Do you remember what it felt like to step into the sun for the first time this summer after spending weeks locked inside? Things you’d looked at from behind a screen took on new meaning in your eyes. The sun never felt so dazzling or the air so deliciously cool. Talking to the co-Artistic Directors of contemporary concert dance company Aeris Körper felt exactly like that: clear, warm, and brilliant. This group of movers and thinkers are changing the art world in invaluable ways and will continue to do so for years and years to come.

Founded in 2014, Aeris Körper is based out of Hamilton but has a large local sphere, occasionally working in Burlington, Oakville, St. Catherine’s, Toronto, and beyond. “I think Hamilton is a really phenomenal place to be an artist,” says co-Artistic Director Lisa Emmons. “There’s not a lot of bureaucracy and it’s hungry and curious about art.” Hamilton has a long industrial history as Canada’s producer of steel and is now an arts metropolis. “One of [Hamilton’s] mottos is ‘art is the new steel,’” they explain. “I think that is a beautiful representation of how Hamilton operates and welcomes art.”

Asked about the differences between Toronto and Hamilton dance industries, Lisa suggests that Toronto is more saturated and operates differently because of the dance training programs that feed into the professional industry. They feel lucky to be working in Hamilton where there are many opportunities for presenting and sharing art.

Aeris Körper is a versatile company, running a variety of different events and open to many participants. Co-Artistic Director Mayumi Lashbrook explains their mission, “[W]e are about creating platforms to express the self as fully as possible through movement. So that looks like [...] education, performance and creation of dance.” These events are open to all humans with a wish to watch or participate in movement.

“I think one of the beautiful things about dance [...] is that we all have a natural intelligence to our bodies,” says Mayumi. “It's just drawing attention to it and therefore letting the creativity that already exists within it unfurl.”

This October, Aeris Körper is running their workshop Ground Ignite Aim Unite for the second year in a row—but this time all online. Lisa remarks, “[Ground Ignite Aim Unite] is a workshop series that we designed with the intent of researching and diving deeper into how to creatively access our intuition and imagination with movement. It's designed for people who are interested in creativity, and not necessarily for dancers, but it can be for any artist or human.”

Zoom classes have their challenges but even technical glitches fade away with two creators as connected as these. “We've been collaborating for years now, so we have really great energy together,” reveals Mayumi. “The transition to online actually allowed us to continue that listening in a new format.”

Having two people teaching also opens up online learning logistically. Lisa explains, “One person is leading, being the lead facilitator, the other one or two, offering feedback, offering support. And we always have a Zoom producer, [...] someone who's taking care of the peripheral things with Zoom, allows for that ease.” They also appreciate the challenge of working within new limitations. “[I]t forces you to discover your ability to communicate and your ability to be creative in a way that I never would have appreciated.” They explain that honouring how one feels is important, and while some may be called to rework their projects others are welcome to recovery time during this global trauma.

Teaching over Zoom also comes with its unique blessings according to Mayumi. “Giving people the permission to turn their video off has meant that we've formed some really amazing relationships with people that were sort of on that brink of starting movement but weren't quite ready to be in-studio.” Lisa adds, “For people who are parents, who are single parents, it gives them the ability to partake, and then we’ve also met some international people.”

Opening up boundaries is not an isolated notion for this company. Aeris Körper offers payment assistance plans to those who may not be able to participate otherwise. Mayumi brings up the importance of access, “We don't want there to be a barrier between you and the movement that you need.” She continues, “We specifically have it for Ground Ignite Aim Unite because of the climate that we’re in right now. But technically we have it for everything we offer that is Aeris Körper produced, so shows, education, whatever we can possibly offer.”

Lisa chimes in, “And I like it for the reason of working to empower the individual to say what they need because we’re not used to making that invitation as much.” Starting that conversation also leads to beautiful acts of sharing among the community. They remark, “People then start to say, ‘I can't come to your workshop [...] but can I give some funds to the people who are using sliding scale [payment assistance]?’ and people start to pay it forward. [G]iving what you can, and taking what you need.”

Photography by Jess Bullock. Source: Instagram @aeriskorper.

In typical years, Aeris Körper often physically connects with their audiences. “[W]e're very interested in human connection, it's led us to create work that is often immersive,” says Lisa. “So our performances usually break the fourth wall, and the audience moves with us, we may physically touch the audience, [or] they may be involved in the space with performing.”

However, even in the age of online performances, their creations aren’t any less immersive. Mayumi mentions, “There’s now an added element of understanding the camera lens and how we can use that to find connection. So we’ve done quite a bit of experimentation and research into that.” About their full online residency, she explains, “We opened up our creation process to the audience to witness as the work is unfolding. They were able to—via Zoom—write in their chatbox, ‘what about this?’ ‘Have a try this.’ And so it directly informed the piece that Lisa was creating.”

“One of the movers who participates in a lot of what we do coined the term [that] this is like a portal between us,” Lisa comments. “We love that idea because we can think of it as something magical and powerful versus ‘I’m looking at a screen.’”

Throughout the pandemic, Aeris Körper has found new ways to experiment on Zoom from filming with several devices and angles to turning performers’ screens on and off. “[Being over Zoom] we control the viewer’s gaze in a different way,” they continue. “Using that intentionally has been interesting.”

The term ‘contemporary dance’ holds many different meanings and Aeris Körper is well aware of this. On their website, their mission statement reflects this awareness, citing SanSan Kwan’s 2017 article “When Is Contemporary Dance?”

“We’re dance nerds,” jokes Lisa. “It’s lovely to know what people are thinking and writing about.”

Mayumi adds, “We’d been looking a lot at what dance technique is. [W]hat do we really mean when we say that? And unto the idea that we are technical dancers, but is that what we want to be instilling in our classes and our education programs? Because really, I think if you break down the word technique, it’s specificity of energy, specificity of choice. The word contemporary, in a similar fashion, what does that really break down to?”

By SanSan Kwan, ‘contemporary’ has a complex dialogue with non-Western dance communities. ‘Contemporary’ is often used as a qualifier when speaking of non-traditional dances as it tends to hold a typically Eurocentric understanding. Mayumi says, “And for me, as a person of colour, what does that look like for myself? How do I fit into either ecology or not? Am I interested in more traditional styles? Am I interested in making the traditional styles more contemporary? How do I show up in each room that brings both those elements?”

“But yes, we are definitely dance nerds.”

Ground Ignite Aim Unite has two remaining workshop days: Sunday the 18th and the 25th. There are a variety of classes you can choose from or you can register for the full day. They encourage those who need it to reach out about payment assistance. Find out more on their website here.

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http://aeriskorper.com/

In Conversation with Aeris Körper | Hamilton-Based Contemporary Concert Dance Company