Photo by: Ashlene Nairn
Join Xchanges online in this exciting FREE online event at Dance Days 2021!
Thursday, January 21, 2021 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
For Visual Artists of all Stages and Ages, life drawing with the moving form.
Event Details
Using the online life drawing format pioneered by Xchanges Artists’ Gallery and Studios since May 2020, Xchanges Gallery together with Studio H Canada will lead: Moving Forms, Life Drawing with Dancers, drawing moving bodies, an online live event with local professional and emerging dance artists.
Over 2 hours, participants will be working virtually with up to three dancers offering moving poses in limbo and site specific spaces. The dancers will create innovative shapes and movements, playing with negative space, scale, angles and inertia. Poses will vary in tempo and quality to invite a variety of artistic responses from the visual artists.
Meet Our First Dancer
Kayla Henry is a 2011 graduate of The School of Contemporary Dancers, in affiliation with the University of Winnipeg where she received her Bachelor of Arts. She is honoured to be living and making art on the unceded lands of the Lekwungen peoples, today known as Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations.
Since graduation, Kayla has worked closely with many Canadian choreographers and companies, including Canada’s longest-running contemporary dance company, Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers (WCD). Performances with WCD include works by local choreographers Rachel Browne, Ming Hon, Brent Lott, Johanna Riley and Montreal choreographer Sasha Ivanochko. Kayla has also worked with choreographers; Stephanie Ballard (Winnipeg, MB), Constance Cooke (Victoria, BC), Odette Heyn (Winnipeg, MB), Helen Husak (Calgary, AB), Jennifer Mascall (Vancouver, BC), Christina Medina (Vienna, Austria), Menaka Thakkar (Toronto, ON), Paras Terezakis (Vancouver, BC), Chantal Wall (Calgary, AB) and has appeared in works by Roger Sinha (Montreal, QB). Kayla’s national exposure has so far reached Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Regina, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria and Winnipeg, Canada. Internationally she has worked in Berlin, Germany; Vienna, Austria; Graz, Austria and New York City, USA.
Meet the Artistic Facilitators
Constance Cooke, Dance
Choreographer for Stage, Screendance and Site Specific Work, Educator of Contemporary Dance, Mentor, Somatic Movement Teacher.
Cooke is an Established Canadian Dance Artist who lives, creates and works on the unceded Coast Salish Territory of the Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ nations, in Victoria British Columbia. Her work has attracted and cultivated curious, open and intelligent audiences for contemporary and experimental work for over 30 years.
Cooke’s works have been presented in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Germany and The United Kingdom by numerous Festivals, Galleries, Theatres and Presenters such as The American Dance Festival, Dancing on the Edge, The Reel Film Festival, Romp, Dance Matters, Dance Victoria, Media-Net and more. Cooke also self-produces many of her own full length-works, has received commissions from Ballet and Contemporary Companies, as well as a number of Canadian and International independent Dance Artists.
Heidi Bergstrom, Visual Artist
Heidi Bergstrom, MA, BFA, is a multimedia visual artist and cultural researcher in Victoria, BC, Canada. Her fine art practice and exhibitions include works in painting, printmaking, video and photography and multimedia installations. Heidi has been involved with many arts organizations including her current role as President for Xchanges’ Artists’ Gallery and Studios in Victoria, BC where she also facilitates life drawing and portrait drawing online weekly. You can learn more about Heidi and her studio in Metchosin at her personal website and her International Artist Residency program site.
This workshop is for everyone from all stages and ages, beginners to professionals.
It’s a great place to meet other artists and hone your figurative skills in a supportive and creative environment and just have fun. Participants are encouraged to share or post their drawings and art resulting from the life drawing session on our Facebook page or send us images to post on our Instagram and website!
To register for your Zoom link just click the button below. You can also RSVP our event on Facebook and check out all the other wonderful free events on the Dance Days 2021 website.