whereverever

Description:

whereverever is a work by Mardon + Mitsuhashi—the collaborative entity of Alexa Mardon and Erika Mitsuhashi—made with media artist Alysha Seriani and composer Sasha J. Langford. Across a sixteen-minute video and forty-minute dance performance, and produced as part of Western Front’s artist-in-residence program, whereverever traces possible beginnings and belonging by following the question “how did we get here?”

Recorded on location in Mardon + Mitsuhashi’s respective ancestral homelands, Finland and Japan, the video, shot and edited by Seriani, intertwines visits with relatives, folk and contemporary dancing, and observational images of the built and natural environments with a focus on gesture, movement, and impulse. A sampled glitch in the soundtrack, anaglyph effect on images, and a doubling in framing across the two places, disrupts a sense of linear time to unfold a vastness of relations.

In the dance that follows, Mardon + Mitsuhashi present a movement practice of “blurring” to a musical score performed live by Langford. Through a score of improvisational tasks, they perform a duet in which dance becomes a method to understand their bodies differently, both in relation to each other and the histories they hold. Wearing costumes designed by Jae Woo Kang, the pair move in imperfect unison throughout the space, complete with lighting design by Nien-Tzu Weng and additional props and costumes by Natalie Purschwitz. Midway through the performance, there is a shift from improvisational movements to a structured choreography in which Mardon + Mitsuhashi dance a repeated sequence that denotes aspects of folk dancing from Finland and Japan. The performance continues with a section seeing the duo lying on the dance floor under a projection of stars, as they sing in unison while interacting with fabric sleeve props that were also featured in the film. Finally, Mardon + Mitsuhashi pull back the Marley dance floor the length of the room, enveloping themselves in the process, and concluding the performance.

Throughout the course of the residency, whereverever was developed and produced with the assistance of technical managers Jack Chipman and Ben Wilson; and mentorship and support by Justine A. Chambers, Xwechtaal Dennis Joseph, Mala Kline, and Joanna Garfinkel. Accessibility consultation was provided by Cara Eastcott and Amy Amantea, and an audio description was produced by Andrea Cownden. 

The work was accompanied by an essay by Christian Vistan titled “Or a question about movement that isn’t oriented around leaving something behind.” 

whereverever was commissioned by Western Front as part of its artist-in-residence program, with support from the Government of Canada, Canada Council for the Arts, British Columbia Arts Council, Leña Residency, MascallDance, Whatlab, Company 605 and Out Innerspace Dance Theatre.

Video documentation is available upon request. 

Documents:

• “Or a question about movement that isn’t oriented around leaving something behind” (2023). Essay by Christian Vistan.