MACHiNENOiSY, a dance group created in 2002, is in Revelstoke debuting PROX:iMiTY RE:MiX (Remix), a production featuring and created by Revelstoke youth. The brainchild of artistic directors Delia Brett and Daelik, Remix is an interactive format where performers use technology systems to trigger specific cues to sound and video while onstage.
Remix stemmed from a production Brett and Daelik created in Vancouver with youth aged 19-24, which was based on youth identity issues. After its success, Daelik and Brett wanted to go to other communities.
“We couldn’t apply for the grants out there because we didn’t want to tour a youth performance,” Daelik says. “We wanted instead to go to communities and create unique projects with the local youth.”
When the BC Arts Council created a Youth Engagement grant, the game changed.
Currently, PROXIMITY:REMIX is headed for three communities around B.C. Revelstoke is the first stop.
“It’s been a learning curve,” Daelik laughs. “In Revelstoke, the youth involved are younger, from 13-25, and we are discovering the different things that affect them.”
They could never have made it here, Daelik emphasizes, without the support of Miriam Manley, manager of the Revelstoke Performing Arts Center (RPAC).
While Remix offers the majority of the funding through its grant, the community needs to offer a place to rehearse and perform. Manley ensured both were available by accessing a youth funding opportunity through the BC Touring Council in her efforts to bring youth programming to the RPAC.
“It allows for large blocks of time for youth and will hopefully lead to more projects,” Manley explains. “I like to see youth residencies. I would like the RPAC to be more than a rental performance space but instead a living breathing production house.”
Manley and Daelik both praised the group Made in BC — Dance on Tour, a not for profit that describes itself as “a network of presenters, an arts service organization, and a provider of dance arts outreach activities throughout the province,” for connecting Manley and Remix.
Meanwhile, 10 local youth are currently involved in an intensive two week performance practice schedule. Brett and Daelik, whose experience stems from theatre as well as dance, incorporate theatre and voice exercises.
“We work with the bio of each person,” Daelik elaborates. “We like to find the unique movements of that participant, exploring his or her capacity for movement, not necessarily teaching technical dance.”
Brett and Daelik do their best to select participants they feel will benefit from performance with a sense of increased self worth, while gaining experience and confidence.
In the theatre, the group practices movement and voice. Watching them work together, aware of each other and the space around themselves at a rehearsal while Brett offers creative advice, is a captivating experience.
With groups like Remix working with members of the community, not only are new art makers being encouraged, but a new audience for the arts develops. This new audience, in turn, can help supports more arts coming to the community.
Be sure to check out the performance at RPAC on Saturday, Mar. 21, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the Visitor Centre, Art! First and online.