veil unraveled perfectly, dropping gracefully from her foot at the right musical cue.
"And other times I'm completely entangled in it and I can't get it off," she laughs.
Unpredictable props aside, the dancers also face the more obvious challenge of reeling in their movements for the scaleddown performance space. "Spatially you have to be really flexible to make some changes," Barclay says. "I'm quite a big mover when I dance, so it is an extra big challenge for me to move small."
But she has faith that she and her fellow dancers will be able to conquer the small stage.
"The dancers that James has in the plastic orchid factory, they're really skilled and capable dancers and they're very flexible and they can adapt, so I'm not worried performing with
this group at all. I know that we could even do it on a smaller stage and it would be workable."
In addition to _post, Dances for a Small Stage will include a mixed bag of short pieces featuring performers with backgrounds in ballet, contemporary, jazz and tap.
This 29th edition marks the beginning of a sister series in Quebec City. Up-and-coming Quebecois choreographer Jean-Francois Duke will be performing in Vancouver, returning home with a small stage template for La Rotonde contemporary dance centre.
This weekend's series also marks Small Stage's debut at the Ukrainian Centre after several years at the Royal Canadian Legion on Commercial Drive.
MovEnt artistic producer Julie-anne Saroyan says the relaxed nature of the show makes it successful at developing new audiences for contemporary dance.
"By going to casual venues like bars, legions and now a Ukrainian Centre, Small Stage makes it easy and incredibly fun for people to try contemporary dance on for size," she says.
Barclay also relishes the informal atmosphere.
"It's a very intimate location. The audience is very close, you can hear them, they laugh," she says. "It's kind of like dancing in your living room."
Beer, perogies and sausages will be on sale, making devout dance fans and Small Stage first-timers feel even more at home.
DANCES FOR A SMALL STAGE
MovEnt dance society showcases new and established contemporary work in a completely unconventional venue, with an intimate cocktail lounge/cabaret atmosphere on a ridiculously small 10x13 stage. For more information visit movent.ca.
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