Powerhouse Team of Female Creators Tackle ‘The Art of a Messy Life’ in Interdisciplinary Performance

JUNO-nominated jazz bassist Jodi Proznick, award-winning educator and performer Celeste Snowber, and emerging harpist Alexa Reimer come together in the world premiere of Perfect Imperfections: The Art of a Messy Life at Vancity Culture Lab at The Cultch from June 14–16. Interweaving comedy, dance, and live music, the work offers a poignant reflection of the many ironies faced by all women today. Directed by Lynn Fels, this multi-generational trio will be joined by guest artist singer-songwriter Katherine Penfold.

“Our lives are made up of many roles: professional and personal, physical and spiritual, maternal and educational; and they don’t exist in separation, but spill over into one another. This simple truth is our inspiration: that we each possess the potential to inhabit a full, creative, messy, and generative life,” said Snowber. “This is a show for every woman of every generation. We are found in each other’s stories; the personal and the universal are deeply intertwined.”

Perfect Imperfections will delight and move in a hilarious and heartrending combination of lived experiences and narratives. The provocative show addresses sensuality, loss, the spirituality of worry, wonder — and incorporates a range of formats from TED Talk parodies to haikus, and all-out improvisation. The playful energy of the program can be gleaned from set list titles, such as “Not enough – Too much!” “Funeral for Superwoman,” and “Spirituality of Worry.” The aptly named “The Roll” waxes poetic on the well-known source of many people’s deepest insecurities, while recognizing that the belly holds women’s deepest eros.

Proznick and Reimer will improvise original music on upright bass and harp, respectively, as Penfold sings from Proznick’s applauded album Sun Songs, which was included in the Top 10 jazz albums of 2017 (Ottawa Citizen). Throughout the performance, Snowber’s dance, comedy, and spoken word will create an intimate space where both humour and humanity collide.

The interdisciplinary work has relevancy to the #MeToo movement and recent proliferation of stories about the objectification of women. The artists seek to reclaim and inhabit the body by honouring its paradoxical beauty of imperfections. In a pivotal moment in the performance, they confront the lurking, destructive feeling of “not enough-ness” that plagues the ambitious, the unrecognized, and the overwhelmed.

Proznick and Snowber have previously collaborated on Woman Giving Birth to a Red Pepper, a sold-out performance at The Cultch in 2013 that was also directed by Fels. Their reunion in this work marks a continuation of their dedication to exploring the multifaceted challenges of being female in the 21st century. The addition of Reimer to their ongoing partnership brings a renewed energy that will enliven people to reconnect with their beautiful, untameable selves and fascinatingly complex lives.

About the Artists

Jodi Proznick is a JUNO-nominated bassist, composer, bandleader, and educator who has earned a reputation as one of Canada’s finest jazz artists. She has won numerous National Jazz Awards, including Bassist of the Year in 2008 and 2009. Her sophomore album Sun Songs was included in the Top 10 jazz albums of 2017 (Ottawa Citizen) and debuted at No. 2 on iTunes Jazz Charts for Canada. She has performed on CBC Radio’s Jazz Beat, Hot Air, and Early Edition, and has played with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Jodi is Faculty at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in the music program.

Celeste Snowber is a dancer, poet, writer, award-winning educator, and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University. She interweaves multidisciplinary forms in her performances and is author of six books, including Embodied Inquiry: Writing, Living and Being through the Body. She is dedicated to creating site-specific performance and was Artist in Residence at the UBC Botanical Garden for the last two years, creating full-length works connecting poetry and dance.

Alexa Reimer is entering her fourth year in Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Bachelor of Music Program studying harp performance under the instruction of Joy Yeh. She recently won third place in the Vancouver Women’s Musical Society scholarship competition for orchestral instruments.

Perfect Imperfections: The Art of a Messy Life is generously sponsored by Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) as a performance, and arts- and inquiry-based research project. The work’s development process will be shared at KPU after the performance run.

LISTING INFORMATION	Perfect Imperfections: The Art of a Messy Life
Date & Location:	June 14–16, 8pm Vancity Culture Lab, The Cultch 1895 Venables Street Vancouver, BC V5L 2H6
Ticket prices:	$20
Box Office:	thecultch.com
Website:	thecultch.com