Mario at Bloom Choreographic Residency
Mascall Dance 2024

Mario is a part of Mascall Dance’s Bloom 2024 Choreographic Residency.

For the Month of March and early April, Mario worked on creating a piece for the Bloom shows on April 11, 12, & 13

Tittle of piece: Disillusioned

This piece is about the disillusionment of societal expectations—the script society puts on us. It’s about fighting the narrative that we must follow a certain path in order to have a life worth living. Thank you to Jennifer Mascall and all of Mascall Dance for helping me and trusting me! This piece is inspired by my dear friends Larissa Simpson and Carrie Gelson. Thank you for teaching me that life is not a race or a script to follow!

Choreography: Mario Matias

Performed by: Juan Ainslie

Moments from the live performance
Lighting Design: Irene Weng @irenewproductions
Location: Left of Main (Vancouver, Canada)

The Creative Process

When I found out I was selected to be a part of this year’s residency, I immediately got a bunch of ideas in my head for what I wanted to do. To stay most authentic to myself, I did as little research as possible on the previous Bloom show and choreographers. Before I enter any dance event (from a competition to a festival), it’s usually the first thing I do to be familiar with that particular space. All I knew was that I had a five-minute piece to create and that I would be working with a dancer whom they would choose. I also knew that there would be three different shows and it would all be in the same space where I would be rehearsing; Left of Main. I decided to start completely fresh for my first day of rehearsal time, and from there I jotted down everything that came to my mind as I walked around and observed my environment.

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When starting the creative process for the specific movement, I wanted to be as literal as possible. I know that every move will be interpreted through whatever lens the audience sees. By keeping the movement as simple as possible, I wanted the audience to follow along through the subtleties. For example, when the movement is repeated but done a different way, what story is being told? Why is it being done like that now? These are the questions I was thinking about when creating, and the same questions I would ask if I was an audience member watching the piece. 

The story behind the piece

A theme that has followed my entire career as a dancer; is the narrative that dance can’t ever be a big part of my life and it’s not what I should be doing. I wanted to draw from this experience.

  • With Carrie Gelson

    A quote Carrie shared with me, which is a huge inspiration for this piece, “Life is not a race”

  • With my amazing supportive friends

    Quote from Larissa (next to me in photo), which is also an inspiration for the piece, “Life is not a script”