New York’s Sidra Bell Dance is a bold company that presents innovative works dealing with gender and identity. “My work lives in a world of darkness,” said artistic director Sidra Bell.

The theme of gender reversal comes up often in her work, which she said is “subconsciously purposeful,” and her perspective of identity and gender shapes her creations: “I’m fluid with identity. It’s either neutral or fluid, the way I approach the body. It can be considered political, but it’s just how I saw things. It’s an element that’s always been there.”

The company will be bringing two works to Vancouver as they return to the Chutzpah Festival for the second year in a row, this time as part of Chutzpah!PLUS, a co-presentation with The Dance Centre. Their first appearance at the festival was in 2009, and Bell is excited to return. “We had a wonderful engagement; I love Vancouver — it’s one of the highlights of our tour,” she said, “I love the atmosphere; it’s natural and cosmopolitan.”

Last year’s Nudity was an emotional, uncomfortable piece that commented on conformity and the strict discipline of ballet. This year, the two pieces represent a different side of her work. “The tone is different,” she said, “Nudity was about physicality, more emotional than theatrical. These two are the more humorous and theatrical end of my work.”

Garment just premiered in Pittsburgh, and Bell said it is packed with movement and has a lighter, comical tone. The music also plays a large part in this work: “I use the music for atmosphere and scenography; it’s cinematic and all over the map sonically.”

Stella, an older work of Bell’s, is also driven by the music with a cinematic tone and snatches of conversations. Bell said the work also has a film noir quality and is wildly varied and episodic.

For Bell, the costumes are about how you identify yourself through clothing. “I’m excited by the costumes,” she said. For Stella she described them as a fusion of gothic and celtic influences, with leather accoutrements.

“Visually it’s a wild show,” she said, explaining that she calls the characters portrayed in the piece “ranting autobots.” There are several costume changes; another identity within the piece aims to be childlike, with the dancers in gingham skirts.

Garment’s costumes are more of an homage to specific gender bending, Bell explained, as the guys are revealed and the women are covered in suits. The costumes facilitate the gender reversal of this piece, but aren’t as complicated as those in Stella.

The gender play in Bell’s work adds a unique element of humour, and while the pieces sometimes deal with dark themes, they remain light and fun. “They’re exuberant pieces,” said Bell, “they don’t have the idealism of conveying an overarching ideal like Nudity did. They’re fun and entertaining.” She also said that the works involve a high degree of audience interaction and at some point the dancers will move off the stage and into the audience.

The company is looking forward to connecting with Vancouver audiences once again. “It’s nice to continue to grow,” said Bell, “Chutzpah has been a huge part of our international touring. It’s nice to continue our relationship in Vancouver with the arts community.”

Stella and Garment will be presented by Sidra Bell Dance at Scotiabank Dance Centre from March 27 – 29 as part of Chutzpah!PLUS, a co-presentation with The Dance Centre. For more information, visit chutzpahfestival.com.

Chase Padgett loves Canadians and Canadian Fringe Festivals. “I often feel that I’m a Canadian trapped in an American’s body,” he said.

Padgett is returning to Vancouver with his new show Nashville Hurricane after last year’s successful Vancouver Fringe Festival show, 6 Guitars, and he is looking forward to being back in this city.

“Canada is very, very lucky to have the fringe festival circuit it does,” said Padgett. “There are a lot of fringe festivals in America that are poorly run, that don’t give 100 per cent of the proceeds to the artists. It’s just so beautifully Canadian that people had the compassion and the empathy for the arts long ago, so now it’s really blossoming into a performance circuit that is kind of unlike anything else in the world that I know of.”

Padgett describes the fringe festival experience as an invaluable education in theatre where artists learn things that theatre school won’t teach them. “The fringe festivals made me, out of necessity, learn WordPress and Photoshop, because you’ve got to do your own promo. If you want to get media time you better learn how to write a decent press release. Those are things that — I don’t care what theatre school you go to — they don’t teach you that.”

There are a few other things that theatre school won’t teach you, said Padgett, such as how to still do a good show when four people show up. “Sometimes small houses are a way better experience to perform for,” explained Padgett, “because I would rather have 10 people who are 100 per cent with me than 100 people who are 10 per cent with me.”

So far, Nashville Hurricane has delivered. “The show is really clicking into place in a way that took 6 Guitars longer to do, and I’m really happy about it,” said Padgett. This new show is also about the guitar, but it is very different in terms of the story structure and characters. The only character from 6 Guitars who reappears in this show is Tyrone.

“I would rather have ten people who are 100 per cent with me than 100 people who are 10 per cent with me.”

Chase Padgett, Nashville Hurricane 

This show is much more of a narrative and each character tells their side of the same story, but those perspectives are often conflicting. Unlike 6 Guitars, which featured six different musical genres, Padgett said that this show features two: “The whole story centres around a young guitar prodigy named Henry who then becomes known as the Nashville Hurricane.”

The characters in Nashville Hurricane each go through a transformation, and their relationship with the audience changes as well. Henry, the Nashville Hurricane, is a young boy at the beginning of the story, telling the story in hindsight as an adult. He is somewhere on the autistic spectrum, although it’s never fully diagnosed and Padgett never says it out loud.

“The way I play him and the way he just shows a passion for these very esoteric interests like electricity and science in particular, and the fact that he never makes eye contact with the audience — people understand it,” said Padgett, “He starts off very shy and afraid of the world and by the end he learns how to be his own person.”

Padgett describes Henry’s mother Brenda as “straight up country trailer trash hilarity” and “a whisky soaked tornado” who has no qualms telling it like it is and being crass the entire time. By the end of the show, Padgett said that she ends up understanding what it’s like to be a loving, protective mother.

He premiered the first version of the show at the Orlando Fringe in 2012: “I’ve got to be honest with you, it wasn’t that good. I was doing this whole show and the audience in front of me would laugh at certain things, but I could just feel I was losing them at certain times. The music was okay, but the character was off and the story was a little off.”

Padgett rewrote the entire show and premiered it in Calgary with a completely different reception. “I really turned — at the time what was a defeat — into a victory, and then when I did it in Edmonton, it got the same kind of response 6 Guitars did when I first brought that there. It was really an incredible experience all over again and it was important to me to prove that I could do it a second time.”

“If I got to tell 18-year old Chase what 30-year old Chase is doing, 18-year old Chase would be thrilled beyond belief because this is exactly what I want to do with my life, and I’m doing it.” There’s nothing better than that.

Nashville Hurricane will be presented at Performance Works from March 19 to 23. For more information, visit vancouverfringe.com.