SURFACE DANCE
Photo Credit: surFace Dance
100x1x2 Credits
Newsbreaker Credits
Sponsored By
surFace Dance
100x1x2 and Newsbreaker
February 23rd & 24th , 8:00 PM
DANSpace (1800 Argyle Street, 3rd Floor)
General Seating – $25.00 Adults; 20.00 Seniors; $15.00 Students / Arts Worker / Under Waged
Run Time – 90mins
100x1x2
surFace Dance in collaboration with Collectif HAT and Xavier Richard
Using video-mapping, 200 screendances, the superposition and juxtaposition of images, and the deconstruction and reconstruction of a modular set, 100x1x2 is a solo dance performance by Jalianne Li (surFace Dance) that transports the audience in time and place. At once rooted in reality and living in an absurd, surreal universe, the piece marvels at humanity’s uncanny ability to adapt.
The project revolves around two series of 100 one-minute site-specific improvised dance videos (100 videos x 1 minute x 2 series = 100x1x2). Dancer Jalianne Li filmed and posted them on social media as she traveled around Canada and the United States in 2018 and while she was confined to her house and her yard during lockdown in 2020.
Faced with new difficulties and limitations such as the restriction of space, social unrest and isolation during the pandemic, 100x1x2 asks the question: how can we overcome what life throws at us?
Newsbreaker
surFace Dance in collaboration with Mathieu FRACA Francoeur
An experimental contemporary dance work inspired by the news overload that we experience on a daily basis. The news enrages us, invades us, depresses us, suffocates us, incites us to act. How do we deal with this constant bombardment?
With a newspaper costume designed by visual artist Mathieu FRACA Francoeur, this solo dance piece examines our relationship to the news through the literal metaphor that only newsprint can offer: from the heaviness of the words on its pages to the lightness of the material itself to the transformational capacity of paper. Dancer Jalianne Li’s interactions with the costume progress throughout the piece and her unbounded movements challenge the limitations of the material. Accompanied by a searing score by composer and multidisciplinary artist Roman Gadistkiy, the struggle with our relationship to the news, how it affects our mental health, and how we allow it to shape us becomes visceral in this relevant work.
Jalianne Li
Jalianne Li is a multidisciplinary artist with a focus in dance. Of mixed Chinese and Scottish descent, she is based in Moncton, NB, the traditional unceded territory of the Wolastoqiyik and Mi’kmaq Peoples. After obtaining her BSc, she studied dance at Trinity Laban and apprenticed with Springs Dance Company in London, UK. She founded surFace Dance in 2013 and has presented work in the UK, The Netherlands, and the Maritimes. Through her company, Li has been specializing in screendances, site-specific work, and the integration of facial movement with the body. Li’s work is also highly collaborative, having explored wave field synthesis with composer Tommaso Perego, video mapping with Collectif HAT, and newspaper costumes with visual artist Mathieu Francoeur.
Li has also delved into theatre and circus and has performed with Satellite Theatre, Theatre New Brunswick, Connection Dance Works, Circus Stella, Danse En L’Air and the Cooprative Air au Cube. During her spare time, she can be found filming dance videos for her Instagram @jlidance, creating colourful looks with makeup, playing her harp and volunteering at her church. Li has received funding from artsnb and the Canada Council for the Arts and was nominated as a finalist for Les Prix Éloizes in 2018, 2020 and 2022.