Yet another evening of artistic blind dates, yet another promo clip I produced for the Tomorrow Collective. This is a sample of live documentation, which is shot as a safe wideshot to ensure the artists get all the choreography, setting, etc for posterity.
Brief Encounters is an interdisciplinary art event that throws different artists together to make short performances. They go from total strangers to presenting a work in two weeks.
Twelve artists, six pairs, two weeks to create: Brief Encounters returned in late September with a high-octane line-up of multidisciplinary mash-ups.
Since its inception five years ago, the hugely popular series has presented more than 156 artists over fourteen spectacular incarnations. Artists receive only two weeks to work with their assigned partner and hammer out their creative offering.
Previous participants have included a hair stylist, a floral artist, a marketing executive, and performers from all genres, and participants in Brief Encounters 15 include butoh dancer/choreographer Barbara Bourget, cellist Peggy Lee, experimental filmmaker Alex Mackenzie, inventor Kevin Royes (a recent winner on television’s Dragons’ Den), burlesque dancer Burgundy Brixx, spoken word poet Kevan Cameron (also known as “Scruffmouth”), theatre director Steven Hill, contemporary dance artist Alison Denham, singer/songwriter Leah Abramson, theatre artist Adrienne Wong, performance painter Pamela Masik, and environmental writer Mitch Anderson.
“Attendance grows each and every time,” said Mara Branscombe, who produces Brief Encounters with her Tomorrow Collective collaborator Katy Harris-Mcleod. “Brief Encounters has a momentum that just won’t quit.”
And that momentum will continue despite significant life changes in the lives of both producers: Harris-Mcleod recently relocated to Montreal, and both producers are entering their third trimesters of pregnancy. “[Harris-Mcleod] and I are really excited about the future of Brief Encounters,” said Branscombe.
Brief Encounters 15 ran September 30th to October 2nd 2010 at Performance Works on Granville Island (1218 Cartwright Street).