Vanessa Goodman

 

BIO

Vanessa Goodman the artistic director and choreographer of Action at a Distance dance society respectfully acknowledges that she lives and works on the ancestral and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations. Vanessa is attracted to art that has a weight and meaning beyond the purely aesthetic and uses her choreography as an opportunity to explore the human condition. Her works and commissions have been presented throughout Canada, the United States and South America, with recent highlights including Bienal Internacional de Dança do Caerà (Brazil), On the Boards (Seattle), and The Dance Made in Canada Festival (Toronto). In 2013 Vanessa received the Iris Garland Choreographer Award from The Dance Centre, and is a participant in their inaugural Yulanda M. Faris Program. She holds a BFA from Simon Fraser University (SFU) and has been commissioned by Lamon Dance, Warehaus Collective, Modus Operandi and The SFU rep class.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

BLOT Conceived and performed by dance artists Simona Deaconescu (Tangaj Collective, RO) and Vanessa Goodman (Action at a Distance, CA), “BLOT – Body Line of Thought” is an interdisciplinary project that addresses the influence of microbiology on human behaviour.

“BLOT” focuses on the layers of bacteria on a person’s skin, as a unique fingerprint, a medium through which the act of contamination happens. Through sweat, we “infect” one another with bacteria. Salt is a restructuring, cleaning and binding agent. The human body can not survive without sodium. In “BLOT” our salts function as a conductor for creativity, electricity and infection. Simona Deaconescu and Vanessa Goodman explore transferability and continuous oscillations. Their bodies are an acoustic event in reverberation.

 The project is co-produced by Tangaj Collective (RO) and Action at a Distance (CA), in partnership with Plastic Orchid Factory (CA), The National Center for Dance Bucharest (RO) and STL – Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava (EE), co-funded by The Administration of the National Cultural Fund (RO). The project does not necessarily represent the position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the results of the project can be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the financing.