Passing on the Baton
Interview with Andreas Kahre and Mirna Zagar
to make that available to a broader community. SR: I like that you were coming from a collective approach but the making of Dance Central in the past has been quite solitary for you, hasn’t it? AK: We didn't have any funds to hire writers, which is the ongoing challenge in magazine publishing, even at the measly
I became the Editor of Dance Central in July this year, seventeen
rates writers get. Dance Central was originally perceived as
years after I first joined SFU's dance program as an international
a newsletter for members only, to make members aware of
student. Since graduating, my love for dance has taken me to many
the schedule of events at the Dance Centre. To expand that
countries in various capacities as a performer, dramaturg, scholar
role was an interesting challenge, but without funding, the
and dance anthropologist. I returned to Vancouver in 2015 after be-
best strategy seemed to use the ‘conversation’ and to provide
ing away for eleven years. In a way, this editor role is a homecoming
an interdisciplinary avenue for artists involved with dance to
for me as I shifted from a distant enthusiast to the centre of dance
speak about their work.
conversations in BC overnight. I am excited to be given this opportunity as a Southeast Asian immigrant and a non-native English
MZ: I think making Dance Central collaborative has been a
speaker, but it is also a testament of the changing times as well as
perpetual challenge for us, because I find a lot of times artists
the progressiveness of the team behind The Dance Centre.
say they don't have time. Or they feel they're not equipped to write about their work, or they simply want someone else
Andreas Kahre (AK) joined Dance Central as Editor in 2011 and
to write about them. My sense is that it has to do a lot with
after eight years, felt it was a good time for the publication to reflect
artists not being equipped to write about and to speak about
the generational shift in the BC dance community. For the past few
their works to different audiences. They're more comfortable
months, he has been extremely helpful in providing me with the
speaking in their dance jargon, to their immediate teams and
background and technical knowledge of Dance Central. I am grate-
collaborators and to their colleagues, but anything that goes
ful for his and Mirna Zagar (MZ)'s support in taking the helm of
beyond those categories, I feel many of them try to get out
Dance Central.
of it. Am I correct, Andreas? Is that your experience? A lot of it has to do with language.
SR: What was it that made you want to be the editor for Dance Central?
DIFFICULTIES OF WRITING AND TALKING ABOUT DANCE
AK: Dance Central at the time was mainly a newsletter for
AK: I agree with Mirna. A lot of dancers are certainly more
members, in a simple format with eight pages of content. My
comfortable if they can use a kind of shorthand to describe
motivation in taking it on was based on my past as a col-
their work. Dance, like music is difficult to talk or write about
laborator with many different dance artists who had begun
at the best of times, which among other things presents an
to work outside of the hierarchical model, with the choreog-
ongoing challenge for designers and musical collaborators:
rapher at the top, and started to develop relationships with
How does a choreographer talk about scenography or light-
their performers, designers and composers as co-creators. In
ing? What is our shared aesthetic frame of reference other
many projects the dancers were now generating a lot of the
than “I want to make sure that my face can be seen”? And be-
material. In the context of Dance Central, I was interested in
yond that, there is is the question of placing dance in a broad-
creating a format that would give dance artists who weren’t
er aesthetic context, in a critical way and in a meaningful cul-
necessarily choreographers room to speak about their prac-
tural framework. Over the years, dancers have become much
tice and explore what they were interested in. To my delight,
more aware and articulate on those aspects — take Natalie
what I found was that many contemporary dancers had
Tin Yin Gan, who I had a conversation with a while back.
become much more articulate about their practice. They had
She was an interesting character to talk to because she is very
learned to see their work in a broader context, and I wanted
aware of how different her frame of reference is compared to
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Dance Central Fall 2020
