Normally when artists win a trophy, it’s for a completed work. But when Vancouver street dancer Eric Cheung received the Iris Garland Emerging Choreographer Award, it came with an obligation. The $5,000 cash prize required him to produce an original piece at the Scotiabank Dance Centre.
“You have to make something after, so it’s a reverse award,” Cheung quips to Pancouver over Zoom.
Cheung is in exceptional company as the winner of this honour, joining such luminaries as Amber Funk Bartin, Vanessa Goodman, and Shion Skye Carter, among others. Named after the educator who developed Simon Fraser University’s dance program, the Iris Garland Choreographer Award gives Cheung an opportunity to present the premiere of his first full-length trio, Contra, on Friday (November 28) and Saturday (November 29).
In Contra, Tokyo-born ballet and contemporary dance artist Kinui Oiwa and Surrey hip-hop and krump dance artist Tegvaran Sooch will perform alongside Cheung, whose specialty is popping. According to the choreographer, the show offers a nonlinear journey of self-actualization, which merges dance with interactive technologies.
“The laser is literally tracking our movement,” Cheung explains. “There is a water installation that’s also in the piece.”
In creating Contra, Cheung was influenced by U.S. social psychologist Leon Festinger’s 1957 book, A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Cheung is keenly interested in the notion of feeling compelled to strive for something, but also experiencing inner conflict over the consequences of doing this.
He acknowledges that Contra is inspired by his personal experiences as well as by seeing others go through different stages in their lives.
“There are these three characters in the piece,” he notes. “Me as the mortal, the human, and the two other entities are non-human. They represent these extremes at given moments of the piece.”
Contra reflects Cheung’s evolution
Cheung’s longtime collaborator, Cristian Gonzalez is credited as Contra’s creative technologist, with Matthew Tomkinson as the sound composer. Sean Gregor programs the lasers; Jack Chipman is the lighting designer and technical director; and Aenrmous, Jiacheng Liu, and Pauline Fan oversee costumes.
“All the movement that I make for the piece is still stemming from my background,” Cheung explains. “The two other dancers have their own dance style. I put the ideas on them, but they will interpret it however they want to and with whatever background they have.”
Cheung grew up in Calgary and taught himself to dance by watching performances on TV and YouTube. After winning the Vancouver Street Dance Festival battle in 2017, he moved to the West Coast and became a member of OURO Collective.
Nowadays, Cheung describes himself as a “concept-driven” artist. He makes decisions about the format, location, and presentation based on the individual piece. It has led him to perform on film, in black boxes, and at outdoor venues.
By remaining open to possibilities, Cheung aims to present new perspectives on how works can be enjoyed by audiences. For example, in June he performed in ARRAY at VIVO Media Arts Centre alongside laser projections mapped onto 96 semi-transparent screen panels. These panels were suspended from the air like fabric. According to Cheung, they represented joints, almost like motion capture data, from poses in the choreographic score.
Then earlier this month in CONVERGE, Cheung created a site-specific installation at 800 Robson Plaza with intersecting beams forming shifting geographic patterns. This was part of the Lumière festival.
“Recently, I’ve been doing more installation work rather than dance-specific,” Cheung says. “”There is always an element of technology.”
Event details
The world premiere of Contra will be at the Scotiabank Dance Centre at 8 p.m. on Friday (November 28) and Saturday (November 29). Tickets are available through the Dance Centre website. Follow Pancouver on X @PancouverMedia and Bluesky @pancouver.bsky.social. The publication is also on Instagram @PancouverMedia.
