Expanse Festival explores diverse perspectives with body-based performance
Azimuth Theatre's Expanse Festival kicks off on March 20, with most events taking place at the Fringe Theatre's Arts Barns through March 29. The festival's mission is to explore body-based stories, and begins with the annual Living Room Party, a presentation of works-in-progress. This year's theme, Intersections, is "a testament to the time that we're living in," Azimuth's co-artistic producer Sue Goberdhan told CBC Edmonton's Radio Active. "We have so many different perspectives that we tend to forget exist when we are stuck in our own purview of the world."
Artist and amputee Kristi Hansen worked with Moment Discovery to create Phantom Limb, a piece about what the body remembers when something is no longer physically present. Meanwhile, Binding by Calla Wright explores what it means to live with a body part you never really wanted. Cycle by Andrew Ritchie is back on stage for an immersive, heart-pumping production about cycling culture in Canada. Toronto-based Alexandra Caprara created the dance piece ULTRA VIOLETS, which brings together plant life, sapphic history, and queer spaces, and Calgary duo Bianca Miranda and Keshia Cheesman present The F Word, a political pop-art piece about fatphobia, diet culture, and the intersection of fatness with race.
Plus, the Black Dance Collective will hold a welcome gathering on March 23. One member of the collective is Mpoe Mogale, the Edmonton Arts Council's inaugural dance-artist-in-residence. Also on March 23, the festival's professional development day will comprise workshops on lighting design, abolitionist practice and collective care, and body-based technology. There will also be a night market on the Friday and Saturday evenings of the festival.
