Firehorse and Shadow
an interactive and personalized web based performance journey
Firehorse and Shadow, an interactive web performance, combines elements of contemporary dance, shadow puppetry, interactive engagement, animation, film, and theatre to take the audience on a journey amongst the stars.
The piece explores family lineage with a focus on the dualistic yin and yang elements expressed within the bodies, lives and choices of three generations of women. Working against and alongside the hearsay of family stories and Chinese medicine cycles and charts of Zodiac Animal signs, two performers weave together passages of remembering and forgetting, inviting the audience into an intimate reanimation of familial memory. The performance is designed for computer users to experience an intimate, interactive and personalized performance journey.
Dance artist Andrea Nann is joined by shadow puppeteer and theatre artist, Annie Katsura Rollins, in this new experiential interactive web performance that collaboratively investigates what binds and holds family members together, and ultimately what frees and heals the family line.
Choreographer / Writer / Performer - Andrea Nann
Shadow Artist / Performer - Annie Katsura Rollins
Director of Video Content/Editor - Henry Mak
Dramaturg / Readings - Cindy Mochizuki
Creative and directorial contributor - Sarah Chase
Web Designer / User Experience Designer - Elysha Poirier
Technical Director /Interactive Developer - Web experience - Omar Faleh
Sound Design & Composition - Ben Grossman
Director of Photography - Eric Chan
Theatrical Lighting Designer - Jennifer Lennon
Production Team - Laura Cournoyea & A.J. Morra
Firehorse & Shadow was commissioned by CanAsian Dance for its 2020 KickStart program.
The creation of this work was generously supported by the Dance Artist in Residence program at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and by National Ballet of Canada's CreativAction Open Space program.
The premiere performance of Firehorse & Shadow in Vancouver was a huge success! Thank you to all who joined us!
May 4 - 6, 2023
Left of Main, 211 Keefer Street, Vancouver
Located in Historic Chinatown
Firehorse & Shadow Premiere Performance
Working against and alongside the hearsay of family stories, Chinese medicine cycles and charts of zodiac animal signs, two performers weave together passages of re-membering and releasing, inviting the audience into an intimate reanimation of matrilineal familial memory.