port of everywhere is the spillage, the excess of the archive, the unruly host for research by Alexa Solveig Mardon. port of everywhere is a speculative fictional choreography, the reading of a story, and a portal to touching other worlds. port of everywhere is a steep and queer departure from the national Finnish epic the Kalevala, Alexa’s matrilineal histories, and messages from the dream realm.

In port of everywhere, I dance to access the thresholds without hope to escape them. In port of everywhere, I write in collaboration with the dream realm.

I acknowledge that research for this work has taken place on the illegally occupied and ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ peoples, and in Amsterdam, home of many unnamed ancestral ghosts and spirits. I am grateful to the waters and lands of these places, which have guided me most of all through this process.

Thank you to Zahra, Erika, Rhyan, Even, Alysha, Flávia, Forough, Amparo, Rianne, Aisha, Francesca and Su-Feh, without whose kinship and wisdom this work would not exist.

Thank you to Ainhoa, Fernanda, Tiana and Matilda for taking a deep dive this last fall.

The work has been supported by: DAS choreography, Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council.

Choreography/direction/performance/text: Alexa Solveig Mardon

Spatial considerations/light and projection: Erika Mitsuhashi

Sound design: Fernanda Libman

scenography assistance: Alex VDA

in conversation with: Staci BuShea, Annick Kleizen

Text recording and dramaturgy: Even Minn

Mentorship/inside eye, dance: Zahra Shahab, Lee-Su Feh

Website design: Brynn Catherine McNab

Video recording, website: Alysha Seriani

Mentorship/inside eye, text: SF Ho, Aisha Sasha John