“I cannot thank you enough for giving me the time and the trust to undertake this work. So much of our lives as creatives are dictated by strict rules and deliverables to funders, programmers, etc. The freedom and joy I experienced in this open creative process as a result of the trust Untellable placed in me and my work was valuable beyond words, and without a doubt led to some of the most rewarding and valuable explorations I have experienced in the studio in a long time.”

-Kai Bryan

Artist Residency 2023

Kai Bryan

Kai Bryan is an award-winning visual artist and drag clown. Kai's movement practice includes aerial circus, dance, contortion, and clowning, all of which become tools for decadent, serious, and silly drag performances. As an installation artist and garment designer, Kai is keen to explore the ways these movement repertoires interact with their environment. Kai is a regular host and performer with many organizations and festivals including Lawnya Vawnya, Neighbourhood Dance Works, Wonderbolt Circus, and the St. John's International Circusfest. They are the recipient of the VANL-CARFAC Emerging Artist Award (2014) and Milestone Award (2021), and of grants from the City of St. John's, ArtsNL, and the Canada Council. Kai adores collaborative practice, and is a member of St. John's most bizarre drag collective the Phlegm Fatales. Kai is inspired by science fiction, horror cinema, and aquatic creatures.

Through the Untellable residency, Kai worked with Robyn Breen, Josh Murphy, and Sara Tilley to explore and develop movement repertoires inspired by their favourite shapeshifter: the octopus. Kai workshopped this movement intending to create a larger, multi-media/installation piece that uses the octopus as a poetic symbol for trans experience.

Untellable’s Residency Program supports dance in unexpected places.

Untellable Movement Theatre provides studio space, in partnership with Lynn Panting Dance, mentorship and technical/administrative support to enable movers to develop their artistic vision through creation, outreach activities, dance on film, and site-specific performances.

photo of Kai Bryan by Scott Humber

“Working with Kai in this role is a beautiful reminder that mentoring is also, and always, an opportunity to learn and be a student. When sharing resources from my own toolbox with others, I, in turn, gather new information from their responses and interpretations of the work. It's a constant cycle of sharing and learning, sharing and learning, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to keep refining this role of movement coach.”

— Robyn Breen

Collaborators

  • Robyn Breen

    Robyn Breen is a dance artist, movement educator and arts event coordinator. She was born and raised in St. John’s, NL, and spent over a dozen years living and working in Toronto, Ontario. Since 2020, she has been spending most of her time back home in Newfoundland reconnecting with the arts community. Robyn was a co-artistic director (aka LOVER) with the Toronto Dance Community Love-In from 2014-2021 where she worked with and learned from dozens of dance artists and movement educators from around the globe.

    photo by: Lauren Vandenbrook / @lvimagery

  • Josh Murphy

    Josh Murphy is a dance artist and burlesque/drag performer based in St. John’s, NL. Murphy trained at York University earning his BFA in Dance in 2017. Recent credits include national and international tours with BoylesqueTO, showcasing as a Featured Artist at Hold Fast Contemporary Arts Festival in Summer 2022, and Assistant Movement Directing for Artistic Fraud's I Forgive You, directed by Jillian Keiley at the NAC in 2023. As well, he’s been touring “Ruralesque” with Candice Pike and Hilary Knee. Murphy has worked on film projects from music videos for Donovan Woods, to artistic responses to Kent Monkman’s visual art with The Rooms. Murphy’s drag persona “Newfound Lad” was featured on Season 2 of OutTV’s Call Me Mother wherein he showcased the intersections of drag and burlesque. Murphy has also filled the role of producer and curator for evenings of variety entertainment/art for The Festival of New Dance.

  • Sara Tilley

    Sara Tilley

    Sara Tilley (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist from St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. Sara's artistic work bridges writing, theatre, and Pochinko Clown Through Mask technique. After graduating with a BFA in Acting from York University, Sara founded a feminist theatre company, She Said Yes!, which she ran as Artistic Director, 2002-2016. Sara's writing spans the genres of playwriting, prose and poetry. She has written, co-written or co-created eleven plays to date.

    Sara trained in Pochinko Clown through Mask with Ian Wallace and Sue Morrison, mentoring with Wallace to become a teacher of this specialized Canadian clown method in 2008. She offers Clown through Mask and Neutral Mask training both in St. John's and elsewhere. Her clown plays include solo works Nosebleed and Fruithead, as well as the ensemble play The (In)complete Herstory of Women in Newfoundland (and Labrador!). She has also performed extensively as a clown improviser, including durational and site-specific performances with various collaborators from the worlds of visual art, music, circus and dance. Sara’s interest in puppetry led her to pursue training with the Old Trout Puppet Theatre and a mentorship with puppet designer Darka Erdelji in Slovenia, culminating in her first puppet film, Hungry Little Shadow. Sara is also a director, a mask/puppet/prop/projection designer, and a dramaturg for new plays. She identifies as queer, chronically ill, disabled, cisgender and white. For more information: saratilley.ca