The Zero Lab | Marynia Fekecz-Mangan | COME HELL OR HIGH WATER
The Zero Labs
This new curatorial initiative by Mile Zero Dance features three local artists/groups who receive production residency support in our Warehouse venue, and present their new work in process. Join us for Zero Lab #2 featuring choreographer, Penelope Morout (CROSS IMPACT Co.) and producer/performer | Marynia Fekecz-Mangan (MfMdanceArtist)!
We invite you to share the excitement of these new works in progress. Get an all access pass ($50) to attend the Zero Labs this Season featuring artists Ainsley Hillyard, Marynia Fekecz-Mangan and Tia Kushniruk.
MAY 9 + MAY 10
Tickets | $25/$20 MZD Members
or all Zero Labs for $50
7:30 PM
MZD is located at 9931 78 Ave NW, Edmonton
Zero Lab #2: Marynia Fekecz-Mangan | COME HELL OR HIGH WATER
May 9+ 10
Choreographer | Penelope Morout | CROSS IMPACT Co.
Zero Lab producer/dancer | Marynia Fekecz-Mangan (MfMdanceArtist)
COME HELL OR HIGH WATER is an interdisciplinary dance performance that uses symbolic images, in order to shed light to the nature of power in human relations. Power requires either a person or a place in order to be exercised. But is power a constraint or freedom?
During this shapeshifting performance, the viewer is invited to follow the emotional journey of five characters while they come across situations where boundaries of exercising power are tested. Both space and performers shift constantly in relation to the other and enter in a vicious circle of perpetually losing and gaining power. If “the power of the living consists in continuing beyond the self, in occupying more space with the self”, as Byung-Chul Han asserts in his book “What is Power?”, can approaching life’s uncertainty with unwavering resilience be the ultimate form of power? Just like the wild geese, that exemplify determination and perseverance during their long migratory journeys, our characters are invited eventually face their own fears and self-restrictions· flocking, twirling, falling but always together, daring to claim the sky*.
* Quote from Maya Angelou’s “Caged Bird”.
Team COME HELL OR HIGH WATER:
Marynia Fekecz-Mangan (MfMdanceArtist) – Producer and performer
Penelope Morout | CROSS IMPACT Co. – Choreographer/Concept/Dramaturgy
Alida Kendell – performer/collaborator
Alison Kause – performer/collaborator
Molly McDermott – performer/collaborator
Kate Stashko – performer/collaborator
Deviani Andrea – understudy dancer/choreographer assistant
mastroKristo – Composer/Sound designer
Rory Turner, Penelope Morout – Set Designer
Rory Turner – Constructor
Skye Grinde – Costume Designer
Ainsley Hillyard — Lighting designer/co-producer
Trent Crosby — Lighting consultant
Rhiannon Eldridge – Stage Manager
What will audiences expect to see or feel?
During this performance, the audience will be exposed in a consecutive accumulation of moving images. My aspiration as choreographer and creator is that no image arrives to a definitive rest, but rather it becomes arresting through its ever changing transformation. The performance oscillates between reality and friction. The audience will observe forms of human relationship and forms of exercising power, whether through playfulness or aggression, to dream-like imagery and violent actions. However, I carry no expectations for what the audience should feel. On the contrary, I invite them only to be in the present moment and allow themselves to “move” with or be moved by us along the ride.
How would you describe the images or movement?
Dealing with the concept of power as a constraint and power as freedom in a live dance performance is a challenging venture. My choreographic approach as an interdisciplinary dance artist is that all elements on stage should interact and create reason for moving through creating relationships. I am more and more intrigued by poetic, accurate movement that emanates from actual situations, instead of creating act-like ones. The nature of dance carries a certain aesthetic in the way we approach the human body, yet, for me that is made possible only when we can see the body in all its forms: beautiful, ugly, vulnerable, strong, exhausted and empowering…I hope that COME HELL OR HIGH WATER accommodates all these forms within its embrace.
Why is the experience unique or different?
This experience is unique because it challenges me to explore power in many forms—both as a limitation and as a source of freedom—through movement that comes from normal or intense situations. Being responsible for objects on stage feels like caring for another person, requiring attention, sensitivity, and presence. This adds emotional depth and makes me more aware of my actions. As the performance keeps shifting, I constantly adapt, moving through different emotional states without losing focus – this is our goal. It’s a raw, honest process that creates deep connections between us as performers, as we respond to each other and to the moment in real time.
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UP NEXT:
Zero Lab #3: Tia Kushniruk | FEED
May 30+ 31
An ensemble work using a variety of characters to live out various Sisyphian nightmares, FEED is a bold rehashing of traditional theatrical staging and dance rhythms, that culminate in joyous reverie for the little things in life.
Featuring
Marynia Fekecz-Mangan
Marynia Fekecz-Mangan is a dancer, performer, choreographer, teacher, and producer originally from Poland, now based in Edmonton. She holds a degree from the Poznań School of Social Sciences in Poznań, Poland, and has developed a diverse career in the performing arts. As an artist and mother, she is an interdisciplinary dance artist who combines her personal experiences with her professional work, adding depth and authenticity to her performances.
As the Artistic Director of MfMdancerArtist, Marynia has created and produced several notable works, including Face2Face, recently presented by the Good Women Dance Collective at Converge 2024. She also created stopstopstop, a duet with Alison Kause, which was showcased at Mile Zero Dance during the 2024 Magpie Dance Festival. These works exemplify her dynamic approach to dance, blending emotion, innovation, and collaboration.
Her career has been marked by collaborations with a diverse range of dance ensembles, festivals, and renowned artists.Notable partnerships include those with Kokyu Studio of the Grotowski Institute, Calgary’s W&M Physical Theatre, the Alberta Dance Festival, Edmonton’s Good Women Dance Collective, Mile Zero Dance, and Harcourt House Artist Run Centre. She has also worked closely with individual artists and choreographers, such as Justine A. Chambers, Linnea Swan, Nicole Charlton Goodbrand, Davida Monk, Melissa Monteros, Wojciech Mochniej, Anna Krysiak, and Przemysław Błaszczak, among many others.
Marynia is also part of The Zero Lab, a new curatorial initiative by Mile Zero Dance. As a producer of MfMdancerArtist, she is commissioning the interdisciplinary choreographer Penelope Mourot and five local dancers to explore new creative frontiers.
Through her work, Marynia continues to shape the Canadian dance landscape, fostering collaboration, innovation, and a deep sense of community. Artist website | www.mfmdanceartist.com
Photo credit | Armand Bladon
Penelope Morout | CROSS IMPACT Co. | Choreographer/Concept/Dramaturgy
Penelope Morout (GR-FR), founder of CROSS IMPACT Company, is an interdisciplinary dance artist, intrigued by creating hybrid projects through the fusion of various performing and visual art mediums. Graduated from the National School of Dance (Athens) and the National Technical University of Athens – School of Architecture, with a Master’s degree in Theatre Practices from ArtEZ University of the Arts (NL), her artistic identity lies on a durational creative process, during which academic and artistic research are intrinsically connected with her movement practice. Within 2025, she will be choreographing in Canada a new full piece called COME HELL OR HIGH WATER, as well touring with her duet performance EMOTIONAL DOGS, under the auspices and the financial support of the Greek Ministry of Culture and the J.F.Costopoulos Foundation.
Penelope works constantly between Greece and abroad as a performer, choreographer, dance teacher and scenographer. As a filmmaker she has participated in exhibitions and video dance & dance animation festivals worldwide. As an educator, she has shaped her own movement practice “Sculpting Body-Images”, which she shares around the world (Kalakeli Movement Arts India, PERA GAU School of Performing Arts, Munus Encuentro Mexico, Nunart Guinardó Barcelona, Points to Play Mulhouse, Akropoditi International Dance and Performing Arts Festival Syros, Unplugged Dance Lefkada, Kalamata International Dance Festival). Penelope implements in her teaching methodology elements inspired by “Fighting Monkey”, a practice by Linda Kapetanea and Jozef Frucek, with whom she has been training for 15 years.
Alida Kendell | performer/collaborator
Alida Kendell is a contemporary dance choreographer, performer and instructor in amiskwacîwâskahikan, Edmonton. She has trained in both ballet and contemporary dance, completing her BA at the School of Contemporary Dancers in Winnipeg, MB. Her artistry is fed by her work as a collective artist with the Good Women Dance Collective (GWDC), her independent projects, and caregiving. Career highlights so far include creating and performing alongside Alison Kause in the Sterling award nominated production, there we are. There, and in the Sterling award-winning productions BEARS (Pyretic Productions) and The Cardiac Shadow (Northern Light Theatre and GWDC).
Recently Alida has returned to a solo practice that investigates durational improvisation as an escape from and return to self. Her participation in the Hack Lab (Theatre Direct) and Balancing Act Canada's Level UP! initiative has inspired her to work in ways that incorporate the experience of motherhood rather than working in spite of it.
Photo credit | Armand Bladon
Alison Kause | performer/collaborator
Alison Kause is a founding member of the Good Women Dance Collective and a teacher in Dance Education with Edmonton Public Schools. She is a graduate of the Grant MacEwan Dance Program and the School of Contemporary Dance at SFU, as well as the Education program at the University of Alberta. She has trained and performed across Canada and been inspired by work with local and international colleagues. Alison is inspired by the challenge of finding an intersection between being an artist, mother and teacher - these roles constantly demand attention, inform one another and provide diverse perspectives.
Image | stopstopstop rehearsals
Photo credit | Armand Bladon
Molly McDermott | performer/collaborator
Molly is a collective artist with Good Women Dance Collective alongside her independent projects. She has presented her own choreography at Vines Art Festival, 12 Minutes Max., Nextfest, Mile Zero Dance, the Magpie Collection and Expanse Festival. She had the pleasure of curating the dance presentation at Expanse Movement Arts Festival in 2023. Alongside dance, Molly is a mother of two small humans and welcomes the gentle chaos that comes with balancing motherhood and everything else. Photo credit | Mat Simpson
Kate Stashko | performer/collaborator
Kate Stashko is a dance artist currently based in amiskwaciy-wâskahikan / Edmonton. She has danced with artists including Peggy Baker, Justine A. Chambers, Mélanie Demers, Marynia Fekecz-Mangan, Mile Zero Dance, Lin Snelling, and Heidi Strauss, and was a member of Good Women Dance Collective from 2012-2022. Kate’s solo basin, a collaboration with sound designer Raylene Campbell, was recently presented as part of Mile Zero Dance’s 2024/25 season. Along with Krista Lin, she is one half of KnK Collective, which produced once+after in the former Army & Navy building as part of the Brian Webb Dance Company’s 2021/22 season.
Kate has performed throughout Canada, including collaborations with musicians, sound artists, poets and spoken word artists, and she loves travelling to train around the world. After studying at the School of Alberta Ballet, Kate graduated from Dance Arts Institute (formerly the School of Toronto Dance Theatre). She is currently collaborating on projects with MFM Dance, and working part time as a physiotherapist. Kate teaches dance and Pilates, and she is an avid cyclist, climate activist, gardener and coffee drinker.
Deviani Andrea | understudy dancer/choreographer assistant
Deviani is a multidisciplinary artist and arts administrator based in Amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton). She holds a Bachelors in Arts (honours) with a double major in Psycholinguistics and Latin American Literature from the University of Mexico. Deviani is certified in Trauma Informed Care and her experience in event planning, outreach, and arts leadership has led her to work with some of the most prominent theatre and dance institution in the city (Citadel Theatre, Good Women Dance Collective, Mile Zero Dance, Skirts Afire, Alberta Musical Theatre Company, among others).
With a strong sense of community and social justice, Deviani works to advance the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. She also fosters decolonization of spaces and champions Indigenous teachings.
She likes biking in the summer and skiing in the winter, DIY projects, and consuming content in different languages.
Ainsley Hillyard | Producer
Ainsley Hillyard is a choreographer, performer, administrator and producer who works in amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton). Ainsley was a co-founder, co-artistic director and general manager for the Good Women Dance Collective from its inception in 2009 to 2023. She has worked as a choreographer and performer for various theatre and dance companies in amiskwacîwâskahikan and received numerous Sterling nominations and awards for her performances and choreographies. Ainsley aims to uplift and support Edmonton arts and artists, volunteering on the boards of the Edmonton Arts Council and the Common Ground Arts Society. She also works as a freelance producer/administrator and runs her own dog care business, Bumblebear Doggy Care, when she's not making art.
Photo credit | Marc Chalifoux
mastroKristo | Composer/Sound designer
mastroKristo (Christos Parapagidis) is a Composer, music producer & sound designer based in Athens, Greece. He is involved in important productions across Theater, Contemporary Dance, Discography, Cinema and Television. His music has been featured on world-renowned stages, including the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Gothenburg Opera, Hong Kong Arts Festival, Konzert und Theater St. Gallen, Mannheim National Theatre, Greek National Opera, Athens & Epidaurus Festival, Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, Onassis Cultural Centre, Kalamata Dance Festival, and many more.
He has also served as a technical director and sound designer for international dance productions across Europe and Asia.
He introduced himself as an artist with the multi-sensory installation "Synaesthesia - Solomon’s Case" in 2016, while his debut album “Departures” with the US based record label Lost Tribe Sound in 2023, received exceptional interest from the international press. Artist website | www.mastrokristo.com
Rory Turner | Set Designer
Rory is a designer, performer, and theatre maker from the prairies. He attended the Theatre Arts program at MacEwan University and studied theatre design at the University of Alberta. He is a design instructor at the Citadel’s Foote Theatre School, a lighting designer for Common Ground Arts’ RISER production development projects, and the Scenic Arts Supervisor for the U of A Drama Department. Rory is also a freelance draftsman and scale model maker.
Selected design credits: The Noon Witch (Teatro Live!) Is My Microphone On? (Citadel Young Company), The Immaculate Perfection... (Body Cube Arts), Hyena’s Trail (Here For Fear Collective), MINE, In My Own Little Corner, Omisimawiw, After Faust, The Debut (Common Ground Arts). Selected acting credits: Onions and Garlic, The Importance of Being Earnest, Creatures of Impulse, She's Not Him and He's Not Her, The Flying Doctor (Empress of Blandings).
Skye Grinde | Costume Designer
Skye Grinde is a theater designer with experience in set, lighting, costume, and projected media design. Skye also explores the world of fine art regularly in their work; they are passionate about creating work that is accessible for both audiences and artists. This includes sewing for all sizes and abilities. When Skye is not designing, you can find them at home, doing their best to recreate the painting Ophelia by Alexandre Cabanel. Select credits include: Play that Goes Wrong; (Keyano Theatre); Cycle (Thou Art Here Theatre); Honk! The Musical (Storybook Theater); The Space Between the Stars (Westbury Theater).
Trent Crosby | Lighting Designer
Trent is an Edmonton based artist and arts enabler with a specialty in activating non-traditional performance spaces. A graduate of Grant MacEwan's Theatre Production program and The Banff Centre for the Arts, Trent has spent the last 15 years as a Lighting Designer, Production Manager, Technical Director, and Entertainment Programmer.
Rhiannon Eldridge | Stage Manager
Rhiannon Eldridge is a full time multi-disciplinary theatre artist based in Edmonton. She wears many hats including actor, technician, stage manager, burlesque dancer, and clown. She has previously graduated from the Keyano College Visual and Performing Arts program and recently MacEwan University’s Theatre Production program. Rhiannon is very excited to get to work on this production.