http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTbSuC-U0OQ&feature=related
Horse Dance
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
SERIOUSLY! The Future depends on play - teaser/fundraising clip
http://vimeo.com/34233390
I have to remember to PLAY MORE!!!!!!! CI jams are play for me, i need to remember to let my art making be playful as well, sometimes it is but sometimes stress sneaks in. Play, play, play, how can i weave that into my yoga classes as well. Tickle fights with the kids are our perfect play here. Remember, remember, remember!!!!!!!
I have to remember to PLAY MORE!!!!!!! CI jams are play for me, i need to remember to let my art making be playful as well, sometimes it is but sometimes stress sneaks in. Play, play, play, how can i weave that into my yoga classes as well. Tickle fights with the kids are our perfect play here. Remember, remember, remember!!!!!!!
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Deborah Jowitt's beutiful writing
In the Garden
January 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Leslie Kraus, Douglas Gillespie, and Bergen Wheeler in Kate Weare's Garden. Photo: Keira Heu-Jwyn Chang
The opening image is of Luke Murphy, supine, bent backward over the stump, while Douglas Gillespie, Leslie Kraus, and Bergen Wheeler stand beneath the inverted tree staring at him. The women’s pale outfits (by Sarah Cubbage) are curiously draped, hung, or bunched up. Taped music by Goldmund drops spare piano notes into a glade that lighting designer Brian Jones defines as sunny with shadows. In this tremulous world, Weare’s superb dancers create a fertile interplay of feelings and relationships—neither through recognizable “behavior” nor by the kind of acting that tells us “she loves him” or “he’s feeling jealous,” but with movement that seems drawn from primal urges, refined in choreographic fire, and cooled into expressive form.
These survivors unite in unison, pair up in various combinations, dance alone, and assist the weak ones or confront the strong. They make connections, then sever them. And always, they watch one another—on guard, trying to interpret, making decisions. Their actions are supported by an eclectic but elegantly chosen mix of music: three selections by pianist-composer Goldmund, a vintage Mexican pop song, two pieces by contemporary composer Keeril Makan, and two Renaissance works—one for lute by Marco dall’Aquila, one for lute and voice by Claudin de Sermisy.
Bergen Wheeler. Photo by Keira Heu-Jwyn Chang
In many encounters, tenderness and cruelty mingle. Kraus and Murphy stand pressed together, then she pushes him away and, in the ensuing few seconds, places her hand on his head and presses him down and stands on him; then, atop the stump, she puts her hands on his head again and bends him over. Whenever the men and women form couples, they handle their partners with a kind of rough intrepidity; you can believe they’re trying to get under each other’s skin, to know what bone on bone feels like. When a man wheels a woman into the air, the act can seem exultant or dangerous. She could be attacking; he might consider hurling her away like a chair flung in rage.
Luke Murphy and Leslie Kraus. Photo: Keira Heu-Jwyn Chang
One thing that appears to thread below the changing alliances and individual statements is that health lies in unity. Near the beginning, Gillespie, Kraus, and Wheeler pick Murphy up from the stump, carry him to a new place, and set him on his feet. In the last moments of Garden, all four cluster on the stump, and Murphy arches slowly, drastically backward. This is what we see as the lights fade. A man at the edge of an abyss, his friends holding him fast. For how long will they maintain this balance? How long will the garden grow?
Bound together: Wheeler, Gillespie, Kraus, and Murphy. Photo: Keira Heu-Jwyn Chang
Weare’s work shared the program with Kyle Abraham’s Live!: The Realest MC (2011), which I hadn’t seen before either. I planned to write about it, but discovered that around 20 minutes had had to been edited from it to fit the series’ 40-minutes-per-choreographer policy. It’s only fair to Abraham that I wait to comment until I’ve seen the whole work.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
APAP Preview: Ten Things the Dance Field Should Be Talking About in 2012
Posted by tendutv in TenduTV, The Dance World on 01 5th, 2012 | ark
It’s the first week in January, which means three things happen in the dance world.
Finally, since APAP represents a time when a critical mass of domestic performing arts presenters gather and look towards the future, TenduTV publishes its annual top 10 list of things that the dance field should be talking about over the next 12 months. How did we do last year? See for yourself.
1. Globalization (#1 in 2011)
Globalization topped the list in 2010 and 2011, and holds its place this year. By the end of this year, globalization in dance won’t be an emerging trend… it will be a permanent state of existence, and every company should be aware of their global positioning, even if they’ve never toured outside of their home city.
Last month, four Nutcrackers were broadcast into cinemas, and the rumored box-office revenue from the Bolshoi’s cinemacasts exceeds the total earned and contributed revenue for all but perhaps the dozen largest domestic dance companies. Exclusivity provisions in distribution agreements can, will and are limiting the potential footprint for other dance organizations attempting to reach new audiences around the world.
Is it possible for one performing arts organization located thousands of miles away to limit the ability of another performing arts organization to reach audiences in its own home city? Yes.
For a fun slideshow, see our summary on The Huffington Post (coming soon).
2. 3D (#5 in 2011)
Last year’s list stated that Pina would drive the domestic conversation on the potential for 3D as a vehicle for the performing arts, and the overwhelming response to the film within the dance community should have everyone paying attention. If you’re wondering what the next project is, the list already includes several dozen entries.
Last year’s list referenced the importance of passive display sets in consumer adoption, and this year’s Consumer Electronics Show should serve as a tipping point for this technology. While there have been a few hiccups along the way, the format is inevitable, and the next TV you buy will be 3D – whether you want it to be or not.
3. Developing Audiences for Contemporary Choreography
While the core ballet audience can seemingly never get enough of the classics – Giselle, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Sleeping Beauty – it’s hard to imagine that dance can sustain itself by constantly retelling the same story about an otherwise jovial trip through the forests of Silesia ruined thanks to a few selfishly homicidal virgin spirits (unless of course, those virgin spirits develop a thirst for blood). Beyond a certain point, viewer fatigue has to set in, and arguably has already set in for some works. International theatrical broadcasts only compound the situation by offering yet more variations on these well-known classics. In order to appeal to new audiences, access to a a wider variety of works and new works is required.
4: Intellectual Property Rights (#4 in 2011)
The 2010 and 2011 lists emphasized proper clearances and the point is worth repeating, especially with SOPA, PIPA and/or similar legislation destined to pass at some point in the future. While the ramifications of failing to properly clear rights have been almost negligible to date, it cannot be assumed that this will remain the case in the future. Even for Beyonce.
On a related note, dance companies need to take control of their promo clips – especially on YouTube. When a work or company tours, several dozen versions of the same clip end up online, all of which end up competing with one another. Typically, the oldest and most outdated clip gets the most attention and everyone loses – companies, presenters and audiences. Companies should make their channels the lone source of their promo clips.
Presenters – if you do insist on uploading clips, keep those that can be considered current, and ditch the rest. Example of a great presenter who is doing it right: The Joyce Theater.
5. Funder Driven Innovation (#8 in 2011)
Over the course of last year, a number of calls for “innovative” projects were issued and two things became clear. First, there is plenty of interest in innovation. Second, funders (or more specifically, the funding panels) may not be adequately prepared to evaluate or support innovation.
In one instance, a panel couldn’t accept HD work samples, because they didn’t have a Blu-ray player. Another funding panel completely dismissed documented business practices and technological limitations that fatally restricted their desired goals – for example, that distributors are not interested in putting performance films by unknown dance companies into a few hundred theaters or television markets, or that one project of interest was not possible given current technology.
Since it is unreasonable to expect grant panels, even “innovation” panels, to exist on the cutting edge, funders should implement mechanisms by which panelists can gain the immediate knowledge they need to perform the required evaluation(s), rather than assuming a default position of “We don’t understand why this technology is relevant, try again in 12 months.”
6. Moneyballet
The ballet world was shocked by a series of high profile moves this fall. First, David Hallberg went from American Ballet Theatre (ABT) to the Bolshoi, and was promptly cast in the lead for their cinemacast of Sleeping Beauty, while audiences swooned in preparation for his partnering with Bolshoi-starlet Natalia Osipova. Those dreams were immediately placed on hold, however, as the Vladimir Kekhman-led Mikhailovsky made an audacious swoop for Osipova and her fiancee Ivan Vasiliev only a few weeks later and Kekhman took little time to launch speculation that Hallberg was also on his shopping list. While Kekhman’s ownership/management style may have its critics, it’s hard to deny the potential benefit to the art of having management with the passion, business savvy and personal bank account to support a company’s mission.
New York audiences won’t have to wait too long to get a glimpse, as the Mikhailovsky comes to Lincoln Center in June.
With ballet becoming a bigger and bigger business, 2012 may bring more big moves. Domestically, the surprise beneficiary of this trend may be ABT, whose heavy use of featured guest principals (including Hallberg and Osipova) makes them the defacto supergroup of the dance world. It should also be interesting to watch post-season activity around the Miami City Ballet (MCB), thanks to their positively abysmal handling of Edward Villella’s departure. Artistic directors looking to add depth to their Balanchine rep likely spent Nutcracker intermissions combing the MCB roster for promotable and soon to be unsettled talent. We recommend MCB gets hold of a suitcase full of non-sequential and non-traceable $100 bills and Suzanne Farrell’s phone number.
7. Dancer Wellness
At a time when resources for presenting work are scarce, the number of companies creating work is actually growing. This is concerning on multiple levels. True, many companies have scaled back, in some cases significantly, but not many doors have actually closed. The mantra continues to be “doing more with less”, when it should be “less doing with more.”
Unfortunately, too much of “less” is being pushed onto the dancers, especially among small and midsize companies. They are working more jobs, struggling more to make ends meet, and increasingly likely to be underinsured. That we place the physical demands of professional athletes on our artists and then allow them to go without proper healthcare is our greatest failure as a field.
8. The New Dance Press Corps (#9 in 2011)
In 2011, the foundations were laid for a new voice to emerge in 2012–New York’s up-and-coming Collective for Dance Writing and New Media,” which we hope will fill the critical need for diverse voices on the art, in-depth features (the end of Sanjoy Roy’s “Step-by-Step” guides is perhaps the greatest loss of 2011), investigative reporting about the dance field and support for writers. Dance is badly in need of writers that can spark conversation by objectively covering the field, and a dependable vehicle by which to distribute that information to readers, and this new group will be something to watch.
One of our favorite moments from 2011: the twitter conversation among UK-based critics in the wake of Dave St. Pierre’s show at Sadler’s Wells. While we can’t link to the entire conversation, Luke Jennings’s review should provide a glimpse as to the meat of the discussion (Warning: Link contains images that may not be appropriate for younger readers).
9. The Election
With the Presidential election coming up in November, expect plenty of jawboning about how wasteful federal funding for the arts is, even though the NEA’s $147 million annual budget is less than half the size of the recent culture cuts in the Netherlands.
Alyssa Rosenberg at Think Progress summarized each candidate’s stance on the arts over the summer, and you may feel a slightly dirty twinge of hope when you realize that the two most pro-arts candidates in the Republican presidential hopeful clown car are Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum.
With the arts abolitionists out of the way, we may actually have the opportunity to stop fighting for nickels and dimes, and to start laying the groundwork for real federal funding for the arts. Is it too soon to propose pegging per capita arts funding to the price of a gallon of gasoline? At today’s pump prices, the NEA budget would be close to $1 billion.
10. So You Think You Can Dance – Coda?
On New Year’s Day, SYTYCD Executive Producer Nigel Lythgoe tweeted that Fox cancelled the weekly results show, and therefore the reality/competition show would undergo something of a format change – not good news in the context of the program’s declining ratings, and the 2011 cancellations of international versions of the format.
While some might cheer the fact that after this summer, dance professionals may no longer have to wonder what the hell “lyrical” dance is; we can’t ignore that SYTYCD used its platform to introduce audiences to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, New York City Ballet and Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. In fact, more people saw those companies on SYTYCD than saw them live over the course of (several) decades, and there’s nothing that can replace that impact.
Other predictions for 2012:
Although we said goodbye to the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in 2011, expect the company to still be the topic of many conversations, especially when the Merce Cunningham Trust assumes control of the late choreographer’s works mid-year. It is fair to assume that the Trust’s every move will be second guessed, fairly and unfairly, despite the fact that whether or not the Trust has been truly successful won’t be known for years to come.
Expect a huge decline in the number of pirated dance recordings on YouTube in 2012. Although this will hurt educators short term, it will strengthen the field in the long term. On the plus side, expect more legitimate content on the site.
It’s the first week in January, which means three things happen in the dance world.
Finally, since APAP represents a time when a critical mass of domestic performing arts presenters gather and look towards the future, TenduTV publishes its annual top 10 list of things that the dance field should be talking about over the next 12 months. How did we do last year? See for yourself.
1. Globalization (#1 in 2011)
Globalization topped the list in 2010 and 2011, and holds its place this year. By the end of this year, globalization in dance won’t be an emerging trend… it will be a permanent state of existence, and every company should be aware of their global positioning, even if they’ve never toured outside of their home city.
Last month, four Nutcrackers were broadcast into cinemas, and the rumored box-office revenue from the Bolshoi’s cinemacasts exceeds the total earned and contributed revenue for all but perhaps the dozen largest domestic dance companies. Exclusivity provisions in distribution agreements can, will and are limiting the potential footprint for other dance organizations attempting to reach new audiences around the world.
Is it possible for one performing arts organization located thousands of miles away to limit the ability of another performing arts organization to reach audiences in its own home city? Yes.
For a fun slideshow, see our summary on The Huffington Post (coming soon).
2. 3D (#5 in 2011)
Last year’s list stated that Pina would drive the domestic conversation on the potential for 3D as a vehicle for the performing arts, and the overwhelming response to the film within the dance community should have everyone paying attention. If you’re wondering what the next project is, the list already includes several dozen entries.
Last year’s list referenced the importance of passive display sets in consumer adoption, and this year’s Consumer Electronics Show should serve as a tipping point for this technology. While there have been a few hiccups along the way, the format is inevitable, and the next TV you buy will be 3D – whether you want it to be or not.
3. Developing Audiences for Contemporary Choreography
While the core ballet audience can seemingly never get enough of the classics – Giselle, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Sleeping Beauty – it’s hard to imagine that dance can sustain itself by constantly retelling the same story about an otherwise jovial trip through the forests of Silesia ruined thanks to a few selfishly homicidal virgin spirits (unless of course, those virgin spirits develop a thirst for blood). Beyond a certain point, viewer fatigue has to set in, and arguably has already set in for some works. International theatrical broadcasts only compound the situation by offering yet more variations on these well-known classics. In order to appeal to new audiences, access to a a wider variety of works and new works is required.
4: Intellectual Property Rights (#4 in 2011)
The 2010 and 2011 lists emphasized proper clearances and the point is worth repeating, especially with SOPA, PIPA and/or similar legislation destined to pass at some point in the future. While the ramifications of failing to properly clear rights have been almost negligible to date, it cannot be assumed that this will remain the case in the future. Even for Beyonce.
On a related note, dance companies need to take control of their promo clips – especially on YouTube. When a work or company tours, several dozen versions of the same clip end up online, all of which end up competing with one another. Typically, the oldest and most outdated clip gets the most attention and everyone loses – companies, presenters and audiences. Companies should make their channels the lone source of their promo clips.
Presenters – if you do insist on uploading clips, keep those that can be considered current, and ditch the rest. Example of a great presenter who is doing it right: The Joyce Theater.
5. Funder Driven Innovation (#8 in 2011)
Over the course of last year, a number of calls for “innovative” projects were issued and two things became clear. First, there is plenty of interest in innovation. Second, funders (or more specifically, the funding panels) may not be adequately prepared to evaluate or support innovation.
In one instance, a panel couldn’t accept HD work samples, because they didn’t have a Blu-ray player. Another funding panel completely dismissed documented business practices and technological limitations that fatally restricted their desired goals – for example, that distributors are not interested in putting performance films by unknown dance companies into a few hundred theaters or television markets, or that one project of interest was not possible given current technology.
Since it is unreasonable to expect grant panels, even “innovation” panels, to exist on the cutting edge, funders should implement mechanisms by which panelists can gain the immediate knowledge they need to perform the required evaluation(s), rather than assuming a default position of “We don’t understand why this technology is relevant, try again in 12 months.”
6. Moneyballet
The ballet world was shocked by a series of high profile moves this fall. First, David Hallberg went from American Ballet Theatre (ABT) to the Bolshoi, and was promptly cast in the lead for their cinemacast of Sleeping Beauty, while audiences swooned in preparation for his partnering with Bolshoi-starlet Natalia Osipova. Those dreams were immediately placed on hold, however, as the Vladimir Kekhman-led Mikhailovsky made an audacious swoop for Osipova and her fiancee Ivan Vasiliev only a few weeks later and Kekhman took little time to launch speculation that Hallberg was also on his shopping list. While Kekhman’s ownership/management style may have its critics, it’s hard to deny the potential benefit to the art of having management with the passion, business savvy and personal bank account to support a company’s mission.
New York audiences won’t have to wait too long to get a glimpse, as the Mikhailovsky comes to Lincoln Center in June.
With ballet becoming a bigger and bigger business, 2012 may bring more big moves. Domestically, the surprise beneficiary of this trend may be ABT, whose heavy use of featured guest principals (including Hallberg and Osipova) makes them the defacto supergroup of the dance world. It should also be interesting to watch post-season activity around the Miami City Ballet (MCB), thanks to their positively abysmal handling of Edward Villella’s departure. Artistic directors looking to add depth to their Balanchine rep likely spent Nutcracker intermissions combing the MCB roster for promotable and soon to be unsettled talent. We recommend MCB gets hold of a suitcase full of non-sequential and non-traceable $100 bills and Suzanne Farrell’s phone number.
7. Dancer Wellness
At a time when resources for presenting work are scarce, the number of companies creating work is actually growing. This is concerning on multiple levels. True, many companies have scaled back, in some cases significantly, but not many doors have actually closed. The mantra continues to be “doing more with less”, when it should be “less doing with more.”
Unfortunately, too much of “less” is being pushed onto the dancers, especially among small and midsize companies. They are working more jobs, struggling more to make ends meet, and increasingly likely to be underinsured. That we place the physical demands of professional athletes on our artists and then allow them to go without proper healthcare is our greatest failure as a field.
8. The New Dance Press Corps (#9 in 2011)
In 2011, the foundations were laid for a new voice to emerge in 2012–New York’s up-and-coming Collective for Dance Writing and New Media,” which we hope will fill the critical need for diverse voices on the art, in-depth features (the end of Sanjoy Roy’s “Step-by-Step” guides is perhaps the greatest loss of 2011), investigative reporting about the dance field and support for writers. Dance is badly in need of writers that can spark conversation by objectively covering the field, and a dependable vehicle by which to distribute that information to readers, and this new group will be something to watch.
One of our favorite moments from 2011: the twitter conversation among UK-based critics in the wake of Dave St. Pierre’s show at Sadler’s Wells. While we can’t link to the entire conversation, Luke Jennings’s review should provide a glimpse as to the meat of the discussion (Warning: Link contains images that may not be appropriate for younger readers).
9. The Election
With the Presidential election coming up in November, expect plenty of jawboning about how wasteful federal funding for the arts is, even though the NEA’s $147 million annual budget is less than half the size of the recent culture cuts in the Netherlands.
Alyssa Rosenberg at Think Progress summarized each candidate’s stance on the arts over the summer, and you may feel a slightly dirty twinge of hope when you realize that the two most pro-arts candidates in the Republican presidential hopeful clown car are Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum.
With the arts abolitionists out of the way, we may actually have the opportunity to stop fighting for nickels and dimes, and to start laying the groundwork for real federal funding for the arts. Is it too soon to propose pegging per capita arts funding to the price of a gallon of gasoline? At today’s pump prices, the NEA budget would be close to $1 billion.
10. So You Think You Can Dance – Coda?
On New Year’s Day, SYTYCD Executive Producer Nigel Lythgoe tweeted that Fox cancelled the weekly results show, and therefore the reality/competition show would undergo something of a format change – not good news in the context of the program’s declining ratings, and the 2011 cancellations of international versions of the format.
While some might cheer the fact that after this summer, dance professionals may no longer have to wonder what the hell “lyrical” dance is; we can’t ignore that SYTYCD used its platform to introduce audiences to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, New York City Ballet and Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. In fact, more people saw those companies on SYTYCD than saw them live over the course of (several) decades, and there’s nothing that can replace that impact.
Other predictions for 2012:
Although we said goodbye to the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in 2011, expect the company to still be the topic of many conversations, especially when the Merce Cunningham Trust assumes control of the late choreographer’s works mid-year. It is fair to assume that the Trust’s every move will be second guessed, fairly and unfairly, despite the fact that whether or not the Trust has been truly successful won’t be known for years to come.
Expect a huge decline in the number of pirated dance recordings on YouTube in 2012. Although this will hurt educators short term, it will strengthen the field in the long term. On the plus side, expect more legitimate content on the site.
Slap stick dance duo in LA
Liz Casebolt and Joel Smith plan more unorthodox dance moves - The team's choreography takes aim at conventions and puts their neuroses on display. They're planning an unorthodox six-week run of 'O(h).'
Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
Friday, January 13, 2012
Zap's Unearthing- I can't wait!
http://vimeo.com/34993976
Great Promo with sweet music to get us excited about her upcoming show.
www.theunearthing.com
has a list of orgs under Take Action
Great Promo with sweet music to get us excited about her upcoming show.
www.theunearthing.com
has a list of orgs under Take Action
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Winner of InShadow Film Festival in South Amercia
http://www.mitchellrose.com/advance.html
Ahhhhhhh! I loved the urgency the globalness, the repetition, the simplicity of design, and the complexity of the steps. 2 dancers in black begin walking away from the camera doing gesture movments and are transported to different envronments every 4 seconds through out the 2 minute video.
Ahhhhhhh! I loved the urgency the globalness, the repetition, the simplicity of design, and the complexity of the steps. 2 dancers in black begin walking away from the camera doing gesture movments and are transported to different envronments every 4 seconds through out the 2 minute video.
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