Coming Soon!

Mayflies VR: A New Dimension of Dance

Mayflies is Untellable Movement Theatre’s flagship program, built around the ephemeral themes that connect performance, media, and life itself. With two established streams—a pop-up live performance series and a digital performance series—Mayflies explores movement as a fleeting, immersive experience.

With support from Year of the Arts funding, we are excited to launch our newest initiative: Mayflies VR.

What is Mayflies VR?

Mayflies VR blends cutting-edge technology with the immediacy of live performance, creating a fully immersive virtual reality experience. Audiences are invited to step inside, around, and through site-specific dance performances in a way never before possible. Through 360-degree filmmaking, viewers can navigate performances freely, choosing their own vantage points and discovering new perspectives at every turn.

The Experience

The final product of Mayflies VR is three distinct interactive experiences. Through 360-degree technology, audiences will engage with Newfoundland’s landscapes in entirely new ways—looking beneath, climbing over, and peering behind elements of the setting.

Poetry is at the heart of each piece, presented through spoken word, typography, and music, while movement shapes the space and invites the audience into a world of their own making.

Two Ways to Experience Mayflies VR

Accessibility and innovation are at the heart of this project. We are offering two ways for audiences to engage:

Mobile Experience – Designed for grassroots accessibility, Mayflies VR will be formatted for mobile phones. While not everyone has access to VR-specific devices, mobile phones provide a relatively low barrier to entry, ensuring a wide audience can participate.

Virtual Reality Headset Experience – A high-fidelity version will be optimized for VR headsets, enabling professionalized presentations in galleries and festivals nationally and internationally. This approach allows for greater artistic refinement and brings Newfoundland & Labrador’s dance artists to new stages worldwide.

A rugged coastline with rocky cliffs, a small waterfall on the left, and a calm green bay surrounded by forested hills.

Snapshot

Inspired by a poem from the series “Snapshots of a Municipal Politician” by Maggie Burton that captures the isolation of imposter syndrome, “Snapshot” unfolds on a solitary rock in the middle of the ocean. Keely Whitelaw performs a visceral solo meditation, shaped by a dynamic and evocative composition of Greg Bruce.

Filmed in Pouch Cove, Newfoundland

An aerial view of a suspension bridge crossing a deep rocky canyon surrounded by dense green pine trees hills.

Remains

“Only His Mind Remains Unchanged” is an excerpt from “Puppy Teeth”, written by Owen Carter. Performed by Mark White with vocal contributions from Jeremy Nolan and an immersive soundscape by Adam Foran, this piece invites the viewer on a quiet, reflective walk—one that stirs memory, regret, and the fragile permanence of what might have been.

Filmed at Lamanche Suspension Bridge, Newfoundland

An abandoned underground bunker with rusted bars on the windows and a weathered concrete facade, surrounded by a grassy area on top.

ICH BIN

A collaboration between Craig Francis Power and Ballast Collective, “ICH BIN” is a post-apocalyptic, Europop-inspired rave at the end of the world.

Filmed at Cape Spear, Newfoundland

A smiling man with glasses and a beard stands outdoors on a bridge over a body of water, with hills and trees in the background.
A woman with shoulder-length curly brown hair, wearing a black sheer short-sleeve top and red pants, smiling while leaning on a large rock near the water with a clear blue sky and some houses on a hill in the background.
A man and woman standing inside a small wooden structure with a dark background. The man wears a blue tracksuit and sports shoes, with a serious expression. The woman wears a black, sequined jacket, fishnet stockings, and black boots, with sunglasses
Group of nine people posing together inside a building with a weathered wall in the background. One person is wearing futuristic sunglasses, and the group looks cheerful.
  • A woman with red hair wearing a purple button-up shirt standing against a light-colored wall.

    Andrya Duff

  • A woman performing an aerial yoga pose outdoors, hanging upside down from aerial silks, with her head near her knees, against a backdrop of a coastline and a cloudy sky.

    Keeley Whitelaw

  • A man with glasses and a beard looking sideways, standing against a dark red background with black objects on either side.

    Greg Bruce

  • Black-and-white portrait of a man with light-colored hair, glasses, and a black jacket, outdoors near a concrete wall with blurred buildings in the background.

    Ian Foster

  • Black and white photo booth strip showing three photos of a young man with curly dark hair, wearing a dark blazer and a light shirt, with a curtain background.

    Owen Carter

  • A woman with short blonde hair and red lipstick smiling, wearing a leopard print coat, standing against a dark background.

    Lynn Panting

  • A woman with short dark brown hair, fair skin, and blue eyes, smiling, wearing a black sleeveless top and a gold chain necklace, against a dark grey background.

    Maggie Burton

  • A man playing a drum set in a recording studio, wearing glasses, a baseball cap, and a white t-shirt, with headphones on and tattoos on his arms.

    Nick Coultas-Clarke

  • A man with dark, slightly tousled hair and fair skin, wearing a white shirt, looking down and to the side against a light-colored wall.

    Craig Francis Power

  • Man with dark hair and beard, wearing a white shirt, leaning on a counter, focused on preparing food, with a camera hanging around his neck, in a dimly lit kitchen or restaurant setting.

    Chris Crockwell

  • A woman with long, wavy gray hair and black glasses, smiling outdoors with green trees in the background.

    Jennifer Dick

  • A man with glasses and a mustache smiling outdoors near a body of water, wearing a gray jacket and light blue shirt.

    Mark White

  • A woman with dark hair tied in a bun, wearing a sleeveless black crop top and dark jeans, stands outdoors with her eyes closed, calmly praying or meditating during sunset with sunlight filtering through trees in the background.

    Robyn Noftal

  • A woman with shoulder-length wavy red hair wearing a colorful floral dress with pink, purple, orange, yellow, and green patterns, standing with hands on hips against a neutral gray background.

    Robyn Breen

    photo credit: Lauren Vandenbrook

Logo for ArtsNL, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council, featuring the text 'ArtsNL' with the letters 'NL' made of colorful dots.
Logo for the 2024 Year of the Arts in Newfoundland & Labrador, featuring a stylized black and colorful circular design and text.
Logo for Newfoundland Labrador with stylized red and orange flowers and green stems.
Logo with a stylized mountain and water design above the text 'celebrate nl' in dark blue and turquoise.