PAPER MOUNTAINS
By FURIOUS GRACE DANCE THEATRE / ANYA SAUGSTAD
About Here it is
Small Title
‘Here it is’ is a new project created in response to my ongoing fear of death. It acknowledges our brief existence, and the longing and pain we hold in a world where we leave one at a time.
‘Here it is’ first started as an experiment in making only an ending, and then expanding the ending until it was a fuller work. It bloomed from my selfish love of making endings to pieces. The research uses loops of movement based on states of being, to empty and fill the space between two dancers. Within the context of this work, I am interested in exploring the body as a being that lives as an animal and as a plant. It’s steeped in the remembering of our animal self that is killing and competitive, and out plant self that is loving and persevering. It asks what our purpose is, and how we find belonging in life. The research of this work is a remembering of how all along we are made of the same skin and bone marrow and blood as a wolf, a tiger, and a bear. We are hungry. We are eyes wide catching prey. We are licking our young. And then one day just as we had entered, we leave it all.
The work was inspired by a quote in the novel ‘Pure Colour’: “That we are made to die, one at a time, here in the first draft of existence—that is the pain and the longing. That is the beautiful.” (Sheila Heti)
Anya and Artists
Anya Saugstad and Artists
Anya Allegra Saugstad (She/her) is a dancer and choreographer based in Vancouver BC, on the unceeded territory of the Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh', Stó:lō and Səlílwətaʔ/ Selilwitulh, and xwməθkwəyə̓ m First Nations.
'Anya and Artists' create live, digital, and site adaptive performance works that foster space for emerging femme artists to tell their stories through movement. Anya is interested in creating vigorous and physically exhausting choreographic stories that express rage, strength, and urgency. Anya encourages her collaborators to show rawness and vulnerability as femme presenting bodies in performance. Anya has danced with Vanessa Goodman and her company ‘Action at a Distance’ and toured through the USA, Canada, and Germany performing ‘Core/Us’ and ‘Graveyards and Gardens’. Anya has created work for ArtsUmbrella, LamonDance, Simon Fraser University, Method Dance, and Coastal City Ballet. Anya’s work has been presented through The Scotiabank Dance Center, The Rotary Center for the Arts, F-O-R-M film Festival, The San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and Vines Art Festival as well as self presented works, performances, and tours. Anya received the Iris Garland Emerging Choreographer Award in 2023/24 for her work ‘Paper Mountains’.
Performance type: This work is adaptable to alternative spaces, but fits best in theatres or inside locations such as studios and warehouses.
How do you define this work: Contemporary dance, Live performance.
Length of performance: 55 minutes.
Audience type: General Audience.
General Technical Requirements: 'Paper Mountains' was created for a warehouse space, studio, or theatre and can be adapted to many different locations. 'Paper Mountains' requires a Marley floor, and a sound system. The work has a lighting plot for spaces with stage lighting.
Does the work require tech residency: The work does not require a technical residency.
Number of people on tour with lighting designer (including choreographer): 7
CHOREOGRAPHER: Anya Allegra Saugstad in collaboration with the performers.
DANCERS: Daria Mikhaylyuk, Eowynn Enquist, Nasiv Sall, Sabine Raskin, and Shion Skye Carter.
MUSICIAN/SOUND: Stefan Nazarevich.
LIGHTING: Andie Lloyd
