Behind the Scenes with Wild Within
Get to know the Creative Team Behind the Making of Wild Within
Sara Coffin (Creative Director, Choreographer)
Where is your favorite wild place? (why?) Suspended in the water - ocean, lake, or river and cooking by open fire after said suspension. My wild body really came alive along the Yukon River, so this will always have a special place in my heart.
What are you most excited to share in Wild Within? A thunderstorm, the power of the feminine goddess, an homage to my mother: the gestalt of the many layers of creative fire offered by the creative team - the performers, designers, and consultants coming together in one wild heart offering.
What is the one thing you will not leave home without? I always bring my swiss army camping cutlery set for lunch on the go or an emergency knife. Secondly, if venturing to wild spaces, I always bring my Hennessy Hammock to suspend in the trees.
Lydia Zimmer (dance artist, performer)
Where is your favorite wild place? (why?) In the ocean, completely submerged and surrounded by the vastness. I like it because it scares me.
What are you most excited to share in Wild Within? Without revealing too much, the quantity and quality of various forms of driftwood are especially exciting for the piece’s landscape and set design.
What is the one thing you will not leave home without? An extra layer of clothing because I am always freezing!
Georgia Skinner (dance artist, performer)
Where is your favorite wild place? (why?) The open ocean. It is to me the essence of wilderness in that it is mysterious, untameable, beautiful, and terrifying. One of my big fears is being stuck in the middle of the ocean.
What are you most excited to share in Wild Within? I’m most excited for sharing the stage with my 3 co-workers.
What is the one thing you will not leave home without? My hair elastic on my wrist
Anastasia Wiebe (dance artist, performer)
Where is your favourite wild place? (why?) My favourite wild place is by the ocean where I can taste salt on my lips, water speckled on my face and the warmth of the sun beating down. In this place I feel small but also larger than my anxieties.
What are you most excited to share in Wild Within? I’m excited to share the collective environment we have created in throughout this process. Spaces where we feel the most wild are very individual and sacred. We have created a world where our individual wild worlds come together to support each.
What is the one thing you will not leave home without? My Journals.
Julie Robert (Dance Artist, Performer)
Where is your favorite wild place? (why?) My favourite wild place is by the ocean. Its vastness is something so majestic that it allows me to disconnect, observe and simply take in its wild, shapeshifting nature.
What are you most excited to share in Wild Within? I am excited to share the choreographic power that shines through the piece, along with the rich & beautiful set design that has been curated. What is the one thing you will not leave home without? I will not leave home without my tiny reusable coffee cup!
Brian Riley (Sound Design, Scenography)
Where is your favourite wild place? (why?) My favourite wild place, hmm deep deep in the woods. I think about the subtle and nuanced lives going on around me when i’m in the quiet woods. Slowing down to that pace, or remembering that that pace exists shifts me into a greater, maybe more appreciative state.
What are you most excited to share in Wild Within? The sound design and compositions have been really exciting to work on. Much of it spawns from my improvisations, sitting down and hitting record with an intentional, meditative focus. Then I can listen back and select moments, textures or grooves that sparked a fire. Sometimes before I even touch an instrument the squeeeeeak of my chair offers the recording something magical, and I try to follow those instincts, explore it more, exploit it even to see how far I can take it. Because this music is for dance, I’ve been trying to stay extra aware of body and breath as I record as well, focusing on long exhales or how my hands move through space while playing piano, clapping or strumming a guitar. This keeps me grounded, and keeps my mind from getting in the way of itself. I like to think this focused state penetrates a recording and enriches it, however, during the presentation a strong and crisp sound system is required to convey this. I’m excited to work with Thomas and Bob at Alderney landing to sweeten the recordings in relation to their sound system. I’m a gear geek and love putting extra effort into the final sonic experience for the audience.
What is the one thing you will not leave home without? hmm I’d say snacks! snacks are so important. Since having kids I find i’m way more conscious of preparedness.
Nick Bottomley (Media and Lighting Designer)
Where is your favourite wild place? (why?) Pollok Park in Glasgow, Scotland. A huge acreage just south of the city - you can be downtown and then in the forest in a short 10 minute walk from where I used to live. It’s one of those old growth places where you can’t see the sky for the trees. Anytime I needed to walk out my problems or get out of my head I’d end up there wandering for a few hours and it was completely restorative.
What are you most excited to share in Wild Within? A sense that we’re not disconnected or separated from the wild side of ourselves or this wider, wilder world. No matter how connected, insular or city-bound we become that aspect of us always remains.
What is the one thing you will not leave home without? A good pair of walking shoes and an urge for going.
Stewart Legere (Dramaturge, Creative Consultant, Text Development)
Where is your favourite wild place? (why?) My favourite wild place is my mind at 6am. I wake up, and my thoughts are unfiltered. I worry about everything, love everything, fear everything, all while curled up in my comfortable bed. I don't know why it's my favourite wild place. It just feels like one of the only truly wild places in my life, so why not love it?
What are you most excited about your involvement in the show or looking forward to share in Wild Within? I love working with new people in new contexts. I don't know anything for sure, but I do love looking at something, dissecting an idea, thinking "This works"... or "This doesn't for me..." or "I don't know what's going on..." and diving deeper into that. I love how comfortable Sara is sitting in the unknown, and that seems exciting to me -- collaborating with someone in that unknowing. Like being lost in the woods with a friend when you were a child, somehow admitting you were both scared made you feel better, even though nothing had changed. Knowing you had a comrade in your fear.
What is the one thing you will not leave home without? I leave home every day with a backpack full of things. My whole family does it, as if we're always about to walk into an apocalypse. I've always got it all with me: my work computer so I can work, a change of clothes, a bathing suit, a notebook, various IDs, my phone, a charger, a snack, a flask. Who knows what's gonna happen today? I wanna be ready. My whole family also has bad backs.
