Drawn Below | Photo: Darin Gregson

Ashley Mae Johnston

By Alicia L’Archeveque

When large-scale artistic projects lack the sufficient funding to compensate collaborators, the financial strain can show up in the work itself. “That feeling changes the art,” says Ashley Mae Johnston, a Calgary-based contemporary dance artist. “You’re making it smaller — even in my physical form, I move from a place of apologizing. When there’s funding involved, it gives everyone more space to actually create the work you want to create.”

Thanks to support from the Calgary Arts Development Project Grant Program, Johnston was able to research and develop a 35-minute contemporary dance solo, which premiered at Springboard Fluid Fest 2025. Performed partially nude, Drawn Below is Johnston’s second main stage solo work, and adds a dimension of sexuality to her previous solo’s normalization of the nude form.

 

“I always had an interest in the nude form, and seeing it made me feel so sparkly and alive,” she says. “A lot of my work is nude, and it’s always from a place of empowerment and choice.”

 

Springboard Fluid Fest is a boundary-pushing contemporary dance and performance festival held in Calgary every fall. As a returning performer, Johnston is grateful to feel supported by both the organization and the Calgary Arts Development grant.

 

“I feel very honoured to be supported by the city,” says Johnston. “I’m from Calgary, and it just feels cool to be supported and championed in that way.”

 

The development process for Drawn Below was a mix of writing, collaboration with a dramaturge, lighting designer and musician, and countless hours spent choreographing in the studio. The grant helped pay collaborators as well as fund additional studio space to help Johnston feel more grounded in her performance.

 

“This grant was especially special, because there was a huge risk — I said yes to the project, I hired all my people, and was going to pay everyone myself to make this happen,” says Johnston. “I got the grant, and it was a huge celebration to not be in debt for this.”

 

Having an audience for this piece was important, especially since Drawn Below asks what it means to be witnessed, specifically in a nude or sexual context. “I’m very aware of the audience,” says Johnston. “I’m aware that you’re sitting and watching me do this dance show, and I hope that it gives space for audience members to feel their reactions to it.”

 

Much of the research for the piece was conducted in conversations with audiences, following the performance. They were asked about their perceptions of the work, especially with the physical proximity of performer and audience during a live performance.  

 

“When exploring your reaction to sexuality and nudity, I think having it live is a truer example of it,” says Johnston. “I had a few people say that they wanted to explore their own relationship to their nude body, which feels so, so good.”

 

Despite being determined to dive into the project before securing funding, Johnston speaks to the larger message that is communicated when individual artistic projects receive tangible, financial support like the Calgary Arts Development grant.

 

“So often you have to do it because you love it, and only for the passion,” says Johnston. “To receive monetary compensation for that — and we need money to live — it makes me feel valued on a larger scale.”