via Culturebot:

Over the past few years, Israel has consistently produced some of the most exciting, innovative, and unexpected choreographers working in the field today. As a result, contemporary dance is one of Israel’s most respected and innovative exports. Under the influence of Ohad Naharin’s signature movement language Gaga and the worldwide success of the Batsheva Dance Company, a new generation of Israeli choreographers has been making a name for themselves in the contemporary dance world. Join renowned young choreographers Deganit Shemy, Saar Harari and Andrea Miller (of Deganit Shemy & Company, LeeSaar The Company, and Gallim Dance, respectively) as they share excerpts of their work, discuss their methods, and explore the meaning of contemporary movement in relation to historical conceptions of the Jewish Body. Moderated by Elizabeth Zimmer and presented by the Foundation for Jewish Culture and the JCC in Manhattan.

Beyond Gaga: Contemporary Israeli Dance and the Reinvention of the Jewish Body will be held on October 22, 2009 at 8 PM at the JCC in Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Avenue at 76^th Street. Tickets are $10 and are available online or by phone at 646.505.5708.  You can also RSVP on Facebook.

This event is presented in partnership with Nextbook Inc., as part of Jewish Body Week (October 18-25) – a series of events in New York City exploring the subjects raised in Melvin Konner’s 2009 book, The Jewish Body. Visit Jewish Body Week’s website for a full schedule of events.

Our Culture (high and popular) is usually created by people who are happy with the systems the world has given them. Magazine editors don’t spend a lot of time wishing for better technology. Opera singers focus more on their singing than on microphone technologies. Novelists proudly use typewriters.

Sure, there are exceptions like Les Paul (who developed the electric guitar) and Mitch Miller (who invented reverb) but these exceptions prove the rule: often, culture is invented by people who are too busy to seek out new technology.

…The best new media (like blogs and possibly Twitter) open doors to people who didn’t used to have a voice. The worst ones (like blogs and possibly Twitter) merely create new venues for scams and senseless yelling.

When I think about where dance critics fall on Godin’s grid, there would probably be a handful in the top left corner and another, increasingly growing number in the top right corner.   In addition, a small number falls into both categories: mainstream critics who are fortunately still employed or getting freelance work from print publications, but also have hopped on the blogging bandwagon in an effort to reach a broader audience and create visibility for themselves.  Wendy Perron, Editor-in-Chief of the monthly publication Dance Magazine, posts thoughts on her blog every few days, and The New York Times dance critic Claudia La Rocco started an online and offline Performance Club to engage arts audiences.  They’re also doing Culture a favor by embracing new technology and interacting with readers.  But the small pool of people in both categories is an exception, and the ongoing discussion about the future of dance criticism often pits mainstream critics against dance bloggers.  Ideally, the top left corner of the grid will recognize the value in seeking out new technology and will shift to the right, but this will be most successful if print publications as a whole, not just their technologically-curious journalists and critics, also make the shift.

photos by Yaniv Schulman

Last week, I had the privilege of visiting the set of Opus Jazz: The Film, which recently resumed and completed filming after shooting the third section, “Passage for Two”, on the High Line about two years ago.  The new film version of Jerome Robbins’ 1958 ballet is scheduled to debut on PBS’s Great Performances/Dance in America series in the spring of 2010 (for updates, visit the film’s website).  For the past several weeks, the cast and crew worked at various locations throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn, including McCarren Park Pool and a school gymnasium in Carroll Gardens, and wrapped up filming in a beautiful 1929 Loews movie theater in Jersey City, where I had the opportunity to observe everyone in action.

As it turns out, the action involves a lot of waiting.  Just as I arrived in mid-afternoon, a crew member announced that the sixteen dancers could take five, so they scurried off the stage and into the seats of the theater to check voicemails and text messages, nap, stretch, and re-caffeinate (they had been in the theater since 8 AM).  The five minute break turned into a half hour delay as the crew worked on camera angle adjustments – the film is being shot from one camera – and consulted with Ellen Bar and Sean Suozzi (the film’s creators and executive producers), but the downtime gave me an opportunity to chat with some of the dancers, all of whom are members of New York City Ballet.

Cast members Amanda Hankes, Georgina Pazcoguin, Adam Hendrickson, Rebecca Krohn, Tiler Peck, and Andrew Veyette

I quickly learned from Craig Hall, an NYCB soloist, that the greatest challenge of filming was exactly what we were doing at that moment: waiting.  The go-stop-go nature of shooting was an abrupt change from performing on stage, where the show must go on no matter what happens.  Hall added, “The choreography is ingrained in our bodies and the dancers know what the ballet looks like”, but the film version is still a mystery.  Between filming out of chronological order and the endless process of editing, the dancers have no idea what to expect.  Other dancers agreed that filming doesn’t offer the instant gratification that comes with live performances, where the dancers are in control of the outcome, but Hall proudly stated, “I’m honored to be a part of this, and we’re all really lucky to have such a unique collaboration between dancers and the filmmakers.”

While sipping coffee, Adam Hendrickson added that the cast and crew have become a big, loving family, especially bonding during overnight shoots in a dirty warehouse (On his informative and entertaining blog about the filming process, he wrote, “To call it hazardous would be the understatement of the decade.  It will be the craziest place ever danced in.”).  He explained, “We’re normally sheltered at NYCB, but here we’ve had the chance to meet new people, watch them work, and be a part of it.”  Aside from Sunday rehearsals in the studio and some guidance from Jean-Pierre Frohlich, an NYCB ballet master and member of the Robbins Rights Trust advisory committee, the film project is entirely separate from the company and the dancers used their summer vacation time for filming (they returned to their regular NYCB work schedules this week).  Hendrickson admitted that it’s nice to feel distanced from the company, because when working with film directors Henry Joost and Jody Lee Lipes, “You want to do the ballet a certain way for them that might not be the same way you do it on stage at NYCB.  The choreography hasn’t changed, but the vision is different.”

Rebecca Krohn

When the crew announced that they were ready to start again, the dancers headed toward the stage, all laughing and in good spirits in spite of the long hours and choppy schedule.  As soon as the camera was rolling and the jazzy rhythms of Robert Prince’s score were audible, the dancers’ youthful energy, angst, and rebellious spirit – all at the heart of the ballet – were palpable.  As an ensemble, their dancing reflected the description that appeared in the program when the ballet first premiered in June 1958:

Feeling very much like a minority group in this threatening and explosive world, the young have so identified with the dynamics, kinetic impetus, the drives and ‘coolness’ of today’s jazz steps that these dances have become an expression of our youths’ outlook and their attitudes toward the contemporary world around them, just as each era’s dance has significantly reflected the character of our changing world and a manner of dealing with it. N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz is a formal, abstract ballet based on the kinds of movements, complexities of rhythms, expressions of relationships, and qualities of atmospheres found in today’s dance.

Standing breathless on the stage of Loews after a full shoot of the final section, the dancers certainly embodied the spirit of the ballet, but Opus Jazz: The Film is not just a restaging of Jerome Robbins’ piece.  It’s a reinvention – one that preserves the choreography and music while offering new costumes, a new backdrop, and a new medium that can reach a much broader audience than a theater can.  The film wouldn’t exist without Robbins’ ballet, but the creative team is doing much more than simply transferring the steps to film.  By showing respect to their predecessors while building on this timeless ballet with their own ideas and vision, the producers, directors, cast, and crew are making N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz their own and offering a unique contribution to dance and film.

All photos by Yaniv Schulman

In another category are the journalists-turned-bloggers – individuals who have lost jobs or freelance work at publications and are now blogging for exposure (and hopefully because they love what they do).  Laura Collins-Hughes, who blogs on ArtsJournal and ARTicles, the blog of the National Arts Journalism Program, wrote a compelling post about why it’s unacceptable for journalists to be blogging for free.  She explains that it’s fine to use blogging for exposure, but firmly states that “exposure doesn’t pay the rent” and journalists who blog for free “debase journalism”.  By blogging, journalists are providing a service to their readers, so it seems logical that there should be a monetary incentive while exposure should be an additional perk.  But sadly, paid blogging is the exception, not the rule.

So what does this mean for the future of blogging and journalism?  For individuals, blogging isn’t sustainable or realistic if it’s given away for free, while employers and publications that are suffering from budget cuts can look for journalists who are willing to volunteer their services.  And it’s hardly worth mentioning corporate sponsors, which are fading fast.  I wonder for how long journalists will blog for free before putting their foot down and demanding to be paid for their time and product.  And at one point is blogging merely for exposure no longer worth it?  How do independent bloggers like myself strike a balance between blogging for personal fulfillment and making a living?   I seriously doubt Dancing Perfectly Free will ever be a paid, full-time job.  But if it is, that publicist will be the first to know.