Master choreographer Shay Kuebler and his dance crew return with their head-spinning moves at the annual Chutzpah! performing arts festival this weekend.
This year's high-octane offering from Kuebler and his Radical System Art dancers is Telemetry — "a work that focuses on human connection and the body as a filament for sound, energy and emotion."
Kuebler has spent the past year fine-tuning the project, based upon a mixed language of swing, bebop jazz, house and contemporary dance and the idea of relaying human communication and interaction around the science of radio systems.
"The human body being a receiver and transmitter of energy, intention, a person's past, where they want to go," explains Kuebler. "There are lots of different ways of looking at the body as a vessel to translate and communicate. The way somebody talks to you, if you removed the words. The physical language you read off of people, that's already a language that we recognize."
Using a telemeter, a device used to measure distances to remote objects, Kuebler and his creative team, as one component of the project, tracked and mapped the trajectory of the dancers, which in turn influenced and yielded new solo pieces.
Telemetry's research phase was carried out by Kuebler — a Chutzpah! artist in residence — last summer in a remote community at the northern tip of Vancouver Island, Alert Bay.
Chutzpah! is building an arts community in the area with the local First Nations.
Being away from the hustle and bustle of Vancouver was a welcome change for Kuebler, while the tranquil environment got his creative juices flowing.
"It gives you space in a different way," says Kuebler.
As with his past works, Kuebler infuses his lifelong love of martial arts into the program. He explains how the performing arts world and the martial arts realm share commonalities.
"In action films they always do fight scenes to music," says Kuebler. "A lot of sharp fast movements to music, it just fell into a groove for me. Bruce Lee is and will be my biggest inspiration for his way of looking at art and philosophy."
As a child growing up in Edmonton, Kuebler studied a Japanese style of karate called shito-ryo. That led to his dance training in a variety of disciplines from contemporary to tap.
Kuebler moved to Vancouver in 2003 to grow his performing arts career and pursue choreography. He started training out of Harbour Dance Centre, which Kuebler says is like a second home to him.
Since then Kuebler has become a fixture on the Canadian and international performing arts scene and performed with the likes of Naughty By Nature and Neil Young. His talents, meanwhile, have taken Kuebler to Tokyo, Lebanon and Brazil.
With his current performance piece, Kuebler wanted certain sections where the dancers make their own choices, in terms of movements.
"That's a window into someone's past," he explains.
The high-energy performance pushes the physical envelope while at the same time evoking a sense of refinement. That requires a lot of stamina on the part of the dancers.
"You can't just gas out in the first 10 minutes and be sloppy for the rest of the show," says Kuebler. "If it looks rough, most likely it's hard on your body."
Kuebler says it's a treat to perform in the Chutzpah! Festival in the Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre in Vancouver's Jewish Community Centre. He describes the venue as having great sightlines and a slightly raised stage from which the audience can see the dancer's fancy footwork.
As for the festival's format, Kuebler says showcasing international artists with different influences, different languages and sets of beliefs is what makes Chutzpah! so unique.
Now in its 16th year, Chutzpah! brings together internationally celebrated dance, music, comedy and theatre artists from as far afield as Mexico, Germany, Cuba, Italy, the United States and Israel as well as Canada.
Shay Kuebler and Radical System Art present Telemetry, Feb. 20-22 at the Chutzpah! Festival. Tickets and info at chutzpahfestival.com.
