Dance Nation, SkirtsAfire Festival. Photo by Brianne Jang, BB Collective Photography
By Liz Nicholls, .ca
The SkirtsAfire Festival returns this week for a 13th annual edition (with theatrical skirts of every length, style, and fit). And on the mainstage of this resourceful multi-disciplinary celebration of female artists, is a play that takes us, with visceral immediacy, into the fierce world of pre-teen girls, competitive dancers with a shot at a national title.
To help support .ca YEG theatre coverage, click here.
Dance Nation, a 2018 Pulitzer Prize-nominated piece by the American writer Clare Barron, is the theatrical centrepiece of this year’s festival. And it’s the inaugural SkirtsAfire offering directed by artistic producer Amanda Goldberg, a Montrealer originally who arrived here, with degrees in both acting and theatre creation, to get a master’s degree in directing at the U of A in 2022. Her first professional directing assignment in Edmonton was the Freewill Shakespeare Festival production of Twelfth Night in a spiegeltent in 2023.
.ca caught up with Goldberg to find out more about her debut production at the festival, and her attraction to a play in which, intriguingly, the cast of girls 11 to 14, are, as specified by playwright Barron, played by adult actors ages 17 to 75. “There is no need,” says Barron in her stage directions, “for any of the actors to resemble teenagers. In fact, please resist this impulse…. Cuteness is death; pagan feral-ness and ferocity are key.”
•Could you riff on why Dance Nation seems like the perfect SkirtsAfire introduction for your work as a theatre artist and your new gig as artistic producer?
“I feel very inspired by the community that SkirtsAfire had been building, way before I started in my position. This goes back to why I was originally attracted to the organization. I got to witness so many incredible women artists, from all backgrounds, cultures and ages coming together and participating in this festival. There are not enough (or any?) opportunities in this city that foster intergenerational exchange between women. There are programs and shows for teens, for women in their 30s, middle aged women, for seniors; age groups tend to be kept separate. Aside from feeling like Clare Barron’s story and language would speak to our audience, I did/do feel that the theatrical convention of having women of all ages interpret 13 year old girls directly speaks to the unique and special qualities of our festival, celebrating the richness of our experiences across generations….
“I felt like Dance Nation spoke to the version of SkirtsAfire that I saw – what I believe is the core of what the founders were going after – a community of women from all different walks of life coming together to tell a story.”
Dance Nation, SkirtsAfire Festival. Photo by Brianne Jang, BB Collective Photography
•Is Barron a playwright whose work you knew?
“I discovered Clare Barron’s work when I was in university looking for a thesis piece. I was working on a Sarah Kane piece at the time – wishing there was more of Kane’s work to dig into. When I found Barron, I felt a familiar kinship – her impossible stage directions, the contemporary vernacular and her way of contrasting grace and gore, beauty and blood, the delicate with the dark… all hallmarks of that era of in-yer-face theatre that I take great inspiration from as an artist.”
•Dance Nation is highly unusual in its casting requirements? Your nine-actor cast, which includes two male performers, includes both emerging and experienced actors, of diverse backgrounds and ages. How did you choose them?
Dance Nation, SkirtsAfire Festival. Photo by Brianne Jang, BB Collective Photography
“We auditioned 118 performers for this production, the largest turnout in our organization’s history. It is still a rarity to have not just one, but several roles available for women of all ages…. Our initial goal was to cast more performers with dance experience. However, we quickly realized that the key wasn’t their dance ability. It was about finding performers who could bring their whole selves to these characters and work towards becoming an ensemble. This script is honest, vulnerable and unapologetic; it was important to find performers that weren’t afraid to explore the ugly parts of success, anger, and fear. And I can say, without a doubt, this team is fearless.”
Dance Nation, SkirtsAfire Festival 2025. Photo by Brianne Jang, BB Collective
•The characters — who include two men, Dance Teacher Pat (Troy O’Donnell) and Luke (Jesse Drweiga) the only boy of the competitive dancers — are a diverse bunch. And even in her stage directions the playwright emphasizes diversity…. What does this mean for your production?
“Every character is specific, unique and on their own journey, but dance is what brings them together. Although I don’t have a dance background, and many of our team members don’t, this play reminded me of our own industry: the unwritten rules, the subjective (nature of) fairness, the unshakeable community, and the ambitious pursuit of being an artist. I feel it’s a story that reflects our experiences and aspirations….”
“This text does something to you… It gets under your skin and unleashes the unsaid. It portrays perfectly imperfect characters that are all trying their best in a world that doesn’t always value community, in a business that thrives on competition. There is a raw honesty to the emotions conveyed in this script, particularly when set against the backdrop of adolescence—a time when the sky is always falling and you are grappling with your identity, while constantly facing external pressures to conform. It’s a period marked by a tendency to suppress emotions in an effort to fit in or avoid vulnerability. Barron’s text allows these repressed feelings to seep out, manifesting in imaginative and theatrical ways.”
•What have been your biggest challenges in fashioning your production of Dance Nation?
“While some of the biggest challenges have been putting together choreography that is compelling and impactful and within the realm of possibility for a cast with limited dance training. Julie (our choreographer Julianne Murphy) and I built a process around their strengths, a process that immersed them into the world of dance and ignited the dancer in all of them. I owe significant credit to Julie, who crafted choreography that effectively conveys both tone and story, all while being tailored to the skills of our team.”
“In the playing of 13-year-old girls, it’s been really important not to fall into the trap of ‘playing young’. Throughout my experiences in theatre, I’ve often found it frustrating to see teen girl characters reduced to naive and insecure stereotypes. While insecurity is definitely a facet of many women’s lives, it is one of many notes. Girls possess immense strength and complexity. Have you met a 13-year-old girl today? They can be impulsive, ruthless and scary. The girls in this script are powerful characters with their own voices, experiences, and agency, and it’s been essential to reflect that authenticity in their portrayal.”
Dayna Lea Hoffman (aloft) in Mermaid Legs, SkirtsAfire Festival 2024. Design by Narda McCarroll (set), Whittyn Jason (lighting) and Rebecca Cypher (costumes). Photo by Brianne Jang, BB Collective Photography.
•Last year SkirtsAfire commissioned, and produced, a new theatre/dance fusion, Beth Graham’s Mermaid Legs, directed by the festival’s founder Annette Loiselle. Was its popular and critical success an inspiration for this year’s mainstage venture?
“I understand why people relate this to Mermaid Legs, but I think that’s misleading. Mermaid Legs was a show where the form of storytelling was explored through theatre and dance; Dance Nation is a theatre show set in the world of dance.”
•What did the success of Mermaid Legs tell you, as an artistic producer going forward? What are your SkirtsAfire dreams?
While Mermaid Legs may not have been the inspiration to produce Dance Nation, it has undoubtedly sparked a new goal for our organization: to shift toward a model that enables us to produce annually. Historically, SkirtsAfire has operated on a biennial schedule, as producing a show costs us over four times as much as presenting. This model has allowed us the necessary time to secure funding for our productions. However, not only was Mermaid Legs an incredible artistic success, it really allowed us to reflect on the lack of support for women playwrights to grow their own work. Annette (director Annette Loiselle), Beth (playwright Beth Graham) and Ainsley (choreographer Ainsley Hillyard) had worked almost two years before heading into rehearsal for Mermaid Legs.”
“If SkirtsAfire can be a platform for artists in all phases of development, this needs to extend to the earliest stages of creation…. We recognize the profound impact and benefits that these lengthy creative processes offer both the community and the artistic growth of Edmonton’s theatre scene. My hope is to discover a sustainable way for SkirtsAfire to produce annually, allowing us to continue fostering new voices and stories, while also giving us a more permanent voice in Edmonton’s theatrical landscape.”
Besides Dance Nation….
SkirtsAfire 2025 happens at a variety of Strathcona venues, including The Gateway Theatre, Walterdale Theatre, Théâtre Servus Credit Union at La Cité francophone, Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Chianti Cafe and Restaurant. The lineup includes music, visual arts, comedy, dance, and the return of The Shoe Project (March 8 and 9), in which refugee and immigrant women share their stories of coming to Canada. Off the Page (March 12) is the festival showcase of new works that are just landing on their feet. The evening features an excerpt from Reign Check, “an engaging absurdist play by emerging playwright Michael Watt, exploring the life of an aging king,” as Goldberg describes. EmBODYment (March 14 and 15) is a showcase for “a variety of movement disciplines,” says Goldberg, “including contemporary dance, cultural dance, aerial work, and other multidisciplinary movement explorations…. As it goes with all of our programming, pieces are in all different stages of creation.” Ocêpihkowan: It Has Roots (March 11 and 12) is a multi-disciplinary piece by Indigenous artist Sissy Thiessen Kootenayoois.
And there’s more…. The full festival schedule, show descriptions, and tickets are available at skirtsafire.com.
PREVIEW
Dance Nation
SkirtsAfire Festival 2025
Written by: Clare Barron
Directed by: Amanda Goldberg
Starring: Sydney Williams, Kristen Padayas, Kijo Gatama, Veenu Sandhu, Kristin Johnston, Linda Grass, Jess Drweiga, Troy O’Donnell, Kristi Hansen
Where: Gateway Theatre, 8529 Gateway Blvd.
Running: March 6 to 16
Tickets: skirtsafire.com
