A Herkimer diamond, indeed!

We've all read them, right? The dance bios that are mainly a string of companies and choreographers worked with, venues shown at and awards gratefully received but that don't give you a living, breathing sense of the person. Well, every now and then, a bio comes along that stops you dead in your tracks, and you have to grin or laugh out loud.

Here's one, posted with permission, from dancer Lawrence Cassella who's appearing now with Ivy Baldwin Dance in Baldwin's new Could be nice...... at Dixon Place .

Lawrence Cassella was born into a big family in Herkimer, NY. One of six children, he is now an uncle ten times, and I honestly don't think they're done! That is alright though, since they are a fine bunch. The diamonds buried in the valley surrounding his hometown had a profound effect on him, they commanded him to dance. And, so, here he is, "dancing". He is enjoying his life, and wants you to enjoy it too. Not his, yours! So, he suggests a healthy dose of Tori Amos. She's got something important to tell you. "Scarlet's Walk" is especially terrific! Lastly, I think it wise to mention Biblo the dog at least once. He is doing well in his middle age, and happy with his daily walks and biscuits. He says hello."

This is followed by Cassella's email address (which I will not reprint here) in case you "want to say hi."

BTW, I recommend you see Could be nice....... Cassella, who has a lengthy, powerful solo at the beginning of the piece, is as good as his bio, and the fancifully creative Baldwin has found a way to lash back at the space limitations of Dixon Place with audacious flair and some humor. The performing team, besides Cassella, includes wonderful Mindy Nelson and Katie Workum. The show concludes tomorrow evening.

Death of journalist Tom Terrell announced

World Music Journalist Tom Terrell Loses Battle with Cancer

The Turning World (2)

Six Killers: Lung Disease--From Smoking Boom, a Major Killer of Women by Denise Grady, The New York Times, November 29, 2007

clipped from www.nytimes.com

War/Dance

For more information on this award-winning film, directed by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine, click here and here.

Angier's "Dance of Evolution"

"If you have ever been to a Jewish wedding, you know that sooner or later the ominous notes of 'Hava Nagila' will sound, and you will be expected to dance the hora. And if you don’t really know how to dance the hora, you will nevertheless be compelled to join hands with others, stumble around in a circle, give little kicks and pretend to enjoy yourself, all the while wondering if there’s a word in Yiddish that means “she who stares pathetically at the feet of others because she is still trying to figure out how to dance the hora.”

Continue reading Natalie Angier's "The Dance of Evolution, or How Art Got Its Start" (New York Times, November 27, 2007) here.

Schermerhorn House: affordable housing for artists

UPDATE: See corrected phone number at the bottom of this post.


Schermerhorn House
Newly Constructed Affordable Housing
(Expected opening: May 2008)
160 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NY (between Smith and Hoyt Streets)

In response to the need for affordable housing, The Actors Fund and Common Ground Community have joined forces to develop this unique, 217-unit residence for single adults in the heart of downtown Brooklyn. Half of the building will target individuals affiliated with the performing arts and entertainment industry, and half will house formerly homeless individuals living with HIV/AIDS or mental health needs.

Schermerhorn House will also have a 2,000 square foot state-of-the-art performance space and multipurpose room. Residents and community arts organizations may use this space for rehearsals, performances, films and exhibitions, enriching the vibrant and growing Brooklyn arts culture.

Eligibility for Schermerhorn House is based on federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Guidelines. An applicants’ gross income from all sources (employment, benefits, asset interest) cannot exceed $29,760 and not be less than $18,500. Monthly rents start at $630.

All residents will have access to on-site social services, and the opportunity to participate in a variety of regular programs. Such programs may include workshops on preventative health care and financial management / career development, support groups for chemical dependency, and art therapy classes, amongst many others. Social gatherings, holiday celebrations, and other special events will also take place throughout the year.

For further information and to request an application, call the Schermerhorn House Hotline now at 212-221-7300 ext. 264.

Workshop on health insurance for artists: November 30

The Center for Book Arts will host a professional development workshop on health insurance for artists facilitated by James Brown, director of the Actors Fund Artists Health Insurance Resource Center (AHIRC), this Friday, November 30th, 6:30 pm. Brown will discuss health insurance resources for artists and recent health insurance legislation that affects artists.

RSVP (required) to the Center for Book Arts at 212-481-0295.

Sarah Nicholls
Program Manager
The Center for Book Arts
28 W. 27th Street 3rd fl.
New York, NY 10001

Yes! Push that culture!

cml performance colleagues Arturo Vidich, Clarinda Mac Low and Aki Sasamoto announce Culture Push:

"CULTURE PUSH is a brand new organization, a group of artists and others who want to change the world. CULTURE PUSH acts as a gathering place for several projects with a common aim, and brings together several experienced artist-managers who produce work collectively and individually. It is a clearinghouse for ideas and methods and conversations, a state of mind that manifests in concrete events for an eclectic audience. The members of CULTURE PUSH create experiences. We walk the slippery line between disciplines, both within and outside art. We combine performance, visual art, and media of all kinds with social intervention, intensive research and political inquiry to make situations that enlighten, entertain and enliven our audiences. We seek to actively push against boundaries so that attitudes shift, assumptions are questioned, and minds and bodies are changed. We all share a desire to work through invitation rather than confrontation and shift the discourse and the direction of our culture through interaction, intimacy, humor and pathos."

Learn more about cml performance and CULTURE PUSH here.

Danspace Project announces new Executive Director

The Danspace Project Board of Directors today announced the appointment of Judy Hussie-Taylor as the organization’s new Executive Director. Ms. Hussie-Taylor will officially assume her post on January 2, 2008. In announcing the new leadership, Danspace Project Board President Erica Bunin stated, “We are both pleased and fortunate to welcome Judy Hussie-Taylor as the new Executive Director of Danspace Project. The depth and breadth of her experience, her forward thinking, and her knowledge about contemporary dance and arts made Judy the clear choice to lead Danspace Project into an exciting new era. The Board of Directors and staff have every confidence that Judy will continue to build on the organization’s strong legacy of stimulating, supporting, and presenting some of the most adventurous contemporary dance being made today. We expect great things for Danspace Project under her leadership.”

Ms. Hussie-Taylor has nearly twenty years of experience in arts administration and community relations. The former Executive Director of the nationally acclaimed Colorado Dance Festival (CDF), she has also served as Artistic Director for Theater Programs at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art and Deputy Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver. She taught in the Department of Art & Art History at the University of Colorado-Boulder and served as a director of the Department’s prestigious Visiting Artist Program. Through her work at CDF, she participated in the National Performance Network and the National Dance Project. Recently, she served as a consultant for the National Dance Project’s Regional Dance Development Initiative and Contemporary Art Centers Initiative. Her interviews, articles and essays have been published in Colorado newspapers, journals, and in catalogues and gallery brochures.

Regarding her appointment, Ms. Hussie-Taylor comments, “I am deeply honored to be part of this important organization, whose leadership and commitment to presenting innovative dance continues to make an impact on artists worldwide. So many of the great artists that we presented at the Colorado Dance Festival were from New York and were affiliated with Danspace Project. This is an incredible opportunity to work with extraordinary artists, a dedicated board, and an excellent staff as we move closer to realizing the creation of a new choreographic center in Brooklyn. I am thrilled to be part of Danspace Project during this exciting time in its distinguished history.”

As Executive Director, Ms. Hussie-Taylor will manage all aspects of Danspace Project’s operations, including curating and producing the performance season; overseeing the organization’s long-range planning; leading development and fundraising activities; forging collaborations and institutional partnerships; budgeting and financial planning; managing the organization’s staff; and interfacing with and reporting to the Board of Directors.

Gina Gibney, Danspace Project Board Vice President and Artistic Director of Gina Gibney Dance, stated, “As an artist, I’m enthusiastic about the fresh and innovative vision toward programming that Judy will bring to the position. I’m equally encouraged by the fact that her plans for the future of the institution coincide with Danspace Project’s current mission, philosophy, and values. I am confident that Judy will play a vital role in opening up a vibrant new chapter for Danspace Project.”

The Board of Directors is also pleased to announce that departing Executive Director Laurie Uprichard will remain closely involved with Danspace Project as a board member and advisor to the organization.

The Turning World (1)

From time to time, I'm going to post some items that might not be about dance per se but suggest the larger context in which dancers are making and talking about art. Basically, these will be situations that I find provocative and often disturbing.

I was moved to start this series--which I'll call The Turning World (...there the dance is)--by this item in yesterday's New York Times. I really feel that this country of ours has got to get a grip.

Clare Byrne on Neumann's "feedforward"

"David Neumann is curious about big life dramas: human triumph and downfall. He takes them on by looking at micro-moments, and shows the grace of success and the agony of failure bumping up against each other in small, particular interactions and affectations, over and over, in tangled loops and knotting. I'm amazed at the delicacy of his creations—he spins a fragile, layered web, made of his own and his collaborators' experience and humor. In doing this he shows us ourselves."

Read more of Clare Byrne's review of feedforward--a work by David Neumann/Advanced Beginner Group--at Offoffoff.com.

From our visit to Isola di San Michele, Venice

(photos: Deborah Feller)

Visiting Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Diaghilev on Venice's cemetery island, San Michele, October 2007

See it now: Movement Research at Judson Church

Catch up with Movement Research performances at Judson Memorial Church by visiting Critical Correspondence.

Choreographer Maurice Béjart Dies

"Just one month before his swan song Around the World in Eighty Days was set to premiere, a spokesperson for Béjart Ballet Lausanne announced that Maurice Béjart died in a Lausanne hospital Thursday." -- Deutsche Welle, 11/22/2007

Read the story here.

Update:

The New York Times reports today that the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's upcoming season, starting November 28, will open with a tribute to Béjart and the company premiere of Firebird (1970), the first complete Béjart ballet to be staged by an American dance company.

2008 iLAB residency program announced

iLAND–interdisciplinary Laboratory for Art, Nature and Dance has announced its 2008 iLAB residency program to be held May-September 2008 with the possibility of a renewable residency the following year.

An information seminar wil be held on December 11, 2007 at Solar One at Stuyvesant Cove in Manhattan, 6:30–8:30pm. For directions to Stuyvesant Cove and Solar One, click here. The seminar will facilitate contact between movement-based artists and scientists and environmentalists. There will be the opportunity to discuss ideas for proposals and find potential collaborators. RSVP by December 8: Click here.

For Application Guidelines and the Request for Proposals, click here.

iLAB is a collaborative residency program between movement based artists and scientists, environmentalists, urban designers/landscape architects, architects and others that integrate creative practice within the different fields/disciplines through an engagement with the ecology of New York City.

The goals of iLAB are:

1) to invigorate and re-imagine relationships between the public and the urban environment through kinetic experience

2) to engage artists and practitioners across the disciplines of dance, art and the ecology of physical interrelationships such that we create and investigate innovative approaches to science, infrastructure, urbanisms and architecture within a performative context.

3) to support the development of process in engagement over product such that process is itself a product for artistic and public action.

For more information, click here.

I brake for cats!

Okay, so this is so not about dance, but I need my cute cat video fix every now and then, and I'm sure you do, too! Enjoy!

clipped from www.youtube.com

Help for former dancer Lisa LeAnn Dalton requested

Thyrsa Da Rosa Hartel, wife of Austin Hartel of the Hartel Dance Group (Oklahoma), has sent us the following notice:

Lisa LeAnn Dalton needs your help right now.

She was one of the most powerful and engaging dancers on stage, dancing with passion, precision, dedication, power and beauty for over 20 years. She has recently suffered and catastrophic injury and can use your help, love prayers and support at this time.

As many of you know, Lisa Dalton is one if the strongest women that was ever born. She was an amazing dancer, dancing for Martha Clarke, Mark Dendy "Dendydance", Pilobolus, Elizabeth Streb, Richard Move, Julie Taymor, and had her own company with Austin Hartel for years creating and dancing the most beautiful dances, as well as co-producing the Lisa LeAnn & Terry Dean put on a DANCESHOW series in NYC for years. Well, she retired and went back to Texas to be close to her family and work with horses. She was National Rookie of the Year in 2003 for Bareback Bronc Riding, and kept getting better and better at it, winning competition after competition.

On October 13th, Lisa broke her neck in a riding accident in Denver, CO. She was in the hospital in Denver for the first week. She was paralyzed from the neck down for most of the days in Denver, but slowly started to regain some minimal movement of her arms from the shoulder. After that week she was transfered to the Baylor Rehab Facility in Dallas. She is improving a little every day but this is going to take a lot of patience a energy. She is able to shuffle her feet with the use of a walker, but really can not use the right side of her body
at this time. Her right leg and hand are not responding much and the coordination is very off.

Please continue: here.

How deep is your aerobics?

I couldn't resist posting this announcement from the irrepressible Miguel Gutierrez. I have absolutely no idea what Miguel has in mind, but you've got to see this!

*****************************************************************

YES PEOPLE

THE RUMORS YOU HAVE HEARD ARE TRUE

DEEP AEROBICS IS MAKING ITS SWEATY ASS WAY TO NEW YORK FINALLY
THIS IS FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS IT. GRANDMOTHERS, PASTRY CHEFS, JANITORS, GADABOUTS, EX-CONS, OFFICE SLAVES, DANSEURS, ITINERANTS, EX-PATS, UNDOCUMENTED, BRUNCHERS, KRUMPERS, GURUS, DEVOTEES, ET. AL.....

HOW DEEP IS YOUR BOUNCE???

DEEP (Death Electric Emo Protest) AEROBICS
led by Miguel Gutierrez

SUNDAY DECEMBER 2ND, 3PM
P.S. 122 — FIRST AVENUE AT EAST NINTH STREET

5 BUX... TO TAKE THE CLASS YOU MUST BE IN COSTUME. INTERPRET THIS HOWEVER YOU WANT.

CLASS IS ABOUT AN HOUR BUT WE MIGHT DO A “PRE” AEROBICS WARM UP AND A “POST” AEROBICS KAFFEEKLATCH

PRESENTED AS PART OF THE MOVEMENT RESEARCH FESTIVAL

what is DEEP AEROBICS?

DEATH ELECTRIC EMO PROTEST AEROBICS AKA DEEP AEROBICS, is a new workout form being invented, disseminated, and, eventually, one hopes, no longer needed by Miguel Gutierrez. It is for ANYONE who has ever had the interest in combining the joie de vivre that is the vigorous bouncing of one’s anatomical/spiritual/energetic molecules with the existential absurdity that is living in a world/country/economic system of injustice, war-mongering and cultural ineptitude. Oh wait, that’s you! Come in costume. Taste the sweat.

Bill T. Jones continues our theme...

On November 20, 22 and 24, Bill T. Jones will present Walking the Line, a world premiere, at the Louvre in Paris. Commissioned by the Louvre as part of its newly created Frontières program, which this year is curated by the German painter Anselm Kiefer, Jones will be accompanied by the Tibetan singer Yungchen Lhamo and the French percussionist Florent Jodelet.

Walking the Line, a solo, was inspired by Jones’s desire as an African-American modern dance choreographer to be free to create without restraint, to take risks and criss-cross boundaries at will, and his desire to be accepted into the canon of Western art. The dance will take place in one of the most well-known, spectacular spaces in the Louvre: the long corridor between Michelangelo’s The Slaves and la Victoire de Samothrace (Winged Victory). The audience will be seated on the steps.

On November 23, Jones will speak in a public discussion with former Le Monde dance critic Dominique Frétard, at the Auditorium du Louvre.

Black and Boundless: Gesel Mason and Faustin Linyekula

As a young dance student, fan and developing writer, I straddled the dividing line between firmly-defined, traditional modern dance (Graham, Ailey, etc.) and experimental postmodern dance. I remember how confusing and even upsetting it used to be for some audiences and critics to see Black dance artists color outside the box and explore uncharted territory.

DC-based dancer-choreographer Gesel Mason forthrightly addresses that moment in time and its lingering issues with her video-and-dance presentation, No Boundaries: Dancing the Visions of Contemporary Black Choreographers, presented through tonight at Joyce SoHo.

Mason's program features works by provocative choreographers from different generations--Donald McKayle, Reggie Wilson, Bebe Miller, David Rousseve and young Samantha Speis--and includes her own solo, No Less Black (2000). Interspersing video clips of these artists and others talking with Mason about their work provides both helpful context and charm. Wilson cheekily reveals what he likes about being a choreographer--"organizing and telling people what to do." Later, when asked pointblank for a definition of Black dance, Wilson drops his head and laughs. Miller--like Andrea E. Woods, who appears in the video but does not have a work in the show-- expresses a lack of interest in people's assumptions about how she, as a Black woman, should make dance. Jawole Willa Jo Zollar considers the work of Miller and of the early Bill T. Jones (with his partner, the late Arnie Zane) and detects the influence of Black culture where other observers might be prone to see only avantgarde edginess. McKayle notes that no one is ever asked to define what, if anything, white dance is.

The evening's highlight is Mason's harrowing and heartbreaking performance in Rousseve's Jumping the Broom (2005). This solo overlaps the stories of a lynching victim clad in her wedding gown and a proud, hopeful lesbian couple turned away at the last moment from City Hall.

Mason's project, running for just two evenings, deserves to be seen again and before sold-out audiences. First of all, it's rare in New York to see work by several keenly innovative Black choreographers showcased on a single program. Let's have more of this. Second, Mason's bright skill, enthusiasm and sense of fun serve her aims well. (How to Watch a Modern Dance Concert or What in the Hell Are They Doing on Stage is the name of one piece she has performed in Washington, DC for last year's version of No Boundaries.) She's clearly an artist on a mission but one who does not wear out her welcome.

Congolese dancer-choreographer Faustin Linyekula of Les Studios Kabako--who debuted Festival of Lies at BRICK Arts/Media/Bklyn this week--also concludes his run tonight. This is another show that deserves a return engagement. Using the format of a late-night ndombolo party--with a cabaret set-up featuring food and drink for purchase and hot, irresistible music by the band Asiko--Linyekula and his performers mix cool, impeccable design, cool but increasingly engaged performance, storytelling, projected text from political speeches, installation-style props and somewhat-edgy audience participation for an evening of mostly oblique and sometimes direct critique of lying politicians. Yes, the text--projected off to the side on the wall above the band where it's quite easy to ignore--comes from the mouths of Linyekula's countrymen but, given who's been ruling Washington lately, Americans can certainly relate.

The show runs way over two hours, including cast and audience dancing together at the end. Some of it feels excessive, less than necessary. But the music--swift as river rapids and as unrelenting--rocks steady, and the movement of the Damballah-pliant dancers--Linyekula, Papy Ebotani and Djodjo Kazadi--amid continuously-rearranged flourescent light bulbs is almost always fascinating. And Linyekula brings a message that Gesel Mason would surely endorse--that a people must ignore how they are defined by others and take back the power to define themselves. Let's dance!

(c) Eva Yaa Asantewaa, 2007

Calling all writers!

Do you write dance reviews for blogs or other online publications? Post permalinks to your online reviews to this new site, created by Doug Fox. Read all about it here.

The 411 on dance

Get your roundup of information on performances, job opportunities, rehearsal spaces for rent, fellowships and grants and much more. Post your own announcements, too.

To request your free subscription to Doug Post's DJP Artist Services Newsletter by email, click here.

What made me cry...

...shamelessly...big, fat tears...a knockout performance by Monica Bill Barnes and Anna Bass in Barnes's Suddenly Summer Somewhere, premiered this past week at Dancespace Project. From their first appearance at the karaoke mics--barefoot and dressed nearly alike in old-style springtime coats--these two gifted performers had me firmly in their grip and never turned me loose. This piece was, by turns, frightening and desperately sad and finally beautifully poignant. Cleverly set to standards performed by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and others, this duet is an unusual journey through the underworld of a long-running relationship. And nothing about it--from Barnes's extraordinary and insightful movement choices to the dramatic arc of the relationship--was expected or stale. Both performers are strong actors as well as dancers; in fact, Barnes may be one of the finest, most versatile actors I've seen in dance, and she has a solid partner in Bass. Hard work, hard work, hard work... Dancers work hard, but these two especially. If you missed this one, look for your next opportunity to see it, and let your heart open to it.

Oh, for crying out loud!

Times writer Robert D. McFadden reports on tough times around Times Square:

"As if the Grinch really had stolen Christmas, children cried and parents were crestfallen. Confusion, surprise and anger played at box offices, and dispossessed theatergoers shared the sidewalks with grim pickets yesterday as the stagehands’ strike shut down most of Broadway’s plays and musicals."

Hint to despondent Broadway theatergoers and their crying kids: There's this little thing called dance, and it's live and it's really cool, and it's all over New York, and the tickets are way cheaper and usually quite easy to get.

Check it out!

UPDATE
More about the Broadway stagehand strike and still no word about dance as an alternative!

With Theaters Dark, Finding Their Fun Elsewhere
by Fernanda Santos, The New York Times

Day 2 of Stagehands' Strike, and a Chill Sets In
by Campbell Robertson, The New York Times

Cast No Shadow

Isaac Julien's filmwork for the multidisciplinary performance, Cast No Shadow--a presentation of Performa07 and BAM's Next Wave Festival at the BAM Harvey Theater through tonight--is a poetic, color-saturated head trip with translucent, larger-than-life, in-your-face imagery. Absolutely beautiful. But what about dance? Russell Maliphant's simple ideas and repetitious choreography for his company and guest dancer Vanessa Myrie do not stand up to Julien's imaginatively interactive, filmic environment. Originally planned as a 70-minute piece with three parts and no intermission, the evening now has a 20-minute intermission--perhaps in recognition that it's a little hard to stay awake and focused with something so relentlessly dreamy unfolding before your eyeballs. The audience now gets to take a refueling break at the food counter in the lobby.

Cotter on Performa07; La Rocco on Saarinen

I just want to state for the record, I love Holland Cotter. I wish he were a dance writer. Read his review of Performa07 in today's New York Times.

Also, Times dance critic Claudia La Rocco has a gorgeous piece of writing on Tero Saarinen's Borrowed Light. Click here and enjoy!

Flamencologist Donn Pohren dies in Madrid

Renowed American Flamencologist, Donn Pohren, husband of dancer Luisa Maravillas, died in Madrid on November 5. Read Pohren's obituary on World Music Central and Donn Pohren, Flamenco's Hero by John B. Rhine on Salon.com.

Update

Writer-photographer-blogger Gerry Dawes has alerted me to his own remembrance of Donn Pohren on Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel.

More DTW blogging

Richert Schnorr--a dancer, filmmaker and another one of my talented DTW Writing on Dance graduates--has posted his final project on DTW's new blog: interview with choreographer Neil Greenberg.

A Timeless Performer

(Photo: Shige Moriya)

Veteran Butoh artist Takuya Ishide (pictured at left with Yuko Kaseki and Daiji Meguro) moves like a sleepy but delicately, precisely controlled marionette. His engrossing ways are the main reason for catching one of two remaining performances of A Timeless Kaidan, a work by Ximena Garnica (concept and direction) and Shige Moriya (video and installation art), at Theater for the New City now through Thursday evening.

The interdisciplinary production--a presentation of Garnica Leimay AcTS Lab--is part of the 3rd Biennial CAVE New York Butoh Festival, including performances, exhibits and workshops, concluding on November 21. Garnica describes A Timeless Kaidan as "a story of our universal presence, and an observation on human fear." She aims to "return us to ourselves, to encounter the fear intrinsic to our own ethereal light."

For Festival information and tickets, call 212-561-9539 or click here.

Dance Theater Workshop's new blog

I'm proud that DTW's new blog features an interview written by one of my DTW Writing on Dance graduates--dancer-choreographer Aynsley Vandenbroucke--for her final project!

Illuminating from Within

Stephanie Tack announces her workshop, Illuminating from Within: Exploring Your Inner Light Through Movement, Art & Healing.
Saturday, November 10th, 2-5pm, $20
Hosted by: Stephanie Tack - The Church of Art & Modern Mysticism

Take part in a unique and exploratory journey into the topic of contemporary spirituality and self-fulfillment. Explore your spirituality and depths of creative possibilities for self-expression through dance, art and healing.

We will provide you with a platform to dance, talk, create, reflect and share, your individual process of spiritual discovery, self-illumination and personal empowerment with a group of creative and intelligent people, in a safe and nurturing environment.

What you can expect is:
Discussion
Guided Visualization & Trance Dancing
Movement Improvisation (no dance training necessary)
Mandala Making
Hands on Healing/Massage
Verbal Group Reflections

You can also expect to:
Have your own personal journey (corporeal and non-corporeal)
Benefit from the power of engaging as a group
Walk away feeling connected to yourself, relaxed and centered
Gain insight into living harmoniously with your unique life flow

Our goal is to create space and support for your individual process of illumination.

The group will be intimate. There are 8 spaces available. Feel free to call me anytime if you are interested.

Stephanie Tack
646.418.9048
stephtack@yahoo.com

"Seeking attunement to spirit is the highest goal of conscious living." - Rebbe Joseph Gelberman

Take in the trash?

New York Times dance writer Roslyn Sulcas tells us that John Jasperse has taken to rummaging through garbage. Read Milk Crates in the Service of Low-Budget Commentary (October 31, 2007).

Dancer artist Jill Sigman announces a new workshop

MOVEMENT & THEATER: The Micro-Frontier
For the past 10 years I have been developing a specific improvisational practice based on the way subtle skeletal shifts make for big changes in what we perceive as character. This 3 hour workshop will explore the micro-frontier where physical questions, movement puzzles, and fine-grained improvisation shade into theater

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11th

2-5PM

Special Introductory Fee: $20
Space is extremely limited! Registration required.

Please RSVP to:

thinkdance@attglobal.net or 212/865 2568

(The studio is just steps away from the Morgan Ave. stop on the L train. Upon registering we will send you directions.)

Stay tuned for news of other workshops or email us to let us know what kinds of explorations you're interested in!

Bill T. Jones to commemorate Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial

A new work by dancer-choreographer Bill T. Jones, commissioned by the Ravinia Festival of Illinois, will commemorate the 2009 bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln. Read the story here.

Movement Research announces Open Call for Open Performance

Movement Research announces its Open Call for Open Performance Winter/Spring 08

what is open performance:

A program of non-curated shared evenings of experimentation and work-in-progress, for artists at all stages of their development. The events include an audience discussion moderated by a Movement Research Artist-In-Residence, engaging different feedback methods to support and inform the artists' process.

how to participate:

Artist participation is free and on a first-contact, first-programmed basis.

Dates available are:
March 4th
March 18th
April 1st
April 15th
April 29th
May 13th
May 27th
June 10th
Please note dates fill up very quickly once they're announced.

Open Performance always falls on Tuesday, begins at 7pm, and is held at Dance Theater Workshop, 3rd Floor studio.

To participate, send an email to openperform@movementresearch.org including your name, contact information, and the dates you are available to present in order of preference.

You can also leave messages for Bessie, Open Performance Coordinator, at 212-598-0551, ext. 3 if you have any questions or concerns.

Please note: all sign-up is by email only, phone calls will not be considered as submissions.

Participants and schedule will be announced no later than Monday, Nov. 12, 2007.

Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography

Check out these brief video visits with dance artists--such as Miguel Gutierrez and Yanira Castro--who have participated in the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography fellowships and international exchange residency programs at Florida State University.

MANCC also has a couple of podcast interviews, downloadable through iTunes: Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Artistic Director of Urban Bush Women, interviewed by UBW dancer and recent Bessie Award winner Nora Chipaumire, and Germaine Acogny, Artistic Director of JANT-BI, interviewed by UBW dancer Catherine Denecy on their companies' collaborative work, Scales of Memory, which will receive its premiere in 2008.

Dancer-choreographer/video artist Dean Moss will be the first artist to receive commissioning and presentational support in MANCC's new partnership initiative with Dance Theater Workshop. Read the full announcement here.

While I was away...

I'm back from Italy and very jet-lagged and busy. So InfiniteBody will take a bit of a while to get up to speed. In the meantime, if you missed my Intermission message at Body and Soul podcast, please have a listen now. Thanks!

Body knowledge

"When you're using reason, the world is distant, seemingly objective, and is upheld by your thoughts about the world. When you use your body, you feel connected, you sense your relationship and you have a knowing, beyond thoughts, that you're part of the world. This is body knowledge."

Ken Eagle Feather (from Toltec Dreaming, Bear & Company, 2007)