Winners of Dance Films’ What Moves You Challenge
August 13, 2009
Dance Films Association recently held a competition called “What Moves You? 48 Hour Challenge”. The premise was simple: Create a dance film inspired by the news in forty-eight hours. By setting a time limit, the emphasis was on creativity rather than budget. The full list of winners is posted on DFA’s website. David Fishel won the top prize for “And That’s the Way It Is” (above), based on this July 17th New York Post article about the death of Walter Cronkite, ending an “era of trust” in the United States. The second prize went to Alex Springer, Ian Burley, and Xan Burley for “Daylighting” (below), which is based on this New York Times article about the process of “daylighting” rivers and streams that have been buried under pavement.
Rachel Maddow on Dance, Art, and Society
August 10, 2009
Rachel Maddow at Jacob’s Pillow, photo by Christopher Duggan
Here’s another reason to love Rachel Maddow: this past Saturday at a free, outdoor PillowTalk hosted by Jacob’s Pillow, the popular television host, radio personality, and political commentator discussed the role that the arts play in our lives and society as a whole. In her characteristically smart, articulate, and witty manner, Maddow shared her thoughts on the importance of the arts and arts education while engaging in a discussion with the talk’s moderator, the Pillow’s Scholar-in-Residence Suzanne Carbonneau. But, Maddow started by boldly stating that she’s not a dance expert, just an appreciator: “I know nothing about dance. I am a fan. I am a fan of dance and of Jacob’s Pillow and a fan of people who know nothing about dance going to see dance.” Here are a few more of Maddow’s statements from the event:
“Sometimes we choose to serve our country in uniform, in war. Sometimes in elected office. And those are the ways of serving our country that I think we are trained to easily call heroic. It’s also a service to your country, I think, to teach poetry in the prisons, to be an incredibly dedicated student of dance, to fight for funding music and arts education in the schools. A country without an expectation of minimal artistic literacy, without a basic structure by which the artists among us can be awakened and given the choice of following their talents and a way to get to be great at what they do, is a country that is not actually as great as it could be. And a country without the capacity to nurture artistic greatness is not being a great country. It is a service to our country, and sometimes it is heroic service to our country, to fight for the United States of America to have the capacity to nurture artistic greatness.”
“Not just in wartime but especially in wartime, and not just in hard economic times but especially in hard economic times, the arts get dismissed as ‘sissy’. Dance gets dismissed as craft, creativity gets dismissed as inessential, to the detriment of our country. And so when we fight for dance, when we buy art that’s made by living American artists, when we say that even when you cut education to the bone, you do not cut arts and music education, because arts and music education IS bone, it is structural, it is essential; you are, in [Jacob’s Pillow founder] Ted Shawn’s words, you are preserving the way of life that we are supposedly fighting for and it’s worth being proud of.” -Rachel Maddow
Rachel Maddow and Suzanne Carbonneau at Jacob’s Pillow, photo by Christopher Duggan
DTW’s Community Choreography Project
August 9, 2009
This past May, Dance Theater Workshop started its Community Choreography project by using the power of Twitter, YouTube, and blogging to create collaborative movement videos. Here’s how it works: DTW’s Twitter page sends a tweet to its followers asking for movement ideas that will be incorporated into a video. After getting enough Twitter responses, DTW creates a video using the suggestions and posts the video on DTW’s blog and YouTube channel.
The tenth and most recent Community Choreography video encourages viewers to use their own soundtrack while watching Jillian Sweeney perform. It’s a great exercise that produces a unique result and viewing experience for each person. Still feeling inspired by last week’s show at PS 122, I listened to Kanye West’s “Welcome to Heartbreak” while watching. Check out the comments section on DTW’s post, where I shared some thoughts. And I encourage you to find your own sound source for the video and post some comments as well. If you’re on Twitter, you can contribute to the 11th Community Choreography here.
Butoh Workshop at The Living Theatre
August 7, 2009
Eseohe Arhebamen, photo by Ji-hyun Chung
This Sunday, poet, dancer, and choreographer Eseohe Arhebamen/Edoheart will lead a Butoh dance workshop at The Living Theatre. Known as the “Dance of Darkness”, existing somewhere between performance art, avant-garde theatre, and spiritual practice, Butoh is ultimately a free form, concerning existences, and is useful in all practices.
The four-hour workshop will be split into three parts: Basic Butoh, Sight, and Poetry/Language. In the first section, Basic Butoh, exercises will deal with tempo, continuity, and possession. In Sight, exercises will attempt to regain the imaginative creation of alternate environments through meditation in movement. The final section, Poetry, exists in two subsections. The first is using the body to create personal language for public interaction. In the second, we will deconstruct the word emotion by exploring the source of vocal expressions while in movement.
The workshop is on Sunday, August 9, from 2 to 6 PM at The Living Theatre: 21 Clinton Street between E. Houston and Stanton. The cost is 15 dollars at the door. No dance or theater training is required to participate.
Merce Cunningham Dance Company at Rockefeller Park
August 6, 2009
Brandon Collwes, Andrea Weber, and Silas Riener of Merce Cunningham Dance Company, photo by Julieta Cervantes
This past weekend, hundreds of people gathered on the expansive, sun-drenched lawn of Rockefeller Park to see Merce Cunningham Dance Company perform the site-specific “Event” as part of the River to River Festival. Saturday’s performance was a beautiful tribute and farewell to Merce Cunningham, who died on July 26 at the age of ninety and considered New York City to be his home. Shifting among two stages separated by a narrow strip of grass, the eleven dancers moved thrillingly through phrases – in solos, duets, and trios – that were organic and fluid in one moment, disjointed and choppy in the next. The contrasts were intriguing, particularly as they were accompanied by a score that ranged from ambient to sharp electronics to brief silences. With so much to absorb in one phrase of movement, it was difficult to tear the eyes away to observe the dancers on the other stage. Cunningham’s choreography is nuanced and challenging enough on its own; in an open, outdoor space, the audience had to struggle with where to focus its attention.
The performance felt wonderfully peaceful and calming, perhaps because of Cunningham’s recent death or perhaps because of the tranquil setting and unusual hush over the lawn. This was not a gloomy affair, but rather a celebration of Cunningham’s life and influential role as an artist.
Merce Cunningham Dance Company, photo by Julieta Cervantes
Daniel Madoff, Silas Riener, and Marcie Munnerlyn of Merce Cunningham Dance Company, photo by Julieta Cervantes
