BRIDGING ARTISTS ACROSS BORDERS
flausen+ Festival
Sept. / Oct. 2021, Bouche was invited to bring 3 Canadian artists to the flausen+ Festival (Bielefeld, Germany) to participate in the Catalyst phase of an international collaboration with Italian, and German artists.
The flausen+ Residency is an innovation incubator that acts as a catalyst for and then develops new ideas, forms, and voices.
We gathered an amazing team from across three provinces: Vanka Chaitra Salim (BC), Makram Ayache (Alberta), & Deneh’Cho Thompson (Saskatchewan).
For 1 week, our artists worked with the Italian (Residenza I.Dra) and German (flausen+) artist teams in the f+ way of creation. The award winning platform is supported by the flausen+ Network of 28 German companies and growing EU partners and is at the for-front of independent German innovative practices.
Canada Flausen+ Team
MAKRAM AYACHE
Makram Ayache (he/him) is a community-engaged writer, actor, director, and producer. His playwriting explores meaningful representations of queer Arab voices. He bridges complex & interlocking political struggles to the intimate and real experiences of the people impacted by them. Ayache is the 2020 recipient of the Playwrights’ Guide of Canada’s annual Tom Hendry Award for his play Harun. He has also been nominated for four Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Awards. www.makramayache.com
DENEH’CHO THOMPSON
Deneh’Cho Thompson (he/him) is a director, actor and playwright and member of the Pehdzeh ki Nation. As Assistant Professor at the University of Saskatchewan he oversees the wîcêhtowin Theatre Program, one of few Indigenous programs in a Canadian university. Deneh’Cho’s research focuses on the development, naming, and centring of Indigenous pedagogies; new play development, in various roles, and Indigenous collaborations while centering the values of reciprocity, respect and reflexivity. Deneh’Cho is also engaged in the (re)storying of personal family archives focusing on healing, resilience, and Indigenous storywork as a pathway towards the creation of new works of theatre.
VANKA CHAITRA SALIM
Vanka Chaitra Salim (she/her) is a Muslim Indonesian-Canadian Set, Lighting and Projection designer, theatre technician and scenic painter based in the Unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh-ulh Temíx̱w (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ təməxʷ (Tsleil-Waututh) territories, colonially known as Vancouver, BC. She enjoys experimenting with different mediums of storytelling that revolve around the interaction and interplay of art, culture and technology. Apart from her involvement in the theatre community, Vanka also works as an acrylic paint-maker at Kroma Artist’s Acrylics and is part of Srikandi Indonesia Dance Group. She also loves gaming, game art & design, dance, videography, illustration and learning XR technologies, and has recently been experimenting with immersive experiences. She is grateful and beyond excited to have the opportunity to learn, collaborate and experiment with the rest of the team at Flausen+ Festival. www.vankasalim.com
JACK PATERSON
Jack Paterson’s (he/him) practice ranges from devised creation, multi-disciplinary, cross-cultural, and multi-lingual projects to new works, and contemporary approaches to classical theatre in Canada and internationally. He’s a recipient of The Ray Michal Body of Work Award, The Cole Foundation Emerging Translator Award, and The John Moffat and Larry Lillo Award for Outstanding West Coast Artist. He co-founded Vancouver’s Mad Duck Theatre (2001-2009), Vancouver’s only theatre groupe with a gender equity mandate. In 2012, he co-founded Bouche Theatre Collective, bridging local, national, and international artists separated by distance, language, and culture. In 2017, he co-founded Global Hive Labs., a collective of international theatre practitioners working together in devised creation. He has trained at leading international theatrical institutions including Circle in the Square (NYC, USA), GITIS The University of Performing Arts (Moscow, RU), SENI Indonesian Institute of the Arts (Bali, INA) and received his Masters in Fine Arts from the renown East 15 Acting School and University of Essex (London, UK). www.JackPatersonTheatre.com
About our Partners
About RESIDENZA I.DRA (Italy)
Based in Brescia (Italy), Residenza IDra is a multidisciplinary independent development and producing centre, Our desire to be adequate to our times, in search of new forms of representation through integration and collaboration. In addition to development residencies, IDra produces The Wonderland Festival (Mibact and the Lombardy Region), Città Dolci Touring Circuit, NdN (New dramaturgy Network), CURA Project and AL Petroni Award. IDRA actively participates in various networks including CRESCO, ETRE and IETM. www.residenzaidra.it
About FLAUSEN+ & FLAUSEN+ FESTIVAL (Germany)
flausen+ is unique innovation incubator platform for generating new forms, new approaches and new ideas. For the last decade, the “flausen+” model has been driving creative scenic research by providing paid residencies for process based new explorations free of the pressure of production. To date flausen+ has facilitated over 48 ensembles and 160 artists in their research. flausen + explicitly promotes bold approaches and highly current socio-political topics.
flausen + residency ensembles have gone on to receive high acclaim with their work presented at leading EU companies such as GHent (Brussels) and festivals. According to pulk fiktion, recipient of prestigious George Tabori Award for their work placing children and parents on an equal footing, “we would never have dared to tackle such a theme and aesthetic form without flausen.”
Supported by the flausen+ network of 29 theatres across Germany, flausen+ awards 9 residencies per year, in 5 German states hosted by 8 theaters. In addition to producing, hosting and artistic support of the residencies, flausen+ Network members provide administrative support.
Ensemble projects developed through the flausen+ Residencies are further supported by the network with additional research periods, 2 co-productions with flausen+ network theatres per year, the network touring model (NATIONALE PERFORMANCE NETZ) and are showcased at The flausen+ Festival (Bielefeld) and the flausen+ bundeskongress (Koln).
Presenting f+ projects, the biennial f+ Festival has become a gathering point for independent, small, and mid-sized companies from across the EU. Artists, company leaderships, and cultural representatives meet, develop new artistic and admin. relationships, and exchange knowledge through a series of networking activities, workshops, panels, and events.
Gallery
Special Thank you to our Supporters
Full Circle: First Nations Performance
Full Circle: First Nations Performance (Proudly located on the traditional, unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations) provides opportunities for Indigenous artists to create, work and train in the Arts. Producers of the annual Talking Stick Festival, Moccasin Trek: Arts on the Move!, Indian Acts and home to the Aboriginal Ensemble. www.fullcircle.ca
PHT Creative Hub
The PHT Creative Hub Co-operative has transformed how we collaborate and share performing arts with our communities. Co-op artist members from across performance disciplines fill our spaces, work on their own creative projects, and share their skills and expertise with each other. The PHT Creative Hub Co-operative
Land Acknowledgement
Bouche’s activities take place on and are launched from the unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish People: the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. We recognize and honour the recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation commission and acknowledge the importance of Indigenous sovereignty on this unceded territory.
*A territorial or land acknowledgement is an act of reconciliation that involves making a statement recognizing the traditional territory of the Indigenous people who called the land home before the arrival of settlers, and in many cases still do call it home.
For more information on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada click here.