That dog’s a dancer
Trip Dance Company presents Herding Instinct
Jen Zoratti

Inspiration can often come from some very unlikely sources.

For Trip Dance Company choreographer/artistic director Karen Kuzak, the inspiration for a show to celebrate the company’s 10th anniversary came from her dog. Yes, her dog.

Kuzak, along with filmmaker Danishka Esterhazy and artist Ken Gregory, drew upon her own border collie’s animalistic instincts to create Herding Instinct, a visceral audio/visual production that explores how both the primal instinct to herd and the instinct to assimilate into a flock can easily apply to human society.

“The dance came from the relationship I have with my own extraordinary border collie Benny,” Kuzak says. “He’s got a lot of natural herding instinct and prey drive, and that got me interested in that other world.”

She continues: “Originally I got excited about herding because it’s so visually beautiful, but there’s also a dangerous relationship present there. It’s predator and protector at the same time. I wanted to explore how these co-exist together in society or (a) flock, how we work together or come together when we’re afraid or when we’re grieving, but also that human need to break away from that.”

Working border collies are traditionally used by shepherds to herd flocks of sheep, a process that’s fascinating to watch — which is precisely why Herding Instinct employs a film element that features a large flock of 60 ewes and two working border collies.

Shot just outside of Neepawa, the film served as an important learning avenue for all seven of the dancers in the piece. The impressive cast, which includes Jolene Bailie, Jennifer Essex, Freya Olafson, Ali Robson, Giana Sherbo, Natasha Torres-Garner and Treasure Waddell, actually made the trek out to rural Manitoba to rough it with the sheep, literally learning what it’s like to be part of the flock.

“The experience turned out to be incredibly warm and rewarding,” Kuzak says despite experiencing some unpredictable weather and temperamental sheep on the trip. “We felt by the end that the experience had bonded us, and it brought something really fresh to the process, and it also gave me a new perspective on who they (the dancers) were. They looked so glamorous in their dresses and makeup, getting stepped on by sheep in this pasture to get connected with that flock.”

The film wasn’t the only unconventional aspect of Herding Instinct. For the past 10 years, Trip Dance Company has been showcasing Kuzak’s visionary dance works, and though her process is always evolving her latest work forced her to get more literal and less abstract.

“My dances aren’t usually driven by a theme,” Kuzak says. “This was unusual for me, and it took me someplace new. When I find and area of the dance that I’m interested in exploring, I’ll run with it, and it might change the dance entirely.

“I didn’t do that this time. I wanted to convey the idea in as many ways as possible, but I worked very hard to stay true to the theme. Setting up boundaries actually freed me in other ways.”