Choreographer, Director, Producer
March / April 2023
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Premiered — March / April 2023
“Grief is not a disorder, a disease, or a sign of weakness. It is an emotional, physical, and spiritual necessity, the price you pay for love. The only cure for grief is to grieve.” – Earl Grollman
Grief Marked is an interdisciplinary installation performance created for small audiences in an intimate space. The project spanned a year and a half of research, choreography, design, collaboration, residency, videography, composition and production. It premiered in Calgary and toured to Edmonton, and it is an adaptable, scalable work which is open to further touring and development in partnership with Corps Bara Dance Theatre.
Grief Marked was inspired by the losses we endured during the pandemic, and funded by a grant for Canada’s emergence from COVID-19 by Canada Heritage. The pandemic highlighted a universal experience of grief, and pushed into our consciousness the way grief underwrites much of our day to day living. Whether caused by acute, definite losses or by more nebulous circumstances, it also became clear to me that the act of grieving is socially acceptable only under very specific, controlled circumstances. Grief Marked made public some of the feelings and expressions of grief that we typically save for our bedrooms. It acted as a chance to “mark” our own grief - to pay attention to it, to honour it in all its forms. A chance to examine how we’ve been marked BY grief, how we have been made different. Lastly, Grief Marked offered an opportunity to consider how we can honour healing by choosing to grieve actively and intentionally, within this container of community.
Today and every day may you find healing and hope by befriending your grief. May you feel less alone. May your grief-marks be transfigured into fierce compassion and loving kindness. May you know beauty in all of life’s circumstances; the beauty of the fullness of being alive. — The Grief Marked team
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At the beginning audiences gather in the lobby to be initiated into the work. They are invited to interact with eight tactile sculptures created by Dayna Wolfe. They are asked to write notes of consolation and deposit them into an artist-made clay vessel and are offered a piece of clay as a sensory regulation tool. Small groups are then guided through the experience by a grief doula, accompanied by a pianist in movements one and three, and a cellist in movements two and three.
Visually, the project uses large hanging fabric sheet installations to divide the space into five areas according to the movements of the piece. The soundscape, created by Steve Dierkens is reminiscent of meditational womb sounds. Each movement of the piece includes spoken word devised from our creative research and including responses from Canadians regarding their experiences of grief through the pandemic.
The first movement is the compost; an initiation into the mess and pain of grief, characterized by anger, fear, denial and trying to hold it all together. The clay vessel filled with notes of consolation is smashed and instead we find comfort in the simple presence of a trusted friend.
In movement two the audience peers down on the dancers in a lower space, into the bottom of the ocean and a desolation that feels suffocating, inescapable. Eventually the only possibility is acceptance and release.
In movement three we enter a space of beautiful mess, featuring an eclectic, colourful nest where a dancer is wearing an unravelling yarn dress. Hanging installations of yarn are woven and tangled between the dancers until they are removed and repurposed as a cushioning in the bottom of the nest. The gathering together and resting in the nest instigates a cathartic transfiguration as the performers laugh and projections turn to gold.
Transitioning out of the performance space, the audience is given an opportunity to reflect on what they witnessed by adding to a collective response installation designed by our expressive arts therapist, including writing on large sheets of paper, leaving clay creations they made throughout the course of the piece and choosing a note of consolation or text from the piece to take home.
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“Grief Marked was beautiful, it was touching, it didn't shy away from the difficult emotions, it lingered long enough on tough bits and shared possible resolution of ruptures. I am taking away that grief is in the body and that everyone experiences it differently. Grief is also shared and to gather in grief spaces to feel and recover from moments of grief or from the loneliness of grief. I really enjoyed exploring the tactile art before hand. all the elements created such a wonderful immersive experience. The music and lighting was sensitive to the crying eyes at the end. It was a blessing to have moments again to interact before heading out into the brightness of the day.”
“There was something really poignant about having a collective grieving experience. So much of our modern/western grieving process is clinical and individual. There's beauty in being together with other people, not necessarily knowing them or what they are grieving specifically. But I felt very free to be present, cry, and feel. The intimacy of the space made the entire experience more participatory than performative. I also appreciated the visuals - the soil, the ocean, and the yarn. My impression was that walking into the space felt very dark, warm, and comforting. Walking out afterwards felt like emerging from a cocoon.”
“The integration of sound, lighting, speaking, and dance was impeccable. The emotional depth felt by the dancers moved me. I could feel the research of the work and it really showed in their emotional expressiveness, dancing, and authentic expression. I am taking away a deeper awareness of my own relationship to Grief and a new perspective of how to relate to it.”
“The way all the sense were engaged was very impressive. There were so many thoughtful and meaningful details. It was a safe container to live into some of my grief. I felt held.”
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Grief Marked is a multidisciplinary installation performance featuring contemporary dance, live music, projections, and visual art, to represent many aspects of grief and individual responses to it. Through a creative residency at Leña Artist Residency (Galiano Island, BC) and funding from Canadian Heritage, Grief Marked premiered in Calgary on March 18-19, 2023, and toured to Edmonton from March 24-25, 2023.
This 45 minute piece (including orientation and post-show response stations) invites the audience to explore the feelings of grief echoing from the pandemic, with invitations to reflect and contribute to communal responses, marking the collective grief we experience as humans.
The creation process for Grief Marked included initial research between myself and arts therapist Heather Frayne in August, 2022. During this time we established the themes for the work of endings, pain, place-creating, generativity and transformation.
Sept - Dec 2022 was spent contracting artists and creative partners, booking venues and other administrative preparation.
January 7, 2023 we hosted a creative improvisation jam co-hosted by director Deanna Witwer and Arts Therapist Heather Frayne, out of which emerged key metaphors we explored in the work (grief as an ocean, as compost, as a baby, a weird house guest, as relief) as well as ideas of interconnectedness, seeing and being seen, and unravelling.
January 15-21, 2023 Deanna and six dancers were hosted at Lena Residency, where we created the choreography for all three movements of the piece, approximately 30 minutes worth.
February 3, 2023, we held a video shoot for projections.
March 3, 2023 we hosted a workshop for the artists on grief and worldview by indigenous facilitator Larissa Crawford
March 2023 we rehearsed, collaborated with a costume and set designer, visual artist, indigenous/accessibility consultant and poet/actor to bring together more elements of the performance.
GALLERY
CREDITS AND SUPPORTERS
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Concept, Director, Producer, Choreographer — Deanna Witwer
Presented by Corps Bara Dance Theatre
Environments and Costume Designer — April Viczko
Sound Designer and Composer — Steve Dierkens
Visual Artist, Arts Therapy/Grief Counselor Consultant and Process Facilitator — Heather Frayne
Dance Artists and co-choreographers — Cabri Boechler, Kathryn Hood, Samantha Ketsa, Emily Losier, Katharina Schier, Heidi Schmidtke, Caitlin Unrau
Actor and Poet — Marlo Hepburn
Immersion Facilitator and Grief Doula — Kyrsten Blair
Technical Director — Adam Kostiuk
Ceramic Artist — Jana Norris
Visual Artist — Dayna Wolfe
Cinematographer — Tim Nguyen
Cellist — Olena Kilchyk
Pianist — Kristian Alexandrov, Steve Dierkens
Equity and Accessibility Facilitator — Larissa Crawford
Costume Construction — Abbie Brokenshire
Technical Crew — Jacob Sunderland, Emma Pfeiffer
Tour Coordinators — Deanna Witwer, with Heather Frayne & Samantha Ketsa
Front of House — Kyla Hiebert, Jana Norris, Chantal Gandar, Ainsley Sudds, Karen SuddsMarketing Director — Samantha Ketsa
Social Media Director — Kathryn Hood
Photography — Sentient Forms
Venues — The Pioneer, Calgary, St Matthias Anglican Church, Edmonton
Residencies — Lena Residency Center, Evolved Movement Arts, Crossings Dance -
Canadian Heritage
Government of Canada
Calgary Arts Development
City of Calgary -
Chair — Chantal Gandar
Treasurer — Teresa Boettcher
Secretary — Ainsley Sudds
Director — Kyla Hiebert
Director — Heather Frayne
Director — Jana Norris -
Plintz Real Estate
Naked Leaf Tea
Spartan Controls
University of Calgary
Studio D -
Kathy Chapman, Lana Lile and Dimitri Van Roy, Kathleen Ryan, Daniel Pitts, Amay Dufault, Vivian Hill PC, Chantal and Al Gandar, Deanna and Brandon Witwer, Lynda McLennan, Lance and Carla Berg, Val Leiske, Lori Lukey, Wayne and Karen Sudds, Richard and Karen McKeel, Pat and Meredith Cashion, Whitney and Ryan Monson, Alan and Elspeth Satterlee, Katie and Dennis Plintz