Ashley “Colours” Perez’s Dancing Life, a Graphic Response by Adriana Contreras

Created by Adriana Contreras, this is a commissioned graphic response to four hours of oral history interviews conducted by Seika Boye with Ashley Perez about her dancing life. Adriana took the conversations and the audio stories she heard and turned them into a colorful visual poster.

  • Digital Drawing on Paper

  • Graphic Response to Oral History Interview


Conversations Adriana Contreras and Ashley “Colours” Perez

Curator, Seika Boye, in conversation with artist Adriana Contreras and dancer Ashley “Colours” Perez discussing the graphic recording created by Contreras, which translates Perez’s oral history into a visual form. This conversation took place September 23, 2020.

 
 

Artist: Adriana Contreras Correal

Adriana Contreras Correal was born in Bogotá, Colombia and moved to BC with her family in 1998, at the age of fifteen. Artistic expression has always been a central part of her life but became an essential tool for navigating the world as a first-generation immigrant. Adriana completed her BFA at SFU School for the Contemporary Arts in 2006 and has worked and volunteered in numerous local Arts and Community organizations for 20 years. Between 2007 and 2013 Adriana held various administrative roles at the SFU Galleries, assisting with exhibition installation, publication design, communications and caring for the University's permanent collection. In 2013 Adriana made a shift to work supporting Dance Artists as part of the team at New Performance Works Society where she co-curated and produced four dance seasons. The programming included free and pay-what-you-can performances, free workshops and forums, and a successful dance on film program co-curated with Sonia Medel and presented in partnership with the Vancouver Latin American Film Festival.
In 2018 Adriana was selected as one of two Community Scholars with the organization Drawing Change. This an opportunity that allowed her to bring together her knowledge and passion for visual language and communication, her trajectory in migrant justice, health and community building and her desire to expand her artistic practice. In March 2020 Adriana leapt to work as a Graphic Recorder and Facilitator, Illustrator and Designer, independently and as a proud member of the Drawing Change and Fuselight Creative teams.

 

Artist: Ashley “Colours” Perez

Ashley Perez is a dancer, choreographer, and artist making waves in the Canadian dance scene. Training in funk styles and hip-hop, she later specialized in waacking, voguing, and house with mentors Jose Xtravaganza (New York), Archie Burnett (New York), Caleaf Sellers (New York), Jojo Zolina (Vancouver) and Kaiti Dangerkat (Calgary/New York). With a love of street dance, Ashley continues to share, educate, and research these underrepresented dance styles and the individuals that help create them.

Ashley is Co-artistic director of Mix Mix Dance Collective with whom she has co-created two full-length works and recently represented Canada at the 2017 Jeux de la Francophonie in Abidjan. Mix Mix has completed an artist residency at York Woods Library and presented new work at Fall For Dance North in 2017. Mix Mix developed new work for Contemporaneity 3.0 (Toronto, Ontario) for April 2019. Ashley was awarded the 2018 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Performance, Ensemble in the Dance Division for Floor’d presented by Holla Jazz in 2018. She recently worked with Holla Jazz on Dances with Trance which has been postponed due to COVID-19.

Her most recent teaching enterprise has been Class with Colours, to share the essence of Waacking/whacking and social dance - the glam, sass, and punk - with people of all backgrounds. These workshops have popped up at spaces such as Sketch Studio (Artscape Youngplace), Meridian Hall, School for the Movement of the Technicolo(u)r People (2019) and Parks N’ Wreck 2016-2019

Ashley is Co-artistic director of Mix Mix Dance Collective with whom she has co-created two full-length works and represented Canada at the 2017 Jeux de la Francophonie in Abidjan. Mix Mix has completed an artist residency at York Woods Library and presented new work at Fall For Dance North in 2017 and Contemporaneity 3.0 (Toronto, Ontario) 2019. Ashley was awarded the 2018 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Performance, Ensemble in the Dance Division for Floor’d presented by Holla Jazz in 2018. Ashley was a resident choreographer and performer with the artist collective House of Dangerkat. Developing works that allowed her to travel and perform in places such as New York, London & Paris. Her most recent teaching enterprise has been Class with Colours, to share the essence of Whacking - the glam, sass, and punk - with people of all backgrounds. These workshops have popped up at spaces such as Sketch Studio (Artscape Youngplace), and Parks N’ Wreck, Guelph Youth Dance and Meridian Hall.