Ana Groppler in Time Now by Jennifer Dallas | Photo by Omer Yukesker
I have been working with three gifted women for just over two years on the creation and incubation of my new dance work Time Now. I have asked each of them to share some thoughts on their experience.
-- Jennifer Dallas, Artistic Director
Anna Groppler on Time Now:
When you go deeply into an artistic project, you get into each others sweat, frustrations, epiphanies, struggles, injuries, blood, joy, connection, vibrancy. It’s an amazing journey, one of the reasons why I love my job.
When you go deeply into an artistic project, you get into each others sweat, frustrations, epiphanies, struggles, injuries, blood, joy, connection, vibrancy. It’s an amazing journey, one of the reasons why I love my job.
Working with this group of women is quite a treat. I am honoured to be in a room with Jennifer Dallas, Emma Kerson and Joanie Audet; they never fail to excited me, push and inspire me. What an experience to be working with so much estrogen in the room! It is quite magical that I get to spend this time with two of my great friends, dance colleagues and School of Toronto Dance Theatre graduate classmates, Joanie and Emma. I enjoy being in their presence, playing and bouncing off one another's energy. They are both brilliant artists and open, wonderful people.
Jennifer Dallas is vibrant flowing energy. She has a beautiful mind, a unique movement vocabulary. Her work has a sense of dynamic musicality that shakes the body internally and turns on your senses. The opportunity to work with her and sink my teeth into her dance has been fulfilling. To explore her world of movement over the course of a number of years now gives new meaning to learning ones essence, to understanding how to encompass the space fully as an interpreter.
(L to R) Joanie Audet, Ana Groppler, Emma Kerson
in Trinity by Jennifer Dallas | Photo by Jennifer Dallas
in Trinity by Jennifer Dallas | Photo by Jennifer Dallas
We began this process in the fall of 2011 fresh from graduation. Two years later, we are about to perform the third incarnation, the culmination of all the work and process. I am finding my adult woman shoes, I am much more aware of things around me, about me. Much has developed for all of us dancers in our personal lives and artistic lives during the years of dance creation, it has been an interesting experience coming together sporadically over those years, jumping in and out of creation.
It’s intriguing for my mind and body to remember the past performances of this work. To have the ability to create continuously and truly develop a work is a luxury, yet I wish it was more standard for small dance companies who work project to project. The first time we performed this work it was called Trinity, in September 2011. Trinity had a sense of womanship and femininity. Sexy and jazzy the it was filled with engaging feminine magnetism, with slivers of the 1920s world with Duke Ellington music and our 20s-style dresses.
Click Here for some footage of the woman I was in Trinity.
Joanie Audet and Ana Groppler in Time Now by Jennifer Dallas | Photo by Omer Yukesker
With the title change to Time Now we performed again in December 2012. The 1920s femininity was distilled and the discovery of a world of props grew. Prop props props!! What beautiful stimulating things … so many possibilities, for the world of Time Now. It has been thought-provoking to explore this world of props within work that already existed before … what do they mean to me? What are they? How do I interact with them? How do they interact with me? For me this version was an exploration period, even during the performance I was still deep in exploration as a performer.
Now we are in the present moment, a new version of Time Now. We are in the Time Now. It's a mixture of the two development versions with its own dash of change and evolution. The characters are deeper and the world has been shifted into place. It is a place where three women experience a journey. A journey of play, of discovery, of relationship. A journey that I, we, invite you to come share. Be curious about what you see, I will be curious about what you might behold.
About Ana Groppler
Ana Claudette Groppler was born in Toronto. She discovered her love of dance at Rosedale Heights School of the Arts, and pursued her training further, graduating from The School of Toronto Dance Theatre in 2011. Since graduating Groppler has worked with Toronto Heritage Dance, Kemi Contemporary Dance Projects, Nancy Latoszewski, Signal Theatre, Fiona Griffiths, Parahumans, Pollux Dance, Social Growl Dance and she worked as a rehearsal assistant for Michael Caldwell’s Ash Unravel for Dance: Made in Canada. Groppler has performed her own work in shows with Dance Matters, the Parahumans and Magpie Dances. She is currently working with Find the Floor Dance Collective on a piece to be performed in July 2014 in DanceWorks CoWorks, as well as Signal Theatre on their new upcoming production A Soldiers Tale to be performed at The FleckDance Theatre in February 2014 as well as The Canada Dance Festival in June 2014.
STAGES
September 18-21, 2013 | 8pm nightly
The Winchester Street Theatre, 80 Winchester Street, Toronto
Tickets $15/$20 | Gala performance September 18th, tickets $40
