Frames in Time

Frames in Time
Frames in Time
Frames in Time
Frames in Time
Frames in Time
Frames in Time
Frames in Time
Frames in Time

Frames in Time

Sponsored by kloetzel&co., the School of Creative and Performing Arts, and cSPACE King Edward, students from the University of Calgary under the direction of Melanie Kloetzel created and presented Frames in Time in partnership with the historic King Edward School in Calgary. One of Calgary’s original sandstone structures that functioned as a school for 89 years, the building has undergone an extensive renovation and opened as the cSPACE arts centre in 2017. The renovated site has preserved many elements of the original architecture and offered a rich dialogue for the performers. Structured as a 1-hour performance tour that addressed issues stemming from military history, gender roles, and the changing nature of childhood, Frames in Time offers audiences a humorous as well as sobering depiction of the site’s historical nuances and layers.

Wa(i)ste(d)

Wa(i)ste(d) - photo by Citrus Photo
Wa(i)ste(d) - photo by Citrus Photo
Wa(i)ste(d) - photo by Citrus Photo
Wa(i)ste(d) - photo by Citrus Photo

Wa(i)ste(d)

Wa(i)ste(d) offers an examination of the human obsession with production as well as the consequences of such an obsession. Employing the tale of Faust, as developed by Johann von Goethe, Wa(i)ste(d) scrutinizes our incessant drive toward growth through a layered and extravagant approach, littering the stage with exaggerated characters, a highly athletic Greek chorus, historic film projections, excessive consumption, and, naturally, waste products.

The work was developed as part of the Mainstage Dance series at the University of Calgary by guest artist Melanie Kloetzel in collaboration with students at the School of Creative and Performing Arts.

Rooms

Rooms
Rooms
Rooms
Rooms
Rooms
Rooms
Rooms
Rooms
Rooms

Rooms

Rooms is a site-adaptive, performance installation that addresses adaptation in the face of climate change. Through a dance theatre performance that takes place inside constructed ‘rooms’, the work exposes both the limits and the possibilities in our efforts to adapt to a rapidly changing world.

kloetzel&co. premiered Rooms through ArtCOP21, the first global climate art festival performed in association with the Paris climate talks in December 2015. In alliance with ArtCOP21, CCAN, and Avaaz, Rooms acted as the preface to the Global Climate Rally in Calgary on November 29th at 2 pm in Royal Sunalta Park.  For more information on Rooms as part of ArtCOP21, see https://www.artcop21.com/rooms

Rooms also enjoyed a fully re-developed Edmonton iteration as a co-production of The Works Art & Design Festival and the Feats Festival of Dance on July 1-3, 2016. It was performed in Winston Churchill Square as well as at the Southside Farmer’s Market. A work-in-progress of Rooms was also presented at containR Art Park on September 5 & 6, 2015 by the School of Creative and Performing Arts at the University of Calgary and Springboard Performance.

Rooms develops out of series of workshops where the performers come together to build both the individual ‘rooms’ in which they will perform as well as the dance theatre performance itself. Fergus Dunnet, a visual artist and maker from Scotland, and Melanie Kloetzel, director of the Canadian dance theatre company kloetzel&co.,developed this workshop in Scotland from a solo version, Room, that Kloetzel performed at various sites across the UK.

Staging Rooms

Staging Rooms
Staging Rooms
Staging Rooms
Staging Rooms
Staging Rooms
Staging Rooms

Staging Rooms

Staging Rooms is a performance that addresses human adaptation in the face of environmental transformation. Through a dance theatre performance that takes place inside constructed ‘rooms’, the work exposes the limits and possibilities in our efforts to adapt to a rapidly changing world.

Diving into a sited practice and bringing it to the stage space, Staging Rooms developed during a workshop process where participants created solos for themselves that engaged with one individual’s viewpoint on the issue of climate change. They also built portable ‘rooms’, based on a template developed by Scottish visual artist Fergus Dunnet, in which they perform their individual solos. In creating the solos, participants discovered methods to merge issues of art and sustainability, developing a knowledge base and a sense of empowerment in the face of the seemingly overwhelming challenges of climate change.

The work premiered in 2016 at the Professional Series at the University of Calgary.

Big Head, Small Neck

Big Head, Small Neck
Big Head, Small Neck
Big Head, Small Neck
Big Head, Small Neck
Big Head, Small Neck
Big Head, Small Neck
Big Head, Small Neck

Big Head, Small Neck

Through a residency at The Work Room in Glasgow, kloetzel&co. in collaboration with UK writer/visual artist Rose Ruane began work in 2015 on Big Head/Small Neck, a work that explores the medical and social manipulations of gendered and transgendered bodies in the past two centuries. Based on portrayals of the ‘hysteric’ female body at the infamous 19th century Salpetrière Psychiatric Hospital as well as images of transgendered bodies from Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institute of Sexuality, Big Head, Small Neck was commissioned as a stage work for MainStage Dance 2016 at the University of Calgary and as a site-based work for the 2016 Trans Trans exhibit at the Nickle Galleries. The exhibit and performance were a component of the Gender and Sexual Security Symposium that was part of the 2016 Canadian Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences held at the University of Calgary.

 

Big Head/Small Neck

Big Head/Small Neck
Big Head/Small Neck
Big Head/Small Neck
Big Head/Small Neck

Big Head/Small Neck

The on-site version of Big Head/Small Neck premiered in conversation with the Trans Trans exhibit at the Nickle Galleries on June 1, 2016. Using both installation and traditional performance modes, the site-based Big Head/Small Neck examines the medicalization and modification of trans/gendered bodies through wit, satire, and precision.

With a script by Melanie Kloetzel and Scottish playwright/performer Rose Ruane and set to the familiar strains of Tchaikovsky, Big Head/Small Neck skewers societal expectations of behavior in relation to gender and sexuality. Presented as part of the Gender and Sexual Security Symposium as part of the 2016 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences.

TESTament

TESTament - photo by Kristian Jones Photography
TESTament - photo by Kristian Jones Photography
TESTament - photo by Kristian Jones Photography
TESTament - photo by Kristian Jones Photography

TESTament

TESTament is a collaboration between Melanie Kloetzel and Deanne Walsh commissioned for ReLoCate’s The Experiment series. TESTament mashes together irreverent kitsch and physical prowess in a hilarious reading of Pussy Riot, nursery rhymes, and the Hail Mary. The work premiered at Festival Hall in Calgary and was restaged for Split Screen an evening of work by kloetzel&co. and Michele Moss for the Professional Series 2014.

1024 Tempest

1024 Tempest
1024 Tempest
1024 Tempest
1024 Tempest

1024 Tempest

As part of Springboard Performance’s Front Lawn Dances 2015, kloetzel&co. created the site-specific work, 1024 Tempest, for the household of place-maker Tamara Lee and family at 1024 1st Ave NW in Calgary. Based on Shakespeare’s well-known play, 1024 Tempest is a tongue-in-cheek look at the character of Ferdinand and his manipulation by three place-making ninjas who resemble the characters of Prospero, Ariel, and Caliban. With flying popcorn, tiki umbrellas, and a well-placed balcony, the ninjas fashion an Eden to Ferdinand’s great delight. At the close of the work, audiences were invited to craft their own ornaments to adorn the newly appointed SkakespeariTREE based at the containR site in Sunnyside.

Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage
Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage

Drawing from Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales as well as from the contentious strains of Bela Bartók’s Sonata for Piano, Sz. 80 (88), Pilgrimage offers a world of bizarre characterization and contentious relationships. CrossCurrents dance productions commissioned Melanie Kloetzel as a guest artist to create the group work for performances at the Pumphouse Theatres in Calgary. After the Pumphouse premiere, Pilgrimage was also presented by the Professional Series at the University of Calgary as part of Split Screen, an evening of works by kloetzel&co. and Michele Moss.

Cowboys and Wurst

Cowboys and Wurst
Cowboys and Wurst
Cowboys and Wurst

Cowboys and Wurst

Cowboys and Wurst is a site-specific work commissioned by Springboard Performance for the 2015 Front Lawn Dances series. Created by kloetzel&co. with Deanne Walsh, Cowboys and Wurst is an over-the-top representation of the iconic Illichmann’s Sausage Shop in the Forest Lawn neighbourhood of Calgary. Employing everything from sausage link pillows to red Jell-O to giant stuffed animals, Walsh and Kloetzel dig up the wonderfully quirky and culturally diverse characteristics of this well-seasoned site.