1024 Tempest

1024 Tempest
1024 Tempest
1024 Tempest
1024 Tempest

1024 Tempest

As part of Springboard Performance’s Front Lawn Dances 2015, kloetzel&co. created the site-specific work, 1024 Tempest, for the household of place-maker Tamara Lee and family at 1024 1st Ave NW in Calgary. Based on Shakespeare’s well-known play, 1024 Tempest is a tongue-in-cheek look at the character of Ferdinand and his manipulation by three place-making ninjas who resemble the characters of Prospero, Ariel, and Caliban. With flying popcorn, tiki umbrellas, and a well-placed balcony, the ninjas fashion an Eden to Ferdinand’s great delight. At the close of the work, audiences were invited to craft their own ornaments to adorn the newly appointed SkakespeariTREE based at the containR site in Sunnyside.

Cowboys and Wurst

Cowboys and Wurst
Cowboys and Wurst
Cowboys and Wurst

Cowboys and Wurst

Cowboys and Wurst is a site-specific work commissioned by Springboard Performance for the 2015 Front Lawn Dances series. Created by kloetzel&co. with Deanne Walsh, Cowboys and Wurst is an over-the-top representation of the iconic Illichmann’s Sausage Shop in the Forest Lawn neighbourhood of Calgary. Employing everything from sausage link pillows to red Jell-O to giant stuffed animals, Walsh and Kloetzel dig up the wonderfully quirky and culturally diverse characteristics of this well-seasoned site.

Covert Interiorities

Interiors
Being Covert: Interiors
Being Covert: Interiors

Covert Interiorities

A site-adaptive exploration/workshop led by Melanie Kloetzel and Phil Smith (of Wrights & Sites) that explores publicly-accessible “hidden spaces” with an eye toward nurturing the self-world connection.

Through a workshop format (already taken place in Liverpool, Teignmouth, Exeter, and Plymouth, UK to date), Kloetzel and Smith examine the connections between inner reflection, subtle physical play and public space. A series of movement meditations aids participants in an examination of their interiorities through inherently active methodologies. Using as a premise the fact that our inner lives are under increasing scrutiny and surveillance, the collected meditations encourage participants to put down their phones and tablets to reclaim a healthy and active lifestyle, one that is highly integrated with and inspired by local environs. 

Dwindling Dispute TKO

Dwindling Dispute TKO
Dwindling Dispute TKO

Dwindling Dispute TKO

Dwindling Dispute TKO, based on the stage work The Dwindling Dispute, is a site-adaptive work created for a square of artificial turf that may be unrolled at various sites. The work premiered at containR through the Fluid Festival in 2013 and was also performed in front of the Culver Center for the Arts in Riverside, California as part of the 2013 Congress on Research in Dance conference. Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, the Red and White Queens delight audiences with their ridiculous mannerisms and absurd clashes in short ‘acts’ that make audiences question ‘on-‘ and ‘off-‘ stage appearances. With support from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

The Alice Odyssey (an excerpt)

The Alice Odyssey (an excerpt)
The Alice Odyssey (an excerpt)
The Alice Odyssey (an excerpt)
The Alice Odyssey (an excerpt)
The Alice Odyssey (an excerpt)

The Alice Odyssey (an excerpt)

kloetzel&co. and Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre presented an excerpt from The Alice Odyssey crafted for beautiful Withrow Park in Toronto, ON as part of the highly popular Dusk Dances. Deconstructing highly exaggerated facial expressions alongside a tale of Alice in the underworld, the work ran for six nights to crowds of 500-1,500 people per night and was called “well crafted and beautifully executed” in a review in Mooney on Theatre.

To hear an interview about this performance on EVIDance Radio on Toronto’s CUIT, visit https://www.evidanceradio.com/home/podcasts/2013/saturday-july-27-2013 and forward to timecode 5:20.

The Sanitastics (live)

The Sanitastics (live)
The Sanitastics (live)

The Sanitastics (live)

kloetzel&co. presented a 10-minute live version of the popular dance film, The Sanitastics, created for the Calgary Skywalk system. With hygienic superheroes and an anthropological tour guide, The Sanitastics offered an amusing take on the sanitary nature of indoor public space. Presented by Performance Creation Canada and the Fluid Festival as part of a site-specific walking panel in Calgary, AB.

Windblown/Rafales

Windblown/Rafales
Windblown/Rafales

Windblown/Rafales

In 2008, kloetzel&co. collaborated with Knowhere Productions, Inc. for a three-hour site-specific performance celebrating the 100-year anniversary of the small French-speaking town of Ponteix in Saskatchewan. Set in various sites around Ponteix including the Notre Dame Auvergne Cathedral.

The Gate City: Rail Town Reflections

The Gate City: Rail Town Reflections
The Gate City: Rail Town Reflections
The Gate City: Rail Town Reflections
The Gate City: Rail Town Reflections

The Gate City: Rail Town Reflections

In 2007, kloetzel&co. and the ISU Dance Program presented an evening of site-specific performance as part of First Friday ArtWalk. With movement, music, spoken word, and film, the performances uncovered the intimate connections between Pocatello’s history and the railroad. The piece included an installation in the Pocatello railroad depot as well as an interactive tour of the depot and one of Pocatello’s oldest hotels, the Hotel Yellowstone. With support from the Pocatello Arts Council.

Out from Under

Out from Under
Out from Under

Out from Under

In 2007, Poet Bethany Schultz and Kloetzel joined for a duet of poignant interaction, awkward lap play, and dozens of brassieres in the foyer of the Old Town Pocatello Building. Presented as part of First Friday ArtWalk, a celebration of Pocatello’s historic district.

In Place: Dancing through Downtown Riverside

In Place: Dancing through Downtown Riverside
In Place: Dancing through Downtown Riverside

In Place: Dancing through Downtown Riverside

For In Place, kloetzel&co. took audiences on an informative and destabilizing tour through downtown Riverside, CA and the California Museum of Photography. The evening’s five parts explored Riverside’s political, social, and architectural past and present through a tour of the Riverside promenade and the California Museum of Photography. As the audience rambled through the score of live music and dance, they experienced performers scampering up trees and spinning under the audience’s feet, the dark side of homelessness in the land of suburbia, a witty critique on art and architectural history, and an uproarious auction of questionable art. Live music was provided by Jay Ammon and the Dumpster Orchestra.