being

Renowned Canadian choreographer and performer Noam Gagnon returns to the stage with being, a hauntingly intimate performance that meditates on human connection, impermanence, and the emotional texture of urban life. Presented by Vision Impure, being invites audiences into a quiet, contemplative world—one where stillness speaks, and the overlooked becomes vital.

Inspired by the aesthetic and emotional resonance of still life, being moves through the silences and spaces we often ignore. Through a fusion of movement, sound, and raw vulnerability, Gagnon reflects on the isolation and disconnection that define contemporary urban existence—while seeking the moments of human presence that endure.

Accompanied live by acclaimed composer and sonic innovator Stefan Smulovitz, the work is both a visual and auditory meditation. Together, Gagnon and Smulovitz create an immersive experience that is both minimalist and deeply emotional—asking what it means to live fully in a fragile, fleeting world.

being is a personal reflection on modern life, mortality, and the necessity of pause. It offers no easy answers, but instead asks its audience to sit with stillness and rediscover the power of presence.

Choreographer and Performer: Noam Gagnon

www.visionimpure.org

Noam Gagnon is an award-winning choreographer and performer whose work is celebrated for its emotional honesty and physical intensity. Through Vision Impure, he continues to explore the complexities of the human condition, drawing from lived experience to create movement that resonates on both personal and universal levels.

Music: Stefan Smulovitz - 5 string Electric Violin

www.stefansmulovitz.ca

Stefan Smulovitz is a true innovator known for his creative use of technology and mastery of sound manipulation. He skillfully uses violin, viola, theremin, electronics, and his game-changing software Kenaxis, to create vast sonic worlds. Stefan’s craft has been honed creating nearly 100 live film scores, innumerable dance and theatre scores, and hundreds of live performances with top improvisers from around the world. Always open to exploring new ideas he has collaborated with film, dance, theatre, poets, writers, visual artists, and theoretical particle physicists. His latest album Bow & Brush can be heard on all major streaming services.

Visuals: Hadis Fard

https://www.fard.io/about

Hadis Fard aka XEL is an Iranian/Canadian human being from Lur ancestral lineage, based in ancestral land of Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and Shíshálh nations. She is a sound and vision composer and multi-disciplinary artist. Hadis uses sound, visual art, data, code, and poetry to bridge art x tech x eco and creates multi-sensory & immersive performances and installations. Hadis’ muses and explorations are rooted in eco-feminine, mythology, decolonization, geo-psychology, interspecies dialogue, and collective consciousness. Her works have been recognized locally and internationally, she has performed and exhibited in National Music Centre(Calgary), Mutek.JP x Touchdesigner(Tokyo), Vancouver New Music, and Times Square (NYC). Hadis’ purpose and community service is to live by the earth oriented practices within communities and bring the integrated authentic voice in areas less heard, she finds community in diversity.

Lighting Design and Concept: James Proudfoot

James Proudfoot is a lighting designer based in Vancouver, Canada. He is originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, where he received his initial theatre training. Self-taught in the realm of dance lighting, he has contributed designs to many artists and companies over the past 25 years. James is grateful to live and work on the unceded territories of the xwməθkwəyə̓ ə̓ m (Musqueam),Sḵwxw̱ w̱ ú7mesh(Squamish)and Selí̓ í̓ lw̓ w̓ itulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

For purposes of documentation this event may be photographed, audio recorded, and/or filmed. By attending this event, you consent to such recording media and its release, publication, exhibition or reproduction.

Latecomers will be seated at the discretion of the Front of House Manager.

Please stay after the performance for a short talk back.

SFU respectfully acknowledges that convocation is hosted on the traditional, unceded and continuously occupied territories of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples.

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