Artword Theatre Toronto, December 5-8, 2002

 L to R: Vilma Vitols, Susan Macpherson, Ya-Wen Wang. Photos: Evelyn von Michalofski

Flotsam & Jetsam is a definition-defying opera for mezzo-soprano, pianist and dancer. Premiered at Canada's Open Ears Festival in May 2001, Flotsam & Jetsam crosses boundaries between dance, music and video, bringing together some of Toronto's most innovative artists.

In the 1920's composer Juliet Palmer's grandmother played piano for silent films in the tiny New Zealand town of Takaka. Weaving together her grandmother's memories with the underwater world of Australian silent film star Annette Kellerman, Flotsam & Jetsam features mezzo-soprano Vilma Vitols, dancer Susan Macpherson and pianist Nicole Bellamy. Choreographed and co-directed by Bill James, the work incorporates stunning underwater images by filmmaker Nick de Pencier alongside rare footage from Venus of the South Seas (1924). Artist Evlyn von Michalofski's fantastical costumes of metal, plastic tubing and industrial felt transform the three women into high-tech mermaids, while Paul Mathiesen's lighting structure evokes the high-diving aquarium of Kellerman's vaudeville routines.
 
 

"an entrancing gloss on water-musics past and present ...Sleek and focussed, its references to romantic piano repertoire were clear but unparochial - a rippling polyphony of scales that mimicked the subtle geometry of light and movement on a pond, a repeated pitch treading minimalist waters as a phrase of Chopin lapped against it, a high G sharp struck like a hammer on an anvilas the simple harmonies beneath it mutated."

Performers (2001)
 piano:Ya-Wen Vivienne Wang
 mezzo-soprano: Vilma Vitols
 dancer: Susan Macpherson 

Weaving together the multiple musical sources of Flotsam & Jetsam, composer Juliet Palmer draws on experience in electroacoustic music, dance music, video and music theatre. Moving from New Zealand to New York in 1990 to work with composer/performer Meredith Monk, Palmer completed her PhD in composition at Princeton University in 1999.

Palmer's music has been featured at New York's Bang On A Can Festival, Royaumont's Voix Nouvelles (France), SoundCulture (Japan), the Huddersfield and Bath Festivals (UK), Ars Electronica (Austria), Tot En Met XXII (Amsterdam), Toronto's Water Sources 2, the New Zealand Festival and the Adelaide Festival. Her sound installations have been presented by New Zealand's Artspace Gallery and Toronto's Mercer Union. Performers of her music include Les Percussions de Strasbourg (France), Piano Circus (UK), California EAR Unit, Marimolin and the Bang on a Can All-Stars (USA), Eve Egoyan, Arraymusic and Continuum (Canada), Veni Ensemble (Slovakia), Göteborg Ensemble för Ny Musik (Sweden), 175 East, the New Zealand String Quartet and the Auckland Philharmonia (NZ). She has collaborated with choreographers Douglas Wright (New Zealand), Karen Kaeja, Yvonne Ng and Bill James (Canada).

Upcoming projects include commissions from Vancouver New Music Society, Toronto's Queen of Puddings Music Theatre Company and Ergo Ensemble; New York piano and percussion duo Kathy Supové and Danny Tunick; and Los Angeles violinist Mark Menzies.

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choreography

Bill James' choreography for all three performers is an innovative response to music, film and costume elements. James began his career as a dancer in 1975 with Le Groupe de la Place Royale in Montréal. Ten years later, he left to specialize in the creation of site-specific work. Bill's talent lies in his unique ability to fuse multiple elements - dance, song, poetry, design, photography, video, and even the geography and unique architecture of the locations he chooses.

Along with self-produced works, he has received commissions from Arraymusic (Big Pictures, 1992), the Musée du Québec (D'Helice, 1992-94), The Singapore Festival of Arts, Harbourfront, O Vertigo Danse, Danse Partout, Inde, and Musée de la civilization du Québec.

Bill has taught at York University, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. He was the Artistic Director of Dancemakers in Toronto (1988-90). Since 1989 he has researched dance in Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Japan and Turkey. In 1994 his multidisciplinary collective, BLOC 16 completed a year-long outdoor performance/installation involving 60 artists, The 365 Day Garden, and planned their next event for Prambanan, Indonesia in 2001. James co-curated Art in Open Spaces (1995) with Chiyoko Szlavniks and Water Sources (1997, 1999), both outdoor performance series. Since August, 1996 he has designed three choreographic development labs for The National Ballet of Canada.

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Nick de Pencier has directed and photographed seven modern dance performance films which have received national and international broadcasts and won awards at international festivals. He was Director of Photography for the acclaimed documentary Let it Come Down: A Life of Paul Bowles. His most recent film, The Uncles (director Jim Allodi), was selected for the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival.

Toronto artist Evelyn Von Michalofski draws on her work in textiles, collaborative performance art (with Millie Chen) and photograms in creating sculptural/sonic costumes for the performers. Recent works include a sound installation Damping Chamber for the Canadian Museum of Textiles featuring felt swimsuits, and a performance intervention at the Banff springs, Oracle Brand, for Private Investigators: Undercover in Public Space at Walter Phillips Gallery. Michalofski's work has been included in exhibitions in Canada, the United States, the Dominican Republic, the Netherlands and Spain. Chen and Michalofski will perform in the 2000 Biennale de Montréal Vertiges Performance Series. Their work will also be exhibited in the show Paradise in Search of a Future at CEPA Gallery in Buffalo, 2001.

Paul Mathiesen's arresting lighting designs range from installations, opera and theatre design to interiors. His lighting for the the Tapestry Theatre production of Canadian opera Nigredo Hotel,7 Stories. His theatrical credits are extensive: Vancouver Opera, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Centaur Theatre, Atlantic Theatre Festival, Stratford festival, Grande Theatre, Canadian Stage, Factory Theatre, du Maurier World Stage Festival, Neptune Theatre and Theatre Aquarius. His work on the S.R. Perren Gem and Gold Room at the Royal Ontario Museum won the 1993 G.E. Edison Award of Merit. He created the striking lighting design for the restaurant Susur, home of Susur Lee "one of the 10 hottest chefs alive", Food & Wine Magazine. His most recent work was for the Canadian Opera Company's acclaimed production of Pelléas et Mélisande. Paul was the stage manager for the legendary Studio '54 disco in New York City.  

Excursion, her large scale interdisciplinary performance work of 1998, was nominated for a Jessie Richardson Award for Outstanding Original Play or Musical, and a radio version was commissioned and broadcast on CBC Radio's West Coast Performance and Out Front. Since the founding of Double Helix New Concert Productions, she has received a Canada Council Quest Program grant for the creation of The Peach Project, a new cross cultural opera and was nominated for the Canada Council’s Future Generations Millenium Award.

Susan Macpherson dancer
After dancing for many years with Toronto Dance Theatre and Danny Grossman, Susan Macpherson created her own solo program, performing commissioned work by Robert Cohan, Paul-André Fortier, James Kudelka and others. Recently she has appeared in works by Peggy Baker, Rachel Browne, Elizabeth Chitty, Bill James, Jan Komarek and Laura Taler, and has been pursuing voicework with Richard Armstrong. She is Artistic Associate at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre, and also works in porcelain and earthenware in her own ceramic studio. In 2002, she received a Senior Fellowship from the Canada Council for the Arts, to research strategies for artistic survival into old age, and to continue her exploration of intersections between dance and visual art.

"[with her] gentle humour and astonishing strength at the keyboard...This is a first class performance by a first class performer."