Allison Rhodes (she/her)
Allison was born and raised on Vancouver Island, where she began dancing at the age of three. During her youth, she spent several years training with Dancestreams Youth Dance Company, which provided her opportunities to work with acclaimed choreographers and tour both locally and internationally. Additionally, she has trained with Arts Umbrella’s dance company, The National Ballet School of Canada, Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, and École Supérieure de Ballet du Québec. Allison began dancing for Broken Rhythms in 2018. She has thoroughly enjoyed her time with the company and is thrilled to return to the stage for their production of 1,000 Pieces of π.
Questions 1) What has surprised you the most during the Making of 1,000 pieces of π?
The fluctuating state of this show (resulting from the instabilities of creating during the COVID-19 pandemic) has revealed the freedom that exists within the show’s regimented formula. The company first started developing this show before the March 2020 shutdown, with the intention of premiering it during Victoria Fringe 2020. We had another show set to premier sooner, which occupied the bulk of our rehearsal time, but we had nevertheless started to experiment with this concept. Of course, as everyone knows, the world had other plans, and this show was put on hold. In December 2020 we re-set this show as a trio, continuing its development and reworking some of the earlier choreography. Portions of this trio were used in the dance film, “Making PI(e),” while other sections remained on hold. When the show was later restructured into the five-dancer version now set to take the stage, more than just the spacing was altered; entire sections were re-framed. Although the show revolves around a prescriptive structure, with each digit from 0-9 being allocated a corresponding movement type, there’s a multitude of ways each movement can be interpreted. The first 1000 numbers of Pi remain constant, but the choreography has shifted many times over. I find this fascinating.
Question 2) What would you say has been the most difficult and rewarding part of creating 1,000 pieces of π ?:
I doubt I will be alone in saying that this show’s choreography, with movement phrases that are never-repeating yet similar in structure, has been challenging to memorize. We should have kept a running tally of the number of times someone asked, “wait – is this the kick that’s followed by a head isolation or the kick that’s followed by a slide?” As a result, it took a lot of practice to get the choreography in my body, particularly during the faster dances where there simply isn’t time to think. At times this could be frustrating, as puzzles often are, but it has also been an incredibly rewarding process.
Share a short play list of your warm up music before you hit the stage ( Available on Spotify)
Check out Ally and all the Broken Rhythms Dancers Jan 14!
Location: The Metro Studio (1411 Quadra St, Victoria, BC V8W 2L2)
Dates: Jan 14 7:30-8:30
Tickets: 1,000 Pieces of π Tickets
Join the Facebook Event: 1,000 Pieces of π -one night only
Check out Allison and all the Broken Rhythms Dancers at this year’s Victoria’s Fringe festival !
Broken Rhythms 