CHAPTERS
Coming Out of Chaos: A Vancouver Dance Story is a multi-media story told in four chapters that looks back at the history of the collaborative dance work Coming Out of Chaos (1982). Using archival photographs and audio excerpts from seventeen oral history interviews conducted for this project, each chapter highlights formative events and people that have shaped contemporary dance in Vancouver, both before and after the creation of Coming Out of Chaos. Full interview transcriptions are available to read here.
CHAPTER 1: Before Chaos
Before Chaos is the first chapter of Coming Out of Chaos: A Vancouver Dance Story and it begins before the beginning. More specifically, it begins with notable people, companies, places, programming, and workshops inextricably tied to Coming Out of Chaos and its members which helped shape the emergence of contemporary dance in Vancouver during the 1960s and 1970s, leading up to the creation of Coming Out of Chaos in 1982. In particular, this chapter looks at the legacies of Paula Ross, Anna Wyman and Max Wyman, The Centre at Simon Fraser University, Terminal City Dance Research, Norbert Vesak’s Western Dance Theatre, Linda Rubin’s Synergy Movement Workshops, Contact Improvisation, Fulcrum, Peter Bingham and Lola Ryan at the Western Front, amongst others.
CHAPTER 2: Coming out of chaos
Coming Out of Chaos marks the second chapter of Coming Out of Chaos: A Vancouver Dance Story. It focuses on the development and creation of Coming Out of Chaos and what came afterwards. Memories and anecdotes from rehearsals, performances, and tours shared in the oral history interviews date back to late 1981, when rehearsals first began. The dissolution of Terminal City Dance Research followed shortly after the production of Coming Out of Chaos, but this also gave way to the formation of Karen Jamieson Dance Company, Special Delivery Moving Theatre (now Vancouver Moving Theatre), and EDAM (Experimental Dance And Music) as generative creative forces in Vancouver.
CHAPTER 3: After chaos
After Chaos is the third chapter of Coming Out of Chaos: A Vancouver Dance Story. It focuses on the experimental dance company EDAM at Western Front, as well as the various transitions and companies that followed after. This includes the emergence of MascallDance, Kokoro Dance, and Lola Dance in Vancouver. This chapter also addresses the development of The Scotiabank Vancouver Dance Centre as a centralized, physical home, and resource centre for dance communities in Vancouver, as well as its connection to Terminal City Dance Research.
Chapter 4: resonance
Resonance marks the fourth and final chapter of Coming Out of Chaos: A Vancouver Dance Story. It turns to focus on the recent past and the present to discuss the significant changes the Vancouver dance community has experienced over the last thirty years since Coming Out of Chaos first premiered in 1982. More specifically, this chapter talks about the emergence of dance festivals, independent practitioners, shifting funding models, dance writing, and archives, as well as current themes and challenges contemporary dance artists are faced with today.