The Rehearsals

Savannah Walling tells the story of finding the space that would be known as Terminal City Dance Studio:

“One day, Terry [Hunter] was driving on Carrall Street in Chinatown, he looked up and saw a sign saying “For Lease.” It only cost $120 a month for the entire floor: a space large enough for Terry and I to live in the back and for TCD to rehearse in the front. Affordable for us if we were prepared to put in the labor to convert it into a dance studio. The building had formerly been a residential dormitory with tiny rooms for Chinese workers and new-comers. We took down the walls in half of the second floor to open up space for dancing, then brought in big sanding machines to create a floor that we would love to spend time on. There was a noisy old heater hanging from the ceiling, and big windows at the front of the building. “

The rehearsals for Coming Out of Chaos were held at the Terminal City Dance Studio located on the second floor of the Lim Sai Hor Kow Mock Association building at 531 Carrall Street in Vancouver’s Chinatown in the Downtown Eastside. Memories of this time and space are characterized by the sounds of the Mahjong parlour downstairs, the large arched windows with light streaming through, and the challenge of fitting in rehearsals amongst other projects and commitments. 

Of the space, Jennifer Mascall reminisces: “the character in that Terminal City Studio was incredible, creaky, the balcony, the Mahjong parlour below, the many tiny little rooms…” While Lola Ryan remembers, “It was upstairs. It was a bit smelly, cockroaches, but that’s where Savannah and Terry lived. I mean, they lived in the back of that place. That was their home.” 

Karen Jamieson recalls the rehearsal process being lengthy, “Grant Strate had trouble actually getting the money after sort of commissioning it... It went on for quite a while. We bashed heads and tried to get somewhere and this mess of a piece slowly emerged.” The sheer amount of artistic production taking place at the time also contributed to this impression of suspended time, confusion, and chaos, as Savannah Walling relates of the moment: “I was living in the midst of semi-controlled chaos. Living in the middle of a tornado of creative projects and emotions, bits and pieces flying everywhere. I really wondered how long we rehearsed. Then read a review that said we rehearsed eight weeks. So, I guess that’s what we did!” 

For Peter Bingham, a memorable aspect was the rehearsal schedule: “I remember ballet class at eight-thirty in the morning, which was bizarre for me… I was used to dancing from four or five in the afternoon, so it didn’t make sense to me to dance in the morning. The body wasn’t ready for it.” Jennifer Mascall recalls a scheduling conflict as well, as she was working on choreographing a piece of her own in Toronto when Karen called her up and asked, “Could you change the time to come back?” 

Barbara Bourget was originally cast in Jennifer Mascall’s role but recalls, “I think I left after two weeks,” citing motherhood and lack of money as the reasons she could not continue to participate. Although her involvement in the work was short-lived, Barbara Bourget shares her memories of the early stages of creation as follows:

“I remember distinctly being in rehearsals for two weeks, and I remember the kitchen with Lola Ryan giving me gears about what I was eating, and I do remember we did a lot of repetition in terms of improvisation, and then Karen [Jamieson] would stop and then go back, and you know, can you do it this way? Blah, blah, blah. So we did a lot of that. I remember Ahmed [Hassan]. He's hard to forget. I do remember Lola [MacLaughlin], ‘cause losing those two people was very hard.”

Despite conflicting schedules, emotions, and approaches, the work went ahead and Jennifer Mascall even remembers it being easeful: “I have no memory of it being chaotic. It was fun. You’d go and hang out with these people and you’d do what you could because it was Karen’s piece. She was gonna take care of us. We just had to be good [laughs]. There was no pressure anywhere.”

For many others, however, the experience of the piece's creation was more chaotic.

The Costumes

“Susan just came into the studio and spent a fair amount of time there. She was very much trying to get each person's idiosyncratic, energy, shape…. I trusted her to pick up what was needed and create a costume.” - Karen Jamieson

Susan Berganzi’s costumes for Coming Out of Chaos “evolved out of budget and lack of budget.” Karen Jamieson’s red silk costume was the first to be made and after the purchase of that fabric, “the budget sort of died.” Savannah Walling’s peach “parachute” outfit was made from a silk bedspread, and from there, the costumes were crafted from what Berganzi calls “unidentified fabric,” usually a polyester blend.

Lola Ryan and Peter Bingham’s costumes were simply made from Army & Navy shirts sewn together, while Jennifer Mascall and Lola MacLaughlin’s costumes were more complex, with a guiding rope sewn inside to ensure one could find their way in and out!

Susan Berganzi recounts how Lola MacLaughlin asked to be put in a black, transparent dress, but she refused and instead put her in black pants and covered her costume with bells. This was in response to a request made by Ahmed Hassan – as she fondly recalls Ahmed wanting to pick up Lola MacLaughlin and “shake her” in the performance like an embodied instrument.

Lola Ryan and Peter Bingham were made to match in yellow and green, “the gardeners,” says Susan Berganzi, “the worker bees.” Both of the dancers independently reminisced on their collaborative dynamism at that time, while Berganzi remembered how well they got along, “they were always funny with each other, and very cooperative.”

Ahmed Hassan was dressed all in white because Berganzi felt, “he was a gentle spirit. He was in white because he needed protection, to me, that was because he was alone, and he was there to carry the exploration. I thought he was like the space between each of the moments.” These reflections and more on Ahmed Hassan are shared by Berganzi below:

Like all other parts of the piece’s creation, the costumes presented some tension and mixed emotions. Jennifer Mascall recalls, “Some people liked their costumes, some people didn't like their costumes.” Of her own she says, “Mine had holes in it… I thought I liked it very much. I remember falling through one of the holes in the costume on one of the moves that I did.” 

The costumes were perfectly suited to the artistic fusion that defined the piece, as Jennifer Mascall states, “Susan is a remarkable artist, so she brings her art and she does it with the fabric. It brought energy to the piece because she came as an artist, with her own point of view. Her costumes caused excitement.”