http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR_yCxIxDDc&feature=related
What I loved about this was their costumes, so bold and clear in the otherwise dusty landscape. How to make costumes important, part of the picture. I've always felt lost about costumes. I know when it works, but for my own work I've alway felt ignorant somehow. Maybe I need to strike out more boldly?
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-EsD8QYy0C84/Tlw7ZWzsB_I/AAAAAAAACps/3wrxrhikIN0/w401/Hats_Micael_Reynaud.gif
Crazy neat, interesting the way the eye sees and the way images fall on the eye. The transitions, could this happen on stage, could this constant blending of images to form one happen with many many performers, I think so.
http://www.mnartists.org/article.do?rid=76110
Megan and I have been discussing the different ideas behind site-specific. Deciding that what we would really like to do next time is actually a truly site specific piece, where the piece is built in and from a specific place, versus being performed in a specific place. I like doing both, and time seems to be the limiting factor. Our hopes in Israel is to be there for a week and acutually get to know a place and build a piece from within.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Wolf Talk- rehearsal 4
We performed it with the mucsians three times and discussed ideas in between.
We talked about making the text portion more outlandish.
We talked about changing the beginning to having Brian howling alone and me coming up to join him.
We talked about adding a physical choreographed section to ease my tiredness.
The musicians's work was fabulous. They were sensitive to our needs and hopefully we were to their sound.
I struggled with staying deep in my improv state, partially because of nerves, because this was the first time anyone saw the piece, because now we have the music and we also have a loose score which we are trying to follow.
I'm always afraid I'm going to slow to keep the audiences attention. I need to slow down and trust myself. I didn't have this problem when dancing by myself, but somehow doing this I'm nervous aboout it. I think I need a tighter score some places and then let it be wide open in others. I think this will ground me more. I also think I always practice dancing with Brian wiht my eyes closed, but maybe this isn't so great performing. So staying inward with my eyes open is challenging for me.
We talked about making the text portion more outlandish.
We talked about changing the beginning to having Brian howling alone and me coming up to join him.
We talked about adding a physical choreographed section to ease my tiredness.
The musicians's work was fabulous. They were sensitive to our needs and hopefully we were to their sound.
I struggled with staying deep in my improv state, partially because of nerves, because this was the first time anyone saw the piece, because now we have the music and we also have a loose score which we are trying to follow.
I'm always afraid I'm going to slow to keep the audiences attention. I need to slow down and trust myself. I didn't have this problem when dancing by myself, but somehow doing this I'm nervous aboout it. I think I need a tighter score some places and then let it be wide open in others. I think this will ground me more. I also think I always practice dancing with Brian wiht my eyes closed, but maybe this isn't so great performing. So staying inward with my eyes open is challenging for me.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Week 4- 2 Videos Donna Uchizono/ Ann Carlson and 1 Dance Article Review-Trey McIntyre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyjrx58EZo4
Thin Air (2007) Clip 2
I love the little feet dance downstairs, the focus, the simplicity, the micro viewing of one body part. I like the way the plastic on the stage became butterfly wings once the dancer walked through it. It made me think about chinese foot binding. Interesting limitations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1x0qgyLaxk&NR=1
I first saw Ann Carlson in NYC in early 1990. She did a piece where she was Cocoa the the gorilla and she danced with a kitten. She then did a piece where she was a blue whale. These pieces have stuck with me have been coming up recently for me as I create a duet where my partner and I are like wolves. It was interesting to view her more recent work. Were work still has a freshness, an openess, a political element, an improvisational quality. It makes sence I was attracted to her yeas ago and do this day still am.
The history that is presented is not necessarily our history, or anyone's history. Once again I am reminded by this video work the horrible acts the american gov't did against the Native Americans, stealing their land and ruining their culture, forever.
http://www.treymcintyre.com/events/connect10.html
Connect 10
I personally don't think marketing dancers with coasters and cocktails is really a healthy message to be spreading around.
Thin Air (2007) Clip 2
I love the little feet dance downstairs, the focus, the simplicity, the micro viewing of one body part. I like the way the plastic on the stage became butterfly wings once the dancer walked through it. It made me think about chinese foot binding. Interesting limitations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1x0qgyLaxk&NR=1
I first saw Ann Carlson in NYC in early 1990. She did a piece where she was Cocoa the the gorilla and she danced with a kitten. She then did a piece where she was a blue whale. These pieces have stuck with me have been coming up recently for me as I create a duet where my partner and I are like wolves. It was interesting to view her more recent work. Were work still has a freshness, an openess, a political element, an improvisational quality. It makes sence I was attracted to her yeas ago and do this day still am.
The history that is presented is not necessarily our history, or anyone's history. Once again I am reminded by this video work the horrible acts the american gov't did against the Native Americans, stealing their land and ruining their culture, forever.
http://www.treymcintyre.com/events/connect10.html
Connect 10
I personally don't think marketing dancers with coasters and cocktails is really a healthy message to be spreading around.
Aesthetics week 1- Invisible Dances
Invisible Dances
1) One time- slide down the stairs on my bottom versus walking down them, with nobody watching.
Result- I discovered an entire rhythm, and movement exploration that I’d never done before in my house. It felt like an entire different moment in time, not just a transition getting from upstairs to down, but an actual place, time and activity in its self.
2) Interact with my family by whistling versus talking at the dinner table for 10 minutes. Use the kitchen clock to tell time.
Result- I loved it. All the chatter that usually comes out of my mouth was hushed. My 10 year old daughter at first did not like it at all. My four year old son at first didn’t notice and then when he did it was no big deal. It made my husband laugh; I realized that this wasn’t exactly an invisible dance once it started. I didn’t think the family would notice my lack of talking so much, but they did. After a little while River loved it. She said Mommy can’t tell me to do chores now. It also made my brain stop thinking in that heavy task way. Clean this, do that, make that, pickup that. Instead it opened me up to being more in the moment. I was saying less, but listening more. I think everyone liked this. We got into game mode at the table, playfulness, food fights, and funny moments noticing each other’s sounds. When the clock chimed its bird whistle I felt a friend had just entered the room and whistled along with it.
3) Walking through the hallway and kitchen three times without stepping on the cracks between the slate stones.
Result-Nobody noticed this except my husband. I think the kids might be used to me stepping over things all the time. It felt very familiar to me, tip toing around the downstairs hall and kitchen.
4) Sitting still in the kitchen at the kitchen table sitting on a chair, with the dogs around for three minutes, without moving except my eyes blinking. Use the kitchen clock to tell time.
Result- The dogs went nuts. They knew immediately that something was different. They came charging up to me, jumping up on me, nibbling my body. It was hard to stay perfectly still and when Jack the big dog nibbled my breast I jumped and shoved him. Then back to stillness. Jack stayed around me the whole time and Cameo, almost immediately after jumping on me, went back to her bed.
5) Repeat-I did this again, turning my head directly to the side. Same thing sitting still for 3 minutes. Use the kitchen clock to tell time.
Result- Jack still came up, Cameo didn’t. Jack was trying so hard to get my attention. He kept walking around me trying to put his head on my leg and then walking around and putting his head on my other knee. He did eventually give up. I loved listening to the sounds of my kitchen, the turtle cage’s slight water bubbling from the filter. But my favorite sound I’d never noticed
Aesthetics week 1- #2- Vocal Extension and Great Room Effect
http://vimeo.com/29931725 Rug Monster
1) Invisible Dance
Title- Vocal Extension
Intention- To repeat a common spoken phrase , turning it into song.
Objects and Tools Needed- One dancer using his/her voice
Description- When the person decides the person will say a phrase and repeat the phrase over and over again until it builds to a song. Then the script is done.
Assessment/Evaluation/Notes for redo or future performances-
I built to a song fairly quickly; I would like to take more time, gradually building the phrase into a song. This way the text will be more invisible, and less obvious.
2) Movement Assignment
Title-The Great Room Effect
Intention- To embody being in the great room in a new way, unique to a pedestrian’s way of being in this family room.
Objects and Tools Needed- Rug, chair, telephone
Description- Person when ready, and after looking at his/her watch to note time beginning, will move around the Great Room and use the rug, chair and telephone in new exploratory ways, different than the way the dancer has ever used those objects before. Based on looking at the person’s watch, the script will be done in 15 minutes.
Assessment/Evaluation/Notes for redo or future performances- Success.
Sitting with my head in my chair like Mork, from the TV show “Mork and Mindy,” slowly shifting to take away the weight of my body off my neck while viewing my son playing spaceships upside felt great.Turning the balcony pillars into a momentary jail cell, holding onto them with my hands and yelling “help” through them, created a brand new perspective of the use of these pillars. (This caught my son's attention). He joined in and we both slid our legs through the narrow pillars dangling them as if outside hanging over a cliff. Sky, my son, said “This is dangerous”. Then we played the pillars as musical instruments. Then we used them to measure ourselves. I'm 17 pillars in length, Sky is 11. River is 15 pillars.
Purple monster chair began rocking and talking to us as we lay underneath it and watched his magnificent underside rock and rock and rock.
Then we climbed underneath the rug. This was my favorite, the kids use the blankets all the time for forts, but this was keeping the rug as a rug. It became rug monster and Sky climbed under it too. We made our way toward the piano, hiding under the rug, until we went over another rug that wanted to play too. We allowed that rug to join in and ended up rolling, getting stuck and tangled in the rugs. My son wants to play rug monster again. There is a video clip of Rug Monster on my blog.
3) Repetition
Title- Shove
Intention- To touch someone physically while walking.
Objects and Tools Needed- 2 people, area to walk
Description- Person will check watch and begin walking and touching the other person that is walking for 5 minutes.
Assessment/Evaluation/Notes for redo or future performance
My 10 year old daughter got off the bus and I began walking next to her up the gravel driveway, lined with grass on either side. I began to lean into her, pushing her to the side until she provided enough resistance to push me back. We continued walking like this up the driveway, around the mud puddles, until it became a game. We began trying to push each other off the gravel driveway into the grass. We did this back and forth pushing swirling around, pushing swirling around until one of us got off balance and fell into the grass. We did a small hero dance and then repeated the movement again and again. I think if I was going to do it again, I would walk even further on a straight path so the visual affect would be more clear for an audience viewing it from behind.
Wolf Talk Script- Proposal for Glen Echo
Title- Wolf Talk
Intention- To share with viewers an experience of being human that is more primal than our everyday way of existing in our world. By exploring the physical qualities of dogs and wolves in movement the hope is that the audience will feel more connected to the animal world. The text is to demonstrate the lack of connection humans are experiencing with the natural/animal world.
Objects and Tools Needed- One male and one female dancer, two musicians, a violin, a drum, a projector, and an outdoor space to perform.
Description- A site specific work performed at Glen Echo Park. The dancers begin back to back howling. This sound will draw an outside audience to them. The dancers will begin to move and dance using contact improvisation as a structure as well as trying to move through various movement forms they discovered in rehearsal. At some point the text will begin and they will perform their dialogue. The dialogue is a game called “20 questions”. Then they will return to the movement portion of the dance. The musicians will play music, a violinist and a drummer. The piece will end with one mover petting another. A video of wolves may or may not be used during the piece. The piece is approximately 20 minutes long.
When- Sunday Nov 13, two performances, times to be determined.
Where- Glen Echo Park
Oct 1 we will visit the park and explore outside performing possibilities.
Wolf Talk-rehearsal 3
I was sick, so instead of canceling all together, we got other work done.
1) We discussed costumes, coming up with brown worker pants and white long john shirts which Brian is going to bring to our music rehearsal tomorrow.
2) We discussed using final cut pro and confirmed that Brian will spend Wed. Oct at my house figuring out how to use the new version with me and we will then work on Daisy's footage.
3) We observed Jack and Cameo my two dogs...
a) Watched them jump sideways
b) be submissive
c) watched them play and pause and look up and around, and play again.
d) one dog ran around alone and the other rested.
e) use their mouths a lot, with Cameo biting at Jack's heels.
f) teeth glaring
g) ears being expressive
h) gaze, looking at eachother, looking away-- Brian and I discussed focus, wanting to look at eachother more in our dance, and looking away as a way of perceiving our safety, surveying our surrounding.
We then worked with sounding and discovered we are both a bit shy at this, but not when we were just howling. Especially howling loudly We did this back to back and then went into our score loosely.
We performed it outside and used the trees to play around and the cars. I discoverd that I do want to choreograph some of our fast physical sections to keep our energy up.
We prepared for the musicans that are coming on Monday at 3:30-5:30, giving them the structure below of the work.
Slow contact section
Running and jumping and playing section-perhaps with some set choreography
End
1) We discussed costumes, coming up with brown worker pants and white long john shirts which Brian is going to bring to our music rehearsal tomorrow.
2) We discussed using final cut pro and confirmed that Brian will spend Wed. Oct at my house figuring out how to use the new version with me and we will then work on Daisy's footage.
3) We observed Jack and Cameo my two dogs...
a) Watched them jump sideways
b) be submissive
c) watched them play and pause and look up and around, and play again.
d) one dog ran around alone and the other rested.
e) use their mouths a lot, with Cameo biting at Jack's heels.
f) teeth glaring
g) ears being expressive
h) gaze, looking at eachother, looking away-- Brian and I discussed focus, wanting to look at eachother more in our dance, and looking away as a way of perceiving our safety, surveying our surrounding.
We then worked with sounding and discovered we are both a bit shy at this, but not when we were just howling. Especially howling loudly We did this back to back and then went into our score loosely.
We performed it outside and used the trees to play around and the cars. I discoverd that I do want to choreograph some of our fast physical sections to keep our energy up.
We prepared for the musicans that are coming on Monday at 3:30-5:30, giving them the structure below of the work.
Wolf Talk Structure
Back to back Howling
Slow contact section
Running and jumping and playing section-perhaps with some set choreography
Solo section
Text section
Fast physical section-shorter
Slower contact section again
End
Assignment #4- Danger Danger- collaborative script
Title: Danger Danger
Statement of Intention: To exemplify the vulnerability of art in society.
Objects needed: one performer
Description: The performer must create a dangerous situation that satisfies the intention of the performance. They may include other performers and/or objects if necessary.
Conclusion: The performance concludes after 2 minutes.
Assessment/Evaluation/Notes for redo or future performances: It was great. I woke up and went outside, gathered two neighbors to help out with my script. I had one person, an ex-cop be the man who held a bow pointing at me dancing about 20 feet ahead of him. Another neighbor held a camera and was taking pictures of me dancing, similar to the way tourists surround wild animals to get a good shot. We proceeded up the street in my neighborhood. My 10 year old daughter was ahead of us filming. My favorite part of this score was the collaboration with the neighbors, the spontaneity of it and the eagerness of my neighbors. It was also interesting being hunted. At first I didn’t notice him and was just doing my dancing, then when I noticed him I sped up to tried to get away. I felt empathy for the hunted animals, for all the animals that happily exist in the forest until the moment they spot the hunter. Bobcat season starts Oct. 1.
I enjoyed working with Kelly and Asher on this script. I love how one script can lead to several different performances if the script is open enough. It makes me think about how if everyone in our world can feel connected if we just stay open enough. If people's internal script was this open then differences between races, between species wouldn't be felt and we would see that we are really all connected in the same script, even if the performances end up being completely different.
Unfortunately the video part isn't as compeling as I was hoping. It is something I will learn the more I use video. It needed to be videod from maybe the hunter's perspective to get the feeling of the hunt. From the front where my daughter was standing the dancer didn't look vulnerable and you couldn't see the bow from the front angle. Perhaps if she stood across the street and took it from the side angle.
The camera person looked great, but the hunter needed to be walking around more, like he was hiding, not just directly behind the dancer. The dancer shouldn't have been smiling.Statement of Intention: To exemplify the vulnerability of art in society.
Objects needed: one performer
Description: The performer must create a dangerous situation that satisfies the intention of the performance. They may include other performers and/or objects if necessary.
Conclusion: The performance concludes after 2 minutes.
Assessment/Evaluation/Notes for redo or future performances: It was great. I woke up and went outside, gathered two neighbors to help out with my script. I had one person, an ex-cop be the man who held a bow pointing at me dancing about 20 feet ahead of him. Another neighbor held a camera and was taking pictures of me dancing, similar to the way tourists surround wild animals to get a good shot. We proceeded up the street in my neighborhood. My 10 year old daughter was ahead of us filming. My favorite part of this score was the collaboration with the neighbors, the spontaneity of it and the eagerness of my neighbors. It was also interesting being hunted. At first I didn’t notice him and was just doing my dancing, then when I noticed him I sped up to tried to get away. I felt empathy for the hunted animals, for all the animals that happily exist in the forest until the moment they spot the hunter. Bobcat season starts Oct. 1.
I enjoyed working with Kelly and Asher on this script. I love how one script can lead to several different performances if the script is open enough. It makes me think about how if everyone in our world can feel connected if we just stay open enough. If people's internal script was this open then differences between races, between species wouldn't be felt and we would see that we are really all connected in the same script, even if the performances end up being completely different.
Unfortunately the video part isn't as compeling as I was hoping. It is something I will learn the more I use video. It needed to be videod from maybe the hunter's perspective to get the feeling of the hunt. From the front where my daughter was standing the dancer didn't look vulnerable and you couldn't see the bow from the front angle. Perhaps if she stood across the street and took it from the side angle.
Video tells so much!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Aesthetics week 4- Video Viewing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7Kkl1D1QRA
(This is Karen Finlay talking about her SHOCK techniques as a performing artist)
(This is Karen Finlay talking about her SHOCK techniques as a performing artist)
Hmm,
Its hard not to put her in the context of that time. I wonder if she existed now, what would happen. I wish in a way I was around in the 60's to experience that kind of freedom. I don't feel or hear about that kind of art now. I did turn it off because my kids were in the room. There is something fresh about someone presenting that kind of work. I wouldn't do it myeself, but I'm happy its out there.
Luciana Achugar (video excerpts):
http://lachugar.org/pieces/excerpts/
I appreciate her legs, her groin, her pelvis exploration. In a world where woman's bodies are either discretly covered or overly uncovered I appreciated her in between. At times it almost felt like the legs were arms, like spiders. Makes me want to do a piece with legs.
Ways to make a buck as a choreographer:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/Bindler/bindler-learns-a-new-dance-in-scotland
Luciana Achugar (video excerpts):
http://lachugar.org/pieces/excerpts/
I appreciate her legs, her groin, her pelvis exploration. In a world where woman's bodies are either discretly covered or overly uncovered I appreciated her in between. At times it almost felt like the legs were arms, like spiders. Makes me want to do a piece with legs.
Ways to make a buck as a choreographer:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/Bindler/bindler-learns-a-new-dance-in-scotland
I first met Nicole Bindler in Dc. We performed at the DC Improvisation Festival years ago. She did a solo. I then later went to Philly to teach a conatct improvisation master class workshop there. I'm very curious about Deborah Hay's solo project that she is doing. Nicole is the second person I know doing it. It is something I think I will do one day.
I have always respected Nicole as a solo artist. She, being someone who is just doing her work. Not questioning or doubting, but just moving forward on her path as an artist. For me stepping out again as an artist versus just a dance for someone else is still scary, but I'm taking it step by step. The step of being in grad school has been a strong choice for me and my hopes that once this process is over I will have the confidence to step out into my in rural Viginia community as a dancer artist.
http://brooklyn.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/119535/dance-group-pairs-science-with-movement
Armitage GONE DANCE
I couldn't get past the almost naked bodies and strong split lines of the dancers. I wonder if the science elements are going to be discussed in the program or on stage, so viewers can watch the dance with these scientific theories in their minds. I like the idea of joing science with dance in a festival, it will double the audience population for both genres as well as give both studies new lenses from which to view the world.
http://brooklyn.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/119535/dance-group-pairs-science-with-movement
Armitage GONE DANCE
I couldn't get past the almost naked bodies and strong split lines of the dancers. I wonder if the science elements are going to be discussed in the program or on stage, so viewers can watch the dance with these scientific theories in their minds. I like the idea of joing science with dance in a festival, it will double the audience population for both genres as well as give both studies new lenses from which to view the world.
Lab 4- Memory Script
Memory Script
Title- What love should be
Intention- To create a feeling of reflection, looking back to a feeling of love.
Description- I asked the singer, Anna to either talk or sing about a memory of love. She choose to sing a song that reminds her what love should really mean. The script begins when she starts singing and ends when she says, “Just be nicer.”
Assessment/Evaluation/Notes for redo or future performances- The singer wants the footage to be more visually beautiful. We will redo it tomorrow with her wearing a skirt and no shoes. I think the feeling a reflection is successful, the details aren't clear, but I'm not sure needed. Interesting when she says, "just be nicer now."
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Wolf Talk- 5 Research approaches
1) Do contact improvisation with Brian weekly to increase our availability of this form in performance .
2) Go to the DC jam or East Coast Jam with Brian
2) Go into the woods with Brian for a rehearsal and just be in the woods in our natural primal state.
3) Study my dogs with Brian, watch them play and wrestle and be.
4) Study the wolves at Mission Wolf. Video tape a lot of footage of the wolves there and come home and show it to Brian.
5) Watch Videos wolves in the wild and watch videos of Ann Carlson
5) Watch Videos wolves in the wild and watch videos of Ann Carlson
Assignment #3- 15 Entrances and Backward Exits
Invisible Dance #3
Title- 15 Entrances and Backward Exits
Intention- To walk into a store, and walk backwards out of a store 15 times in a row.
Objects and tools needed- One person, car, one store.
Description- One person gets out of a car and walks up the stairs to the General Store. That person opens the door to the store and goes inside and says hello to anyone they might know, telling whoever they are talking to that this they are accomplishing a dance exercise for graduate school. Each time the person leaves by retracing there steps backwards. The person can play with speed of the walk, pauses, allowing the walking to be paused by conversation. After 15 times of getting out of the car walking to the store and then walking backwards to get back in the car, the script is done.
Assessment/Evaluation/Notes for redo or future performances- At first I was really nervous. I was happy only Jim, the store worker was in the store. After telling him what I was doing I felt better. I was assured that he wouldn’t think I was weird. Somehow saying this was an assignment for graduate school made me feel better. More friends came into the store and they were all very curious about what I was doing. After telling them the exercise they were still curious and watched me the whole time they were shopping. A couple of people I didn’t know entered the store, so I didn’t tell them my script and one person especially was tickled by it. He gave me a smile like telling me he knew I was up to something and it made him smile. It was interesting because if you didn’t see me at the moment I was walking backward you wouldn’t know I was performing. At first I was happy some people just didn’t look up to see me, but by the end I was wishing more people could see me. It is always so interesting to change people’s perspective. I didn’t feel weird, and if they looked at me oddly I felt happy to tell them what I was doing. “Yeah, this is what they teach me to do in grad school, “I said and people laughed as I managed the wet stairs carefully backwards 15 times. For me personally taking the walking trip so many times in a row I saw things I don’t usually do. My 15th entrance and exit I walked very slowly and wished I had walked that slowly more times. I’m always rushing up those stairs darting in and out of the store getting supplies for my home and racing back to my car. It was heavenly to take the time to chat to folks. I enjoyed walking up those stairs with a different intention, and to feel the curious on lookers, and playfully smile back at them.
Determine five aspects that assist in the viewer’s awareness that this is performance even though it continues to be pedestrian in style and energy and movement.
1) Heightened open energy of mover
2) Repetition of movement pattern
3) Sensitivity of mover in relationship to other people in space
4) Sensitivity of mover in relationship to gravity
5) Mover dealing with architecture differently, example, walking down stairs backwards. Standing underneath a fan for an extended period of time.
6) Mover’s relationship with time is different than that of a non-performer, for example walking very, very slowly.
Monday, September 19, 2011
(Boris Willis) Video comments week 3- Aesthetics Class
http://www.danceaday.com/
Boris Willis
I love his concept. It is so freeing some how. It makes it a purpose, well I have to do a dance a day. I love his comments, the simplicity of what is happening in his life right then and there, makes me wonder what is he not showing us. I didn't follow him every day of this past year, but I imgine it would have been neat to do so.
Boris Willis
I love his concept. It is so freeing some how. It makes it a purpose, well I have to do a dance a day. I love his comments, the simplicity of what is happening in his life right then and there, makes me wonder what is he not showing us. I didn't follow him every day of this past year, but I imgine it would have been neat to do so.
(Burning Man and more) Video comments week 3- Aesthetics Class
http://www.artsjournal.com/video.shtml
I feel at home with the radicalness, although i'm not sure how i would contribute, but i'm sure I'd figure out somehting, its the heat in the dessert and the ability to totatlly take care of myself under such harsh circumstances, that i'm a little afraid of
I feel at home with the radicalness, although i'm not sure how i would contribute, but i'm sure I'd figure out somehting, its the heat in the dessert and the ability to totatlly take care of myself under such harsh circumstances, that i'm a little afraid of
(Charlotte Moorman – Paik Video comments week 3- Aesthetics Class
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6XkiaycyPI http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=r9hTdaFz36c
I like the visual display of the tv's while she is playing them.
I like the visual display of the tv's while she is playing them.
(Our lady of Detritus) Video comments week 3-Aesthetics Class
(2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQzyyrUzlQk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV23X7bOR2Q
I loved the bizarreness, the eco content. Not sure i'm that brave. Wish i lived in a place where i was more anonymous.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV23X7bOR2Q
I loved the bizarreness, the eco content. Not sure i'm that brave. Wish i lived in a place where i was more anonymous.
(Guillermo Gomez Pena) Video comments week 3-Aesthetics Class
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bULnwRBVBk&feature=related
I like the up close and personal, i like the hand on the body. The body is being a like a dance floor and the things done to it are like the dance.
I like the up close and personal, i like the hand on the body. The body is being a like a dance floor and the things done to it are like the dance.
Wolf Talk- rehearsal 2
Time and Place of Performance
We talked about where we are going to perform, setting Nov 13 as a date that will also work with our musicians, performing at Glen Echo Park, two times, one inside, following a performance in a lobby and one outside, also following a performance or right before one. These details still need to be worked out.
Dance piece
worked it again, beginning doing a little contact, then i stopped us and we started offiically from the top of the text. Playing with me also being a kid, and being as open to that physicallity.
After text, go into the physical aspect, we did start with eating from the bowls and then went from there.
After about 25 minutes we stopped and wrote down what stuck with us and what we want to try and hit in each performance.
Physical list
1) Playing with stillness, allowing one person to be still, while one is moving.
2) Carrying on back, verticle dropping section
3) horizontal droping section
4) bouncing off the walls
5) bouncing off eachother
6) push pull in space
7) jumping over and onto eachother's backs
8) volanco, section, lava/island
9) wave run
10) running in a circle
11) smiffing
12) howling
13) two solos in opposite corners
14) petting, petting and howling maybe?
15) lying on the floor panting.
Decided that every rehearsal we will run these physical sections over and over again, to get them in our body and to build up endurance. Then do a run and end with a sounding lab.
We then did a sounding lab. Just one person starting this howl and letting it grow and build. DO MORE OF THIS, not necessarily for this section but for the thesis.
(Also last week, we created a whole pet section, where i was calling off all my animals names while dancing around Brian. Thought about having someones hand on video writing down the names while i was calling them out, while the audience was calling them out.)
We talked about where we are going to perform, setting Nov 13 as a date that will also work with our musicians, performing at Glen Echo Park, two times, one inside, following a performance in a lobby and one outside, also following a performance or right before one. These details still need to be worked out.
Dance piece
worked it again, beginning doing a little contact, then i stopped us and we started offiically from the top of the text. Playing with me also being a kid, and being as open to that physicallity.
After text, go into the physical aspect, we did start with eating from the bowls and then went from there.
After about 25 minutes we stopped and wrote down what stuck with us and what we want to try and hit in each performance.
Physical list
1) Playing with stillness, allowing one person to be still, while one is moving.
2) Carrying on back, verticle dropping section
3) horizontal droping section
4) bouncing off the walls
5) bouncing off eachother
6) push pull in space
7) jumping over and onto eachother's backs
8) volanco, section, lava/island
9) wave run
10) running in a circle
11) smiffing
12) howling
13) two solos in opposite corners
14) petting, petting and howling maybe?
15) lying on the floor panting.
Decided that every rehearsal we will run these physical sections over and over again, to get them in our body and to build up endurance. Then do a run and end with a sounding lab.
We then did a sounding lab. Just one person starting this howl and letting it grow and build. DO MORE OF THIS, not necessarily for this section but for the thesis.
(Also last week, we created a whole pet section, where i was calling off all my animals names while dancing around Brian. Thought about having someones hand on video writing down the names while i was calling them out, while the audience was calling them out.)
Brian Buck Video 2 -week 3
http://www.bhbuck2.org/list-of-creative-works
Many Things Installation (2009) (Video/sound Installation)- Choreography by Anneke Hansen
What I appreciated about this video was the beginning talking, sounding by the dancers. I wasn’t sure it at first if this was actually set singing, sounding or just the natural ebb and flows of laughter and talking when people mingle. I’ve determined it is just the ebb and flow of natural talking, and I love it. I recognize with some of my best friends how there is a sing-song to our conversations. A natural energetic rhythm of give and take of laughter and speed, of spontaneous pauses and releases. I’ve always enjoyed being a part of these conversation dances, but until now I didn’t realize I also like witnessing them.
Brian Buck Video 1- week 3
Looking for Tonto- Music by Badmarsh Shri
- Sound Score by Brian Buck and Christopher Lee
- Costumed by Brian Buck and Christopher Lee
What can be done on video is dreamy; my son kept trying to say. Brian Buck’s Tonto, starts simply, a little Christmas story, then moves nicely into a dramatic stark visual reality with perfectly matched resonating music that I might choose to use on a piece of mine. I love the bird images, the desert images, his I believe negative setting on videoing. The space and distant, and dancing in a dessert in slow motion all worked and encourage me to go back to Final Cut Pro and learn more.
Dance Article Review 3- Bill T. Jones
New York Times
30 Years on, Focus Remains on Opposites to Attract an Audience
Hmm,
I feel bad because years ago Bill T. Jones’s was one of my huge inspirations to become a modern dancer. But then in the later when his company became more polished technically, I felt like he was selling out and I lost interest. Again being reunited with his more recent work this summer in my Dance History class I saw that his work was still very powerful although true that it had still have very technical dancers. In fact, many who were just coming on the NYC dance scene when I left. This article however speaks of what I had trouble with years ago. Sometimes the power of the technical can hide the depth. There is something interesting in a less than manicured body, moving through space, something that we all fell in love with in the early 80’s. However, we also were putting Jones’s work in a box. And that isn’t the box he is exploring anymore.
Lab 3- Please Don't...
Title- Please Don’t…
Intention- To slowly warn a stuffed animal of the danger of touching an invisible object.
Objects and Tools Needed- one stuffed animal, one train track, one dancer using her voice.
Description- One person warns the sitting stuff animal to not touch something that is invisible, first physically by kneeling in front of it and blocking it with the person’s body, and then by adding text.
“Please don’t…please don’t …please don’t touch. See the sign? Please don’t touch, a little girl, got bit… Please don’t touch, See the sign? A little girl had to go to the emergency room. Please don’t, please don’t touch (finally screaming it)
Assessment/Evaluation/Notes for redo or future performances-The first time I performed this, I gave it away too quickly. So I performed it again building more slowly to get to the end result later on. I like it. I like the invisible idea of it. I like the warning aspects. I think it might work nicely in my thesis, the slow warning, building too the screaming.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
A concert of Hope Video 2 week 2
http://www.calltocompassion.com/watch-online/
I just finished watching Kennedy Center's Concert of Hope with President Obama speech and various singer artists performaing. Here is what the website said...
It is our hope that the Cathedral’s commemoration, especially with President Obama’s participation in it, will move us further down the path toward healing.”
The event will also feature R&B legend Patti LaBelle, country superstar Alan Jackson, and renowned mezzo soprano Denyce Graves. Music, readings, and reflections will instill a sense of renewal and hope for the decade ahead.
I was truly amazed at Patti Labelle's performance. My daughter didn't like her as much because she had a hard time understanding the words. To me Patti's performance was fully embodied without fear, without compromise, without apology. She sang so deeply. Her spontanity on stage, giving the mike away to the other singer, her almost waiflike ending because you couldn't hear her very well becasue of the lack of mike, her walking over to the Mr. and Mrs. Obama at the end to hug them, she was so full of love and life, emotional freedom and spontaneou expression. The audience just loved her. I just kept thinking I want to sing like that, I want to perform like that. I was so happy to see her soo loved bt people that probably never release in that way. This made me feel better and more confident about what I do. Sometimes I feel so alone out there, watching Patti Labelle, she made me feel not alone and to trust my hearts need and desire to express myself fully.
I was also happy to see art being used as a thearpy for healing. As most of my colleagues spoke about in their solos presentations, art for them is used for healing. Here, this concert was used as a venue for the people to heal.
I just finished watching Kennedy Center's Concert of Hope with President Obama speech and various singer artists performaing. Here is what the website said...
It is our hope that the Cathedral’s commemoration, especially with President Obama’s participation in it, will move us further down the path toward healing.”
The event will also feature R&B legend Patti LaBelle, country superstar Alan Jackson, and renowned mezzo soprano Denyce Graves. Music, readings, and reflections will instill a sense of renewal and hope for the decade ahead.
I was truly amazed at Patti Labelle's performance. My daughter didn't like her as much because she had a hard time understanding the words. To me Patti's performance was fully embodied without fear, without compromise, without apology. She sang so deeply. Her spontanity on stage, giving the mike away to the other singer, her almost waiflike ending because you couldn't hear her very well becasue of the lack of mike, her walking over to the Mr. and Mrs. Obama at the end to hug them, she was so full of love and life, emotional freedom and spontaneou expression. The audience just loved her. I just kept thinking I want to sing like that, I want to perform like that. I was so happy to see her soo loved bt people that probably never release in that way. This made me feel better and more confident about what I do. Sometimes I feel so alone out there, watching Patti Labelle, she made me feel not alone and to trust my hearts need and desire to express myself fully.
I was also happy to see art being used as a thearpy for healing. As most of my colleagues spoke about in their solos presentations, art for them is used for healing. Here, this concert was used as a venue for the people to heal.
Laurie Anderson Video 1 week 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zmQOGR_lzu8#!
I loved the story telling she did with the keyboard. I foget that this form of text is an art form. My cousin tells incredible stories to our family at Christmas time. Infact, I think I'm going to ask him to tell one for my thesis concert. What a great idea! Thank you Laurie Anderson.
In another vidoe I watched her sing. I'd alwyas heard of Laurie Anderson and heard some of her work, but had never watched her perform. I loved her presence,an almost a clown like mused face. I loved her use of sound and text. Not song writing, but sound writing. I'm inspried and want to figure out how to create my own sound scores.
I loved the story telling she did with the keyboard. I foget that this form of text is an art form. My cousin tells incredible stories to our family at Christmas time. Infact, I think I'm going to ask him to tell one for my thesis concert. What a great idea! Thank you Laurie Anderson.
In another vidoe I watched her sing. I'd alwyas heard of Laurie Anderson and heard some of her work, but had never watched her perform. I loved her presence,an almost a clown like mused face. I loved her use of sound and text. Not song writing, but sound writing. I'm inspried and want to figure out how to create my own sound scores.
Dance Article Review 2 - Momix
'Botanica' blends sound, music, dance
By Sid Smith, Special to the Tribune
Reading this article Maida sent me I remember so clearly auditioning for Pilobolus and then later Momix years ago in NYC. I remember as a dancer not really knowing their work but knowing they were famous and would have a pay check for me. I first auditioned for Pilobolus at ADF and then was asked to join the NYC auditions. It became clear in NYC I wasn't interested. I love this article because it so clearly says what Momix is doing, it is not dancing. It is moving objects around on stage, putting neat costumes on and creating moods, or gardens, but the kinethic experience of whippping and tossing and moving seemlessly through space is not happening on the stage. Nor was it happening at the Pilobolus audition years ago.
I remember as a dancer there feeling betrayed, how could they call themselves a dance company if they aren't actually dancing? Now with this term Dancers as Visual Artists, the title is becoming more true to the content. And this I appreciate. I remember looking at the company members and not understanding how or why they would sacrifice the joy of momentum and kinethetic experience for holding on to another person stiffly or doing an awkward side ways stepping movement. I didn't get the audition, although I got very close for Pilobolus and for Momix, they gave the spot to my roomate. When I asked Momix why they were giving the spot to her instead of me, Momix said, your roomate wanted it more. I guess they were right.
That being said, in this article they spoke of Moses Pendelton's love of farming and his 35 speicies of sunflowers. I too have a field of sunflowers. Maybe out on the farm we would see more eye to eye.
With Momix
By Sid Smith, Special to the Tribune
Reading this article Maida sent me I remember so clearly auditioning for Pilobolus and then later Momix years ago in NYC. I remember as a dancer not really knowing their work but knowing they were famous and would have a pay check for me. I first auditioned for Pilobolus at ADF and then was asked to join the NYC auditions. It became clear in NYC I wasn't interested. I love this article because it so clearly says what Momix is doing, it is not dancing. It is moving objects around on stage, putting neat costumes on and creating moods, or gardens, but the kinethic experience of whippping and tossing and moving seemlessly through space is not happening on the stage. Nor was it happening at the Pilobolus audition years ago.
I remember as a dancer there feeling betrayed, how could they call themselves a dance company if they aren't actually dancing? Now with this term Dancers as Visual Artists, the title is becoming more true to the content. And this I appreciate. I remember looking at the company members and not understanding how or why they would sacrifice the joy of momentum and kinethetic experience for holding on to another person stiffly or doing an awkward side ways stepping movement. I didn't get the audition, although I got very close for Pilobolus and for Momix, they gave the spot to my roomate. When I asked Momix why they were giving the spot to her instead of me, Momix said, your roomate wanted it more. I guess they were right.
That being said, in this article they spoke of Moses Pendelton's love of farming and his 35 speicies of sunflowers. I too have a field of sunflowers. Maybe out on the farm we would see more eye to eye.
With Momix
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Wolf Talk- rehearsal 1
No video yet, next rehearsal will be videod. We talked briefly about the structure, about watching wolves run and play and chase and hunt.
We began by moving slowly, in a contact stretchy way. We were constistently "in" for 30 minutes. Would have been a wonderful performance.
Things that stuck with me:
Running in circle bouncing off the walls.
Drinking from the water bowls.
Chasing in a pull and tug manner.
Jumping over eachothers backs, from a lying down position.
My fast feet running in place while balanced on Brain's back.
Brian's focus when sapping up the water.
Coming to standing, slow standing section, with soft arm movement, sad to be standing, sad to be human.
After the first set we talked about what "stuck" with us. We talked about performing in the round. We talked about our love of improvising. We talked about this piece being part of my larger thesis concert. We talked about taking video footage of Daisy my wolf in Colorado, and working with someone during the performance that could VJ, during the performance turning on different videos as they wished during our performance.
??? How do we use video outside?
I explained the 20 questions game and we played it. Worked on comparing it to pork chops, forgetting now what else I said. Froze then slowly transformed into wolves and began to chase eachother in a circle before warming up to eachother and eating or lapping up water, a nice beginning.
We began by moving slowly, in a contact stretchy way. We were constistently "in" for 30 minutes. Would have been a wonderful performance.
Things that stuck with me:
Running in circle bouncing off the walls.
Drinking from the water bowls.
Chasing in a pull and tug manner.
Jumping over eachothers backs, from a lying down position.
My fast feet running in place while balanced on Brain's back.
Brian's focus when sapping up the water.
Coming to standing, slow standing section, with soft arm movement, sad to be standing, sad to be human.
After the first set we talked about what "stuck" with us. We talked about performing in the round. We talked about our love of improvising. We talked about this piece being part of my larger thesis concert. We talked about taking video footage of Daisy my wolf in Colorado, and working with someone during the performance that could VJ, during the performance turning on different videos as they wished during our performance.
??? How do we use video outside?
I explained the 20 questions game and we played it. Worked on comparing it to pork chops, forgetting now what else I said. Froze then slowly transformed into wolves and began to chase eachother in a circle before warming up to eachother and eating or lapping up water, a nice beginning.
Choreographic Project Defined- Wolf Talk
My intention for this choreographic project is to create a contact improvisation duet with my dance parnter Brian Buck. The piece at this point begins with a diaologue of the two of us, Brian dressed up as a little girl and me in a business casual outfit playing 20 questions. Ending the game with Brian yelling "It's chicken McNuggets." We then slowly tranform into wolves, once we touch the ground we take off running and the bulk of the physical piece begins. Running, connecting, fighting, playing drinking dive into our primal selves and use contact improvisation as a shared language. We will rehearse once a week on Wed for 3 hours in my Purcellville Gym, where I teach yoga and pilates.
I intend the piece to be about 15-20 minutes long, and it will include video footage of wolves from Misson Wolf in Colorado, where I'm going to see my wolf Daisy in Oct. For the music I'm thinking about maybe haivng my musican fiddler friend and drummer friend play as well as wolves howling on tape.
We will perform once or twice in an afternoon at Glen Echo Park in Maryland on a Sat or Sunday afternoon, somewhere in the park outside.
I'm also toying wtih the idea of performing it at dog shelter fund raising event out here in Western Loudoun Cty. My limitations are going to be the musicians schedules.
I intend the piece to be about 15-20 minutes long, and it will include video footage of wolves from Misson Wolf in Colorado, where I'm going to see my wolf Daisy in Oct. For the music I'm thinking about maybe haivng my musican fiddler friend and drummer friend play as well as wolves howling on tape.
We will perform once or twice in an afternoon at Glen Echo Park in Maryland on a Sat or Sunday afternoon, somewhere in the park outside.
I'm also toying wtih the idea of performing it at dog shelter fund raising event out here in Western Loudoun Cty. My limitations are going to be the musicians schedules.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Dance Quote- NY Times 9/4/2011
"Though the piece is famous for its décor of helium-filled silver pillows by Andy Warhol," Alastair Macaulay writes, "they wouldn’t seem the least bit wild were it not for the behavior of the dancers."
Monday, September 5, 2011
Street Dance Festival in San Paolo, Brazil Video 2 week 1
I watched the video of the Street Dance Festival in San Paolo, Brazil, April 2011. This to me is how dance should be viewed. In the streets where anyone can see the dance. Not put alone in a black box theatre where only a few lucky souls get to enter. Out in the open, free, to be experienced and understood, a part of our culture. It takes nerve. Especially if you are all alone. As soon as you have one more person it easier. I grew dancing, learning improvisation in Washington Square Park with Cyrus Khambatta and the Phffft dance theatre. We rehearsed out side in the park everyday. Always an audience, always a learning curve. It was fresh.
I loved what was being presented at this festival, smart, thought through work, not just easy work becasue the venue is easy. Easy meaning no production. The art being showed still had high quality value and that I appreciated. Sometimes for me it's easy to not take outside work as seriously for some reason. Creating it and watching it. I want this point of view to shift. It will. Some of the works were set, some seemed improvised, but all seemed of high integrity.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
PearsonWidrig DanceTheatre Video 1 week 1
I watched Solo section of Oashisu by PearsonWidrig DanceTheatre.Dance as body. Wow, he was an amazing body moving through space in this spacious museum, with nice shiny wood floors. Oh, but there were three huge paintings on the wall. Blueish smears, redish smears, yellowish. Hmm, but what was he doing? Reacting to their hugeness. Maybe, maybe not. Was it improvised, maybe maybe not. Was it a human body, or just any old body flinging itself around? I don't quite understand this kind of acrobatics, but it is out there and it is astonishing. I wonder if when people watch my solo of me contacting with the air, they get this same sort of disembodied experience? I know some people said it made them nervous. I didn't like that.
I guess I've never been partial to dancing without a name. Without a personal attachment to whatever it is that is coming out of the body. I guess I also happen to love paintings and colors and just kept thinking how I didn't feel this movement was honoring the colors I saw painted before me. But perhaps I am wrong. Maybe he was the paint brush, with the polished strokes that at once seem improvised and flung, but are flung with such precision, each time the leg flips around the spine upside down, that one feels its pure essence of form itself. Maybe the art is in the execution, not the connection. Maybe that is the point. The dancer as the tool. Sharp, linear, but highly flexible on one end.
Dance Article Review 1- Grand Central Station
NY Times-The Art of Summer The Fluid Human Dance That Is Grand Central- Sunday Sept 4, 2011
I love the title of this article. I love the idea of this article. "Times critics are writing about everyday seasonal experiences." I love the simplicity of comparison of everyday gatherings of people as a comparison to dance. I loved the specific descriptions of the way people held them selves, percieved by the writer. "Carried their shoulders, swiveled their pelvis.
I love people watching myself. It fills me. I remember living in NYC, used to never understand why people didn't say hellow on the streets and i know why now. There is so much other information that people need to learn to shut down to deal with it all. But when you are empty and wanting stimulation there is no better place then a busy place to watch people like Grand Central Station. I loved the desription difference of people in the afternoon versus the morning. "More sexy, more released." I would have thought more tired, but infact what this viewer witnessed was just the opposite. The sense of letting go of the day was apparent.
I'm not sure I've ever been to Grand Central Station, but this article made me want to go there. Not so much to be a fly on the wall, but instead to be a dancer in the author's show.
Lab 2- I'm not a baby anymore.
Lab 2 wasn't as emotionally intense as Lab 1, blood sugar was low and I was tired. Still I proceeded to see what comes out of me in different states of being. Maida asked us to bring an object that was important to us, this lab was to be about our personal experience. I realized for me almost all of my improvisations are from personal history, but bringing in an object definetly focused the subject matter. Again surprised at its emotional content, (the coolest thing about improvising!) this one was a deepening of the first lab I did. I at first was weary to bring in my object, but putting my judgement away I just went with what it brough out in me. Coming to a place of sadness in the improv and ending in that place for a time I was curious what was going to happen next. How does one move on from sadness. Well I jsut did. I stood up and started a non emotional body part exploration. Again working with this idea of body part intitiation versus full body movement. I started in my feet, then it moved up to my knees, trying not to use my arms which I also initiate from often, then hips. I loved dancing to the Ravi Shankar music, satisfying one of my goals to dance with music from a different country. This movement felt ok, new somehow, I was trying to stay with it. Then finally getting up to my arms and then head, at some point shifting focus into head and tail opposition which I love! Nt home place in my body. Then I tried to incorporate knees head and tail to see what that variation would do to my movement. Still not as interesting to me as head/tail initiation, but I'm trying to bring in more variety to my dancing, so for now even if the flavor isn't incredible I'm trying to explore.
I've included the part of the video that was me talking, turn up the volume and you can hear me. The body part dancing was nice, and the slow walking with the teddy bear is also good, but on film not so interesting. I like the state of being I'm in talking about the tree.
Lab 1-No more babies
For Maida's Lab 1 Assignment I went up to my lovely summer squash yellow yoga studio with wispy white curtains, turned on the music, a new favorite yoga CD, RAchel, and turned the camera on. I began to improvise. It became clear to me what the dance was about, I was surprised. I love dancing because of this. You can go through life unaware of what is just below the surface of your consciousness but as soon as I begin to dance the truth of my content pours out. Maybe its from so many years of autentic movement. I wonder if people practiced authentic talking if the same effect would occur. I danced stright with out stopping for 45 minutes and would have been really happy if there had been an audience.
I discovered in this reheasal that maybe I would like to approach Tsetva. She and I have always known eachother, but never had the chance to work together. Improvising upstairs in my studio all alone I once again realized this pure open form of improivsation is my most favorite state of creative process. I feel the most comfortable improvising. I think Tsetva and I might have fun togehter doing this kind of processs. When working with other improvisation companies the score was often too strict and limiting and therefore not as open or interetsing to me. For me being compeltely open to what is there on the inside and the outside is soo satisfying.
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