The Unspoken Coherence

The Unspoken Coherence - a review on the dance show "Not the Same" 

By Breyanna Oldham

How does an artist create a cohesive performance when the art is created at different times and in different spaces?

                                       Photo by: Patrick Lo

    On February 3rd and 5th of 2021, the Scotiabank Dance Centre presented a dance show live streamed through YouTube titled “Not the Same.” The show included 3 choreographic works: Work 1, “re: stars are in the past” choreographed and composed by Nyssa Song; Work 2, “untitled” by Nasiv Sall and Anya Saugstad, composition by Liam Carsely; and Work 3,  “Lives I(‘ll/’ve) Live(d)” by Akeisha De Baat, composition by Sam Medahl. This dance show involves a series of movement pieces that, all though created separately, have an unspoken coherence with one another. Mixed media such as projection, lighting, and sound were woven within each dance. Projection was used to stimulate the eye of the audience, lighting was streamed to amplify and create more emotion and intention throughout, and sound was played to unify the body and its movement together.  Each choreographic sequence involves the theme of time, space and visual imagery, that when looked at as a whole, correspond in unity together. I will be exploring how the concept of time is used differently in each piece, the elements of choreography, and how visual representation enhances the piece in its entirety. While analyzing these themes I will be stating how within similarities and differences you are able to create a show that, as a whole, looks like it was created in one room when it was really created separately. 

Photos by: Patrick Lo

The concept of time was an ongoing theme throughout the show. Time was used in ways such as indicating the length of a piece, as inspiration, as a hardship, and as a timeline. Time as a whole is an interesting concept that us humans struggle to grasp in our everyday lives. As Nyssa Song said in the artist talk back after the show, where she explains her choreographic process and how time was a very big inspiration for her piece. She explains that she always feels out of sync with time. Always being late for the bus or early for meetings. That nobody is in tune with time. Nyssa also brings up the point that time feels different now compared to when we were younger. When we were children, time felt slow and we felt like we had all the time in the world and we couldn’t wait to grow up, but as an adult we feel like we don’t have enough time and we always want more. With Nyssa's piece, her goal was to create a movement sequence that “provides a sense of escape and reflection” (Song, 2021). She believes we all rush too much and are always in a hurry. Her hope was to create an atmosphere that feels steady and safe. A lot of her movements were very gestural, light and delicate, which made you feel very calm and at ease. It felt like a safe place to be. Nyssa used her breath constantly throughout. Whenever she inhaled or exhaled you wanted to breathe with her, to feel that tension and release. Her movements had a pedestrian element to them as well, as if you could picture yourself as Nyssa going through the motions. 

Photo by: Patrick Lo

As for Nasiv Sall and Anya Saugstad’s piece they asked themselves the question of how long would people watch a video for? They came up with 59 seconds. Each section of their piece is 59 seconds long which is how long they thought the average person could watch for. Nasiv stated it was a way for the audience to subconsciously keep track of time that isn’t even there. As that prompt is stuck in the audience's mind, subconsciously you would start thinking the length of the sequences without realizing. Within the music, their composer Liam Carsely created a steady beat in the background to keep that rhyme and time to mimic a clocking ticking. 

In Akeisha’s piece she used time in the sense of past, present, and future. Her movement explored the “unleashing of everything that was kept from her'' (De Baat, 2021), her sensuality for example. She stated that she imagined bleachers full of her ancestors and when she unleashed something in the studio she was healing something that was kept from her ancestors. An example of this in Akeisha’s piece was she had a projection in the background that resembled silhouettes of multiple bodies which represents the bleachers full of ancestors' metaphor. As time goes on each row of bodies fades away as if all that was unraveled is healing her family and they no longer need help. All that is left is a silhouette of one body and that body being Akeisha. 

Photo by: Patrick Lo

As said previously, all though these pieces were created separately they somehow have very similar choreographic themes to one another. One element that is seen throughout each piece is the sense of floating. A lot of movement felt like a suspension in space. A light, airy sensation that makes it look like gravity has lightened. In Anya and Nasiv’s piece a lot of their phrases had a stop and go effect. Where they would be super sporadic and then come to a halt and that floating sensation would start. There is continuous motion all throughout their body and nothing ever comes to a complete stop. Another movement theme seen throughout is gestural movements. Gestural movements are seen as conversational or pedestrian. Everyday upper body movements turned into abstract motions. In Akeisha’s piece near the very beginning, she is standing centre stage facing the audience with her eyes closed and is moving only from the torso up. Her movement mimics the motions of someone having a dream. Her head is twisting and spiralling, her ribs are moving all around and her arms are held pedestrian like with a sense of floating attached. Her movement takes natural human body sequences and makes them into a fluid motion. The last theme that is seen throughout is intention. Every body part, every move, and every choice made had intention and purpose in it. In Nyssa’s piece, her whole dance was full of purpose. Every arm circle, every leg lift, and every travel movement through space had a motive and an end goal. It was clear and precise and had a reason to be there. At the very end of her piece, Nyssa scoops up air from the ground as she comes to standing and stares at the audience, fidgeting with her hands, fixing her hair, and walking backwards. It didn’t feel like it was misplaced and didn’t feel like it served no objective. It was believable and justified and fit her piece very well. This also ties how every choreographer created their pieces separately but someone how they all have very similar material. Akeisha’s piece starts with her standing still and ends with her walking backwards while Anya and Naisv’s piece start with a small repeated gestural movement and end with them looking up to the ceiling. Each piece started and ended with a small and simple motion bringing in how although made in different spaces, they are all similar in many ways.

Photos by: Patrick Lo

Adding visuals to a dance performance not only enhances the piece as a whole but also gives the audience another form of media to look at. Visuals can help the audience better understand the meaning or story behind a dance, especially for those who aren’t familiar with dance. It can create a deeper meaning behind a dance piece and stimulate the brain of the viewer by having them look at more than just moving bodies. Nyssa’s performance started off with a video of her on the bus in London, looking outside the window and seeing the rainy city. Raindrops run down the window as the glass is all foggy and moist. The only lights you can see are from the street lights, stop lights, and open stores that illuminate the city at night. This visual set the tone for her piece. When watching the video, I felt calm, safe, and at ease. Rain is very soothing and peaceful to watch and listen to. Since that is what I associate rain with, that is what I assumed her dance would make me feel, and it did just that. 

Akeisha used 3 different projections in her performance. One of them being the silhouette of bodies I mentioned before. Her first projection had stars, galaxy clusters, and a series of coloured combustions as if placed in outer space. Her movement, while this projection was playing, followed the space combustion very well. It was spontaneous and explosive and matched the eruptions in the background. The last projection shown was a black screen with a white line that started at the top of the screen and went down vertically to the floor. The white line eventually opened up into a white backdrop as wide as a door. As it opened, she walked towards the white strip as though she was walking into a new world. As Akeisha walks towards a new world, as Nyssa struggles to find the stability of time, and as Anya and Naisv wonder looking curious and interested, they all bring a sense of uncertainty and fascination to the end of their piece. We don’t know where Akeisha walks to and we aren’t sure what Anya and Naisv are looking for. Again, they all carry the same themes without intentionally doing so. 

    

Photos by: Patrick Lo

Time, choreographic elements, and visual representation were all key components in every piece in the dance show “Not the Same.” Each component was used in different perspectives and was used to enhance each dance piece in different ways. All themes were used very strongly and added a lot to the dances to make it more than movement sequence with bodies. It was able to bring a new look and view to the audience and get the viewers to deeper look into the story and meaning. The pieces together had very similar themes that I don’t think the choreographers were aware of. Since they weren’t aware, it allowed the 3 pieces to be their own creation while at the same time being in conjunction with each other to bring a smooth and connected show. The order in which they were presented worked very well. They were seamless transitions and made sense to the show. Overall, these elements were used wisely and purposefully. Although the intention of the dances were made out of context to one another, they were still able to tie it all cohesively and create a show with harmony and grace. 

Work Cited

De Baat, Akeisha. “Lives I(‘ll/’ve) Live(d).” Not the Same. February 5th 2021, Scotiabank Dance Centre, Vancouver, BC

Song, Nyssa. “re: stars are in the past.” Not the Same. February 5th 2021,  Scotiabank Dance Centre, Vancouver, BC