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As I drove back to Ottawa from the premiere of Kimiko’s Pearl, I listened to a podcast championing the idea of operating from a baseline of delusion. After finding myself – perhaps like you – so often searching for truth and clarity, it felt almost hilarious to consider the benefits of delusion.
But I started to wonder: is a healthy dose of delusion actually critical to creation? Afterall, creation means following an idea without fully knowing if it will work and convincing other people to believe in it sight-unseen too. It means tracing seemingly disparate impulses and inspirations, and dreaming about how they might come together. It means breaking from the status quo to conjure new worlds that splinter our realities and throw us into what Carol Martin described as a “dizzying kaleidoscopic array of competing truths.” And anyway, isn’t there a certain delusion in pursuing clarity and truth in the first place?
I continue to seek a deeper understanding of the purpose of artistic creation in our world: for some, it’s a means to an end; for others, an act of service, a civic offering, or a means of cultural transmission. I wonder if creation also carves out space for useful and intentional delusion, and if operating from a baseline of delusion might actually be a way to retain hope.
Speaking of hope, I’m excited to share that Fabien Marcil is our new artistic associate! Most recently the programming coordinator for the Festival TransAmériques, Fabien brings a rich career in artistic and organizational support that is rooted in flexibility, collaboration and listening. I can’t wait for you to meet him! After a wonderful few months on the team, our acting artistic associate, Lucy Coren, is moving to the NAC’s Professional Development team and will continue to collaborate on certain Fund initiatives. Lucy has been a brilliant collaborator and dear friend over the past months, and we’re so lucky she’ll continue to work with us in this new capacity.
In more great news, August brings the premiere of two new shows support by the Fund, as well several international tours. See below for all the details!
And – we have a new investment!
New Creation
Out Innerspace
Led by wildly talented choreographers Tiffany Tregarthen and David Raymond, Out Innerspace’s new creation is their most ambitious project to date. It features an unlikely constellation of characters – animals, insects, elements and objects – who are united in concerns for their future, and who hope to make the time left more habitable, durable and possible.
“We’ll be exploring the importance of lightness, not to diminish the gravity of something but rather to offer buoyancy in our hearts and minds to face what is heavy and use that buoyancy to return with perspective and connection.”
– Tiffany Tregarthen, Co-artistic director and choreographer
The National Creation Fund’s investment of $119,000 will expand the production design team, support a post-premiere residency, and offer time to reconfigure the show for larger touring venues. This new work is co-produced by La Comète (France), Julidans (Netherlands), Agora de la danse (Montréal), La Rotonde (Québec), and One Dance Week (Bulgaria).
“The game-changing investment of the Fund provides us our first time to work with set and prop designers and a substantial costume design team. It furthers a new frontier of live-camera choreography and immersive projection for our company. It allows us to realize our ambitious vision without compromising our participation as performers or the opportunity to pursue challenging ideas.”
– David Raymond, Co-artistic director and choreographer
Here's to a great summer of creative adventures!
