Artistic Associate Eowynn Enquist, Fall 2020
Eowynn, lately..
We talk with Mascall Dance resident artist Eowynn Enquist:
Since 2014 (her first performance in BLOOM, in by Olivia Thorvaldson and Jennifer Mascall) Eowynn has been an active presence in the MascallDance community. In Mascall’s works, she has apprenticed, understudied and performed, notably joining the company as a soloist on a Western Canadian tour of The Outliner, while still in school (her 4th undergrad year) at SFU. She has choreographed, produced, and worked with administrative staff – and is a performing collaborator in two current MascallDance projects. Her friendship with mentor Jennifer Mascall continues.
SM I’m going to ask about your new collective but first let’s catch up with you. Put your current work in context by telling a little about some signposts you encountered along the way…
EE I first saw contemporary dance as a first year university student. In an Out Innerspace excerpt at the Roundhouse, I saw Arash (Khakpor) on a microphone coming out of a body made of dancers. The way he embodied sound and character with the microphone – I had no idea that was possible. In that moment, I became engaged with the art of Vancouver, outside school. I volunteered at The Dance Centre and saw everything they presented.
Then came a student apprenticeship for BLOOM. Working with Jennifer Mascall, I thought “this must be the way that complex dance is being made!” In studio process was something else - interesting and complex in very different way than the studios I was learning in. The experience of participating in her creation process has been formative in my dance career thus far, because of the way the process evolves; so many layers of things being examined - not just dance movement. It has a huge effect, in the sense that I was inside the format of producing. I was introduced to the world of structure, funding, excerpt showings, tour – the making of a dance work that you hope to share.
The Outliner by Jennifer Mascall The Politics of Meaning (2017) Soloist: Eowynn Enquist Photos: Chris Randle, Isak Enquist, Susan McKenzie
SM Tell us about your work as a dancer.
EE Perhaps to my detriment, I spend a lot of time – I try to allow work to really influence me – in training and performing. With Vancouver’s diversity and internationally, I am fascinated with what I can glean of what they think dance is. I come home and wonder. It’s like I am constantly trying on suits - ideas, what movement practice should look like, sensibilities. I spend a lot of time negotiating where I fit in, and what can I take on? I genuinely go to a place where I feel, in the moment, that a work I am part of is everything that I am. I can’t always work on one project at a time - a frustration. Most of all, I focus in one room at a time. A project can be only one or two months long, but it is still a complete season in a way – and each season is jampacked.
SM Do you envision finding one choreographer whose work you are affined with and can interpret?
EE Will I ever be a person who can do that? Jennifer encouraged me to check out Marie Chouinard. The experience of a week with her was incredible – certainly the most healing week of my year and yet the most intense dancing I had done in a year - but even after that I was not convinced.
Rehearsal for Privilege: Eowynn Enquist Photo: Daria Mikhayluk
Two summers back, I went to Springboard Dance with 4 dance friends. We all lived together in an apartment, danced 10 hours a day and got a taste of the international platter of dance. We were so inspired by the energy created – of anything being a possibility, of choreographic voices from all over the world. Dance could be anything you want it to be! It was euphoric.
We wanted to recreate it here. We wanted to elevate our dancing all year long to the high level of the experience we’d had. We started meeting at the MascallDance space to train each other collectively, teaching each other class. The gig economy’s highs and lows affected us all, naturally – but there was a full year of momentum to push ourselves creative juice to flow. We’d emerge from our class together excited about making something - sharing the energy we have as young dancers just wanting to blast off. The project-based world sets you up for a specific ebb and flow energy - and we were craving momentum. We filled all the spare slots in our calendars. And then COVID-19 happened.
When Shelter-In-Place lifted we resumed work at Dance Victoria for 2 weeks. We were quarantined together, bubbled together – the five of us doing this thing that we all so intensely want to do. It’s not the first time dancers have come together so that the needs and values of dancers are driving the model.
ABOUT CAMP
CAMP is our future promise to ourselves! We bring what we know and live to it. Coming from a drag background - the excess silliness, the wink and the nod – my history is a part of how we got here. Much of our training goes to research, gestural and intellectual; as a group we are interested in silly, funny, and the extravagant - informed and purposeful, but funny. We’ve worked hard professionally, creatively and otherwise, and have chosen to be our bubble. In Victoria we worked all day and all night. Giving and taking space we have a creative, collaborative throw-down. All part of the work….
Ted Littlemore CAMP
Moving in together is the secret sauce of stying sane in COVID-19. The five of us have many skills that complement one another’s. In work, everything I don’t have, they give to me. The alchemy is exciting and there’s no shortage of ideas. You can bring in anything and everyone’s interested and willing to try.
Sarah Formosa, CAMP
People keep asking “5 voices - how does it work?” We honestly don’t know. When we are together in a space, the flow is insane. We’re equally intimidated and inspired by each other - the level of rigour is quite high.
Brenna Metzmeier, CAMP
Upcoming, we’re doing an intermediate/advanced student residency (socially distanced and COVID-19 pending, of course) - and bringing a work-in-progress to it. This rigor of our work laced with our sense of fun and campiness provokes real engagement from people younger than we are; we learn so much through their feedback.
Isak Enquist
“CAMP’ is an artist-run entity focused on the collaborative process of art-making. Members Brenna Metzmeier, Eowynn Enquist, Isak Enquist, Sarah Formosa, and Ted Littlemore aim to make dance in a social and circular sharing of ideas, supporting each collaborator’s artistic development, use of voice, and furthering of identity. CAMP’s mandate is to promote dialogue and care between artists throughout each step of the creative process. We work to construct fantastical worlds of dance theatre that embrace both risk and relatability, cultivating a performance space that emulates the full and messy experience of human connection. Leaning into the theatrical elements of performance by finding extremes, rich with artifice, aesthetic, fantasy, exaggeration, and comedy, we present audiences with hyper-performative environments, as a magnified product of our collaborative interactions. CAMP is grateful for the support of Dance Victoria, MascallDance, The Dance Centre, and Spiral Dance Company. ”
SM And now you’ve moved into an apartment in Vancouver as a group. You are your own bubble and can keep working together under current pandemic conditions. How does your collective create work?
EE We’re navigating that big question. It’s interesting to realize together how big the choreographic role is; it’s really a many-layered process. There are so many roles a choreographer has; each stage of development requires a different role. We’ve all been navigating what role of choreographer we are – which aspects of the process, where, and at what stage our leadership comes to the fore. We ask what the work needs. We’re all learning about ourselves thru this. “This is the time I step back into what is more traditionally a dancer role,” and then forward – “here’s a place I step up” (as dancer, choreographically, grantwriting, booking, etc). Each of us have few roles that we incline to. Some of us are driven toward choreography.
SM What did you get up to in your recent MascallDance Artistic Associate Residency?
EE Now that MascallDance has relocated to Left of Main, we were able to play informally with the great lighting set up there. We were able to work on videos of CAMP. We did other work as well, but the video was key.
SM What’s the dream?
EE Our bold dream? We’d create our own work together within the format that seems to exist in the Vancouver dance landscape – one year creation, followed by a production year; in between, we’d lean into other influences by commissioning work.
SM How do you relax these days?
EE Before winter arrived, I’d been enjoying bringing a blanket outside to green space, and a book, maybe reading or sleeping in the sun. COVID-19 has so changed our relationship to nature. We’ve been using our slackline, and going outside has become part of the day – the air, the grass, the trees.
SM What are you listening to?
EE A lot of African music, drumming particularly. Burna Boy (Nigerian born, now in the US) very exciting and goes well with coffee.!
SM What do you pine to eat?
EE Melona green melon flavour popsicles, preferably in a room full of friends and hugs.
SM What gathering do you most long for?
EE Everything pre-COVID isn’t an option. But someday, an outdoor concert - a dance party on the beach, with live music. I love those full-on concerts at the beach and always crave that existing here one day. I miss music festival vibes…hope they can return.
SM What’s up next?
EE We did a showing at Dance Victoria and are headed to White Rock, and LamonDance. Meanwhile I’ve been taking Eric Malapad’s hip hop classes at Harbour Dance. He has taught there for a long time and I think he’s one of the most incredible dancers. He talks about dancing to the music – the tracing in, mapping out the music, the artist, how they sing – the intentions behind why/what/how they sing. As he dances, you see this beautiful symbiotic relationship between the dance artist and the music.
