surFace Dance

surFace Dance was founded in 2012 by choreographer Jalianne Li. While studying at Laban, Jalianne came to the realization that, in contemporary dance, the face is hardly used and isn’t seen as having as much movement potential or interest as other body parts. This spurred her to research movement potential in the face, to see the face as composed of parts and not as a means for expression, and how this facial movement can then affect the body. The results of this research has been a defining trait in her professional work ever since and she is continuing to develop this new movement vocabulary through the company.

surFace Dance presented its very first work In The Beginning… in collaboration with composer Tommaso Perego at the Resolution! Festival in London, UK, in 2013. Excerpts were also presented at Perspective (2014, Saint John, NB) and Kinetic Studio’s Open Studio Series (2015, Halifax, NS).

The company presented its second work, Stranded, again in collaboration with Tommaso Perego, in Den Haag, The Netherlands, in 2013 and in London, UK, in 2014. Stranded is a spatial audio piece created with Wave Field Synthesis system The Game of Life. It explores the interactions between the movements of the dancers and the sound sources that can be choreographed in the space.

Since 2015, Jalianne has been developing the solo The Vow , which explores the movements of her dreadlocks as well as facial movement. Excerpts have been presented at DansEncorps’ Création Danse (2015, 2016, Moncton, NB), at Perspective (2016, Saint John, NB) as well as at Carte Blanche Acadie (2018, Moncton , NB). The Vow is surFace Dance’s first solo piece. It is also the first time that choreographer Jalianne Li will perform in a piece from the company.

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surfacedance@gmail.com