Features

Risky Business: Amber Funk Barton, Cameron McKinlay, Josh Martin, Shay Kuebler; Photo: Chris Randle
By Jill Goldberg

Having moved to Vancouver from Montréal only one year ago, I consider myself to be a relative newcomer to the Vancouver dance scene. Before I arrived here, I’d heard of and seen companies and dancers including The Holy Body Tattoo, Wen Wei Wang, Kokoro, EDAM and Crystal Pite perform. But, I hadn’t heard the buzz surrounding Amber Funk Barton before landing on the West Coast, so I was excited and curious to see Risk, which debuted at The Firehall Arts Centre on December 3. I’d seen Funk Barton perform once before at B.C. Buds at the same venue, so I anticipated a very athletic and fast-paced show. And on these counts the show delivered. However, while the show was high on energy and provided an excellent forum for the exuberance of the five twenty-something interpreters, I felt that its reliance on imitation or mimicry of daily life actually detracted from the show’s gravity and restricted the performers’ range of emotional expression as they worked to convey the themes being handled by Risk.

Vancouver: city of cultureThis is part two of Plank’s civic election series.

What’s a “Creative City”? Civic leaders in Vancouver and around the world have taken up the cry. Creativity, they say, now drives the urban economy. Not factory work, not farming, not logging. So you’ve got to have a city that’s friendly to creative types. You’ve got to have a robust “Creative Class.” Who exactly are the new agents of prosperity? Are you one of them?

A few years ago Richard Florida, an urban development theorist, put forward the idea that a city requires a concentration of high-tech workers, artists, musicians and lesbians and gays (among other professional and sexual-orientation categories) in order to achieve urban renewal and economic growth. These people are the innovators, the idea people, the content providers; they spawn new micro and macro industries and they make cities attractive places to live.

Florida’s theory, while spawning a best selling book, quickly ran afoul of other theorists. Ann Markusen, a heavyweight American scholar and consultant, argues that Florida’s “creative class” is an overburdened category: it includes, for example, claims adjusters, food-service managers, and tax collectors (routine occupations), but leaves out home-care workers, repair technicians, and petty criminals (‘occupations’ that require a high degree of inventiveness).

Possible alternative housing for artists?This is the first part in a short series on artists, the city, and the civic election.

Vancouver’s season at the polls didn’t end with the Federal Conservatives’ minority victory. A civic election is almost upon us. Both mayoral candidates, Gregor Robertson (Vision) and Peter Ladner (NPA), have put affordable housing near the top of their agendas. The Vision platform actually targets artists as special candidates for some of that housing. At a town hall meeting in August, Robertson made it clear that he understands the central role artists play in creating a vibrant urban landscape. He knows that if Vancouver is ever to become the “Creative City” he hopes for, he needs to keep artists from migrating elsewhere. But how will he loosen the stranglehold real estate developers have on the city? How will he stop the upward climb of rents, property taxes and mortgages? Affordable housing is the key. But if Vancouver’s recent past, or similar gentrification trends in other North American cities are anything to go by, Robertson has a hell of a challenge ahead of him.

Follow Chick as she searches for depth.Chick Snipper asked 5 Canadian artists (4 dance, 1 theatre) to explain what ‘depth’ in art means to them. Have a read and see if you agree. Then plug into the comments box and let Chick know what depth means to you.

Chick Snipper – choreographer, teacher
For years I’ve been an audience member at Vancouver contemporary dance shows. It’s difficult to admit, but often I leave the theatre feeling disappointed.

I realize that because I’m a choreographer, I bring a bias with me. But that doesn’t preclude me from appreciating, enjoying, and at times reveling in dance that is strikingly different from my own aesthetic.

The one thing I can’t compromise, no matter what the form or content of the dance, is the quality of the choreography, i.e. the language of the movement within the context of the overall creation. I believe we have every right to expect it to be well crafted, engaging and, most importantly, display depth, be it intellectual, visual, spiritual, kinesthetic, or emotional (my particular favourite).

What do I mean by the word ‘depth’? I’m a little unsure — although I recognize it when I see it.  I looked the word up in my treasured New Twentieth Century Dictionary Unabridged. It was published in 1943 and it’s so heavy I almost gave myself a hernia lifting it from the bookshelf. As in any old-style dictionary worth its weight in poundage, the word ‘depth’ was followed by a lengthy series of words, phrases and quotes, including Shakespeare, Tennyson and of course the Bible.