This clip looks at the importance of Rainforest as the piece that started Karen on the journey of cross cultural dance conversations.

Rainforest Clip

Karen discusses the origins of Gawa Gyani including Rainforest, working with Ken Harris, Doreen Jensen, Alice Jefferies and the residency at MOA. Also includes stories about Mixk'Aax, the Harris Family Dancers, the function of dance in different cultures, and dance as a spiritual undertaking.

Gawa Gyani

Karen discusses the piece passage. This was a commission from National Gallery of Canada to create a site-specific work to accompany a show on Emily Carr, lead to the creation of Passage. The focus of the work was to develop the dancers as conduits for the spirit of the architectural space by Moshe Safdie, and how the audience could encounter this spirit through their own bodies as they occupied the same space as the dancers. The company was given a four-week residency in the gallery to create the work on site, followed by a two-week performance run.
Recorded May 24th 2018

Passage

This clip explores the inspiration of the Man Within costumes and finishes with Karen discussing the most recent legacy project. Recorded May 24th 2018

Man Within Costumes and Legacy Project

On April 2, 1997 the Karen Jamieson Dance Company embarked on a five week tour of Northern British Columbia. These performances marked a significant undertaking by both artists, the company as well as the local aboriginal and non- aboriginal communities involved in the tour. Stone Soup was presented in the traditional territories of the Wet’suet’en Haisla, Gitk’san, Tsimshian, Nisga’a and Haida Nations.

At the beginning of each performance, the members of the Karen Jamieson Dance Company asked people who have an ancestral connection to the land for permission to enter and dance.

The Stone Soup Project was created in a spirit of respect for First Nations people, their traditions and the long-standing relationship of each local native group with the land on which the performance takes place. The tour was welcomed in: Laxgalts’ap, Gitwinksihlkw, Smithers, Terrace, Kitimat, Hazelton, Kispiox, Kitimaat Village, Kemano, Prince Rupert, Masset, Skidegate and ending with a Gala presentation at the Roundhouse Community Centre in Vancouver.

Karen Jamieson discusses the epic Stone Soup tour

The Karen Jamieson Dance Archive is a component of the company's broader Legacy Project; encompassing the 49 years of Karen Jamieson's historically significant Canadian contemporary dance career. The archive's mission is to preserve the audio, visual and paper material created through this ephemeral artform.