EDAM Presents
Choreographic Series 2025
November 19, 21, 22, 26, 28, 29 at 7PM
Erika Mitsuhashi
Isak Enquist
Peter Bingham
Welcome to EDAM’s Choreographic Series. We are thrilled to present new work by guest choreographers Erika Mitsuhashi and Isak Enquist, alongside a new directed improvisation by EDAM’s Artistic Director Peter Bingham. Our guest choreographers and their collaborators have been in residency at EDAM this fall, and we extend our deep appreciation to all the artists whose hard work and commitment have brought these performances to life. We are also immensely grateful for your presence here tonight to witness these new creations. Thank you for your support.
The EDAM Choreographic Series aims to provide a platform for emerging and established choreographers to showcase innovative and thought-provoking contemporary dance and performance; and celebrates creativity, collaboration, and the power of dance and movement.
photo by Michael Kast
nearsphere
by Erika Mitsuhashi
creator and performer: Erika Mitsuhashi
performer: Emika Ruby Gomyo McDonald
live sound and music: Elisa Ferrari
outside eye support: Alexa Mardon, Francesca Frewer
costume consultant: Jae Woo Kang
Sound contributions by Wyldie Bracewell, John Brennan, and Gabi Dao
Moving backwards, reversal and the paradoxical understanding that being future-bound is, in itself, a forward motion, nearsphere emerged as a leaky daydream of Erika’s tender existentialism. Accepting paradoxes as openings – openings for movement, spatiality and inevitably, memory, to rush in. Through Erika’s dancing and live sound by Elisa, they honor gaps in understanding, moments of unknowing and daydreaming as spaces for movement and sound to enter – mutual vanishings. Marked by the soft tension of the unknowable, join us in the substances of this warm, velvety void. What happens next, to next?
Special thank you’s to Dan MacDonald, Maiko Gomyo, Hitomi Gomyo, Rhye McCorkindale, Francesca Frewer, Alexa Mardon, Jaewoo Kang, Alysha Seriani, John Brennan and Juli Talerico. A heartfelt thank you to the EDAM team Olivia, Sierra, Jarin and Peter for their support and this meaningful opportunity to share this work. A tender thank you to Elisa and Emika for trusting me and being so curious, playful and radiant.
nearsphere is dedicated to my mum and is a love letter to anyone that dances as a way to understand the world.
Research and creation supported by: Circuit EST x The Dance Centre, Dansverkstæðið, Method Dance, EDAM and Canada Council for the Arts.
ERIKA MITSUHASHI (choreography and performer) is a dance artist living on the unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Səl̓ílwətaɬ, and Skwxwú7mesh Nations. Her practice spans performance, installation, scenography, and projection design. She is ever delighted by contending with the materiality of the present and using the body as the site for conceptual, existential and tender curiosity. She holds a BFA from Simon Fraser University and is a danceWEB recipient (2025). Locally, she collaborates with Alexa Mardon (Mardon + Mitsuhashi), Francesca Frewer, and is part of the producing team behind Boombox.
EMIKA RUBY GOMYO MCDONALD (performer) Is a lover of nature and movement. Growing up on the north shore in a multigenerational home has allowed Emika to wander freely in the forest and her Japanese ancestry. When not saddled by life and childhood responsibilities she can be found creating art and daydreaming of horses and her next adventure.
ELISA FERRARI (live sound and music) works with sound, performance, and writing. Her artistic practice attends to memory formations, translingual ecologies, sonic sediments and the possibilities of reception and idleness. On Vancouver co-op radio, she hosts aux-sends—a quarterly radio series about experimental music and aural poetics. She lives as an uninvited guest on the unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh, and in Brescia, Italy, where she grew up.
ALEXA MARDON (outside eye support) is a dancer, performance maker, biodynamic craniosacral therapist and facilitator co-creating and seeking spaces for imperfect ritual, queer fantastical myth-making, and multi-sensorial solidarity across difference.
Alexa’s solo and collaborative work has been presented by Western Front, LIVE Biennale, EDAM, Vines Art Festival, ICA (London), Richmond Art Gallery, The Dance Centre, OFFTA (Montreal), Ehkä Kutomo (Finland), Surrey Art Gallery, and VIVO Media Arts. With Rianne Švelnis, they co-facilitate Movement Classes for Support Workers, an ongoing series of community movement workshops for care workers. With Erika Mitsuhashi, they co-direct Mardon + Mitsuhashi, a ten-year artistic collaboration grown from deep friendship.
FRANCESCA FREWER (outside eye support) Please find Francesca’s bio under Peter Bingham’s Collaborators.
JAEWOO KANG (costume consultation) is a queer Korean-Canadian multi-disciplinary artist, working with costume, film and puppetry. Recently he did World as Tripod at Centre A, engaging with queering of his childhood game, Legend of Heroes IV. He also did a puppet show, Hearts and Boot, which plays with Korean myth and Bratz dolls.
Fall(se) Cirque(us) — a work in progress
Isak Enquist
This initial phase of Fall(se) Cirque(us) celebrates highly physical, unison movements that challenge the boundaries between physical labor and virtuosic performance. Alternating between "Work" and "Rest", this cyclical structure embodies the rhythm of labor, highlighting the tension between effort and exhaustion.
Choreography: Isak Enquist
Performers: Tyler Layton-Olson, James-Amzin Naharick, Mia Pelayo, Kaia Shukin, Alex X
Rehearsal Direction: Kate Franklin
Sound Design: Isak Enquist and Tyler Layton-Olson
ISAK DORAN ENQUIST is a movement artist, choreographer, actor, and experimental sound designer based on the unceded territories of the Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh, Skwxwú7mesh, and xʷməθkwəy̓əm Nations. Originally raised in the Kootneys/Ktunaxa Nation, he began his formal training in Shotokan Karate-Do before pursuing formal dance education. Isak has performed internationally with Out Inner Space, Shay Kuebler/RSA, Compagnie Vision Impure, Amber Funk Barton, MascallDance, Generous Mess, Anne Plamondon, Corporeal Imago, and Cristina Bucci. He teaches at Harbour Dance Centre, Lamondance, Goh Ballet Academy, Training Society of Vancouver, Modus Operandi, and GötesborgOperan among others, and has most recently choreographed “City of Tales” with Blackout Arts Society.
TYLER LAYTON-OLSON was born in Nipawin, Saskatchewan and is currently based in Vancouver, BC. He trained in various styles growing up and moved to Vancouver to train with Arts Umbrella's pre-professional program and then with Modus Operandi: School of Contemporary Dance. He has had the honour of performing and touring with Shay Kubler: Radical System Art, 605 Collective, Wen Wei Dance, and other dance companies. Tyler loves creation and expression in other art forms including acting, acrylic/mixed media painting, and music production.
MIA PELAYO is a Filipina-Canadian dance artist who grew up on the unceded territories of the Tsawwassen and Musqueum First Nations Peoples (Delta, BC). A graduate from Modus Operandi, Mia has since had the joy of collaborating with companies such as The Biting School, Dance//Novella, MascallDance, and other beloved Vancouver dance artists. This past year, Mia has premiered her dance film Remnant at Dance West’s Dance in Surrey, and with friend and collaborator Madeleine Cruz, hosted and performed at New Work’s Pop Up Dances, and shared their latest duet Swing, Knots, and Premonitions at Boombox.
Growing up, ALEX X studied multiple styles of dance, music, theatre, and martial arts. While completing her BFA at Alonzo King LINES Ballet (2020), she began her career performing with dawsondancesf. Since graduating from Modus Operandi (2023), Alex has worked locally with Radical System Art, Isak Enquist, and Nasiv Sall as well as internationally with Khoudia Touré (Greece, France) and Joshua Beamish/MOVETHECOMPANY (NYC). In 2023, she joined Out Innerspace Dance Theatre performing both nationally and internationally. Alex is excited to continue developing her virtuosity through learning and dancing with artists around the world.
JAMES-AMZIN is a contemporary dancer, tap dancer and improviser from Vancouver Island, BC. He grew up performing in community theater and dance competitions, training in dance for the last 15 years as well as teaching contemporary and tap dance since 2018. He is a 2020 graduate of Modus Operandi Contemporary. James-Amzin has been a guest with Baby Face Brass, Jenn Edwards’ & Jennifer Aoki’s ‘The Body Orchestra, Pina Bausch's 'Nelken Line' with Kinesis Dance Somatheatro, Company 605’s ‘Looping', and Jennifer Mcleish-Lewis at VIDF (2024). For James-Amzin, dance is the materialized and shareable aspect of his spiritual practice that aims to elucidate the internal landscape.
KAIA MARA SHUKIN is a dance artist living on the unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations currently known as Vancouver. She received her BFA in Dance from SFU in 2018 and since then has had the privilege of working with and learning from Justine A. Chambers, Amber Barton, Daisy Thompson, Eowynn Enquist, Rob Kitsos and Isak Enquist. They are deeply grateful to EDAM, to Peter and for every moment spent in this space and among these dancers.
Award-winning contemporary dance artist KATE FRANKLIN has worked with over 50 different choreographers/companies/directors over the course of her career, both in Toronto/Tkaronto (2002-2012) and in so-called “Vancouver” on Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh land since 2012. Since 2016 she has been Associate Artistic Director of Modus Operandi, where she teaches and mentors a group of exceptionally talented emerging dance artists. She is honoured to have been a small part of Isak's amazing Fall(se) Cirque(us) team for the EDAM Choreographic Series, which is her favourite show in town.
photo by Chris Randle
Cuddle of Dreams
by Peter Bingham
Direction: Peter Bingham
Performers: Anne Cooper, Francesca Frewer, Hayley Gawthrop, Arash Khakpour, Alex Mah, Olivia Shaffer, Antonio Somera Jr.,
Dramaturg: Raïna von Waldenburg
Thank you Raïna and to all the performers for their commitment and artistry.
PETER BINGHAM, Artistic Director of EDAM Dance, has been exploring the boundaries of improvisation and choreography since 1975. His work has been performed across Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia.
ANNE COOPER is a dancer and teacher, dancing in EDAM/Peter Bingham's works both choreographed and improvised for 30 years. She is grateful to live & work here, on the unceded, ancestral lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, & Tsleil-Waututh Nations. She has danced for DSB/Chick Snipper, Lola Dance, Kinesis Somatheatro, Karen Jamieson Dance, Co. Erasga, Mascall Dance, Dansepartout (QC) among others. In the field of improvisation she has performed with Nancy Stark Smith in the U.S. in the Glimpse Performance Installations. With EDAM she improvised in Peter's work at dmic/fac Toronto, August '25 & in Olivia Shaffer's work for EDAM's Rewind & Renew, April '25. Anne teaches Contact Improvisation at EDAM & other locales, since 2000. With Love & Thanks, Peter, for all the dances.
FRANCESCA FREWER is a contemporary dance artist living as a grateful guest on the unceded, ancestral territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. She loves to explore movement as a process of the unfolding unknown – in performance, practice, creating, producing shows at the DIY space Boombox, and teaching contemporary dance, Contact Improvisation, and The Feldenkrais Method. She loves dancing with EDAM.
Born and reared in Semiahmoo territory HAYLEY GAWTHROP is an independent performing artist residing in the unceded, ancestral territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil- Waututh Nations. Music and Dance make Hayley feel more radically alive. Their passion for autonomy and interest in improvisation led them to explore Contact Improv under the tutelage of Peter Bingham in 2015. They have been dancing professionally with the EDAM ensemble since 2021 and teaching CI at EDAM since 2022.
ARASH KHAKPOUR (آرش خاکپور) — Dancer, choreographer, and facilitator from Tehran, based on Coast Salish Territory (colonially known as Vancouver). Arash has over 15 years of practice in movement and performance and has been a company member and part of the EDAM ensemble since 2017. He explores the nuances of prejudice and perception in the body as a mode of transformation and inviting the unconscious to the conscious. He sees dance as a relational process of physical, emotional, and spiritual discovery, and as a vehicle for social change.
ALEX MAH is an interdisciplinary performing artist, composer-musician, and CI practitioner. He composes mostly weirdo experimental music and sometimes sweet songs for dance and theatre. He is grateful to have worked with Peter Bingham since 2015 and was fortunate to be a jam musician for 300 dancers at contactfest Freiburg 2024, Europe’s largest CI festival. He is fond of folk music, loves a good cheesecake, and prefers taking things slowly.
OLIVIA SHAFFER’s 18-year career is marked by extensive performance work with numerous inspiring artists. Olivia holds a BFA from SFU and is certified in the Feldenkrais Method®, a form of somatic education that helps to reorganize connections between the brain and body. She teaches dance and somatic approaches to movement at EDAM, at professional training institutions, and internationally at dance festivals such as Freiburg, SFDI, and CI@50. She is honoured to be EDAM’s incoming Artistic Director and is beyond grateful for the endless layers of Peter’s teachings.
ANTONIO SOMERA JR is a queer and quirky freelance dance artist who lives and works on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples. His interests lie in improvisation, whether it be through contact dance, freestyling in street dance battles or becoming an adult.
RAÏNA VON WALDENBURG, former full-time faculty at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, adjunct at SFU and UFV, currently teaches workshops in Grotowski-based physical performance. Raïna is a dramaturg, writer, director, and performer in Vancouver and the experimental downtown NYC theatre scene. She has been facilitating artists in the development of original performance material for thirty years.
GILLIAN HANEMAYER (Lighting Designer) is an interdisciplinary artist based on the unceded and traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh first nations. She works primarily as a Lighting Designer and Technical Director in theatre and dance, but her other practices include installation work, writing, performing, and devising work across disciplines. Her recent lighting design credits include: Rosa (Ballet BC), Once (Ballet BC), Project Inizi (Cristina Bucci), Seesaw (Arts Umbrella), The Forests Wild (Arts Umbrella), Dead as a Dodo (Associate Lighting Design, Wakka Wakka Productions), BOLT (Jeanette Kotowich). Gillian holds a BFA from the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University.
EDAM CHOREOGRAPHIC SERIES 2024
Artistic Director
Peter Bingham
Associate Artistic Director
Olivia Shaffer
General Manager
Sierra Megas
Front of House
Maggie McGhee
Lighting Designer
Gillian Hanemeyer
Sound Technician
Alex Mah
www.edamdance.org
Thank you to our wonderful volunteers!
EDAM gratefully acknowledges the financial support of Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, the Province of British Columbia, and City of Vancouver.
We, at EDAM, live, work and create on the ancestral, traditional, and unceded territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.