Stir Q&A: Tushrik Fredericks and Rebecca Margolick talk trust and spirituality at Dancing on the Edge
Intimate duet to begin with no end explores the artists’ respective religions with care and intensity
Tushrik Fredericks (left) and Rebecca Margolick in to begin with no end. Photo by Alexander Diaz
Dancing on the Edge presents Tushrik Fredericks and Rebecca Margolick’s to begin with no end at the Firehall Arts Centre on June 12 and 13 as part of the EDGE 2 program
IF YOU’RE IN THE MOOD for a mixed bill of movement, look no further than Dancing on the Edge. At the annual festival, the works on offer across seven programs cover an impressive range of topics, from the questioning of beauty perceptions to using silence as a form of protest.
One of the highlights is a recent collaboration between Tushrik Fredericks and Rebecca Margolick. On the EDGE 2 program, their timely duet to begin with no end takes an intimate look at their respective religions, and how common ground can be found through care and trust.
Originally from Johannesburg, South Africa, and now based in New York, Fredericks is trained in krumping and contemporary and has worked with the likes of the L.A.–based company ate9, led by Batsheva Dance Company alumna Danielle Agami. He has performed his own work everywhere from the Internationales Solo Tanz Theater Festival Stuttgart in Germany to the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art in Brooklyn.
Margolick, meanwhile, is a Vancouver-based dancer and choreographer who spent more than a decade based in New York and has presented works in Turkey, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, France, Costa Rica, Israel, and beyond. She is artistic and program advisor of BC Movement Arts Society, which is based in Sointula, and recently joined Andrea Peña & Artists as a dancer. She performed the duet Fortress, a collaboration with Livona Ellis that explores the matriarchal body as a metaphorical fortress, at last year’s Chutzpah! Festival.
Given the impactful message behind to begin with no end, Stir touched base with Fredericks and Margolick to learn about the piece before its debut here in Vancouver.
Can you start out by telling us a bit about how the pair of you first met, how your practices align, and what brought you together for this particular project?
RM: Tushrik and I met dancing for Sidra Bell Dance New York, where we overlapped as company dancers for a year. The first project we did together with her was a three-week residency in Sofia, Bulgaria, creating a very intense and wildly physical duet. I remember those first few days in the studio together with Tushrik, realizing I had met someone who shared my passion for intensity and pushed me as a dancer, and we just clicked. As Tushrik began creating his own work, I was really drawn in and inspired by his vision. He’s always been someone I wanted to dance with again and create with.
TF: We share a deep connection to physical durational research in dance. Since we met and danced together in 2015, Rebecca’s work as a dancer and choreographer has continually inspired me. Over time, we’ve each been developing our own separate works and began to notice overlaps and grow curious about creating a duet together.
Rebecca Margolick. Photo by Jim Carmody
Tushrik Fredericks.
What was your first seed of inspiration for to begin with no end, and how did it grow conceptually through your residencies and rehearsals together? What movement styles are you working with here?
RM: I remember Tushrik and I having conversations about religion, spirituality, and rituals. We would ask each other what were the things we loved about our respective religious practices and, inversely, the things about them that made us feel trapped. We also talked a lot about outside perceptions, and breaking stereotypes in order to get to the root of what spirituality means to us as two people in the room together now—and how connection, surrender, and extending beyond yourself is at the root of our relationship to spirituality.
We share a similar movement lineage through our training and the people we’ve worked for, but it’s also quite different from each other. To begin with no end is a contemporary dance duet, and the choreographic language works with distillation, repetition, and imagery. Conceptually, the piece is broken into seven sections: “aftermath”, “prayer”, “crossing”, “to hold & be held”, “sleeping bodies”, “angels”, and “humanity”.
TF: We were both drawn to exploring how our bodies relate to sound through the lens of our distinct cultural upbringings, spiritual beliefs, and psychological landscapes. As the process unfolded, we began to delve more deeply into our shared connection to spirituality—a common ground that emerged despite our differing religious backgrounds. As the duet continued to evolve, empathy, trust, and intimacy moved to the forefront of our creative dialogue. The movement language of this work is a fusion of our individual dance styles—virtuosic, fluid, and dynamic.
How have each of your religious backgrounds informed this piece? On a similar note, how can spirituality help people foster connection in this day and age—and how are you representing that through dance?
TF: Rebecca is Jewish, and I’m Muslim. Entering this work with that reality already feels weighty, especially given the current situation in the Middle East—even though neither of us lives there. Still, we both felt compelled to seek common ground between our religions, choosing to focus on similarity rather than difference. We believe that emphasizing what connects us has the power to unite rather than divide, and to begin with no end is an offering that attempts to share this perspective.
RM: There’s a lot of overlap within our religions, and we both connect to them in similar ways, by choosing rituals and ideas within the traditions that inspire and feed us. And so at the core, ideas of prayer, connection, surrender, and mystery emerge. Just Tushrik and I stating our religious backgrounds can stir assumptions. He and I recognize that and don’t ignore it—we move through it and connect on a deeper level through our intimacy and care for one another.
We did our second creation residency for this work at Baryshnikov Arts Center when October 7 and the subsequent escalation of genocide ensued. Despite him and I having already created a good chunk of the work prior, there was no way it didn’t influence the work and the urgency of it. A lot of people have explicitly told us they think about what’s going on in Gaza when they see the work, and that’s where he and I just surrender and know we can’t control how the work is read through the audience’s eyes. But we hope that the way we care and dive into our trust for each other in the work can leave people with a sense of hope, humanity, and drive toward action.
Tushrik Fredericks (left) and Rebecca Margolick in to begin with no end. Photo by Yana Lozeva
What is the role that trust and partner work play in to begin with no end? How has this level of intimacy helped you understand each other’s identities and perspectives?
TF: There is a section of the duet titled “to hold & be held”, where we repeatedly fall and collapse into one another—each time surrendering a little more. This partnering requires deep trust: a willingness to fully let go and allow oneself to be held. The intimacy we explore here is not something to be taken for granted; it reveals a profound honesty, vulnerability, and care between us.
RM: A lot of personal things and challenges came up for each of us in the process, and the way Tushrik and I supported each other through these intense moments plays a role in how we show up for each other both in and outside the studio and onstage. We’re committed to each other as dancers, creators, and most importantly as friends. As Tushrik mentioned, the section “to hold & be held” is profoundly vulnerable, and that vulnerability deepens the intimacy between each other.
In terms of the soundtrack for this piece, can you explain why you chose the songs you’re dancing to? What about them resonates with you, and what kind of tones or emotions do they help convey onstage?
TF: The soundscape for this work helps create an atmosphere that holds and supports the movement. At times, it builds an intense environment, one that feels like overwhelming chaos: raw, tender, heart-piercing, and heartbreaking. At other moments, it shifts into something more ethereal: angelic, surrendered, and heavenly.
RM: There is a lot of weaving of dramaturgy within the soundtrack and reasons we chose each track. For one track in particular, when Tushrik first proposed it, we just sat there and listened and both cried. It unlocks a softening and grief within each of us and we knew it needed to be in the work to support and push it. We mixed various tracks, and one in particular involves a weaving of Hebrew and Arabic, which is very apt.
To begin with no end. Photo by Alexander Diaz
How has to begin with no end evolved since its premiere in New York last year? What are your hopes for your upcoming Dancing on the Edge performances, and for the future of the piece?
TF: This will be our second time sharing the work since its premiere last year. We haven’t had the opportunity to continue evolving the piece itself, though I’m sure both Rebecca and I have grown individually since then—which makes returning to it all the more exciting. I hope audiences at Dancing on the Edge are moved by the work and able to connect with the humanity and complexity it holds. I also hope that Rebecca and I continue to receive the support needed to share this work with more international audiences.
RM: We are so grateful to Dancing on the Edge for supporting us and presenting this piece and can’t wait to share it in Vancouver. We’re excited to get back to this work and see how it has transformed over the last six months since its premiere in NYC in November. Tushrik and I have both been working on other projects and have grown individually, which will influence the piece. We are both working towards and hoping that this piece will continue to tour. 
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