Dancers from the Ottawa Dance Directive (ODD) perform Empty Space/Empty Time “in conversation with” Ottawa-based cellist Raphael Weinroth-Browne, who performs his original piece Worlds Within.Photo by Curtis Perry
Tanis Browning-Shelp
The Ottawa Dance Directive (ODD), like all performing arts companies, struggled throughout COVID to keep its programs running and its dancers dancing. Because of its location on the second floor of Arts Court at the corner of Daly Avenue and Nicholas Street, ODD was also hit particularly hard by the Canada convoy protest and blockade. ODD persevered under the artistic direction of Old Ottawa East resident Yvonne Coutts. “I have seen the incredible resilience of the artists in this community,” Coutts says. However, she also admits that she had been feeling creatively blocked as a choreographer since the death of her father in 2018.
Thanks to a chance encounter between Coutts and a cellist in December 2021, she and ODD are now preparing to perform two full evening shows in Edmonton on April 20 and 21 at the Triffo Theatre, followed by an evening at the Orillia Opera House on May 10, and returning home for three performances at the University of Ottawa’s LabO Theatre on May 18, 19, and 20. The show is a unique collaboration between ODD dancers and internationally renowned Ottawa-based cellist Raphael Weinroth-Browne.
Coutts met Weinroth-Browne at an event at Ottawa’s St. Matthew’s Church. “It was promoted as ‘an afternoon of cello.’ I went with my mom, half expecting to hear holiday music. That’s when I first heard Raphael perform his original piece Worlds Within.”
The classically trained Weinroth-Browne has a passion for progressive metal and middle eastern music. Over the past decade, he has explored unconventional approaches to cello playing in several ground-breaking groups. And, as a session musician, he has appeared on more than 150 studio albums.
Weinroth-Browne’s debut solo album, Worlds Within, was released in 2020 to critical acclaim. Described as “a haunting 40-minute piece for amplified cello based around cyclical looped patterns and lush reverb-laden soundscapes,” the album weaves together elements of ambient music, post-rock, modern classical, and progressive metal. In response to the coronavirus pandemic, he released Worlds Within Live in 2021, a live rendition of the 2020 studio album.
Worlds Within is built from a simple initial seed, gradually branching out and recreating itself in different forms through the use of live looping. Looping pedals create instant recordings of musical performances and play the recordings back in real-time. This allows the musician to create a “polyphonic soundscape” where multiple melodies are played simultaneously.
“I was deeply moved by hearing Raphael’s performance that day in December,” Coutts says. “I approached him after the concert, told him how much I loved it, and asked if he had ever collaborated with dance before.”
Hearing Worlds Within finally allowed Coutts to make the material she had been working on into a complete work she eventually called Empty Space/Empty Time. Bringing it to fruition finally allowed her to move with her grief. “But Empty Space/Empty Time is not a piece locked in sadness,” she explains. “It is a physically charged work and the energetic swells reflect the many cycles of emotion. Through working with Raphael and the four tremendous dancers, the solace I sought began to emerge along with a new wave of creativity.”
Weinroth-Browne sometimes thinks of Worlds Within as the soundtrack to a life cycle “beginning from an unending ether, emerging into innocence and wonder, growing into self-awareness…followed by chaos and upheaval…making peace with what is, and returning to the infinite.”
Old Ottawa East’s Yvonne Coutts combines her creative vision, choreography and dance skills in new collaborative works that will tour in Edmonton and Orillia this spring, before returning for three nights at University of Ottawa’s LabO Theatre on May 18, 19 and 20. Photo by Curtis Perry
Coutts describes Empty Space/Empty Time as a wordless conversation with the music. “The musical performance by Raphael and the dance performances by Amanda Bon, Jacqueline Ethier, Alya Graham, and Sarah Hopkin can each stand on their own. But when performed together it produces another layer of expression and impact: the music seems to open the space, to give the audience a heightened sense of presence. And with the four dancers and the cellist on stage, it becomes a quintet.”
The show includes a second original work choreographed by Coutts entitled Open us Open performed with another solo cello piece called Ricercare, also written, and performed by Weinroth-Browne. “The dance is an inquiry into the gap between sensory perception and thought and focuses on the energetic value of the moment,” Coutts says. She dances it herself, performing for the first time in two decades, and forming a duet with Weinroth-Browne.
“We are excited for the opportunity to perform this show on larger stages during this tour. We believe that these spaces will allow audiences greater perspective to be aware of the individual dancers, aware of space, and aware of absence. At other times, there is only the breathtaking music and beautifully spatial lighting design.” Lighting is another important element of the show. “The lighting designs were created by Gabriel Cropley. The University of Ottawa’s new LabO Black Box Theatre (located in the Ottawa Art Gallery building), with its cutting-edge technology, will be a perfect venue to experience it all. They call it LabO because it is a place of incubation and experimentation.”
“It is remarkable to work with this phenomenal group of artists who have chosen to live and work in Ottawa and have come together for this,” Coutts says. “Raphael graduated from Canterbury High School’s Music Program and three of the show’s dancers graduated from The School of Dance’s Professional Contemporary Dance Program. This is an all-Ottawa performance! I’ve made many dances in my career, but it is surprising and magical to have this profound experience at this point, and I am grateful for that.”
To learn more about Yvonne Coutts and ODD, go to https://odd-cdc.org. For a sample of Raphael Weinroth-Browne performing the second section of his piece Worlds Within go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oF6cV-OKFg. Tickets are on sale through Eventbrite. Check out ODD’s website, Facebook, or Instagram page for the link.
Author Tanis Browning-Shelp (http://www.browning-shelp.com) pens her Maryn O’Brien Young Adult Fiction series, published by Dog-Eared Books, from her home in Old Ottawa East. Contact tanis@browning-shelp.com if you have information about artists or art events that you believe would enrich our community members’ lives.
