Harold Pinter and Eartha Kitt, Remembered

"I believe that despite the enormous odds which exist, unflinching, unswerving, fierce intellectual determination, as citizens, to define the real truth of our lives and our societies is a crucial obligation which devolves upon us all. It is in fact mandatory. If such determination is not embodied in our political vision we have no hope of restoring what is so nearly lost to us – the dignity of man." 

– Harold Pinter

Harold Pinter, playwright, actor and activist, died on Christmas Eve. Pinter's art of dialogue touches realism in a way conventionally handled dialogue does not: language as a haphazard cloak to cover our nakedness, thrown together in utter disregard for clarity, "the real truth" or intellectual precision. I remember his infuriating No Man's Land in London, with its slippery truths, playing a role he'd written, and being shocked that the play was no more clear in performance. I learned something important about his intentions, his strategy. I remember working on The Dumb Waiter with Willi Gudlat and Carlos Stockhausen at the Friedenauer Kinderheim, and discovering its raw power and terrifying questions. I remember reading the haunting Mountain Language, borrowed form the British Council library, and missing the Berliner Grundtheater production. And I remember watching The Birthday Party with my Mum, her eruptive laughter at a breakfast of "fried toast", fascinated and horrified by its bathroom mirror truth. 

Eartha Kitt, performer, died Christmas Day. I remember seeing her performance in the Sondheim musical Follies in Berlin at the Theater des Westens. She sang the unforgettable "I'm Still Here". I saw the production, and studied her performance, several times. I noticed she reinterpreted the song each performance. One night she was trailing measures behind the conductor for the verse, deliberately, easily manoeuvring the descending stairway, only to catch up in time for the chorus; another time, she spoke the song as patter for almost the entire performance; another night she sang with strict adherence to rhythm and pitch. I learned something about interpretation and artistic process, the play between control and risk, structure and freedom. I remember her signature growl, her striking features and geometric contortions. 

I salute both of these artists for their courageous contributions to the theatre, the art of performance, and the way we can imagine the world. Each generation finds its language, in art and politics, and writes its credo. Both Pinter and Kitt participated defiantly and gloriously in that process. I will remember them. 

Christmas

I'd just like to wish everyone a Happy christmas!

I hope the holidays find everyone well and creative.

My Icarus

During our original creation of Apocalypse 2006, 

I was struck by Herbert James Draper's Lament for Icarus from 1898: Icarus, semi-nude, his wings vast, thick and powerful, the beautiful youth draped across a rock, held up by angelic sea-nymphs, the Nereids. 

This image implies a collusion of mythologies. It is, in its Hellenic context, the inescapable destiny of those who challenge the gods, disturb the social order, to become the instruments of their own destruction; whereas, in this image, there resonates a loss of innocence, the death of the Christ. 

In our revisiting of this myth during our work with Sarah Stanley, I find my Icarus wants to live, wants to fall in love and wants to soar. He is, however, overshadowed by his crafty father, Deadalus – a murderer! –, incarcerated by the Cretan king Minos and hunted after their initial escape as a criminal. He is pushed, literally, into flight. 

A modern Icarus: a child soldier, carried on a stretcher by medics. 

Post-Script Development Workshop

Four actors. Three days. Two scripts. Sarah Stanley - with Jenny Munday sitting in. Talk and exploration. Discoveries, dead ends - or are they - more questions. More talk. More investigation. Some on the floor, some around the table. Bruised knees, but no bruised egos. Yay!

In the end? A group of actors who have started to find their groove together. One script in need of a bit of work, clearly ready to get ready. One with the guts still hanging out, redrafting in progress and exciting possibilities for the show held within our ensemble, like the potential energy of a physical system (ref: physics).

Thank you to Sarah (and Jenny) for opening doors, asking questions and being awesome.

Annie, Eric, Kim, Garry, Sarah

"Your spine is an alive thing."

School’s finally out for Christmas, which means time to focus on DaPoPo work.
I just finished reading “Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)” (danke, Holly, for lending it to me). Now it’s time to memorize the wonderfully not-quite-romantic balcony scene between Juliet and Constance.
I started drafting some questions for interviews over the holidays, centered around the question “What does it mean to be Canadian?”. The challenge is finding interviewees. My family will all have similar views, so I will have to go beyond Christmas dinner to get some answers.
While I don’t miss being in class, I’m suffering from Improv withdrawal. Recently, my Improv team performed a story scene around the audience prompt: “YOUR SPINE IS AN ALIVE THING”. DaYouth will appreciate that one.
Currently, I’m reading Chekhov’s "The Seagull" in preparation for my audition for Concordia University's Theatre Program. So far so good, except the Russian names are tricky to keep straight.
In other news, my sister is home from Ontario for Christmas! It took a while to fill her in on all the DaPoPo activity. She’s become my test audience for German phrases...so far I’ve mastered: “Mir ist zu kalt!"...a handy phrase during a Canadian winter.

Stay warm everyone...Merry Christmas!

Script Development with Sarah Stanley Pre-1

In an hour, Garry-Eric-Annie-&-I will meet Sarah Stanley. Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre (PARC) has arranged a three-day Script Development Workshop for DaPoPo and we will bring Four Actors and Apocalypse to the table. Sarah is the invited dramaturge.

When we've mentioned, on occasion, that we will be working with her, the reactions have ranged from amazement ("How'd you get her?") to envy ("So jealous"). Indeed, this is a wonderful opportunity for us to improve our scripts and to work with a great dramaturge/ director/creator. Thanks to PARC for supporting us in this way and to Sarah for agreeing to come.

German Lesson #4

Ist das nötige Geld vorhanden, ist das Ende meistens gut. 

– BERTOLT BRECHT, Die Dreigroschenoper

(The Canada Council for the Arts awarded me a travel grant to attend the Theaterforum Kreuzberg and Fluxus-Museum in Potsdam!) 

nouns: das Geld - money; das Ende - the end

adjectives: nötig - necessary; vorhanden - available, 'at hand'

adverbs: meistens - usually, mostly

Delights

Last night, I had the pleasure of spending some time with Holly (and other DaPoPoli Kristi & Bonnie) as we made the 2-hour journey to the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts to hear/see the first public performance of Allen Cole's newest musical, Rockbound. Garry was one of the ensemble members in a 10-day workshop of the second act. We went both to support him and to be among the first people outside the composer, producers, actors and musicians to hear a new Canadian work. Art is born and we were there. Yes!

I also had the pleasure of meeting Holly's grandmother, Sharon. What a woman! So engaging and warm. I learned she had been enthusiastically fundraising on behalf of the Berlin project. I have no words to accurately describe it - but I almost cried at the sense of profound gratitude I felt/feel. It's good to have people in your corner. Thank you!

Language

Yesterday, DaYouth (yes, I know, another monniker) and I spent several joyful hours together. Annie came along at the beginning to try a few things from her workshop for Berlin, I followed with some of my workshop bits. We will both be using theatre exercises for warm-up and group building, our group had a laughter-filled time with some of the basics.

My workshop is based on Newspaper Theatre concepts and my challenge now, after trying a few things yesterday, will be limiting the blah blah blah (talk) and increasing the interest level for non-English speakers.

Language! This year I've dabbled in Italian for a visit there - becoming quite adept at ordering un bicchiero di vino rosso, per favore; I tried Latvian in prep for my month in Malpils, but I didn't get the hang of it. I did learn a few words in Russian! воображение (phonetically - veebrahjheena) was my favorite. It means imagination and when you hear it repeatedly from your Russian director, it lands.

Yesterday, I was trying to coax my mouth, tongue and throat into cooperating with the distinctive sounds of German, long dormant and rusty. The r that is there, but not-there. The soft ch, the harder but not-t-the-point-of-fur-balls ch. w=v, p=b, g=k, d=t and vice versa, most times. St or sp = sht or shp.

My sheet of about 15 phrases, including Ich comme aus Kanada and Wie vil costet das might have seemed impressive (Aaron asked incredulously, "you know all this?") but I recall the time I played the German boy in a scene from "13 Ways of Looking at a Madman" for Cafe. It was performed for a table of native German-speakers. They were very polite, but genuinely had to snicked when I fumbled Vor- und Rückwärtsbewegung and completely massacred sodas zwansig solcher. You try a German tongue twister!

Foreign languages aside, I'm also trying to master a Scottish accent for one of my monologues in Four Actors. One would thing that an accent on my first language might not be so difficult. ACH! It is! As foreign to my tongue as German, possibly.

PASSPORT

My passport arrived yesterday fresh off the print. I can touch it and know I'm not dreaming. (which is exciting.) 

I had fun this week thinking about the 'interview' process Kim was/is getting us to play with. A few friends of mine thinks it's a really awesome way of creation. 

In other news, I've been reading a lot of George F. Walker is a vague attempt to find cafe stuff but also just to read it. I must say he is an odd character. I think I like it. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully I will remember to update y'all on my opinions as the reading progresses. 

On the german front (language, not the country) I am fascinated by german Grammar this week. A great friend of mine, Alex Sommerville, who is taking german at DAL is sharing his love for the language with me and it's so interesting. I like the sounds. Very foreign to my mouth.

That is all for now,

Auf Wiedersehen

Holly

Canadian Plays and German Lesson #3

Week two begins at Ross Creek for me, while rehearsals and planning continue in Halifax without me: I am preparing my workshop for the FEZ-Berlin, studying several plays I might use as examples of political theatre in Canada. I have re-read Passe Mureille's iconic collective creation 1837: The Farmers' Revolt, Herbert's Fortune and Men's Eyes, savoured Marie Clements' delicious and disturbing The Unnatural and Accidental Women and am now delving into John Coulter's Shakespearean Riel. Questions about process, subject, form, language, history, research and imagination abound...

ANJA: Ich habe zwei Fragen. 

MARKUS: Ja? 

ANJA: Gibt es in Kanada politisches Theater?
MARKUS: Ja, klar. Kennst du Guillermo Verdecchia?
ANJA: Nein.
MARKUS: Schade. Der ist richtig gut. Und deine zweite Frage?
ANJA: Ach so, ja. Willst du heute mit ins tfk? 

MARKUS: Klar. Da spielt doch DaPoPo.

ANJA: Sind die nicht aus Kanada?

MARKUS: Genau.

nouns: Die Frage - question
verbs: gibst es...? - are there...?; kennst du...? - do you know...?; spielen - to play
adjectives: politisch - political; zweite - second; schade - too bad; gut - good
adverbs: heute - today
'Klar', 'richtig' and 'genau' are used frequently as 'sure', 'of course'; 'really'; and 'exactly', 'that's right'.

A Wing and a Prayer

Today, with the help of the lovely and talented Heather Niell at Flight Centre, Scotia Square, our flights to Germany were booked. That's the wing.

Although I fully intended to take photos of this marvellous experience, I neglected to pull out my camera in all the stress and excitement. So instead, a bad drawing:

And the tickets were booked on credit. That's the prayer!

Donations are coming in dribs and drabs. I continue to contact people and businesses. Sher is organizing a raffle on an Ipod Touch. Let us know if you want to buy a ticket: $2 each or 3 for $5. Draw is at the January 29th Cafe DaPoPo. More initiatives coming up, but if you haven't joined the Flight Club yet, pitter patter!

Ross Creek bound

I am down at Ross Creek, taking an unplanned break from Berlin Project planning, participating in a 10-day workshop of Allen Cole's musical theatre adaptation of Frank Parker Day's novel Rockbound with Two Planks and a Passion.

The view from the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts is refreshingly pristine. Although on this, my day off, it is raining, and I am somewhat stranded here with my volume of Canadian plays and Ryszard Kapuscinski's Travels With Herodotus.

A surpise: finding German popping up in the libretto for Rockbound in Uriah's Fish House Groove: "Aukduleba" being a South Shore variant of "Ach, du lieber...". My thoughts are with Aaron, Sophie, Ali and Holly, as they begin creating their original FEZ-show with Kim.

Christmas?

A few nights ago I was driving up Quinpool road and noticed all of these... Christmas lights? I literally thought, "What are those doing there?" And then, of course, realized that Christmas is a mere three weeks away. I have to chuckle when people engage in the usual social discourse of these times "Are ya ready fer the holidays?" because, frankly, my time horizon only includes things related to the Berlin Project. The holidays? A mere illusion. I have Canadian identity issues to address, flights to book and unions to deal with.

Yesterday, Garry had a conversation with Michael K. at the FEZ. Things are looking good, they're helping us out a little more, they're excited to have us oldies and newbies on the program and by the way, the festival dates have changed so that our trip essentially has to extend by a week.

So, now we are mustering the troops to see who can go, for what period and how to manage an extra week away. The reality is that people have to take time off from school or jobs for Berlin and that's not a small consideration.

Mike also suggested we refer to the project as "The Canada Project" for all the Berlin materials, because it could be a little confusing. Mmmmm... right. So, we'll just bookmark that and figure out what's what, what? My aunt also found my description of the project confusing, I guess, because she thought we were raising funds to help kids from Berlin. Her question to me (after making a donation anyway) was, "Why didn't you consider helping youth from Nova Scotia or your own community." *sigh*

I'm about to go meet with the young four. I've been grappling with how to refer to the old four and the young four and in the absence of stumbling on anything fun or interesting... old and young it is. Anyway, I digress. Today we'll be revisiting some physical and vocal training from their workshop, playing with Shakesepeare, reading the script excerpts Josh MacDonald sent us for the Cafe and digging into methods to get the materials upon which they will base their new collective creation. I'm going to add in probably one of the least informed German lessons they will receive. But I do know how to say thank you, how much does it cost and my eggs are hot. All of which could be potentially critically important to know.

:)

Progressing...

I'm taking a break from muddling through the third draft of the project letter to potential business sponsors (it's SO close), investigating a so-called international fare sale from Air Canada (no deals), planning the first of many rehearsals for the DaPoPo Academy ensemble, wondering how to efficiently get tickets booked and medical consent forms for minors signed and notarized.

Yesterday I chatted with Andrew Terris at Arts Nova Cultural Research and Consulting to see if there were funding sources we hadn't considered (basically no). I emailed my MP in an attempt to get more support of Canada's presence at the Just Say It! festival - in the past our kiosk display has been distinctly awful compared to of the other countries' - but I'm sure she's a bit busy considering her party is trying to take over the government on my behalf. My city councillor, Jennifer Watts, however did take the time to write a quick note acknowledging my email and said she would get back to me. This, I have chosen to interpret positively.

I had happy conversations with Michael Melski and Jackie Torrens (via Facebook) about the Canadian-content Cafe in Berlin. Michael is letting us work up a scene from Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad and Jackie has offered selections from Georama and Live!Nude!Animal!

The support from the playwrights, the generous offer of rehearsal space for the DaPoPo Academy for the next several months (thank you Compass Commercial Realty), the donation from the fellow artist who can't afford it but does anyway or the one in the mail from the friend not seen in three years (thanks Krista!) ... it all adds up.

Thank you to everyone who so far has helped us keep on keeping on.

German Lesson # 2

Das Theater darf nicht danach beurteilt werden, ob es die Gewohnheiten seines Publikums befriedigt, sondern danach, ob es sie zu ändern vermag.

BERTOLT BRECHT, Politik auf dem Theater

nouns: das Theater - theatre; die Gewohnheit(en) - habits; das Publikum - audience

verbs: dürfen - to be allowed; beurteilen - to judge; befriedigen - to satisfy; ändern - to change; vermögen - to be able

adverbs: nicht - not; danach - literally: 'thereafter', fig.: 'on the basis of'

conjunctions: ob - if, whether; sondern - rather

What is "The Berlin Project?"

The Berlin Project is an umbrella term for several activites, all related to performance opportunities for DaPoPo. We've been dreaming and planning for quite awhile, applying for grants and laying the groundwork for a two-week trip to Berlin to take advantage of these opportunities:

* Updating and remounting of Four Actors in Search of a Nation and Apocalypse 2006

The first Four Actors was the inaugural show for DaPoPo and was created specifically for the Just Say It! '04 Festival. In it, the actors play themselves, slipping in and out various characters, in an exploration of the questions: What is a nation? What is Canadian? What is a play? Through prose, poetry, dialogue, movement and sound this personal quest for identity becomes a universal one. Garry was part of the original ensemble that created and performed this show in Halifax and Berlin.

Apocalypse 2006 was created for the Just Say It! '06 Festival. In it, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse retell the story of Icarus in a series of revelations. Driven by pride, Icarus flies too close to the sun, and Apollo melts the wax holding his wings together, and so the story ends... or does it? The show was collectively created by Garry, Eric, Kim and Steven Bourque and was presented only in Germany.

In December, we will have a three day script development workshop through the Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre (PARC) to re-examine these shows, finesse and update them in preparation for previews in Halifax in the New Year and a run in Berlin at TheaterForum Kreuzberg, February 20 - 21, 2009.

* Original youth show and workshops for Just Say It! '09 Festival at FEZ-Berlin

We will participate in the Festival from February 24-27, 2009. Between now and then, the Youth Ensemble will create a new show -timely, personally important, globally relevant - which they will present at the Festival. The show will evolve through thematic physical and vocal exploration and will be developed with DaPoPo's creation aesthetic in mind.

All of the performers will participate in the daily opening ceremonies at the Festival, which will be attended by hundreds of school-aged children from the greater Berlin area. We will be representing Canada (and Nova Scotia!) at the Festival, which will also feature performers and presenters from other English-speaking countries including USA, Ireland, England, Australia, South Africa and India.

We will also teach workshops for smaller groups of German high school students. The workshops will be in English to give the German students a chance to practice their language skills and to work with people from other countries. Our contribution will be workshops on physical and vocal expression for stage, myth and archetypes, newspaper theatre and political theatre.

*Café DaPoPo premiere at the Fluxus Museum in Potsdam

Café DaPoPo has run in Halifax for almost two years. It is a unique way to both experience and 'deliver' theatre. The Fluxus Museum is hosting the first Café outside of Halifax and we intend to feature mostly Canadian content on the a la carte performance menu we develop for this special occasion. We currently have a call for submissions out to PARC members (or other Canadian artists) who wish to submit monologues, poems, short scenes, songs or performance pieces for consideration. We look forward to promoting these artists by performing their work in a preview Café in Halifax and in Germany.

*Flight Club Art Exhibit

In association with the Flight Club fundraising effort, we will commission new art works for every $100 individual donation received. Visual artists at all points in their careers, from emerging to established, will create and donate a small art work incorporating the Flight Club plane in any way they can imagine. We are finding an exhibit location for the resultant art works and intend to have a week-long showing in Halifax. This will be kicked off by our post-tour celebration which will feature a performance of the Youth Ensemble show, appreciation for donors and sponsors and a photo essay of the experiences on the tour.

The Original Four Actors in Search of a Nation

This photo was taken by John Haney, who was with us on our first FEZ-Berlin adventure in November 2004. Our venue: the Emerson Gallery, courtesy of Russell Radzinski (who would later plant the seed for 13 Ways of Looking at a Madman). The photograph shows the original Four Actors in Search of a Nation: Christopher Cohoon, GaRRy Williams, Amanda Jernigan and Steph Berntson.

Help Us Get There

Email Kim at dapopo@dapopo.org for more details.

Who's Who

Eric Benson

Roles: Death in Apocalypse ; Eric in Four Actors

Eric Benson grew up in northern Saskatchewan, surrounded by snow and ice, in a small city that had no proper theatre. He was still able to find outlets for his desire to perform, working in community theatre and youth performance, getting his stage chops doing English farce. He was accepted to the National Theatre School of Canada, but left it after a short period to pursue his love of philosophy. He has recently performed in productions such as Copenhagen, Seven Days in the Life of Simon Labrosse, Rhinoceros, Arcadia, Rossum's Universal Robots, as well as appearing in Café DaPoPo. He also has helped write and perform in Apocalypse 2006 and The Pirate Show, and has recently directed Krapp's Last Tape, Sunday in the Park with George, and Biography: A Game. He is preparing to direct an environmental production of La Cage Aux Folles in the Spring of 2009.

Kim Parkhill

Roles: Pestilence in Apocalypse; Kim in Four Actors

Kim grew up in New Brunswick, spent several years working as a traveling nurse in the USA, and eventually settled in Halifax. She studied performance at Neptune Theatre (Preprofessional Training Program) and with Peggy Redmond (Actors' Boot Camp) as well as in numerous workshops and intensives. Most recently she trained under Sergey Ostrenko in the IUGTE Performers Village and Physical Theatre Laboratory in Latvia. She has worked in capacities of performer, co-creator, writer, producer, publicist and/or assistant director for many companies in Halifax including MorganaSeven, The SkitWits, Metamorphic Theatre, TAG, Gilbert & Sullivan Society and her own short-lived company, The Play Group. She has been with DaPoPo since 2005 (R.U.R.; The Sex Play; 13 Ways of Looking at a Madman; Apocalypse 2006; Biography: A Game; and Cafe DaPoPo) and is now an Associate Director. She has traveled extensively, touring to Berlin with DaPoPo and in the Maritimes with the Young Neptune Touring Company. She is currently writing a play for ThreeSome, a collection of one-acts, slated for performance in mid-2009 under the direction of Lee J. Campbell.

Annie Valentina

Roles: Famine in Apocalypse; Annie in Four Actors

Annie Valentina was born into a family of actor/directors in Sofia, Bulgaria, but raised in Norway until she made her move to Nova Scotia as a young adult. She spent much of her youth traveling Europe, feeding her innate love for the performing arts, and deconstructing her sense of national identity. Meanwhile, she was involved in various stage productions with Norwegian production company Teater Laboratoriet and worked at the Bergen Theatre School through the late 90's. In the year 2000, she landed in Halifax to attend Dalhousie University, where she obtained a BA in Theatre. She has since made Halifax her primary home base and collaborated with many local theatre companies in the capacity of actor, director, playwright and dramaturg. Some of the projects she remembers most fondly include a critically acclaimed one-woman-show she wrote and self-produced under the 'shoes on a wire' label - a now dormant independent company she helped start - as well as performing with Angels and Heroes, Left Foot First Productions, and directing Open Concept's debut show Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love.

Garry Williams

Roles: War in Apocalypse; Garry in Four Actors

Garry Williams was born in Halifax, but grew up largely in Berlin. He traveled extensively, and attended theatre training programs in Williamstown, Mass.; Stratford-upon-Avon; Barcelona; New York; and Berlin. After High School, he apprenticed with the Berliner Grundtheater for several years, and performed with several music ensembles including das neue chor berlin, The Shower Show Tunes and the Fourtunes Barbershop Quartet. He studied Musicology, Comp. Lit. and Drama at the FU-Berlin and Manhattanville College, NY, and took a B. Mus. and an Engl. Min. at Mt. Allison University. He has worked as translator, songwriter, improv director, actor, director, playwright, acting coach, singer, keyboardist and voice instructor. He founded DaPoPo Theatre in 2004, and has been running the company since. In Halifax, he has also worked with the Gilbert & Sullivan Society, the Halifax Summer Opera Workshop, Metamorphic Theatre, OneLight Theatre, Angels and Heroes, the Irondale Ensemble, Playwright's Atlantic Resource Centre, Two Planks and a Passion and teaches the Neptune Theatre School. He will be directing Humperdinck's opera Hansel and Gretel at Acadia University in the Spring of '09.

Aaron Andreino

DaPoPo Academy Youth Ensemble

Aaron recently moved to Dartmouth from Ottawa and is currently completing grade 12 at NSCC in Cole Harbor. He has studied theatre at Neptune Theatre School and through Centre Stage summer program. He also enjoys playing basketball, going to the gym and hanging out with his little brother. This will be Aaron's first time traveling outside of North America.

Sophie Fong

DaPoPo Academy Youth Ensemble

Sophie Fong is a grade 12 student at JL Ilsley High School in Spryfield, NS. This is her first trip to Europe and her first time creating for theatre. However, she loves the arts, draws constantly, plays viola, sings in two choirs, studies tango and is learning the silks at circus school.

Ali Richardson
DaPoPo Academy Youth Ensemble

Ali Richardson was born in Halifax and has spent her life on Canada’s East Coast. She’s studied music from a young age and has always had theatre and dance in her life. Her theatre career began humbly with the role of the mute sister in a Jr. High production of Fiddler on the Roof. In high school Ali discovered Improv and competed with Dartmouth High’s team in the National Tournament of the Canadian Improv games. She appeared in Dartmouth High’s West Side Story, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and several eclectic student productions. Last spring she traveled Atlantic Canada with Broken Leg Act Theatre performing A Taste of Honey. She’s tried her hand at playwriting, and earned 1st place in the Eastern Front Ten-Minute Play Competition with her script about rebellious mannequins. Currently, Ali has returned to modern dance and continues playing piano and saxophone. She assistant coaches DHS’s Improv Team and is learning to sing. Ali hopes to study theatre outside the province next year, but has a feeling she’ll return to the Maritimes.

Holly Winter

DaPoPo Academy Youth Ensemble

Holly was born one snowy morning in March 1990 in Toronto, Ontario. It was there that she discovered her first performance opportunity. We're going to ignore the fact that it was lip-syncing to the spice girls with her friends. (She was Baby Spice) Since then her thirst for art has been unquenchable. She brought this thirst with her to Halifax in 1998. In Elementary and Junior High School she was in Choir, Band, Strings, Art club and participated heavily in various school drama productions. But that wasn't enough. She started taking classes at Neptune Theatre School in Halifax. It became her second home. In 2005 she was accepted into Soundtrax, a very talented high school choir under the direction of Frances Farrel. It was with this choir that she was able to travel to Banff Alberta, New Glasgow NS, and Sackville NB and meet some of the most amazing people. Since then she's continued on with her passion in varying forms. Some highlights include; Saints Alive's productions of "The Secret Garden: That Musical" and "Suessical: The Musical", Placing in the top ten of Eastern Fronts Ten-Minute Play Competition, Voice Lessons with The DaPoPo man himself GaRRY Williams, Dance Captain in Queen Elizabeth High Schools production of "Guys and Dolls" and Citadel High School's Productions of "West Side Story." Holly ended her High School Career by receiving Citadel Highs Grade 12 Drama award. Holly aspires to continue her work in all fields of art with emphasis on movement and voice work, directing and combining interests in other fields (math, spirituality and physics to name a few) with her artistic endeavours. Holly hopes that one day her creations will inspire others to create and express themselves.

The Youth Ensemble: In the beginning...

Posted by Kim

If this was the beginning of this project, the really real beginning, the date would read somewhere in the vicinity of December 2006. Let's go there briefly. DaPoPo's ensemble-of-the-moment: Garry W., Eric B., Steven B. and I, Kim P., had just returned from premiering our newly created show "Apocalypse 2006" at the FEZ-Berlin's biennial "Just Say It" Festival in Berlin, Germany.

Michael Kunsmann, programmer at the FEZ, had extended another invitation to DaPoPo - our third - for the next Just Say It! planned for November 2008 (later bumped to February 2009). This Festival is a celebration of English-language cultures and countries from around the world and draws hundreds of school-aged children and families from the greater Berlin area. Our show performances are typically for high school students, although we do participate in the daily opening ceremonies for all ages.

Leaving Berlin then, and considering the next festival, I wondered aloud to the DaPoPoli about an alternative to our adult-perspective creations. How potent would it be to have an ensemble of young performers create and present a show about issues important to them - telling their own stories and sharing with their peers?

Let's fast forward to tonight, almost two years later. An invited audience sat on the floor in a studio of the Halifax Ballet Theatre to watch the created performance of six emerging theatre artists aged 17-19: Aaron Andreino, Dylan Aucoin, Kaleigh Fleming, Sophie Fong, Ali Richarson and Holly Winter. They all had applied for and been invited to participate in an intensive workshop with DaPoPo. Garry and I introduced them to various physical theatre styles, vocal techniques and the DaPoPo aesthetic under the umbrella of ensemble training and collective creation. We spent almost sixty hours working over three weekends, using these tools in exploration and creation, and culminating with this presentation.

Tonight - the bar set high and boundaries challenged - we watched, along with gathered family, friends and DaPoPoli, as these young performers communicated their ideas in a way new and exciting to them - beautifully and enigmatically, humourously and profoundly. We are very proud of how each of them, in their own way, crossed thresholds... x

And while this is not the really real beginning of this project, it is a beginning of the next phase. Four of these workshop participants will join DaPoPo for our aptly-named "Berlin Project."

From now until February, the new youth ensemble will continue to work with Garry and I, as well as Eric and Annie V. (DaPoPo's ensemble-of-the-now), to prepare for a two week tour to Berlin. As dreamed in 2006, they will create a show for performance at the Just Say It '09 Festival .

They'll assist with workshops the veteran DaPoPoli facilitate at the festival. They'll also be assisting with behind-the-scenes work as we present two original shows "Four Actors in Search of a Nation" and "Apocalypse 2009" at TheaterForum Kreuzberg. AND they will be performing with us as cast for a special presentation of Cafe DaPoPo at The Fluxus Museum in Potsdam. Plus experiencing the wonderfulness of life, art, history and culture in Germany.

There are goals and there are obstacles ahead of us. We're going to lay it all out here as we go through it. So keep checking back. We'll introduce the ensemble members and you can see how things go for us from rehearsing to fundraising, work and social time, applying for passports and getting married (yup), planning the trip and actually being there... this blog goes on til the Berlin Project ends...