Moderator / Animé par: Wes Pearce
Location: Silver Room, Atlas Hotel
• Jenn Boulay, “Performing Gymnastics: Breaking the Silence of the Multiple Versions of the Gymnast”
| Not everything is as it seems in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics (WAG). While the sport is celebrated for its spectacular performances, with gymnasts flipping in dazzling leotards and striving for gold, behind the spectacle lies a system of stringent expectations defined by the Code of Points (CoP) and reinforced by coaches. These pressures compel athletes to perform a prescribed version of themselves that conforms to ideals of whiteness, heterosexuality, femininity, able-bodiedness, “mental toughness,” and the appearance of a healthy gymnast. The “perfect gymnast” ideal leaves no room for autonomy, and those who do not meet these standards face deductions from judges and often abusive reprimands from coaches. Although these enforced versions may help athletes succeed, I argue they are dangerous and harmful. The pressure to conform can fragment a gymnast’s sense of self, making it difficult to connect with their identity both within and outside the sport. Drawing on performance studies scholar Richard Schechner’s discussion of the various types of performance in Performance Studies: An Introduction, and Tobin Siebers’ concept of the ‘versions’ of disability—where disabled people often ‘pass’ as able-bodied to navigate an ableist world—I apply these frameworks to gymnastics to explore how athletes are pressured to perform narrow and damaging versions of themselves. Through (auto)ethnographic methods and discourse analysis, I examine how these versions are produced and their impact on gymnasts’ lives. I also discuss how toxic training environments, combined with abuse by coaches and medical professionals, force athletes to compete while injured, emotionally drained, and mentally unwell. This culture of fear and control demands that athletes embody the “perfect gymnast” at great personal cost, which is held up by the code. |
• Arash Isapour, “Interior Dissent, Exterior Conformity: Staging Liminal Masculinities in Itai Erdal’s Theatre”
| This paper examines how Israeli-Canadian theatre artist Itai Erdal’s autobiographical works This is Not a Conversation (2016) and Soldiers of Tomorrow (2023) negotiate the complex tension between interior resistance and exterior conformity in representing Middle Eastern masculinities. Through metatheatrical devices—breaking the fourth wall, role-playing, self-reflexive narration—and dramaturgical choices including minimalist staging, strategic use of personal artifacts, and embodied storytelling, Erdal creates a theatrical space where the boundaries between personal critique and public performance become productively unstable. Drawing on Erdal’s unique position as both insider and outsider—former IDF soldier turned critical artist—the paper analyzes how his staging choices reflect the tension between belonging and exclusion. His placement of performers, use of military uniforms as memory objects, and carefully orchestrated movement sequences reveal theatre’s capacity to both challenge and reinforce cultural stereotypes. While his theatrical techniques successfully construct a nuanced portrayal of non-conformist Israeli masculinity, this achievement paradoxically comes at the expense of other masculine identities, which remain fixed in simplified exterior representations. The research demonstrates how contemporary Canadian intercultural theatre negotiates the complex interplay between personal resistance and collective conformity, contributing to broader discussions about representation, identity formation, and theatre’s role in challenging dominant narratives. |
• Ihuoma Okorie, “The In-Between Self: Exploring Interior and Exterior Spaces in The Cut Across”
| This paper examines how interior and exterior spaces inform the performance of identity in “The Cut Across”, a theatrical production staged at Bayero University Kano, Nigeria. It investigates the interplay of identity and spatial dynamics, drawing on Erving Goffman’s theory of identity performance, and the liminal tensions that distinguish these spaces. Using data from the performance of ” The Cut Across “, the study focuses on how the transition of the protagonists identity is influenced by spatial elements, providing insights into how interiority and exteriority shape identity work and the enactment of self. Grounded in a social constructivist framework, which posits that identity emerges through the social and cultural systems within which roles are performed, this study highlights the role of performance spaces in recognizing and reshaping the protagonists potential and agency. The findings reveal that these spatial dynamics contribute to transforming and challenging female identities in the play. The study concludes that identity has profound implications for interpersonal relationships, society, and culture. |
Biographies
Jenn Boulay
| Jenn is an emerging interdisciplinary performance artist/creator, playwright, performer, singer-songwriter, musician, theatre reviewer, and scholar. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto in Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies and a GrDip from Concordia University in Communication Studies. She is currently pursuing her MA at Concordia University in Media Studies. |
Arash Isapour
| A PhD Candidate in Theatre History at the University of Victoria, Arash Isapour examines theatrical narratives that challenge Middle Eastern masculinity stereotypes on Canadian stages. Following Jameson’s cultural analysis, his research explores how theatre functions within broader socioeconomic dynamics, combining performance, masculinity, and cultural studies to investigate identity representation. |
Ihuoma Okorie
| Ihuoma Okorie completed her Bachelor’s, master’s and Doctoral degree at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria Nigeria. She is presently a lecturer in the department of Theatre and Performing Arts, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria. |
Sponsored by Department of Theatre and Film, University of British Columbia
