DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY

Dalhousie University is located in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq. We are all Treaty people.

You’ve got Passion. You’ve got Curiosity. You’ve got Drive. Come and invent your future at the Fountain School of Performing Arts

Whether your passion is for acting or directing, playwriting, costume, history of dress, stage design, carpentry, lighting or studying theatre history, our theatre programs can give you what you need to get started in your chosen career.

If you’re interested in performing music, composing your own, or studying its cultural impact, our Music programs will give you the theory and training you need to succeed with the future you want.

The work from the Fountain School of Performing Arts presented in this exhibit represents two programs within the school:

Stage Design and Technical Theatre

This is an intensive 4 year BA that combines both practical and academic study. Students are exposed to all aspects of technical theatre including set and prop construction, lighting and sound design, stage management and set design. Our graduates are working as designers, technicians, and stage managers on stages and film sets around the world!

Costume Studies

The Costume Studies program is unique in North America, and offers a four-year BA with Honours in Theatre (Costume Studies). The program has a strong historical focus on both theatre and museum work, and stresses applied skills, along with research and academic skills. The applied skills are taught using a conservatory approach, while the research and academic components are imparted through a more traditional university pathway. In this way, students achieve a well-rounded education, equally able to turn their hand to creating costumes from any historical period and for both genders, and to the kinds of problem solving which have come to be expected of graduates with a broad liberal arts education.

Shelter Exhibit for the Student exhibit Prague Quadrennial 2019

The Fountain School team at the Prague Quadrennial from left to right: Anna Shearing – Assistant Curator and Exhibitor, James Woodhouse-Technical Director,
Zoe Leroux-Blain- Volunteer co-ordinator and Exhibitor, Karyn McCallum-Curator, Emlyn Murray- Exhibitor, Angela Xu- Exhibitor, Qing Wang- Exhibitor

Curator: Karyn McCallum
Assistant Curator: Anna Shearing
Volunteer Co-ordinator: Zoe Leroux-Blain
Technical Director: James Woodhouse

The design presented in the first cylinder has been created by undergraduate design students Anna Shearing, Angela Xu and Qing Wang of the Stage Design and Technical Theatre program and Zoe Leroux-Blain from the Costume Studies program. The work is inspired by the themes of shelter and transition in relation to immigration. These themes represent the common history of the dominant culture in Canada, either because of personal experience or the experience of our ancestors who came and settled in Canada. The text that has inspired the design is a recent translation of the Aeneid by Quebec playwright Oliver Kemeid translated to English by Maureen Labonté.

The alumni presentation by Emlyn Murray and Danielle Wilson addresses the theme of transformation through the use of gender fluidity and performance. They have worked with the text Princess Rules, by Aaron Collier and Richie Wilcox in collaboration with Jean-Pierre Cloutier & Nick Bottomley. Claymation: Deonie Hudson, Original Score: Aaron Collier, Costume: Emlyn Murray, Illustrator: Matt Miller, Narrator: Mino Inoue, Production Manager: Sylvia Bell.

From the broader community outside the university the work in our third cylinder showcases the work by two New-Canadian emerging artists- Carmen Lee and Roland Chun Shing Au of Theatre du Poulet, originally from Hong Kong now based in Halifax. Their work is inspired by the phenomena of the “astronaut family”, the lonely reality of families who are divided during transitional or even permeant separation in the global migratory economy.