Sophie Brassard

Vancouver, BC

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I joined the July Project to get back into dancing and choreographing. I hadn’t worked on anything dance-related since March, when all my projects were abruptly cancelled. The break was probably healthy but I took part in this process to try to dive back into a project; a solo one with low stakes. 

The goal I set for myself was to journal (in a stream-of-consciousness way) once a day, then use that as inspiration for generating movement. So each day (ish) I wrote, chose a sentence at random and created a few gestures that I added onto one long phrase. On the first day of trying this I decided to use a metronome. I decided to maintain this element as my rhythm throughout the month, because constraints can be fun.

This “dance journal” of sorts brought up themes of repetition; time passing, the feeling of going in circles — something of a groundhog day vibe. I, and I suspect others, feel frustrated at not having any certainty of what the future will hold. I have kept working and doing things I did before the pandemic, but in a limited way, with limited space and with no clear end goal. Questions have come up, such as “What am I working towards?” and “In this new reality, do I want the same things I used to want?” The frustrating thing is, it’s almost impossible to answer these questions because the future is an uncertain, scary mess.

I say all of this from a place of immense privilege. My struggle is small compared to so many others right now as the things I’m worried about are not food, shelter and my physical well being. But I think what I am feeling is still part of a collective sense of grief and nervous uncertainty for the future. 

I am now in the process of creating a short film using this movement phrase with the help of filmmaker Sam Mason, with original music/sound by Nathan Marsh. Through this continuation, I’ll keep exploring the themes that this month and this process brought up for me. Thank you to my July Project group mates, Liisa and Stephanie, for their support throughout the month!

For more check out: www.sophiebrassard.com