Suddenly Dance Theatre artistic co-director David Ferguson explores the human body and its expression in Body Language, an exhibit featuring the work of 19 artists. Ferguson—whose work is exhibited in the show—says Suddenly Dance Theatre, who this exhibit is a fundraiser for, is often an ambassador for culture in Victoria.
“I think there’s value in recognizing a local company in being a face of the city,” says Ferguson. “When you think of all the travel you’ve done, and all the places you’ve visited, and how you look at places and how you understand their culture, it’s through their arts organizations or through their institutions.”
Ferguson says art is a refection of the emotional state we feel.
“When we look at dance, and, I think, when we look at visual art, we’re looking at reflections of ourselves,” says Ferguson. “When we see a bunch of dancers on stage dancing, they’re dancing for us inside our bodies, you know what I mean?”
The same thing happens in an art gallery, but in what Ferguson describes as a more documented feeling.
“A lot of my work is captured on a bad camera and it’s gone, so it’s fun to have the dance and the body being reflected in a somewhat more tangible reality of visual art,” says Ferguson. “I feel like I have a foot in each world, so to speak. It’s just about exploring the mediums in which I inhabit, and to be able to enjoy—and be surprised by—the world that I live in: the world of the body and the world of the visual arts.”
Ferguson says his work is abstract and, therefore, completely motivated by the body.
“In dance, we’re always working with the same marks that artists are working with,” he says. “It’s the spirit that’s being expressed through the body.”
Ferguson says that for him, the motivation is the same for dance as painting.
“I don’t really differentiate too much between the source,” he says. “The source of the motivation is the same.”
What’s different is the mechanics of the mediums, whether it’s dance or art or film, says Ferguson.
“It’s all this one big bowl of soup, ultimately,” he says. “You’re working with a core motivation that is creatively coming out. The biggest difference with visual art is I’m working with colour; in dance, the colour comes last. It comes with the costumes and the lighting.”
Body Language
7 pm, Thursday, May 24 until Sunday, June 3
Free, Fortune Gallery
suddenlydance.ca