TouchX & I am the Child of…
*This document is intended as access support for audience members who may be Deaf, Hard of Hearing, or otherwise have difficulty engaging with live and recorded sounds. As such, primarily the audio in the performances is described, with some visual information to indicate where the audio occurs within the works.
Legend
General notes about the performance are included in Italics.
(Visual information is included in round brackets.)
[Speakers and/or voices are indicated in square brackets.]
Sections are indicated with underlined titles
Audio information is in regular text.
CAPITAL LETTERS INDICATE SINGING.
(Audience members enter the theatre).
There is dark, quiet instrumental music; there are wispy sounds like a cold wind blowing and a distant pre-recorded voice.
Land Acknowledgement
On Friday, November 11th, the Land Acknowledgement and Introduction will be spoken by Nathalie Bonjour, and on Saturday, November 12th and Sunday, November 13th, it will be spoken by Caroline Guespin.
[Nathalie Bonjour or Caroline Guespin]
Introduction
[Nathalie Bonjour or Caroline Guespin]
TouchX
Throughout TouchX, there is instrumental music, voices, and/or other sounds. Anytime a voice is mentioned and lyrics are not supplied, the voice is simply singing open vowel sounds rather than words.
The dark, quiet instrumental music continues; there are wispy sounds like a cold wind blowing and a distant pre-recorded voice.
(The performers move the sheet of plastic onstage)
The plastic rustles gently. The music gradually builds into a loud, low drone with higher pitched sounds like drops of water punctuating it. This continues for approximately 5 and a half minutes.
(The plastic is pulled off of the performers).
The plastic rustles more intensely.
(Nickeshia Garrick, a Queer, Afro-Caribbean Canadian artist with short kinky brown hair, dances wearing a plastic coat).
The coat rustles and crackles intensely as she moves.
(Michael Caldwell, a cis mixed race, Southeast Asian man with short black hair, and Jessica Germano, a white woman with long, curly red hair and bangs, move to the front of the stage and begin to perform a duet).
A low reverberating electronic sound pulses. A sweet piano melody is added on top of it with small percussive wind chimes that punctuate the music like shards of ice. This continues for approximately four minutes.
(The duet ends and Nickeshia Garrick, a Queer, Afro-Caribbean Canadian artist with short kinky brown hair, enters and performs a solo).
They crinkle and crunch the foil material that’s wrapped around their waist. The piano music continues.
[PRE-RECORDED: Nickeshia’s echoing, staticky voice is added]
[LIVE: Nickeshia gasps out loud a few times]
She then begins to rustle and crinkle the foil material more intensely.
[Nickeshia laughs. They start gasping again]
(Nickeshia bends at the waist.)
The foill continues to crinkle.
(After approximately 2 minutes, a large sheet of plastic is laid across the floor of the stage.)
Nickeshia’s voice fades away and the sound of a mass of water gradually spilling over is heard. This sound continues for approximately 2 minutes.
When the sound of water fades away, reverberating distant screams begin.
[LIVE: performers humming]
[PRE-RECORDED: Two voices embedded in soft music. The voices sings some short open vowel sounds; one often echoes the other.]
The sound of cracking ice begins over the music. There are three big cracks of ice. A lighter, higher melody is added in with piano, cello, and a female voice.
(The sheet of plastic is taken offstage, approximately 6 minutes later)
A lighter instrumental section begins; there is a bit of a jig-like melody and a pre-recorded female voice. There is pulsating percussion underneath and electronic sounds; the jig-like melody increases in tempo.
(4 and a half minutes later, a sheet of plastic is raised horizontally across the stage)
A more ominous musical section begins, featuring piano and soft ice crackling sounds. The melody repeats four chords many times, and other orchestral instruments are gradually added in. This music continues for approximately 1 and a half minutes.
(The performers walk through the sheet of plastic. The other performers exit, leaving Michael Caldwell, a cis mixed race, Southeast Asian man with short black hair onstage.)
The music becomes less full, with piano as the most prominent instrument once again. This continues for one and a half minutes.
(Michael begins dancing with thin loops of plastic around parts of his body.)
The piano continues but moves to a higher range, giving the music a lighter texture. The music fades away after around one and a half minutes.
(Mio Sakamoto, an East Asian woman in her mid 20s with long wavy hair, begins to perform a solo using a piece of mylar, which is a silver foil-like material much like tinfoil in appearance.)
The mylar makes metallic crinkling, crackling noises when it’s manipulated – when this is done loudly, it has a bit of a thunder-like quality to it.
The mylar crackles and crashes loudly and intensely with Mio’s movement and Mio stomps her feet on the stage. The live sound of the mylar is amplified by pre-recorded mylar sounds. There is also a soft sound like a breeze underneath. This continues for approximately two minutes.
(Mio finishes her solo and begins to exit.)
instrumental music begins again.
[PRE-RECORDED: Choral voices sing oohs and ahs]
[LIVE: Performers who are standing in the side balconies sing oohs and ahs.]
(Mio re-enters to dance again.)
[LIVE: Performers]
A FLEETING TOUCH CAN GUIDE YOU THERE
THROUGH CURRENTS OF MELTING ICE, AS LIGHT AS AIR
A FROZEN PATH TO LEAD YOU ON YOUR WAY
TOWARD THE LIGHT AND WARMTH OF A NEW DAY
(Small, thin pieces of plastic are lifted up in the air by the dancers.)
[LIVE: Performers]
A FLEETING TOUCH CAN GUIDE YOU THERE
THROUGH CURRENTS OF MELTING ICE, AS LIGHT AS AIR
A FROZEN PATH TO LEAD YOU ON YOUR WAY
TOWARD THE LIGHT AND WARMTH OF A NEW DAY
The singers gradually fade away during these lyrics until it’s just a single pre-recorded female voice singing. The entire singing section is approximately four minutes in length.
(Irma Villafuerte, a brown, Central American, woman with black hair, rolls offstage.)
The singing comes to an end. Instrumental music featuring piano, orchestral instruments, and electronics begins. A female voice is added in. This continues for approximately four minutes.
(Mio Sakamoto, an East Asian woman in her mid 20s with long wavy hair, moves forward from the back of the stage, trailing a huge sheet of plastic like the train of a dress behind her)
Strings become prominent in the music. There is pulsating percussion underneath.
[PRE-RECORDED: Frances Miller, a female voice]
IN STILLNESS I LAY FROZEN
THE FEAR INSIDE MY BODY ACHES
NO KEY NO BREATH NO MOTION
ENTERS AND EXITS AT MY WILL
TIED UP IN A STRANGE NOTION
A WISH TO BE SOMEBODY (ELSE)
OH, TO LIVE OUT IN OPEN
NEVER TO BE MYSELF AGAIN
I’LL SAIL THROUGH A-MM OCEAN
I’LL GO WHERE NO ONE KNOWS ME
WHERE THE MOON AND SKY IS WOVEN
INTO EMPTY PAGES THAT I FILL
OH
OH
OH
OH
This singing section is approximately 4 minutes in length.
(Mio begins to thrash and throw the plastic up in the air)
The singing comes to an end.
(Mio exits.)
A light instrumental section of music begins with primarily piano. The flowing melody gradually gets faster and strings are added.
[PRE-RECORDED: A soft, echoing male and female voice weave in and out of the instruments in the background.]
The music becomes much more full and more instruments are added.
(All the dancers begin to move in unison.)
After around three and a half minutes the instrumental music and the male and female voice continue; The melody is gentle and pleasant.
(PRE-RECORDED: More voices are added, singing oohs and ahs]
The music fades away after approximately four minutes.
(The dancers begin the walk on and off stage repeatedly.)
Sparser music with piano chords begin. The same four chords from earlier in the piece are played repeatedly during this section
[PRE-RECORDED:voices chime in with ahs]
The music builds as more voices are added.. The music gradually softens and slows and voices and instruments are gradually taken away until it’s just the piano and a single voice. The music fades into silence as the dance comes to an end.
Intermission
AR Demonstration for I am the Child of…
[Allen Kaeja is a white presenting balding male of Middle Eastern and Eastern European Jewish descent with broad shoulders and large smile and Bruce Barton is a white male with dark brown hair.]
[Allen Kaeja and Bruce Barton]
Welcome to “I am the Child of…”
[Bruce Barton]
As we all know, technology is perfect and will solve of society’s problems, easing all our lives.
[Allen Kaeja]
OK, now for reality.
[Bruce Barton]
We know that there are as many different relationships to technology. We believe it offers an exciting new window into the world of our performance, and we invite you to engage with it as much–or as little–as you choose.
This performance is a combination of fully set and completely improvised choreography – as well as duets that the dancers created an hour ago
[Allen Kaeja]
Hopefully you’ve all scanned the QR code in the lobby and now have four square screens on your device, one in the upper corner with the letters AR on it for Augmented reality. Also, please refresh your page if you haven’t already.
When the cameras are in use by the dancers, you will see how they are seeing. Feel free to touch a square and it should expand to your full screen. Touch it again, and it will return to its original size, so that you can view the other cameras.
The AR square will brighten to the actual trigger image (on back wall). When you touch this square, it will open to another window and you’ll be asked to “allow access.” Click ‘yes’ to view the AR with the live dancers. You may have to “allow access” a couple of times.
[Bruce Barton]
If you have any difficulties now or during the run, Allen, Ian and I have tried to ease the journey.
[Allen Kaeja]
There are 9 individuals in the audience who all have iPads that you’re free to watch, in case there’s issues with your device. Plants please raise your devices!!!
[Bruce Barton]
If your device freezes or has other difficulties, please re-fresh your page.
[Allen Kaeja]
If you’re flying along wonderfully, please feel free to share your device by raising it to shoulder height for others to view around you.
[Allen Kaeja and Bruce Barton]
Thank you!
I am the Child of…
The audio for I am the Child of… is a score that consists primarily of voices and sounds rather than instruments. Childhood memories and songs from each of the performers have been recorded and these recordings are woven together throughout the performance. Sometimes individual words, stories, and songs come to the forefront, and other times all the stories mingle together and individual words and voices can’t be distinguished.
Anytime a singing voice is mentioned and lyrics are not supplied, the voice is simply singing open vowel sounds rather than words. The audio for I am the Child of… is mixed live for each performance and as such, each show differs slightly so there may be some divergence from the description below.
The performance begins in silence. Distant whispers and the sound of birds chirping begin to inhabit the space. The sound gradually gets louder.
(The performers walk to the front of the stage.)
The sound stops. The next section begins in silence.
(All the performers try to sneak up on one performer and touch them.)
[LIVE: There are improvised verbal sounds from the dancers; laughter, cries of excitement and disappointment, and improvised speaking.]
There is silence again.
(Nickeshia Garrick, a Queer, Afro-Caribbean Canadian artist with short kinky brown hair, and Karen Kaeja, an Ashkenazi white female with long grey hair, begin to perform a duet.)
After approximately two minutes of the duet, a low voice begins to sing ominously; then a higher tone is added. Karen spins Nickeshia around.
[LIVE: Nickeshia gasps aloud a few times]
More higher tones and mid tones are added in. The higher tones eventually recede and only low buzzing tones remain.
(Geanderson Mello, a gay latino man originally from Brazil, and Mio Sakamoto, an East Asian woman in her mid 20s with long wavy dark hair, enter together and perform a duet.)
Higher voices come and go intermittently a few times during this duet. Everything else fades away and then a very low voice drones; it ebbs and flows.
(Karen films Geanderson and Mio dancing).
[PRE-RECORDED: A new voice sings open vowels over the low voice a few times briefly]
The low drone gradually becomes more intense and moves to a higher pitch.
(Two more performers enter.)
Some whispering voices are added to the music.
(The quartet of performers dance.)
More speaking and singing voices are added in gradually.
[PRE-RECORDED: One voice reverberates on an open vowel repeatedly, pulsating.]
The words the voices are speaking are unintelligible, everything resonates and reverberates as the voices echo and mingle together.
The word ‘this’ is spoken repeatedly by different recorded voices, rising over the other words and echoing again and again. High voices singing in harmony are added. This continues for approximately 3-4 minutes.
(Three dancers with smart phones film the other dancers.)
A very low droning voice begins to sing and the higher harmonies and repeated ‘this’ fade away, replaced by the other vocal sounds. The sounds continue to echo and reverberate. Then everything fades away and a very low drone begins.
Voices come in speaking over the drone; the words are unintelligible and they all reverberate together and overlap. Out of this, one story emerges.
(Aria Evans, an early 30’s mixed race and gender non-conforming person with light brown skin and long dark wavy hair, appears in augmented reality onstage to perform a solo.)
[PRE-RECORDED: Aria Evans]
I was spending the summer with my father in BC. We were on one of the Gulf Islands and needed to get from one place to another quickly. He asked me if I would go to the curb and put up my thumb to hitchhike, saying that someone was more likely to stop and offer a young girl a ride than him. I didn’t feel like I had a choice. He left me on the side of the road and stepped back into the foliage. An old, beat up car pulled over and at the last moment he got in behind me. I remember it stank like soiled material and cigarette smoke.
At this point in the story Aria’s words start to echo and other voices begin to come in. The final line of Aria’s story becomes submerged in other voices and can’t be heard in its entirety.
[PRE-RECORDED: Aria Evans]
Looking back I realize I didn’t understand the feelings I was having, of being very uncomfortable and feeling used.
[PRE-RECORDED: Aria Evans, sung]
HUSH, LITTLE BABY, DON’T SAY A WORD
PAPA’S GONNA BUY YOU A MOCKINGBIRD
AND IF THAT MOCKINGBIRD DON’T SING
PAPA’S GONNA BUY YOU A DIAMOND RING
AND IF THAT MOCKINGBIRD DON’T SING
PAPA’S GONNA BUY YOU A DIAMOND RING
AND IF THAT DIAMOND RING IS BRASS
PAPA’S GONNA BUY YOU A LOOKING GLASS
The dancers perform a spoken poem, speaking a few words at a time, one directly after another, as pieces of their stories merge to create something new. Some of the voices are live and some are pre-recorded.
[LIVE: Rodney Diverlus]
I…
[LIVE: Michael Caldwell]
My…
[LIVE: Nickeshia Garrick]
I…
[LIVE: Rodney Diverlus]
My mother…
[PRE-RECORDED: Michael Caldwell]
My mother….
[LIVE: Rodney Diverlus]
I peek out …
[LIVE: Nickeshia Garrick]
I remember…
[PRE-RECORDED: Nickeshia Garrick]
…remember…
[LIVE: Michael Caldwell]
…wanted me to have everything.
[LIVE: Nickeshia Garrick]
…the bright crisp day…
[PRE-RECORDED: Karen Kaeja]
… the silence….
[LIVE: Michael Caldwell]
…every toy….
[PRE-RECORDED: Edgardo Moreno]
…everything…
[LIVE: Mio Sakamoto]
It was winter in Japan.
LIVE: Michael Caldwell]
…even the ones that I didn’t ask for.
[PRE-RECORDED: Allen Kaeja]
It was time for me to go to sleep.
[LIVE: Nickeshia Garrick]
I was thrown onto the streets.
[LIVE: Mio Sakamoto]
I was super excited.
[PRE-RECORDED: Nickeshia Garrick]
…a warning sign….
[LIVE: Ethan Kim]
I recall being confused…
[LIVE: Rodney Diverlus]
I was itchy…
[LIVE: Aria Evans]
I didn’t understand…
[PRE-RECORDED: Aria Evans]
He left me…
[LIVE: Nickeshia Garrick]
…a warning sign…
[PRE-RECORDED: Mio Sakamoto]
“Please be careful.”
[LIVE: Aria Evans]
I didn’t feel like I had a choice…
[LIVE: Michael Caldwell]
I had all the He-Man action figures…
[LIVE: Nickeshia Garrick]
…but we ignore it…
[LIVE: Aria Evans]
He left me on the side of the road…
[PRE-RECORDED: : Rodney Diverlus]
…out of my depths….
[LIVE: Michael Caldwell]
…but I have a strong memory…
[PRE-RECORDED: Allen Kaeja]
I kissed each guest goodnight…
[LIVE: Geanderson Mello]
I felt like a lonely wolf.
[LIVE: Michael Caldwell]
…of almost always playing with the female characters.
[LIVE: Ethan Kim]
I just kept running….
[PRE-RECORDED: Allen Kaeja]
Most were Holocaust survivors like my Dad
[LIVE: Nickeshia Garrick]
…the words of our father…
[PRE-RECORDED: Nickeshia Garrick]
… I remember…
[LIVE: Mio Sakamoto]
I called to her…
[LIVE: Rodney Diverlus]
…I let out a cackle…
[LIVE: Mio Sakamoto]
“Mum, Can you watch me?!”
[LIVE: Nickeshia Garrick]
As the eldest, I’m the protector…
[PRE-RECORDED: Allen Kaeja]
He kissed my forehead…
[LIVE: Mio Sakamoto]
“I am watching.”
[LIVE: Nickeshia Garrick]
…the voice of reason…
[LIVE: Mio Sakamoto]
“Please be careful.”
[Nickeshia Garrick]
… but not today.
[LIVE: Nickeshia Garrick]
“Always make smart choices!”
[PRE-RECORDED: Allen Kaeja]
I noticed in the dim light from the hall…
[LIVE: Rodney Diverlus]
…I got laugh after laugh…
[PRE-RECORDED: Allen Kaeja]
…that there were tears flowing down his cheeks.
[LIVE: Nickeshia Garrick]
…but not today.
The spoken poem concludes and a medium pitched voice sings a sustained note. Voices singing open vowels begin to overlap, and then many voices all speaking at once are added. The words are unintelligible.
A low vibrating sound begins.
(All the performers except Michael Caldwell, a cis mixed race, Southeast Asian man with short black hair, begin to move.)
The voices become a little clearer.
[LIVE: Michael Caldwell]
Stop. Stop! Stop.
Michael says “stop” repeatedly. After a few repetitions, the other sound stops completely, leaving only Michael’s voice as he continues to say “stop”. He laughs a few times in between repetitions and says “stop” with many different pitches, volumes, inflections, and intentions.
(After the final “stop”, Michael turns around to see Karen Kaeja, an Ashkenazi white female with long grey hair, standing and the other performers lying on the floor. Michaels helps the dancers stand up.)
Whispering voices and birds chirping begin.
(Karen performs a solo.)
A low drone begins and the other sounds fade away. The sound has a reverberating quality; a voice comes in singing short open vowel sounds here and there.
(A wall of dancers catches Karen repeatedly.)
The vowel sounds stop and the drone moves to a higher pitch.
(Karen and Michael begin to perform a duet.)
Percussive pulsating electronic sounds begin; they gradually get louder. Other sounds start to be added in – a fast tempo melody, then echoing voices. More and more voices overlap. The voices fade away.
(Michael exits. Mio Sakamoto, an East Asian woman in her mid 20s with long wavy hair, enters)
A low echoing voice sings a sustained note.
(Mio performs a duet with a miniature version of herself in AR.)
Mio’s pre-recorded voice sings in Japanese; her voice echoes. Other voices join in, all singing Mio’s song. This continues for several minutes. The voices gradually fade away until only Mio’s voice is heard, then that too fades into silence.
(Rodney Diverlus, a Queer gender non-conforming Black individual with short hair and fade, and Michael Caldwell perform a duet.)
Many voices sing short vowel sounds, overlapping. More and more voices are added. T
(All the performers gather in a huddle surrounding Rodney and Michael.)
The voices fade into silence.
(The performers start to stand.)
A soothing pulsating melody begins. It continues to build and more voices are added. This continues for several minutes.
(A quartet of dancers perform. After the quartet, Nickeshia Garrick, a Queer, Afro-Caribbean Canadian artist with short kinky brown hair, performs a duet with an augmented reality version of Karen Kaeja, an Ashkenazi white female with long grey hair.)
Nickeshia’s voice begins to sing and the other sound fades away.
[PRE-RECORDED: Nickeshia Garrick]
THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE, I’M GONNA LET IT SHINE
THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE, I’M GONNA LET IT SHINE
THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE, I’M GONNA LET IT SHINE
LET IT SHINE, LET IT SHINE, LET IT SHINE
There is silence.
(Karen Kaeja performs a duet with a version of herself that appears onstage in Augmented Reality.)
[PRE-RECORDED: Karen Kaeja]
My mother would sit me in front of the television and serve me Swanson frozen dinner, heated in the oven. It was tasteless, odorless, and lacked nutrition and care. Just like my family. The silence in our home was as thick as the fumes that rose from the colourless, once frozen tinfoil plate. The abuse was hidden. No one spoke or looked each other in the eye.
[LIVE: Karen Kaeja]
The only communication was the gesture to raise or lower the volume on the TV.
[PRE-RECORDED]
A voice begins to sing.
(The lights fade to black and the performance comes to an end.)