Media & Press
PRESS
The Contingency Plan’s High-level performance in matters involving strength, stamina and sexual drive @ Here to Go No. 2, The Cultch, November 24th & 26th, 2009
“Most amusing and clever of all, however, is the third number, titled High-Level Performance in Matters Involving Strength, Stamina and Sexual Drive. The Contingency Plan took their title from Poortvliet/Hyugen’s deeply inspirational 1976 book, Gnomes. After a coyly provocative freeze frame opening highlights several carefully selected poses of two mischievous white-bearded, pot-bellied gnomes at battle, creator-performers Vanessa Goodman, Jane Osborne, and Leigha Wald get down to the cheeky play of competitive gnomes vying for the attention of a mannequin-like marionette in a red and white dress.” Roger Wayne Eberle / Review Vancouver / November 2009
“Cavorting to a soundtrack that spanned Hot Butter and Lionel Richie, two of them appeared in full Travelocity regalia, complete with white beards, stuffed bellies, and green stockings, for the Contingency Plan’s offering. Inspired by Wil Huygen and Rien Poortvliet’s 1976 book Gnomes, the work drew its title directly from the book: High-level performance in matters involving strength, stamina and sexual drive. The pair competed for the affections of a mechanical doll. (…) Vanessa Goodman’s eerily convincing, and classically skilled, toy ballerina and the physical character work of the two gnomes (Leigha Wald and Jane Osborne), one macho, the other sensitive. (…) Contingency is making a name for comedy, but the emerging troupe’s technical chops are no joke.” Janet Smith / The Georgia Straight / Dec 3rd, 09
The Contingency Plan’s Strathcona High Class of ‘56 @ Dances for a Small Stage XXI, The Legion on the Drive, August 6th & 7th, 2009
“The much rowdier Contingency Plan (Vanessa Goodman, Jane Osborne, and Leigha Wald) gamely hammed it up under a banner that read Strathcona High Class of ’56 (also the title of the work). Clad in perfect pastel dresses and looking like extras fromPeggy Sue Got Married, their high schoolers went from the nervous energy of a slow dance set to the crooning of Elvis Presley (a protective group huddle gave way to groping dance partners from the audience) and devolved into stripping down to their knickers in an anachronistic, tribal tribute to Fleetwood Mac’s “Tusk”. Altogether twisted and inspired.” Janet Smith / The Georgia Straight / August 7th, 09
See the full article here: http://www.straight.com/article-246596/dances-small-stage-21-definitely-most-bizarre-yet
Serge Bennathan’s SLAM2 @ The Dancing on the Edge Festival, The Firehall Arts Centre, July 14th & 15th, 2009
“Former Torontonian and current Vancouverite Serge Bennathan’s Slam2 is his take on the biblical Prodigal Son. Vanessa Goodman, Jane Osborne and Leigha Wald each take turns narrating the story into a dangling microphone on an empty stage. To [Bertrand Chénier]’s menacing soundscape, the three dancers execute Bennathan’s bruising trademark athleticism. It is a maelstrom of emotions and these young dancers look very strong in the telling.” Paula Citron / The Globe and Mail / July 18th, 09
See the full article here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/on-the-edge-indeed/article1223360/
“Slam2 exposed the audience to a choreographer’s unique vocabulary: movements that were simultaneously athletic and agile, heroic and eccentric … rich with metaphoric possibility … the performers read as both actors in a drama and as pawns of more powerful forces. They contort themselves as if struggling with great emotion, struck by lightning or tormented by an angry god … The overall effect is epic. Slam2 is a poetic parable of adventure and return. That it is highly allusive, non-linear, and challenging to interpret speaks to the confidence of its creator, who permits images and fragments to stand on their own…” Kirstie McCallum / Plank Magazine / July 23rd, 09
See the full article here: http://www.plankmagazine.com/review/edge-two-shining-brilliantly-through
“Vanessa Goodman returns to the floor for the fourth time at the Firehall in just over 24 hours showing no sign of fatigue. She joins British born Jane Osborne, and Yukon raised Leigha Wald as The Contingency Plan to perform the premier of Serge Bennathan’s Slam2. Bertrand Chénier’s aggressive industrial soundtrack seems entirely appropriate for this imaginative, non-linear work. The three women execute the physically demanding dance vocabulary with incredible athletism.” John Jane / Review Vancouver / July 2009
See full article here: http://www.reviewvancouver.org/da_dancing_edge_edge2_09.htm
LOCAL & ABROAD: presented by The Society of Yukon Independent Dance Artists, The Old Firehall, June 12th & 13th, 2009
“… [Leigha] Wald arrived in Whitehorse two weeks ago with her dance collective, The Contingency Plan, to teach a student dance residency and prepare for their show. “In my generation there wasn’t a lot of support for contemporary dance in Whitehorse,” said Wald. “So it’s nice to be able to share what I’ve been learning in Vancouver with the dancers here.” Wald and the other Contingency Plan dancers, Vanessa Goodman and Jane Osborne, worked with students from Leaping Feats Creative Danceworks and the Northern Lights Dance Studio on a piece that will be performed this weekend. The dance residency, funded by the Society of Yukon Independent Dance Artists, is intended to give pre-professional dance experience to students by paying them for their work and connecting them with bigger names in the dance industry…” - Vivian Balk / Yukon News / June 12th, 2009
See full article here: http://yukon-news.com/arts/13188/
HERE TO GO: co-production by Mutable Subject, The Contingency Plan & The Story of Force and Motion @ The Beaumont Studios, Jan 28th & 29th, 2009
“…That some of the dancers involved had obvious talent was clear. If memory serves correctly, Jane Osborne stood out particularly for the intensity of her persona on stage, and for her clearly articulated and well-executed movements…” - Nicolette Little / Plank Magazine / April 9th, 2009
See full article here: http://www.plankmagazine.com/review/dance/here-go-join-movement-emerging-dance-artists-take-stage
“Thought for Food” - choreography by Rob Kitsos, Dancing on the Edge 2006
“…Vancouver’s Rob Kitsos also brought two powerful female dancers to perform with him. Jane Osborne and Jocelyn Wong, both graduates of Simon Fraser University, so competently performed his encyclopedic thesis on the behavioral evolution of animal to man …” - Imogen White / The Dance Current / 2006
See full article here: http://www.thedancecurrent.com/reviews.cfm?review_id=154