“We’re always curious about opening people’s perspectives or minds, allowing them to have new questions about things that they have never thought about or questioned before,” Caroline says. “I’m really excited for people to see different possibilities and think about how they might be able to approach their artmaking in different ways.”

The symposium includes panels on curating transcultural dance, exploring indigeneity and performing with augmented reality. It will also include movement workshops with a variety of artists.

Community-centered practice

Founded in 2020, TvT Interlink is the brainchild of late PuSh Festival co-founder Norman Armour whose vision was to connect groups of artists based in Toronto and in Taipei.

“He was really interested in bringing art from not just Europe to Vancouver [but also] from across Asia to Vancouver,” Caroline recalls.

The original participating artists regularly met online during the pandemic – engaging in cross-cultural dialogue on dance. While Sammy was active on Taiwan’s art scene, it wasn’t until 2023 that he and Caroline joined TvT Interlink as its Vancouver connection.

In 2023, all three groups met at Toronto’s art festival SummerWorks, and the Taiwanese artists invited the Canadians to visit Taiwan. During these visits, Sammy and Caroline witnessed grassroots, artist-led movements.

“It was artist-led in the way that everyone was showing [and] sharing their own network and their own communities,” Caroline adds.

The symposium brings these explorations to Vancouver. Part of their work will be creating a manifesto to be shared on opening night – proposing an alternative, non-capitalist way of artistic production instead of one that is marketed and monetized.

Sammy finds great value in “connecting and absorbing” rather than being pressured to make decisions or produce results. He adds that this alternative focus is not new; North American artists in the sixties explored it as did artists from different cultures.

“We’ve been exploring over the years how these working practices can actually be written in a way that could be used as a manual or a process,” Caroline adds of the idea for the manifesto, which originated from Indigenous Taiwanese artist Fangas Nayaw. “And how do we share that in an informal way, while it’s still in process?”

A meaningful tribute

Prior to the symposium, TvT Interlink participants and other local artists are invited to participate in a two-week residency. Sammy and Caroline call the residency and symposium “a container” – allowing artists to form a “pure connection” with each other.

“What is so exciting about this group is that there are folks from all these different backgrounds with all these different experiences,” Caroline adds. “And they’re bringing their own perspectives for a moment, getting to play and have that dialogue in a different way.”

She suggests that artists must become comfortable with making mistakes. Letting go of the pressure “to be the perfect version of themselves” can lead to a more honest, authentic, and vulnerable process.

The symposium’s programming reflects this perspective and includes exploring the concept of a “stage” where choreographers play with sensory engagement. The symposium also marks the first collaboration between the VAG and The Dance Centre.

“I want to bring a global synergetic energy to Vancouver in a way that still protects Vancouver’s identity and the health of the ecology of the Vancouver scene,” Sammy says. “It’s important for us to continue to think globally and act locally as well.”

They see Armour’s spirit still prominent in this symposium. Armour invited Sammy to develop a performance for the 2023 Vancouver International Film Festival. Due to illness, Sammy could not perform the piece which will now serve as the symposium’s final lecture-performance, a reminder of Armour’s philosophy to care for one another.

“It’s such an honouring spirit that we carry with [Armour] through this project,” Sammy shares. “This is the perfect piece to bring back and share that story centered around relationship and humanness.”

For more information, see www.thedancecentre.ca/event/tvtlink