2009/10: Widening the Circle with Liz Lerman

Liz Lerman is a choreographer, performer, writer, educator and speaker. Described by the Washington Post as “the source of an epochal revolution in the scope and purposes of dance art,” her dance and theatre works have been commissioned by the Lincoln Center, Harvard Law School and the Kennedy Center, among many others. She founded Liz Lerman Dance Exchange in 1976 and has cultivated the company’s unique multi-generational ensemble into a leading force in contemporary dance. Her lifetime achievements include the award of a 2002 MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellowship. An interdisciplinary artist, dialogue-maker and visionary, Liz Lerman continues to influence and enrich the ways we think about the role of art in our lives.

• Critical Response Workshop: Ms. Lerman engaged participants in constructive dialogue about their artistic works in progress and learned about the values of observation, neutral inquiry and measured opinion in a supportive environment.

• Public Performance of LINK Dance Foundation’s Experiments: SFU Centre for Dialogue and LINK Dance Foundation presented a preview of Experiments (see below), a full-length dance piece exploring the link between art and science.

• Tools for Storytelling - Connecting Our Bodies to Our Ideas: Participants explored the dynamic between information and feeling in an afternoon of creative exploration and movement. The workshop empowered artists to express their ideas in tangible and visceral new ways.

• Conversations, Questions and Freefall - A Public Dialogue: Liz Lerman teamed up with Judith Marcuse from the International Centre for Art and Social Change and special guest Arlene Goldbard to lead a discussion on how art practices enrich and inform every corner of our communities. Ms. Lerman also previewed excerpts from her book entitled Hiking the Horizontal which explores Liz Lerman’s life-long exploration of dance as a vehicle for human insight and understanding of the world around us.

LINK Dance's full-length production captures the creativity, experimentation and intuition that scientists and artists employ in understanding the world around them. Based on three years of research between dancers and behavioural ecologists (who study the non-verbal communication of animals), Experiments interlaces sound, video, lighting and movemement into a show that ignites curiosity. This production was completed in partnership with SFU's Centre for Dialogue and featured Fellow and former academic director, Mark Winston, as one of the performing scientists.