Where dreams and reality meet: Witty, original production is a fusion of physical movement, theatre, film & music

by Liz Nicholls

Published in the Edmonton Journal, April 14, 2011

Is this a place where magic is possible?

Can you be haunted here, in this city of frozen grit and sighs? Can you satisfy your appetite for transformation? Does a sense of wonder atrophy through disuse? You live in Edmonton; you’ve got to wonder about wonder. Backwater does.

This witty and original fusion of physical movement, theatre, film and music turns out to be one of those off-centre indie-minded experiences you’ve got to love about a place that, without its artists, could seem remarkably unremarkable. Backwater is all about that feeling of somehow being stifled, about being hungry for that elusive sense of possibility. It’s located in a place that seems to be positioned on the edge of the wilderness.

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LIVE THEATRE REVIEW — Backwater

by Kristin Rodier
Published in SEE Magazine, April 12, 2011

Backwater is a Windrow performance, created and directed by Amber Borotsik and Jesse Gervais. As the name suggests, this performance deals with themes such as northern Alberta’s isolation, urban sprawl/stagnation, and echo chamber like political rhetoric. This presentation is a crosspollination of dance, theatre, and sound art that is a striking sensory experience for the audience. At times, the action is slowed down to a crawl and audience members are forced back into thinking and making their own meaning, experiencing the performance as they would a living painting. A challenging performance, Backwater defies the dance/theatre dichotomy and disrupts narrative expectations.

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The Man, The Rockstar, The Bestest Hair

Photo credit: Marc J Chalifoux Photography

Photo Credit: Marc J Chalifoux Photography

 

Photo Credit: Marc J Chalifoux Photography

Photo Credit: Marc J Chalfoux Photography

Photo Credit: Marc J. Chalifoux Photography

Behind Backwater (Canto II)

Photos by the incredibly talented Majika N.P. Photography

Photo Credit: Majika N.P. Photography

Photo Credit: Majika N.P. Photography

“Is Change Possible?”

Published in the Edmonton Journal, April 7

by Liz Nicholls

EDMONTON – Spring in Edmonton. On the one hand, the ultimate in miraculous transformations (talk about starting from scratch). On the other hand, torture: The slowest, ugliest, most agonizing full-body makeover in the biz. Aren’t you just a little embarrassed for the gung-ho birds who blithely arrived back here in March? In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny, “I shoulda toined left at Albuquoiky.”

“Is change possible?” When you live in Edmonton, you’re bound to wonder. Amber Borotsik and Jesse Gervais wrapped their creative wits around this very question when they created Backwater, their new multi-faceted, multi-disciplinary dance/ theatre/ film fusion arriving onstage at Catalyst Theatre on Saturday.

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A City in Flux…

Published in Vue Weekly, April 7 2011
by Paul Blinov

It’s fair to call Edmonton a transitory city, with all the perks and frustrations that the term implies. People, artists in particular, perpetually come and go; the winter creeps into fall early and clings, even now, to spring, revealing a season’s worth of filth on the street, while occasionally still dumping fresh powder down from above. In short, there’s a perpetural sense of flux in the air, and it’s the tension of that change that Amber Borotsik and Jesse Gervais are after in Backwater.

Sitting together in the basement of the Third Playing Space—itself a product of transformation, downgraded from prime theatre space to simple rehearsal hall a few years ago—she traces the instigating idea back to “lots of scientific and spiritual philosophies” that claim every seven years our cells completely regenerate. Every seven years, we’re totally different, from a cellular standpoint.

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I can be a Frog…

Transformation, identity and The Flaming Lips.

Behind Backwater

Behind Backwater | Photo Credit: Marc J Chalifoux Photography

Behind Backwater | Photo Credit: Marc J Chalifoux Photography

Behind Backwater | Photo Credit: Marc J Chalifoux Photography

Behind Backwater | Photo Credit: Marc J Chalifoux Photography

Behind Backwater | Photo Credit: Marc J Chalifoux Photography

Through the eyes of aAron Munson…

Photo Credit: aAron Munson

Photo Credit: aAron Munson

Photo Credit: aAron Munson

Photo Credit: aAron Munson

Edmonton filmmaker aAron munson has created twenty-two experimental films over the last six years. Using Super 8, 16mm, and 35mm, his work explores the fine qualities of working with film while incorporating the use of other visual mediums. Employing a variety of different filmmaking techniques such as pixillation, timelapse, and stop-motion, aAron explores the many layers of a world yet unseen. His works have been screened at various film festivals, galleries and multi-disciplinary events worldwide.  munson also collaborates with numerous audio artists both locally and internationally.

Videotape

by aAron Munson