Dance feeds my soul and gives me hope.

Jenn Doan

Movement and performance creation has always been with me since a young age. I was really expressive with my creativity and always quite kinesthetic and physical. In Grade 6 I remember being inspired by a movie on tv so i decided to write up a whole play on my own time and performed it with a friend for the whole class. I would also always go the extra mile when we were asked to write book reports in Language arts class. I would create a whole performance instead of write a “report.” I also remember creating every kind of club possible like a cooking club, a sewing club, an animal club, a Fear Street club… Me and my friend would organize field trips and events for all our clubs.

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From the Filmmaker

My job during these 5 weeks of inlayers rehearsals is to basically be a fly on the wall, in a creative way, and to capture important moments that occur in the studio. After five rehearsals a lot of ground has been covered and although I had a pretty good idea of how I wanted to execute these videos before the process began, I am definitely learning as I go. Each rehearsal offers something different and inspires me in a different way. Having said that though, I am trying to keep a common aesthetic within the work. This is focussed on in the editing style and colour correction.

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Car doors and dance floors

Melina Stinson

Since I graduated from dance school 2.5 years ago, I have been very lucky to participate in many interesting projects. I haven’t had any prolonged breaks or times with nothing waiting for me around the next corner. More and more I can actually live/survive on the small pay from these dance contracts. Like most dancers, I also have a few part-time jobs (teaching yoga mostly) that help weave a thread of stability through the contractor life-style. This is all tickity-boo if life behaves, contracts keep appearing and nothing unexpected happens. We all know life doesn’t really work this way.

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why inlayers is asking for your donations

Jenn Doan

I am taking this opportunity to explain in more detail why it is that we need your help by contributing to this fundraising effort. For many people, even dance artists who have been in their profession for a long time, sometimes don’t understand how much it really costs to create and produce a dance project like inlayers.

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inlayers episode 3

Taryn asked the dancers to bring an object or two that represents their story. With these objects they took part in an epic 45 minute improvisation that allowed them all to get in contact with each other, allowing them to know each other and their stories on a deeper level.

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inlayers on Shaw TV Calgary

inlayers has been featured on the local television channel, Shaw TV Calgary.

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inlayers episode 2

The dancers were given a key word that Taryn pulled from their personal stories regarding what consumes them. They paired up, taught each other their solos, pulled key moments from those phrases and began to piece them together.

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late night, thoughts pouring, never a moment away…

Jenn Doan

How can I generate more revenue so all the artists will get paid for all their hard work? Though the fundraising events were successful on my levels, we did not raise the expected funds. So now I must strategize even more. No matter what money always comes down to the centre of everything. Without it, most things are not possible. This for me is a constant constant game in my head and as the producer of this project, I am largely responsible for this. If there is anything that brings me most stress and worry, this is it. It never leaves me.

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inlayers Episode 1

Episode 1 of the inlayers series, we introduce the artists and their background and their first reactions to the questions of “What consumes you?”

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how does raw really feel?

Jenn Doan

In just three days, we have learned so much about each other that it is almost unreal. At the end of rehearsal we all decided to share THE personal story that every dancer wrote onto paper and gave to Taryn on the first day of rehearsal. This story was to be a specific time/incident/moment when we were completely consumed about something. We all had our stories and we all had more difficulty than not putting our selves onto the front lines and shared our most vulnerable side.

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