Dance conjurer Ziyian Kwan and her collaborators lift the lid off oppression in Rebel Grace

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      When the Straight reaches Vancouver dance artist Ziyian Kwan by phone, she wants to make one thing abundantly clear.

      Even though she’s the founder of dumb instrument Dance, which is presenting its newest work, Rebel Grace, this month, she  she prefers the to use the word conjurer rather than choreographer, to describe her role as author and visionary behind the work.

      “It is a collaborative process,” Kwan insists. “I think of myself less as a choreographer these days and more as a conjurer.”

      She describes Rebel Grace, which will be at the Scotiabank Dance Centre, as a series of eight vignettes that flow together. Each represents “something of what our individual and collective voices express in terms of taking the lid off of oppressions that we might experience in our bodies and in our lives”.

      To Kwan and the rest of the diverse artistic team—Chengyan Boon, Justin Calvadores, Lisa Mariko Gelley, E. Kage, Juolin Lee, Andrea Nann, Roxanne Nesbitt, and Rianne Svelnis—the objective is to “discover revelations about positive ways to bend those experiences”.

      “I’ve been writing rhyming couplets as a simple container in which to contextualize the inspiration behind the piece,” Kwan reveals. “Many of these poems will be shared in performance.”

      Here is one:

      What is a rebel but a state of grace?
      Ruptures of normal in mendings of space.
      With Eros and Pathos and Ethos at play
      Dreaming tomorrow by bending today.

      Kwan says that the concept for Rebel Grace came to her about two and a half years ago. She actually had an idea of creating a “menopausal manifesto”—well before bestselling author Dr. Jen Gunter’s book The Menopause Manifesto was released.

      Some current collaborators and others no longer associated with the project—such as cellist Peggy Lee and dancers Delia Brett and Anne Cooper—were involved at that time. Kwan was intrigued by the notion of exploring women’s midlife years through dance and poetry.

      However, as the pandemic took hold along with a rise in anti-Asian hatred, she couldn’t sit on the sidelines.

      Instead, she found ways to voice a “graceful rebellion in relationship to other currents that relate specifically to the intersections of my identity, which are, of course, as an Asian woman whose identity is queer and older”.

      In Rebel Grace, she points out that she and the other artists are expressing the rumblings—and the joy—that they’ve felt during the past two years. In essence, they’re finding ways to “rupture what is normative or what we perceive to be normative”, whether it’s in verse, movement, or, in the case of taiko artist Kage, through the beats. Kwan reveals that Kage will also sing, which she doesn’t ordinarily do.

      “Something I would like to underline in addition to the artists who are collaborating in the work that I’m conjuring is the Dance Centre,” Kwan adds. “In these turbulent times, where artists are redefining cultures of creative ecology, the Dance Centre is a steadfast vessel that offers an abundance of resources and care that make it possible to break the waves.”

      As part of the Global Dance Connections series, the Dance Centre will present dumb instrument Dance’s Rebel Grace at 8 p.m. next Thursday to Saturday (May 12 to 14) at the Scotiabank Dance Centre. For more information, visit the website.

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