Crow
Crow
2004
About
Crow is a piece that explores chaos in the process of transformation; Karen Jamieson, working with designers, exploring the tradition of alchemy through dance.
Crow premiered at the Firehall Arts Centre, 280 East Cordova, for two public performances on July 11 and July 12, 2004 at 7pm as part of the Dancing on the Edge Festival.
The People
Choreography: Karen Jamieson
Performers: Alisoun Payne and Karen Jamieson
Composer: Michael O’Neill, in collaboration with Ann Hepper, Mark Parlett, and Ben Rogalsky
Costumes: Susan Berganzi
Lighting: Jean Philippe Trépanier
Videography: D-Anne Kuby Trépanier
Theme input and audio/video presence: Rosario Ancer, Peter Bingham, Byron Chief-Moon, and Jennifer Mascall
Recording Engineer: Owen Belton
Texts: Giordano the Nolan to the Principle of the Universe by Giordano Bruno, Interceptions of Starlight by William Irwin Thompson
Reviews
“Vancouver choreographer and dance veteran Karen Jamieson made unmistakable allusions to Martha Graham in the world premiere of Crow. In a provocative partnership seemingly based on opposition and interdependence, the two performers’ angled extremities, contracted gestures, and taut lines bore testament to the modern icon. The movement vocabulary carried the pair through consumption, support, and transformation.
Jamieson and Alisoun Payne lost themselves entirely in their contrasting roles: a menacing force and an oppressed victim, respectively.
Often merging abstract contemporary dance with the fluidity of acrobatics, Jamieson found a harmonious balance between the two distinct styles.
The piece succeeded due to Payne’s precision and the uninhibited acting ability of both dancers. Crow was an eerily grotesque work where neither performer faded from character for an instant.”
- Laura Murray
“Fest Finds Levity, Darkness”
The Georgia Straight, July 15-22, 2004
“Karen Jamieson’s Crow is a new duet for Jamieson and Alisoun Payne, set to a score of Japanese gamelan instruments by composer Michael O’Neill. Payne’s background in martial arts and circus is front and centre, but makes for an uneasy onstage pairing with Jamieson, in all her witchy intensity.
Crow’s themes of transformation and alchemy are well served by D-Anne Kuby Trépanier’s grainy black-and-white and hand-coloured video snippets, which offer passing glimpses of Vancouver dance figures like Peter Bingham and Rosario Ancer.”
- Deborah Meyers
“The ordinary turns wondrous in an elegant dance production”
The Vancouver Sun, July 14, 2004
