Best of America Loves: Banff edition

This is an Untitled movement and technology driven project enacted by Frances Chiaverini in collaboration with the Projection Technology team directed by Joel Adria, at The Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada.

It aimed to design and produce an immersive Event in which performers and audience co-exist. 

Using the construct of Best of America Loves, the performers inhabit a closed storage space in the underground labyrinth of rehearsal rooms, costume studios, and all-purpose closets surrounding the stage at the Margaret Greenham Theatre.  Their ongoing improvised yet highly involved movements are captured by a camera and projected into a neighboring studio, although that image remains unseen in the absence of an audience.  The performance then will only occur when an observer is physically present in the studio to activate it. Even then, it is only possible to reveal the backtage performance in parts. What is seen and when is decided entirely by the audience thus challenging notions of importance, fomo, necessity, presence, labor and product-driven-process in the traditional context of formal dance presentation. 

This work was made in direct reaction to a breech of agreement by the leading directors of the Banff dance department in the summer of 2016 a situation that was written about by Mark Mann in The Dance Current.

Art Direction by Jordan Watkins

Scenic Design by Heipo Leung

Sound Design by Misha Hlebnicov

Consultants: Ian Edmonds, Porscha Banker, MP Beauregard

Performers: Lexi Vajda, Stephanie Cyr, Nick Blb, Andrew McCormack, Ria Girard, Maya Tenzer, Lucas Wilson-Bilbro