Bowl of Jasmine

Gathering in community on the unceded, ancestral, occupied territories of the  xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations.

• May 26-28 | 7 pm – 8pm
• Location: Morrow 910 Richards – Suite 204
• Tickets $20 or $25

Link to tickets

SOLD OUT

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Bowl of Jasmine is a program of 2 works choreographed by Juolin Lee and Sujit Vaidya. The artists come from distinctly different backgrounds, yet they are unified by a mutual fascination with exploring the tension between imagination and reality. This program inquires into the physicality of their fantasy worlds, exploring how cultural influences in the form of scent and taste permeate through their moving bodies.

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Sujit Vaidya | Śṛṅgāra 

{All things Erotic; Creative state of making something out of nothing}

Śṛṅgāra begins with a ritual; of ornamentation, of song, of scent, of taste and of movement. It will invite responses (in storytelling/ poetry) from “Nhylar” and (on the flute) from Mark Tajeshi McGregor. Śṛṅgāra accesses embedded memories and sensations awakened by mogra, Indian jasmine to make space for the in-betweenness of things to exist. 

*Content warning: Śṛṅgāra contains partial nudity

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Juolin Lee | Luna

“Sometimes when life gets intense and overwhelming, I find my mind wandering while I try to accomplish the mundane, everyday tasks…

Luna is a dance about, for, and with my matcha green Tatung Rice Cooker – a piece of traditional Taiwanese kitchenware. It is one of the first things my mom received from a distant relative after arriving in Canada ten years ago. Tatung Rice Cooker sits in every Taiwanese household. It is a very practical and important helper in the kitchen, and a symbol of home, familiarity and comforting warm dishes.”

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Artist Bio Luna

Juolin Lee is a Taiwanese-Canadian emerging dance artist who is fascinated by the transformative power of dance. Juolin feels fortunate to live, learn and create on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Juolin completed her training in Modus Operandi Contemporary Dance program in June 2021. Juolin has a deep love and respect for the dance community she’s immersed in. She has the pleasure to work with Natalie TY Gan, Ziyian Kwan, Sammy Chien, Caroline MacCaull, Arash Khakpour, Emmalena Fredriksson and Zahra Shahab. Dance to Juolin is a portal to indescribable emotions and complex, swerving stories. Through openness and curiosity she wishes to continuously unpack her idea of self and her relationship with the world.

Music Credits:

1. 他坐在那裡 陽光普照電影配樂_林生祥 (Where’s He Sitting, A Sun soundtrack by Lin Sheng Hsiang)
2. 面會菜 大佛普拉斯電影配樂_林生祥 (The Last Meal, The Great Buddha soundtrack by Lin Sheng Hsiang)
3. 無眠_蘇打綠 (No sleep by Sodagreen)

Artist Bios Śṛṅgāra 

Sujit Vaidya “I’m an independent dance artist living and working on the MST territories, also called Vancouver. I’m trained in bharatanatyam. As an interpreter, I have performed predominantly as a soloist in Canada, US, Europe and India. I have also worked with collectives and companies based in Chennai, Vancouver, Toronto, San Francisco and DC. As an emerging choreographer, I have made 2 works, OFF CENTRE in 2018 and Sacred Sacrilegious in 2021. My new work, Breathe In The Fragrance is a hybrid choreography, and will premiere in June 2023 for Queer Arts Festival.

My work is deeply rooted in my training, with an understanding that my role as an artist goes beyond tradition. As a queer artist of colour, I am drawn to making work inspired by my lived experiences that include creating uncomfortable dialogue. As I unpack the problematic post colonial, “reformed” version of bharatanatyam, I’m drawn to working with ideas of Body, Eroticism, Gaze, Shame, Stillness. I am interested in slowing down movement, and making space for a different way to think of physical virtuosity outside of an Eurocentric understanding, and work with detailed attention to intention. “

Mark Takeshi McGregor: Described as a “mind-blowing” musician of “huge physical energy” (Times Colonist), flutist Mark is one of Canada’s leading interpreters of classical, contemporary, and experimental music. As a soloist and chamber musician Mark has performed extensively across five continents. Recent engagements include Innovations en Concert (Montreal), Ding Yi Chinese Chamber Music Festival (Singapore), Museo Leonora Carrington (San Luis Potosí, Mexico), Melos-Ethos Festival (Bratislava), Núcleo Música Nova (Curitiba, Brazil), and the ISCM World New Music Days in Vancouver. In 2020 McGregor was named “Classical Artist of the Year” by the Western Canadian Music Awards and in 2021 was was honoured with the Friends of Canadian Music Award, which recognizes exceptional commitment, on a national scale, to Canadian composers and their music. 

“Nhylar” (she/they/he) is a queer GNC storyteller, media artist, poet and healing community arts event producer. They are powered by creating media, poems and events that set queers free.  Nhylar has produced over 100 events bringing together the Desi, Queer and Desi queer community in Vancouver, LA and beyond. Craving the deliciousness of building inclusive non-binary, femme and QTBIPOC space, he became a collaborator as an event producer and community builder with Queer Mango, Queer Arts Exchange and the Transgender Expressions Haven. At the Transgender Expressions Haven, Nhylar put in their creative power to produce a virtual art gallery that brought trans folks through media art from around the world under the theme of “Queer Digital Intimacy”. What grew out of a Tumblr page connecting poets from around the world in an exchange of queer ideas, has deepened into Nhylar’s full time passion of using language and visuals to communicate the sweet spot of queer reality: giving space to the hardship and pain of oppression and exclusion, while honouring the inner world of queer erotic transcendence.  She continues her work creating spaces for South Asian folks in  her role as communications and marketing manager at the Indian Summer Festival. For Nhylar, he was inspired by the epiphany that a single piece of media, or the gathering of the 2SLGBTQ+ community from a deep place of genuine inclusion, can change your core belief about something and make us see the world anew.

Additional thanks: Thank you to Tokyo Mithaiwala for providing the sweets, gifted to the audience by Dumb Instrument Dance.

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Accessibility:

Here is some general accessibility info, please contact us with questions or requests.

• Scent: Indian Jasmine will be present in the space during the performances.
• There are 2 common area entrances to the building. The front entrance has one flight of stairs. The back entrance provides access to the elevator. If you require elevator access, please contact us once you’ve purchased your ticket and we will meet you at the door to let you in and support. The back entrance is in the parking lot behind 910 Richards, cornering Smithe.
• There is one wheelchair accessible and one gender neutral washroom.
• We request that people do not wear scents and we provide scent free soap in washrooms.

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Photo Credits:

• Photo of Sujit Vaidya by Laura Lee for Nox Photography
• Photo of Juolin Lee by Sarah Wong
• Cover Image of Alger Ji-Liang photographed by Beau Bonez / Graphics: Kelly McInnes