Shion Skye Carter Residuals (住み・墨)
Monday, September 30th | 6:30 PM | Artist Talkback
Born in Gifu, Japan, Shion Skye Carter (she/they) is a dance artist based in Vancouver. Informed by her experience as a first generation Japanese-Canadian immigrant, Shion’s art explores how identity and selfhood are channeled through bodily movement and sensed perception. Their innovative, boundary-pushing choreography is hybridized with heritage artforms that interact with digital and sculptural objects. Shion’s live performances and experimental dance films thoughtfully depict the different contours of her intersectional identity and how it impacts her experience of herself and the external world. Carter graduated from Simon Fraser University with a BFA in Dance and Kinesiology. They are the recipient of the 2022 Iris Garland Emerging Choreographer Award as well as the Chrystal Dance Prize in 2023. Their work has been presented in galleries across Canada’s coasts, such as The Dance Centre (Vancouver), the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), and Kinetic Studio (Halifax).
Alongside their solo choreography, Shion has performed in dance companies such as Action at a Distance, Company 605, Wen Wei Dance, and Odd Meridian Arts. They are the co-founder of olive theory, an interdisciplinary duo alongside musician Stefan Nazarevich. Collaboration reaches new heights in olive theory’s performances, which combine their respective artistic disciplines to create work that is experimental, inspired, and entirely new.
Residuals (住み・墨)
Residuals (住み・墨) is a solo dance project written and performed by Shion Skye Carter. Drawing on visual, sonic, and physical influences from Japanese calligraphy integrated with dynamic choreography, Shion reinterprets the traditional form through a contemporary lens. Calligraphy brush strokes inform Shion’s movement as they dance among hundreds of sheets of translucent paper, channeling moments and impressions from their childhood, while the lighting evokes an abstracted memory of their Japanese grandparents’ rural home where many of the artist’s memories of domestic life and cultural rituals originate. The culmination of 3 years of artistic research and development, interweaving interdisciplinary elements such as full-stage video projections, sculptural costume design, and bilingual spoken text, Residuals (住み・墨) takes audiences on a personal journey of self-discovery, where the inner layers of Shion’s identity begin to unfurl.
The work’s title holds a double meaning:
住み /sumi/ = to reside in a place
墨 /sumi/ = ink
Personnel
Shion Skye Carter (she/they) | Choreographer, Performer
Andie Lloyd (any pronouns) | Lighting Designer
Agnes Hui (she/her/佢]) | Stage Manager
