Yanira Castro + Company will give two more performances of Center of Sleep at Dance Theater Workshop (tonight and Saturday night) and, if you can, you must go.
I can't say I'm happy to see all of the details of the installation and action given away by Dance View Times's reviewer, Tom Phillips. In this work, the audience is best left unprepared, fresh for the experience and for the invitation to--as a neat non-instruction card instructs us--"Do as you please." (The rest of the card reads, "Assurances for an audience/No one will touch you./No one will ask anything of you./You are safe." The reverse advises--but does not demand--that we leave our bags and coats in the check room.) I think the work's delicately powerful, powerfully delicate conclusion, if nothing else, needs to be a surprise for the new audiences. I would have held back on spelling out what happens there.
Let's just say that Yanira Castro and her collaborators--especially composer Stephan Moore and lighting and installation designer Roderick Murray--have brilliantly turned DTW's stage into a funhouse that is constantly changing and requiring you, the viewer, to also move and change as vivid dream visions and dream sounds reach you from everywhere. William Forsythe did something approaching this with his dance installation, You Made Me A Monster, at the Baryshnikov Arts Center nearly a year ago. Although Forsythe's theme was radically different, his piece was set in a dimly-lit studio and sent dancers out amid a standing, initially participatory audience. It too had a strange, striking sound score. But Center of Sleep is the far more searching, courageous and accomplished work.
Castro credits her performers as collaborators. They are marvelous, and they are Peggy Cheng, Luke Miller, Heather Olson, Joseph Poulson and Ashley Steele. Special honors to Stephan Moore, whose musical ingenuity knows no limit of means or delight.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Holland Carter on Philadelphia's Kahlo show
Here's another remarkable piece by one of the Times's finest arts writers. Not dance, but I had to share it with you.
The People's Artist, Herself a Work of Art
by Holland Carter, The New York Times, February 29, 2008
The People's Artist, Herself a Work of Art
by Holland Carter, The New York Times, February 29, 2008
Housing emergency for arts journalist
Publicist Jonathan Slaff is seeking ideas and assistance for an arts journalist/adjunct lecturer and his girlfriend who need sublet housing. Slaff writes:
They had a month-to-month tenancy and received notice this week that they must vacate by March 31. They can afford $1,000 or so per month for rent. They are hoping for a place in Queens (Forest Hills, Rego Park, Middle Village, Elmhurst, Corona) within walking distance of F, E, R, V subways and bus lines to Queens College. They will be grateful for any offers, referrals or recommendations. Contact Robert Hicks at: rhhicks@hotmail.com, r1234hhicks@yahoo.com and (718) 476-0385.
re.action: call for art about motion
Call for Art about Motion
Deadline: March 14, 2008
re.action is an exhibition exploring movement with an emphasis on kinetic art as well as works that possess the illusion of movement. Seeking dynamic entries that will move the visitor to become a part of the art. Open to two and three-dimensional pieces; all media welcome. Emerging and mid-career artists may apply. Over $5000 in cash awards and group/solo show opportunities will be offered. Entry fee.
Contact: Sarah Murray or Annmarie Garden
410-326-4640 or click here.
Deadline: March 14, 2008
re.action is an exhibition exploring movement with an emphasis on kinetic art as well as works that possess the illusion of movement. Seeking dynamic entries that will move the visitor to become a part of the art. Open to two and three-dimensional pieces; all media welcome. Emerging and mid-career artists may apply. Over $5000 in cash awards and group/solo show opportunities will be offered. Entry fee.
Contact: Sarah Murray or Annmarie Garden
410-326-4640 or click here.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Here comes the "Rain"
Body and Soul interviewee Camille A. Brown invites you to see her new work, Rain, performed by the Second Avenue Dance Company, final-year students of the New York University's Tisch School for the Arts, with live accompaniment by Chris Lancaster.
And it's free!
Thursday through Saturday, March 6-8, 8pm
NYU Tisch School of the Arts, 5th floor Theater
111 Second Avenue, Manhattan
For information and reservations, call 212-998-1982 (Monday-Friday, 9am-4pm)
Reservations will be held until 15 minutes before curtain.
To join the SADC's mailing list, email TischDance@gmail.com.
And it's free!
Thursday through Saturday, March 6-8, 8pm
NYU Tisch School of the Arts, 5th floor Theater
111 Second Avenue, Manhattan
For information and reservations, call 212-998-1982 (Monday-Friday, 9am-4pm)
Reservations will be held until 15 minutes before curtain.
To join the SADC's mailing list, email TischDance@gmail.com.
How they carry on: Gill and Lewis
I'm not sure I was glad to walk home last night with old Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young songs stuck on loop in my mind, but the reason was Beth Gill--specifically, a solo performance she gave at Dixon Place in a Brink series program curated by Michael Helland and shared with soloist Isabel Lewis.
In Resurrected Dance Dance III, Gill played the scratchy vinyl on an old turntable set up on a chair, both items silhouetted in front of DP's wall by the solo's initial illumination--a single nightlight. What got me was the way she calmly slowed, grounded and rested herself inside the lilting, tilting, sometimes driving force of voices and guitars; how, when she chose to step, she stepped like a quiet, watchful heron on the hunt. A compelling performer, Gill can pull and hold viewers' focus by drawing us out of the forward strain of ordinary time and into a place deep stillness and concentration. DP is the place for doing a lot (or a meaningful little) with simple, ordinary things, and Gill can be a kitchen magician.
Lewis's Untitled Solo (Sweet Exorcist) contains poetic, powerful imagery and energy. Like Gill's solo, it plays with the effect of light on body and objects and harkens back to the '60s and early '70s in its selection of recordings with songs by The Great Society with Grace Slick, Curtis Mayfield (the source of the "untitle") and the Ethiopian ensemble Alemayheu Eshete/Alem Girma Band.
I've no idea what either artist intended here, but each of their solos conclude in an unsettling way. Gill--who has re-dressed herself in a black hoodie and slacks--replaces the last CSN&Y anthem with a fingernails-on-chalkboard number from Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band. As the Ethiopian tune unfolds, Lewis begins to drape her body in lengths of golden fabric and does not stop until she has wrapped her head and face too and tied the gleaming cloth fast around her neck. Her glamorous, sinuous wriggles do nothing to lessen the chilling effect of this image.
For information on future events at Dixon Place, click here.
In Resurrected Dance Dance III, Gill played the scratchy vinyl on an old turntable set up on a chair, both items silhouetted in front of DP's wall by the solo's initial illumination--a single nightlight. What got me was the way she calmly slowed, grounded and rested herself inside the lilting, tilting, sometimes driving force of voices and guitars; how, when she chose to step, she stepped like a quiet, watchful heron on the hunt. A compelling performer, Gill can pull and hold viewers' focus by drawing us out of the forward strain of ordinary time and into a place deep stillness and concentration. DP is the place for doing a lot (or a meaningful little) with simple, ordinary things, and Gill can be a kitchen magician.
Lewis's Untitled Solo (Sweet Exorcist) contains poetic, powerful imagery and energy. Like Gill's solo, it plays with the effect of light on body and objects and harkens back to the '60s and early '70s in its selection of recordings with songs by The Great Society with Grace Slick, Curtis Mayfield (the source of the "untitle") and the Ethiopian ensemble Alemayheu Eshete/Alem Girma Band.
I've no idea what either artist intended here, but each of their solos conclude in an unsettling way. Gill--who has re-dressed herself in a black hoodie and slacks--replaces the last CSN&Y anthem with a fingernails-on-chalkboard number from Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band. As the Ethiopian tune unfolds, Lewis begins to drape her body in lengths of golden fabric and does not stop until she has wrapped her head and face too and tied the gleaming cloth fast around her neck. Her glamorous, sinuous wriggles do nothing to lessen the chilling effect of this image.
For information on future events at Dixon Place, click here.
I am for an art that imitates the human
I am for an art that imitates the human, that is comic, if necessary, or violent, or whatever is necessary. I am for an art that takes its form from the lines of life itself, that twists and extends and accumulates and spits and drips, and is heavy and coarse and blunt and sweet and stupid as life itself.
--Claes Oldenburg
--Claes Oldenburg
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Mondays become kinetic
Anna Brady Nuse (of videodance blog Move the Frame fame) invites you to her monthy series, Kinetic Cinema, held on the first Monday of each month at Collective: Unconscious. The series "explores the intersection of dance and the moving image both on screen and stage." Each month features a guest curator from the dance community, sharing films and videos that have inspired or moved them. "These could be films that feature dance, are kinetic-based, or have been influential on their work in some way. The guest curators come from a range of backgrounds as performers, choreographers, critics, and filmmakers."
Upcoming guests include Malinda Allen (March 3), Jonah Bokaer (April 7), Levi Gonzalez (May 5), and Kriota Willberg (June 2).
The program starts at 7:30pm. Admission is $5 (at the door).
Collective:Unconscious
279 Church Street (just south of White Street), Manhattan
Trains: 1 to Franklin Street or A, C, E to Canal Street
For full programming details, click here and/or here or call 212-254-5277.
Upcoming guests include Malinda Allen (March 3), Jonah Bokaer (April 7), Levi Gonzalez (May 5), and Kriota Willberg (June 2).
The program starts at 7:30pm. Admission is $5 (at the door).
Collective:Unconscious
279 Church Street (just south of White Street), Manhattan
Trains: 1 to Franklin Street or A, C, E to Canal Street
For full programming details, click here and/or here or call 212-254-5277.
Dankmeyer on Jones's "Chapel/Chapter"
Writing in from Williams College in the Berkshires, where she is currently a visiting lecturer, dancer-choreographer Erica Dankmeyer sends this link to her review of Bill T. Jones's Chapel/Chapter. This compelling evening-length work, premiered in 2006 at Harlem Stage, was recently performed at Williams's '62 Center for Theatre and Dance. Jones will reprise it this June at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, and it deserves to be seen and seen again.
When dizzy critics happen to good performers
It's good for critics to remember that we're humble humans...and ones who must mind our health. Last night, I got a vivid reminder at Club La MaMa when I tried to concentrate on a show that, I'm very sorry to tell you, was up for only one night.
I had no idea how exhausted I was until I realized that while I felt somewhat sleepy over the course of the two-hour show, I felt much more like falling over with dizziness. I've heard too many stories about people who got the flu this winter who started out by feeling dizzy. (And my wife suffered a severe case of vertigo this season.) I'd gotten my flu shot. In the summer of 2006, I was diagnosed with a mild, stable case of a lung disorder and must get the shot each year, although I've always gotten one anyway. But I'd heard that this year's shot doesn't cover every strain that's out there. The good news, today, is that I have not come down with the flu, and I feel somewhat better. I'm going to get more rest and try to make it to Bill T. Jones's Breaking Ground discussion at Harlem Stage tonight.
Now, as for last night's show....to Joseph Keckler (singer, writer and multimedia artist), who presented a monologue named Cat Lady, my apologies. Even through my difficulties, I could tell that you have mad talent, and I look forward to catching up with your work another time. To John Moran (composer) and Saori Tsukada (choreographer), who performed John Moran...and his neighbor Saori, you are both fierce--frighteningly so--just as savvy colleagues had promised. Despite my condition last night, I was impressed, amused and charmed by your visual and sonic ideas, your whimsical and razor-sharp synchronization of sound and mime, and I am prepared to become a huge fan. Would Nicky Paraiso, Club La MaMa's performance curator, have the three of you back, if I ask nice?
For more La MaMa events and information, click here.
Joseph Keckler on MySpace
John Moran and Saori Tsukada on MySpace
I had no idea how exhausted I was until I realized that while I felt somewhat sleepy over the course of the two-hour show, I felt much more like falling over with dizziness. I've heard too many stories about people who got the flu this winter who started out by feeling dizzy. (And my wife suffered a severe case of vertigo this season.) I'd gotten my flu shot. In the summer of 2006, I was diagnosed with a mild, stable case of a lung disorder and must get the shot each year, although I've always gotten one anyway. But I'd heard that this year's shot doesn't cover every strain that's out there. The good news, today, is that I have not come down with the flu, and I feel somewhat better. I'm going to get more rest and try to make it to Bill T. Jones's Breaking Ground discussion at Harlem Stage tonight.
Now, as for last night's show....to Joseph Keckler (singer, writer and multimedia artist), who presented a monologue named Cat Lady, my apologies. Even through my difficulties, I could tell that you have mad talent, and I look forward to catching up with your work another time. To John Moran (composer) and Saori Tsukada (choreographer), who performed John Moran...and his neighbor Saori, you are both fierce--frighteningly so--just as savvy colleagues had promised. Despite my condition last night, I was impressed, amused and charmed by your visual and sonic ideas, your whimsical and razor-sharp synchronization of sound and mime, and I am prepared to become a huge fan. Would Nicky Paraiso, Club La MaMa's performance curator, have the three of you back, if I ask nice?
For more La MaMa events and information, click here.
Joseph Keckler on MySpace
John Moran and Saori Tsukada on MySpace
Monday, February 25, 2008
It takes a Nrityagram village
"I dream of building a community of dancers in a forsaken place amidst nature. A place where nothing exists, except dance. A place where you breathe, eat, sleep, dream, talk, imagine--dance. A place where all the five senses can be refined to perfection. A place where dancers drop negative qualities such as jealousy, small-mindedness, greed and malice to embrace their colleagues as sisters and support each other in their journey towards becoming dancers of merit."
"A place called Nrityagram."
--Protima Gauri Bedi
Imagine if the US had an entire village dedicated to well-rounded, disciplined training of generations of young dancers! India has Nrityagram--situated near Bangalore--where young people learn the classical dances of their ancient culture and related studies such as yoga, meditation, Sanskrit, epics and martial arts.
For the past several days, smart and lucky New Yorkers have basked in the exquisite work of Nrityagram Dance Ensemble, founded in 1990 by the late Protima Gauri Bedi and now directed by dancer-choreographer Surupa Sen. The company has just completed a splendid season at The Joyce Theater, performing the world premiere of Pratima: Reflection, in honor of their founder who died in 1998.
I can't remember a performance where I felt that not a single step had been made nor note struck nor any other element proffered that was out of place. From sumptuous costuming to color-drenched lighting, from exacting technique to mesmerizing chant, the entire presentation was designed and executed with impeccable taste and luxuriousness.
I have never been as convinced of the presence of the divine within us as much as I have when watching the expressive, precise dancing of this company--in particular, the masterful work of Sen and Bijayini Satpathy. Harmonium player Rajendra Kumar Swain's supple vocals reminded me of how breath makes inner spirit and greater Spirit one. To witness this proud Indian ensemble is a great honor--the best placed before us.
Let's hope for a return visit soon!
"A place called Nrityagram."
--Protima Gauri Bedi
Imagine if the US had an entire village dedicated to well-rounded, disciplined training of generations of young dancers! India has Nrityagram--situated near Bangalore--where young people learn the classical dances of their ancient culture and related studies such as yoga, meditation, Sanskrit, epics and martial arts.
For the past several days, smart and lucky New Yorkers have basked in the exquisite work of Nrityagram Dance Ensemble, founded in 1990 by the late Protima Gauri Bedi and now directed by dancer-choreographer Surupa Sen. The company has just completed a splendid season at The Joyce Theater, performing the world premiere of Pratima: Reflection, in honor of their founder who died in 1998.
I can't remember a performance where I felt that not a single step had been made nor note struck nor any other element proffered that was out of place. From sumptuous costuming to color-drenched lighting, from exacting technique to mesmerizing chant, the entire presentation was designed and executed with impeccable taste and luxuriousness.
I have never been as convinced of the presence of the divine within us as much as I have when watching the expressive, precise dancing of this company--in particular, the masterful work of Sen and Bijayini Satpathy. Harmonium player Rajendra Kumar Swain's supple vocals reminded me of how breath makes inner spirit and greater Spirit one. To witness this proud Indian ensemble is a great honor--the best placed before us.
Let's hope for a return visit soon!
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Vishneva's City Center turn
Here's Tobi Tobias's review of Diana Vishneva: Beauty in Motion.
Regular readers of InfiniteBody will easily figure out that I'm not much of a ballet fan. (I once was a bedazzled young woman, but I drifted.) Nevertheless, I took my sister-in-law to Vishneva's show last night, and we both left with a gnawing hunger to see the truly beautiful-in-motion ballerina dance something classical--the more classical, the better!
I'm definitely a sucker for anything Loie Fulleresque, though, and that "Water Flowers" section of the Moses Pendleton's otherwise trivial F.L.O.W. was a knockout. Check out a slide show of images here, and read Alastair Macaulay's review here. Tobias and Macaulay nail it.
Diana Vishneva: Beauty in Motion concludes this afternoon (details here), heads to Moscow (February 28-29), and returns to the states for a June 19-22 run in Chicago.
Kirov Ballet--with Vishneva among its jewels--comes to City Center in April (details here).
Regular readers of InfiniteBody will easily figure out that I'm not much of a ballet fan. (I once was a bedazzled young woman, but I drifted.) Nevertheless, I took my sister-in-law to Vishneva's show last night, and we both left with a gnawing hunger to see the truly beautiful-in-motion ballerina dance something classical--the more classical, the better!
I'm definitely a sucker for anything Loie Fulleresque, though, and that "Water Flowers" section of the Moses Pendleton's otherwise trivial F.L.O.W. was a knockout. Check out a slide show of images here, and read Alastair Macaulay's review here. Tobias and Macaulay nail it.
Diana Vishneva: Beauty in Motion concludes this afternoon (details here), heads to Moscow (February 28-29), and returns to the states for a June 19-22 run in Chicago.
Kirov Ballet--with Vishneva among its jewels--comes to City Center in April (details here).
Saturday, February 23, 2008
The Turning World (19)
Boy's Killing, Labeled a Hate Crime, Stuns a Town
by Rebecca Cathcart, The New York Times, February 23, 2008
by Rebecca Cathcart, The New York Times, February 23, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Brian McCormick: Body and Soul podcast
What happens when dance artists project their inner/alter selves into the vast reaches of cyberspace? I sat down with freelance dance critic and media scholar Brian McCormick to talk about what's happening with dance in Second Life.
Brian McCormick is a dance writer and member of the NY Dance & Performance Awards (Bessies) Committee, and part-time faculty in the New School University Media Studies MA program. He has written for Dance Magazine, The New York Times, and The Advocate, and is a long-time contributing editor at Gay City News. Since 2003, he has been the teaching dance-writing to New York City area high school students through a program created by Dance Theater Workshop and High 5 Tickets to the Arts, called Dance TRaC (Teen Reviewers and Critics).
LINK
Second Life
http://www.secondlife.com/
Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at
http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at
http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml.
(c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
This material may not be reproduced in any way, either in part or in its entirety, without the expressed written permission of Eva Yaa Asantewaa.
MP3 File
Brian McCormick is a dance writer and member of the NY Dance & Performance Awards (Bessies) Committee, and part-time faculty in the New School University Media Studies MA program. He has written for Dance Magazine, The New York Times, and The Advocate, and is a long-time contributing editor at Gay City News. Since 2003, he has been the teaching dance-writing to New York City area high school students through a program created by Dance Theater Workshop and High 5 Tickets to the Arts, called Dance TRaC (Teen Reviewers and Critics).
LINK
Second Life
http://www.secondlife.com/
Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at
http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at
http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml.
(c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
This material may not be reproduced in any way, either in part or in its entirety, without the expressed written permission of Eva Yaa Asantewaa.
MP3 File
Estelle Woodward Arnal and Levi Gonzalez: Body and Soul podcast
Estelle Woodward Arnal (Director of Artist Services, Dance Theater Workshop) and Levi Gonzalez (dancer-choreographer) join me today to talk about DTW's Outer/Space Creative Residency Program.
Levi Gonzalez is an independent choreographer living and working in New York City who has created a body of solo and group choreographic projects. He is interested in presenting work in a variety of venues and contexts, from small and intimate spaces to more traditional stages. Often the placement of the work in a certain environment shapes the content. Gonzalez is interested in furthering a dialogue of ideas about the body in society-at-large and about how we experience physical presence. He has gradually distanced himself from dance that concerns itself with the abstract designing of movement as an end in itself and towards work that addresses performance and the power and meaning of embodiment in daily life. His work and his choreographic collaborations with Luciana Achugar have been presented by Movement Research at Judson Church, Dance Theater Workshop, The Kitchen, Danspace Project, PS122, Dixon Place, and PS1 Contemporary Art Center. He has performed extensively with Donna Uchizono Company and John Jasperse Company, as well as ChameckiLerner, Jeremy Nelson and Dennis O’Connor. Additionally, he has worked for Michael Laub’s Remote Control Productions in Europe. Levi teaches technique and composition at Movement Research and with Dean Moss at The Kitchen. He was a Movement Research Artist in Residence from 2003-2004 and a 2006 NYFA Fellow in Choreography. He is an editor of Critical Correspondence, an online publication, and facilitates artist dialogues through Dance Theater Workshop’s Fresh Tracks Residency.
LINKS:
Dance Theater Workshop http://www.dancetheaterworkshop.org
Movement Research (for Levi Gonzalez' upcoming workshop, "The Practice of Presence") http://www.movementresearch.org
Critical Correspondence
http://www.movementresearch.org/publishing/
Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at
http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at
http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml.
(c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
This material may not be reproduced in any way, either in part or in
its entirety, without the expressed written permission of Eva Yaa
Asantewaa.
MP3 File
Levi Gonzalez is an independent choreographer living and working in New York City who has created a body of solo and group choreographic projects. He is interested in presenting work in a variety of venues and contexts, from small and intimate spaces to more traditional stages. Often the placement of the work in a certain environment shapes the content. Gonzalez is interested in furthering a dialogue of ideas about the body in society-at-large and about how we experience physical presence. He has gradually distanced himself from dance that concerns itself with the abstract designing of movement as an end in itself and towards work that addresses performance and the power and meaning of embodiment in daily life. His work and his choreographic collaborations with Luciana Achugar have been presented by Movement Research at Judson Church, Dance Theater Workshop, The Kitchen, Danspace Project, PS122, Dixon Place, and PS1 Contemporary Art Center. He has performed extensively with Donna Uchizono Company and John Jasperse Company, as well as ChameckiLerner, Jeremy Nelson and Dennis O’Connor. Additionally, he has worked for Michael Laub’s Remote Control Productions in Europe. Levi teaches technique and composition at Movement Research and with Dean Moss at The Kitchen. He was a Movement Research Artist in Residence from 2003-2004 and a 2006 NYFA Fellow in Choreography. He is an editor of Critical Correspondence, an online publication, and facilitates artist dialogues through Dance Theater Workshop’s Fresh Tracks Residency.
LINKS:
Dance Theater Workshop http://www.dancetheaterworkshop.org
Movement Research (for Levi Gonzalez' upcoming workshop, "The Practice of Presence") http://www.movementresearch.org
Critical Correspondence
http://www.movementresearch.org/publishing/
Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at
http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at
http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml.
(c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa
This material may not be reproduced in any way, either in part or in
its entirety, without the expressed written permission of Eva Yaa
Asantewaa.
MP3 File
"Dancing was everything": Mapp breaks my heart again
Juliette Mapp's Anna, Ikea and I--the kinetic/aural memoir of her development in dance--is huge. Simply huge. And beautiful. And arguably the most assured, definitive presentation--and certainly the most emotionally affecting, as I see it--in this season's round of contemporary dance. Premiered last night, it concludes tomorrow evening, Saturday, at Danspace Project, and you should make every effort to get there (even in a snowstorm).
Here's the cast: Besides Mapp, there's Vicky Shick, Anna Sperber, John Jasperse, Wendy Perron, Diane Madden, Iréne Hultman, Layard Thompson, Levi Gonzalez, Miguel Gutierrez, Paige Martin, Anna Carpatayan, Natalie Green and Stacy Grossfield plus singer Nat Drake. I'd boldface all of these names, but then you'd see three lines of nothing else but dark black typeface--not so cool. Just know that they are all boldfaced in my heart. I kinda want to boldface Bob Dylan, too, since his recordings accompany two of the piece's most arresting segments--an insertion of Trisha Brown's Spanish Dance (1973), danced to "Early Mornin' Rain" and the easeful and perfectly perfect Shick/Mapp duet to "Corrina, Corrina."
InfiniteBody readers know that I'm increasingly antsy about dances that go on way too long. Anna, Ikea, and I goes on for 90 minutes without intermission. But listen up, kids: This is how you do it. At no moment--even during Mapp's extensive storytelling at the mic--did I want to be anywhere else. And when I got home, I still had almost too much energy to go to sleep.
What I loved about Anna, Ikea, and I: So much. Purity of movement. Voices arriving from on high...well, the balconies. The textural, multidimensionality of overlapping voices. Slight disturbances within stillness. Archangelic sign language. The cacaphony of voices set against serene movement. The steady, hypnotic rock of the lower body. Jasperse's set design. Jasperse whirling with his orange/fuschia comforter on his head, later looking like Chakaia Booker. Mapp's Viola Farber stories. Farber's keys. Brown's Spanish Dance--magnificent and funny. Layard Thompson. Layard Thompson. Layard Thompson. Have I mentioned how Layard Thompson redefines balance, fluidity and control? How does he do that? "What if every cell in your body had the potential to get what it needs...?" Deborah Hay. How Mapp and Shick--similar height and energy--look so great together. The film that's no film. The charm of this work as a whole and the generosity of it.
Visit Danspace Project for information on ticketing.
Here's the cast: Besides Mapp, there's Vicky Shick, Anna Sperber, John Jasperse, Wendy Perron, Diane Madden, Iréne Hultman, Layard Thompson, Levi Gonzalez, Miguel Gutierrez, Paige Martin, Anna Carpatayan, Natalie Green and Stacy Grossfield plus singer Nat Drake. I'd boldface all of these names, but then you'd see three lines of nothing else but dark black typeface--not so cool. Just know that they are all boldfaced in my heart. I kinda want to boldface Bob Dylan, too, since his recordings accompany two of the piece's most arresting segments--an insertion of Trisha Brown's Spanish Dance (1973), danced to "Early Mornin' Rain" and the easeful and perfectly perfect Shick/Mapp duet to "Corrina, Corrina."
InfiniteBody readers know that I'm increasingly antsy about dances that go on way too long. Anna, Ikea, and I goes on for 90 minutes without intermission. But listen up, kids: This is how you do it. At no moment--even during Mapp's extensive storytelling at the mic--did I want to be anywhere else. And when I got home, I still had almost too much energy to go to sleep.
What I loved about Anna, Ikea, and I: So much. Purity of movement. Voices arriving from on high...well, the balconies. The textural, multidimensionality of overlapping voices. Slight disturbances within stillness. Archangelic sign language. The cacaphony of voices set against serene movement. The steady, hypnotic rock of the lower body. Jasperse's set design. Jasperse whirling with his orange/fuschia comforter on his head, later looking like Chakaia Booker. Mapp's Viola Farber stories. Farber's keys. Brown's Spanish Dance--magnificent and funny. Layard Thompson. Layard Thompson. Layard Thompson. Have I mentioned how Layard Thompson redefines balance, fluidity and control? How does he do that? "What if every cell in your body had the potential to get what it needs...?" Deborah Hay. How Mapp and Shick--similar height and energy--look so great together. The film that's no film. The charm of this work as a whole and the generosity of it.
Visit Danspace Project for information on ticketing.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Mobile Clubbing!
The 2008 Performance Mix Festival is in the works for early spring with an international feast of experimental dance, music, video and multidisciplinary work. That's cool enough, but what's this Mobile Clubbing deal I'm reading about?
Well, grab your MP3 player and just show up at Foley Square (near City Hall) at 12:30pm on either Thursday, March 27 or Thursday, April 3, and you can make of Mobile Clubbing whatever you'd like it to be.
It's described as "a spontaneous gathering for dance...a matter of personal identity: you dance the way you want, and listen to the music you choose."
I don't know about you, but to me this is pure catnip!
RSVP to 29friendsdancing@gmail.com
And for further information about Performance Mix's extensive schedule (two weeks, four locations, fifteen events), click here.
Well, grab your MP3 player and just show up at Foley Square (near City Hall) at 12:30pm on either Thursday, March 27 or Thursday, April 3, and you can make of Mobile Clubbing whatever you'd like it to be.
It's described as "a spontaneous gathering for dance...a matter of personal identity: you dance the way you want, and listen to the music you choose."
I don't know about you, but to me this is pure catnip!
RSVP to 29friendsdancing@gmail.com
And for further information about Performance Mix's extensive schedule (two weeks, four locations, fifteen events), click here.
Jen Abrams's Returning to Go
Body and Soul interviewee Jen Abrams will be teaching a workshop entitled Returning to Go, sponsored by Movement Research at Eden's Expressway. She writes:
This workshop is for those already comfortable with Contact Improv fundamentals. We will work both experientially and analytically with a series of skills, including naval radiation; dueting with gravity; sequentiality; and momentum and release. The workshop will be weighted toward working with each skill physically, and we will then try to further understand through discussion how those skills play out in our bodies.
Saturday-Sunday, March 8-9 (4:30-8:30pm)
Fee: $90
To register or for further information on other workshops and programs offered by Movement Research this spring, click here.
And here's our Body and Soul interview: Click!
This workshop is for those already comfortable with Contact Improv fundamentals. We will work both experientially and analytically with a series of skills, including naval radiation; dueting with gravity; sequentiality; and momentum and release. The workshop will be weighted toward working with each skill physically, and we will then try to further understand through discussion how those skills play out in our bodies.
Saturday-Sunday, March 8-9 (4:30-8:30pm)
Fee: $90
To register or for further information on other workshops and programs offered by Movement Research this spring, click here.
And here's our Body and Soul interview: Click!
Below, in the precious dark
I recommend The Prosodic Body: Building A Perineum, the new project that Daria Fain (choreographer) has been presenting with Robert Kocik (poet/architect) in association with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Swing Space program.
Yesterday--after getting an orientation to the project--I spent an hour in Fain and Kocik's Anechoic Darkroom, a comfortable, tiny womb they've created below ground in a bank vault in a Wall Street skyscraper. Imagine that!
Sealed off from light and stretched out on a bench with two pillows beneath my head, I opened my eyes to the velvety darkness and mentally chanted Hindu mantras to calm my racing brain and to fully open to the experience. I heard the subway rumbling nearby and had a profound and abiding sense of the verticality of the building. Although I maintained awareness of my body--especially the beating of my heart--all sense of my body's boundaries vanished. At once, I felt aligned with the building and its nervous system and protected and nurtured by the dark. I remembered that some years ago I had experimented with using psychic practices in pitch darkness and found that very powerful.
Fain imposes no directions about what to do in this chamber. Each visitor is on his or her own, and everyone's experience will be unique. Once my brain settled down, I merely enjoyed relaxing into the dark, sensing the faint odor of its wall's wool padding, and connecting to the reality of the building. On two occasions, clairvoyant and clairsentient information came to me, and I experienced a sensation of my legs and feet being stretched from within, followed by the immediate relief of one foot's chronic ache.
I lost conscious sense of time in the darkroom, but I'm used to waking up in the morning on time without an alarm clock. So, no surprise: at a certain point, my body suddenly signaled that it was time to shift around, stretch and sit up. No sooner did I do that than I heard Fain making small noises outside the chamber so that she would not startle me. Soon after, she asked permission to open the door, and she interviewed me about my experiences. We chatted about the creative and healing potential of this chamber and various parallels with ritual practices across cultures.
Sorry to say, this darkroom will be dismantled after tomorrow, Friday, but Fain and Kocik hope to find ways to further develop their work with it and with other aspects of The Prosodic Body.
Click here for complete details about the Anechoic Darkroom. You can also schedule time in the darkroom and receive the full schedule of activities of the Prosodic Body--including a talk this evening at 6:30--by calling 718-450-1356 or emailing humanbehaviorexplorers@earthlink.net. All events require reservation.
Yesterday--after getting an orientation to the project--I spent an hour in Fain and Kocik's Anechoic Darkroom, a comfortable, tiny womb they've created below ground in a bank vault in a Wall Street skyscraper. Imagine that!
Sealed off from light and stretched out on a bench with two pillows beneath my head, I opened my eyes to the velvety darkness and mentally chanted Hindu mantras to calm my racing brain and to fully open to the experience. I heard the subway rumbling nearby and had a profound and abiding sense of the verticality of the building. Although I maintained awareness of my body--especially the beating of my heart--all sense of my body's boundaries vanished. At once, I felt aligned with the building and its nervous system and protected and nurtured by the dark. I remembered that some years ago I had experimented with using psychic practices in pitch darkness and found that very powerful.
Fain imposes no directions about what to do in this chamber. Each visitor is on his or her own, and everyone's experience will be unique. Once my brain settled down, I merely enjoyed relaxing into the dark, sensing the faint odor of its wall's wool padding, and connecting to the reality of the building. On two occasions, clairvoyant and clairsentient information came to me, and I experienced a sensation of my legs and feet being stretched from within, followed by the immediate relief of one foot's chronic ache.
I lost conscious sense of time in the darkroom, but I'm used to waking up in the morning on time without an alarm clock. So, no surprise: at a certain point, my body suddenly signaled that it was time to shift around, stretch and sit up. No sooner did I do that than I heard Fain making small noises outside the chamber so that she would not startle me. Soon after, she asked permission to open the door, and she interviewed me about my experiences. We chatted about the creative and healing potential of this chamber and various parallels with ritual practices across cultures.
Sorry to say, this darkroom will be dismantled after tomorrow, Friday, but Fain and Kocik hope to find ways to further develop their work with it and with other aspects of The Prosodic Body.
Click here for complete details about the Anechoic Darkroom. You can also schedule time in the darkroom and receive the full schedule of activities of the Prosodic Body--including a talk this evening at 6:30--by calling 718-450-1356 or emailing humanbehaviorexplorers@earthlink.net. All events require reservation.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Body and Soul: The adventure continues
Since December 2007, InfiniteBody has been the official home of Body and Soul podcast, and you'll find all of my original interviews here as well as brand new ones. And there's much more to come! Please share this link with your friends and associates and ask them to visit InfiniteBody and/or download or subscribe to Body and Soul through iTunes.
The feed URL for Body and Soul is:
http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml
Important note: If you use iTunes Power Search, you have to search for the specific title, Body and Soul, in order to get the podcast that has new and ongoing material. While you're at it, if you've enjoyed this podcast and found these interviews to be valuable, please take a moment to write a brief review on Body and Soul's iTunes site.
Upcoming: I've also begun working on a podcast for my other blog, hummingwitch. It has been approved by iTunes and should be available very soon.
The feed URL for Body and Soul is:
http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml
Important note: If you use iTunes Power Search, you have to search for the specific title, Body and Soul, in order to get the podcast that has new and ongoing material. While you're at it, if you've enjoyed this podcast and found these interviews to be valuable, please take a moment to write a brief review on Body and Soul's iTunes site.
Upcoming: I've also begun working on a podcast for my other blog, hummingwitch. It has been approved by iTunes and should be available very soon.
A dance supreme
One Man's Jury Duty Is Another Man's Inspiration to Make Choreography
by Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times, February 20, 2008
by Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times, February 20, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Keep Doug Post busy!
In his current issue of DJP Artist Services Newsletter, Doug Post notes:
A number of new subscribers have joined over the last few weeks, and I have been unable to keep up with individually thanking them for signing on. So accept this as my 'Thank You' for becoming a part of this community.
So, here's what's in a typical issue:
Performances during next week :: Dancers needed :: Grants, Space Grants, Fellowships & Residencies :: Upcoming performances :: Artist Housing Needed :: Videographers and Photographers :: Looking ahead :: Musical, Theatrical and other arts events :: Performance Opportunites :: If your travel plans include :: Queens Council on the Arts announces Performing Artist Opportunities :: Dixon Place Winter Dance Schedule :: Housing available :: Los Angeles Area Performances :: Upcoming Benefits, Open Houses and Awards Shows :: Performance venues for rent :: Positions available :: Rehearsal Spaces - Subsidized or not :: Artist's non housing needs :: Office Space Available
Sounds like we should keep this guy even busier, right?
To subscribe or submit relevant listings, write to Doug Post at dougjp55@yahoo.com.
Monday, February 18, 2008
So, welcome to the machine!
"Independent dance improviser, new media artist and on-line publisher" Marlon Barrios Solano describes his nascent dance-tech.net as "a dance and technology social network that aggregates and facilitates the flow of information and the distributed intelligence among movement, new media artist and theorists working in the confluence of embodied performance practices and new media."
Interested? Click here.
Interested? Click here.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Invitation to Yanira Castro's Open Showing
Yanira Castro--recently interviewed on Body and Soul podcast--has announced this free preview of her new work, Center of Sleep at Dance Theater Workshop:
As many of you know, we are getting ready for our season at DTW, and one of the big remaining questions about the piece is how the audience will interact with the aural, visual and movement environment that we have created. So, before the curtain rises (so to speak), we are having an open showing on Saturday, Feb 23 at 4PM at Dance Theater Workshop as a test run. We would love to get 60 people to come. All the elements of set and lights and sound may not be present but it will give us a good clue as to what expect come opening night.
We do have to limit the group to 60 so please RSVP to yaniracastroandco@yahoo.com as soon as you can so that we can keep a running tally. And please feel free to forward to anyone who might be interested in seeing the work in progress.
Dance Theater Workshop is at 219 W 19 Street between 7 & 8 Avenue. If you can arrive by 3:45, someone will be there to greet you in the lobby.
Thanks! Yanira
Y A N I R A C A S T R O + C O M P A N Y
As many of you know, we are getting ready for our season at DTW, and one of the big remaining questions about the piece is how the audience will interact with the aural, visual and movement environment that we have created. So, before the curtain rises (so to speak), we are having an open showing on Saturday, Feb 23 at 4PM at Dance Theater Workshop as a test run. We would love to get 60 people to come. All the elements of set and lights and sound may not be present but it will give us a good clue as to what expect come opening night.
We do have to limit the group to 60 so please RSVP to yaniracastroandco@yahoo.com as soon as you can so that we can keep a running tally. And please feel free to forward to anyone who might be interested in seeing the work in progress.
Dance Theater Workshop is at 219 W 19 Street between 7 & 8 Avenue. If you can arrive by 3:45, someone will be there to greet you in the lobby.
Thanks! Yanira
OBAMAEROBICS...yes, you heard me!
Lana Wilson will teach a class in OBAMAEROBICS on Monday, February 25, 7:30-8:30pm.
Location: Mark Morris Dance Center (Studio 3), 3 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn [map]
Sliding scale: $10-$50. All proceeds benefit the Obama campaign.
Wilson writes:
I will lead us through an easy-to-follow yet intense cardio workout—including strength training, a little yoga, and a ridiculous crunch sequence--to tunes by artists including Chromeo, the New Pornographers, and Justin Timberlake. You WILL be sore the next day, and Barack will thank you for it. No aerobics experience is necessary. All fitness levels are welcome. YOUR time for change has come--BARACK YOUR BODY.
To which I say, "You go, girl!"
To sign up for the class and for more information, click here.
And don't miss this article about OBAMAEROBICS!
Location: Mark Morris Dance Center (Studio 3), 3 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn [map]
Sliding scale: $10-$50. All proceeds benefit the Obama campaign.
Wilson writes:
I will lead us through an easy-to-follow yet intense cardio workout—including strength training, a little yoga, and a ridiculous crunch sequence--to tunes by artists including Chromeo, the New Pornographers, and Justin Timberlake. You WILL be sore the next day, and Barack will thank you for it. No aerobics experience is necessary. All fitness levels are welcome. YOUR time for change has come--BARACK YOUR BODY.
To which I say, "You go, girl!"
To sign up for the class and for more information, click here.
And don't miss this article about OBAMAEROBICS!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Nothing sweet about this salon!
The ladies of Sugar Salon invite you to a...heh-heh..modest, little tea party at Abrons Arts Center, tonight at 8pm. Come see what a trio of freethinking women choreographers can do when given time, space, practical support and the mentorship of Bessie Award-winner Donna Uchizono. Tasteful entertainment will include a wild new theatrical cornucopia from Heather McArdle/BLUEPRINTVIOLATION and a reprise of luciana achugar's Franny & Zooey, one of the bravest dances in memory, which premiered at Tere O'Connor's The Nothing Festival in 2007. (Click here to listen to my podcast interview with achugar and Barnard Dance Department chair Mary Cochran about Sugar Salon.) Reneé Archibald offers a peek at Curtain Wall, a developing work, and one hopes that the brilliant company she's been keeping will keep her moving.
As Apollinaire Scherr would say, just GO!
Information? Click http://www.henrystreet.org/arts
Tickets? 212-352-3101 or click here.
As Apollinaire Scherr would say, just GO!
Information? Click http://www.henrystreet.org/arts
Tickets? 212-352-3101 or click here.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Hey! Haven't any of these people heard of Judith Jamison?
Here's one just for fun:
Beyonce's Dad Weighs in on 'Queen' Flap
by The Associated Press, February 14, 2008
Beyonce's Dad Weighs in on 'Queen' Flap
by The Associated Press, February 14, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
The Turning World (17)
Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?
by Patricia Cohen, The New York Times, February 14, 2008
by Patricia Cohen, The New York Times, February 14, 2008
Kourlas views "One Shot"
Very nice work on this Gia Kourlas review of Ronald K. Brown's new One Shot, presented at The Joyce Theater this week. Click here. My review of this new, full-evening work by Brown's Evidence, A Dance Company will appear in Dance Magazine...ah, well, I'll try to remember to tell you!
Leila Haddad to debut in New York City
The Queen of Oriental dance--Le Parisien
Leila Haddad (France) and The Gypsy Musicians of Upper Egypt will perform at Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, New York University, March 6-7, in a program presented by World Music Institute.
Haddad, one of the world's premier Oriental dancers, performs traditional dances of the little-known Ghawazee (Gypsies) of southern Egypt in the popular style. Born in Djerba, Tunisia to a Berber family, and now living in France, Haddad has studied many of the Arab world's dance forms by traveling from village to village. With her performances she has revived the dignity and tradition of Oriental dance and conveyed its latent sensuality as a tribute to femininity rather than subjugation to male images of women.
Her performances have taken her to major festivals and cultural institutions in Europe and the US. A highly respected teacher, she opened her first Paris Oriental dance class in the mid-1980s--a bold move at a time when the dance form was unknown or poorly understood.
Today she travels widely to teach dance and train new teachers. She was the first Oriental dancer to perform at the Salon de la Danse festival in Paris (1988). Her works include Dance of the Seven Veils, Rouh, A la Recherche de Tanit, Aquarelles, L'Orient d'une Danseuse - Rêveries sur le Nil, Nomades, and Zikrayat, her work in homage to Oum Khalsoum which premiered at the Théâtre Mogador in Paris (2000).
In the Trail of the Ghawazee was first shown in its current form in February 2006 at the Theatre du Trianon in Paris; it was later presented at the Images of Middle East Festival in Denmark, the Middle East Festival at the National Museum in Singapore, the Mediterranean Festival in Hong Kong, and many cities in France.
For tickets and further information on this program, call 212-545-7536 or click here.
For information on all Skirball Center events, click here.
From Mississippi Delta to NYC: Chong/Wilks project announced
Ping Chong & Company, in collaboration with 651 ARTS, is seeking participants for a theatrical production exploring the histories of people living in New York City whose roots lie in the Mississippi Delta. Directors Ping Chong and Talvin Wilks are seeking five men and women, of various ages and backgrounds who have migrated from the Delta, or whose family histories include a migration from the Delta to another part of the United States. This production is being produced as part of a larger Mississippi Delta Heritage project which is exploring the historical and cultural impact of the Delta on the rest of the United States.
We are looking for people over 18 years of age, with schedules that will accommodate approximately three – four weeks of rehearsal and two days of performance (approximately 12-15 hours per week). No previous performance experience required. No memorization required. All participants will be paid.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The production will be developed, rehearsed and performed in New York City. Potential candidates will be selected through an interview process. Selected participants will perform from a script based on their interviews. All performers will be telling their own stories and participating in the stories of other participants. Participation will require a multi-week commitment (primarily evenings) in New York in April and May 2008. Evening rehearsals will take place during April and May, approximately three weeks total, 12-15 hours per week. Participants must be available for an evening performance in Brooklyn on May 28th, and day and evening performances on May 29th. Deadline for inquiries: March 15th.
BACKGROUND
This production is part of Ping Chong’s ongoing series of oral-history theater works known as the Undesirable Elements project, exploring issues of race, culture, identity, and “otherness” in America. Each production is made in a specific community, with local participants testifying to their real lives and experiences. Their stories are interwoven into a script, which is performed by the participants themselves, not actors. Since 1992, Ping Chong & Company has made over thirty works in this series, in communities around the United States and abroad. The series is designed to help communities confront and overcome cultural insularity by encouraging dialogue and giving voice to individuals whose stories frequently go unheard.
Ping Chong is a world-renowned theater director, choreographer, and visual installation artist. He founded Ping Chong & Company in 1975, which has since created over 50 productions that have been presented at major venues around the world.
Talvin Wilks is an award-winning director and dramaturg. He has collaborated with Ping Chong on seven Undesirable Elements productions.
For more background, click here.
Since its founding in 1988, 651 ARTS has been committed to developing, producing and presenting arts and cultural programming grounded in the African Diaspora, with a primary focus on contemporary performing arts. 651 ARTS serves the cultural life of New York City, with a particular focus on Brooklyn, one of America’s most culturally diverse communities.
For inquiries or to request application materials (deadline March 15, 2008): email to deltaheritage@651arts.org or call (718) 230 – 2527.
We are looking for people over 18 years of age, with schedules that will accommodate approximately three – four weeks of rehearsal and two days of performance (approximately 12-15 hours per week). No previous performance experience required. No memorization required. All participants will be paid.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The production will be developed, rehearsed and performed in New York City. Potential candidates will be selected through an interview process. Selected participants will perform from a script based on their interviews. All performers will be telling their own stories and participating in the stories of other participants. Participation will require a multi-week commitment (primarily evenings) in New York in April and May 2008. Evening rehearsals will take place during April and May, approximately three weeks total, 12-15 hours per week. Participants must be available for an evening performance in Brooklyn on May 28th, and day and evening performances on May 29th. Deadline for inquiries: March 15th.
BACKGROUND
This production is part of Ping Chong’s ongoing series of oral-history theater works known as the Undesirable Elements project, exploring issues of race, culture, identity, and “otherness” in America. Each production is made in a specific community, with local participants testifying to their real lives and experiences. Their stories are interwoven into a script, which is performed by the participants themselves, not actors. Since 1992, Ping Chong & Company has made over thirty works in this series, in communities around the United States and abroad. The series is designed to help communities confront and overcome cultural insularity by encouraging dialogue and giving voice to individuals whose stories frequently go unheard.
Ping Chong is a world-renowned theater director, choreographer, and visual installation artist. He founded Ping Chong & Company in 1975, which has since created over 50 productions that have been presented at major venues around the world.
Talvin Wilks is an award-winning director and dramaturg. He has collaborated with Ping Chong on seven Undesirable Elements productions.
For more background, click here.
Since its founding in 1988, 651 ARTS has been committed to developing, producing and presenting arts and cultural programming grounded in the African Diaspora, with a primary focus on contemporary performing arts. 651 ARTS serves the cultural life of New York City, with a particular focus on Brooklyn, one of America’s most culturally diverse communities.
For inquiries or to request application materials (deadline March 15, 2008): email to deltaheritage@651arts.org or call (718) 230 – 2527.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Dancing with snakes
One of the most unusual instructional dance DVDs I've seen has been produced by Serpentessa, a ritualist and performer who dances with redtail boa constrictors. In the instructional section of the three-hour DVD--Belly Dance with Snakes: Embody Your Inner Serpent--Serpentessa gives careful, detailed guidance. It's as important to respect the snake and become entrained with its rhythms and moves as to tune up your posture and avoid "duck-butt."
Dancing while a snake slithers around your arm, shoulder, neck and head in its continuous improvisation ain't easy. You have to be able to maintain the integrity of your movements while managing the snake's considerable weight and finely adjusting your balance as it adjusts its location. Serpentessa's snakes are very gentle, but they're wild animals, not theatrical props, and she never loses sight of that fact. I've seen her perform live; clearly, she has strongly bonded with her snakes, equal partners in her dancing. Her dance technique and aesthetics are impeccable.
The remaining time includes excerpts from performances, a montage of snippets from ceremonies and fanciful sequences, and a "relaxing meditation" which shows a tangle of snakes repeatedly sliding over boulders. There's a cloying atmosphere of oversell. Perhaps Serpentessa could have used this opportunity to focus more on why snakes have been such a potent, universal symbols of sensuality, healing and cyclical time and to share images from ancient and contemporary art. Nevertheless, when she attends to instruction, her DVD offers a serious, encouraging introduction for anyone drawn to this art and spiritual practice.
To learn more about this DVD, click here.
Dancing while a snake slithers around your arm, shoulder, neck and head in its continuous improvisation ain't easy. You have to be able to maintain the integrity of your movements while managing the snake's considerable weight and finely adjusting your balance as it adjusts its location. Serpentessa's snakes are very gentle, but they're wild animals, not theatrical props, and she never loses sight of that fact. I've seen her perform live; clearly, she has strongly bonded with her snakes, equal partners in her dancing. Her dance technique and aesthetics are impeccable.
The remaining time includes excerpts from performances, a montage of snippets from ceremonies and fanciful sequences, and a "relaxing meditation" which shows a tangle of snakes repeatedly sliding over boulders. There's a cloying atmosphere of oversell. Perhaps Serpentessa could have used this opportunity to focus more on why snakes have been such a potent, universal symbols of sensuality, healing and cyclical time and to share images from ancient and contemporary art. Nevertheless, when she attends to instruction, her DVD offers a serious, encouraging introduction for anyone drawn to this art and spiritual practice.
To learn more about this DVD, click here.
Honest transcendence: Scherr writes on Vishneva
Double Exposure: Diana Vishneva plays both sides.
by Apollinaire Scherr, New York Magazine, February 10, 2008
by Apollinaire Scherr, New York Magazine, February 10, 2008
The Turning World (15)
Australia Offers an Apology to Aborigines
by Tim Johnson, The New York Times, February 13, 2008
Australia Apology to Aborigines
BBC News, February 13, 2008
clipped from news.bbc.co.uk
by Tim Johnson, The New York Times, February 13, 2008
Australia Apology to Aborigines
BBC News, February 13, 2008
clipped from news.bbc.co.uk
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has formally apologised to all Aborigines for the "Stolen Generations".
 |
Dunya's Tribute to Fazil's
Several years ago I began writing about my time as a professional bellydancer. I continue to work on this piece even as Skin of Glass: Finding Spirit in the Flesh, my memoir about dance as a a spiritual path, goes to press. But Fazil's, the studio and club that housed my most formative belly dance experiences, is closing. I never thought it would happen. It is very sad. Here is an excerpt about first climbing those rickety stairs, first meeting Fazil, and taking my first class with Elena [Lentini]. -- Dunya Dianne McPherson
Read dancer and master teacher Dunya Dianne McPherson's reminiscences about the legendary Fazil's and the performer and teacher, Elena Lentini on her blog, DANCEMEDITATION.
Read dancer and master teacher Dunya Dianne McPherson's reminiscences about the legendary Fazil's and the performer and teacher, Elena Lentini on her blog, DANCEMEDITATION.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
That gray, waxy buildup: Jasper Johns
Take some time off from dance--as I've done for a few days--and explore the bracing and absorbing Jasper Johns: Gray exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, running now through May 4. For details on the show and related education programs, click here.
Flamenco en Nueva York!
WNYC's Soundcheck show highlights The New York Flamenco Festival tomorrow, February 13, at 2pm on 93.9 FM (National Public Radio).
The New York Flamenco Festival is heating up the city through February 24. On Wednesday, Festival founder Miguel Marin joins John Schaefer to explain how younger artists, like Diana Navarro, Rocio Molina, Eva Yerbabuena and Son de la Frontera, are changing the sound and the face of Spain’s most traditional music. Navarro will sing live in the studio.
The New York Flamenco Festival is heating up the city through February 24. On Wednesday, Festival founder Miguel Marin joins John Schaefer to explain how younger artists, like Diana Navarro, Rocio Molina, Eva Yerbabuena and Son de la Frontera, are changing the sound and the face of Spain’s most traditional music. Navarro will sing live in the studio.
Listen to Flamenco on Soundcheck
Click here for schedule and ticketing details for the festival.
His own private Idaho: Peter Anastos
New artistic director Peter Anastos takes on reinventing Ballet Idaho
by Dana Oland, The Idaho Statesman, February 12, 2008
And don't miss Anastos' funny story about Mikhail Baryshnikov!
by Dana Oland, The Idaho Statesman, February 12, 2008
And don't miss Anastos' funny story about Mikhail Baryshnikov!
Monday, February 11, 2008
Stuart and Gehmacher reviewed on Dancemagazine.com
Click here to read my Dancemagazine.com review of MAYBE FOREVER by Meg Stuart and Phillip Gehmacher, which ran January 30-February 2 at Dance Theater Workshop.
BTW, Dance Magazine's site does not appear to offer a way to search for reviews by author or by date. From now on, I will try to remember to post a notice here whenever one of my reviews gets posted online or a review or feature is published in the print version. I've been forgetting to do this. However, if you'd like to see Dancemagazine.com offer alternative ways to access its archived reviews, here's the contact info.
BTW, Dance Magazine's site does not appear to offer a way to search for reviews by author or by date. From now on, I will try to remember to post a notice here whenever one of my reviews gets posted online or a review or feature is published in the print version. I've been forgetting to do this. However, if you'd like to see Dancemagazine.com offer alternative ways to access its archived reviews, here's the contact info.
Spring workshops with Fran Kirmser at The Field
Body and Soul interviewee Fran Kirmser plans to facilitate a new round of workshops for The Field this spring:
March 15: Corporate Fundraising
April 19: Producing--From idea to stage!
May 15: Cultivating Audience
May 22nd: Non Profit Status--Should you have it?
And she's thrilled to announce that her production, In Search of A Goddess will be revived this fall in honor of the 80th anniversary of Ruth St. Denis's founding of the Dance Department at Adelphi University.
For information on all of Fran's activities, click here.
To listen to my 2007 interview with Fran, click here.
March 15: Corporate Fundraising
April 19: Producing--From idea to stage!
May 15: Cultivating Audience
May 22nd: Non Profit Status--Should you have it?
And she's thrilled to announce that her production, In Search of A Goddess will be revived this fall in honor of the 80th anniversary of Ruth St. Denis's founding of the Dance Department at Adelphi University.
For information on all of Fran's activities, click here.
To listen to my 2007 interview with Fran, click here.
Classic Egyptian dancers highlighted in film series
On Sunday, March 30, San Francisco master teacher Sausan (Sausan Academy of Egyptian Dance) will launch a weekly lecture and video series--Dancing in the Golden Era of Egyptian Film--including screenings and discussion of technique, performance, era costuming, biographies and more. Refreshments will be served, and videos will be available for purchase.
Time: 1pm-3PM
Location: Al-Masri Restaurant, 4031 Balboa Street, San Francisco, CA
Schedule
March 30: Taheyia Karioka, Samia Gamal, and Na'eema Akef
April 6: Katie, Na'met Mokhtar, and Zinaat Aloui
April 13: Samiha Tawfique, Nebawiyia Moustafa, Hoda Shams El Din
April 20: Hend Rostom, So'ad Hosny
April 27: Nadia El Guindy, Nabila Ebeid, Lebleba
May 4: Nagwa Fouad, Zizi Moustafa, Suhair Zaki
Admission per session: $35 in advance/$40 at the door/$200 in advance for entire series
For additional information, click here or contact Sausan at sausanacademy@gmail.com or 415-262-0175.
Time: 1pm-3PM
Location: Al-Masri Restaurant, 4031 Balboa Street, San Francisco, CA
Schedule
March 30: Taheyia Karioka, Samia Gamal, and Na'eema Akef
April 6: Katie, Na'met Mokhtar, and Zinaat Aloui
April 13: Samiha Tawfique, Nebawiyia Moustafa, Hoda Shams El Din
April 20: Hend Rostom, So'ad Hosny
April 27: Nadia El Guindy, Nabila Ebeid, Lebleba
May 4: Nagwa Fouad, Zizi Moustafa, Suhair Zaki
Admission per session: $35 in advance/$40 at the door/$200 in advance for entire series
For additional information, click here or contact Sausan at sausanacademy@gmail.com or 415-262-0175.
More on Thunderbird and insights from poets
My guest for the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers concert was my friend, poet Gerry Gomez Pearlberg, who posted her reflections on her beekeeping blog, Global Swarming Honeybees. I'm particularly intrigued by what poet Gary Snyder has had to say about the act of performance and the role of the artistic performer in the give and take of nature. Click here for more.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Thunderbird at TNC
Big, big thanks to my recent Body and Soul interviewee Louis Mofsie (Hopi/Winnebago) and his Thunderbird American Indian Dancers community for their beautiful, profoundly moving performance at Theater for the New City.
The geographical/cultural range of dances is impressive, from the tender Caribou Dance of Alaska to the virtuousic Plains region hoop dance--with its mindboggling, intricate footwork and hoop-handling--danced to perfection by Donna Ahmadi (Gullah/Cherokee/Chickasaw) and Michael Taylor (Choctaw/French). New York dance fans will recognize Ahmadi from her performances in works by Stephan Koplowitz and Alison Chase as well as Tom Pearson and Zach Morris of Third Rail Projects. Pearson (Coharie/Muskogee/Cherokee) also lends his spirited, focused performing to the current TAID show. You'll also enjoy superb storytellers: the soulful Matoaka Little Eagle (Santo Domingo/Chickahominy) and Muriel Miguel (Kuna/Rappahannock), beloved of fans of New York's Spiderwoman Theater, who brings color, rhythm, suspense and humor to tales that deliver a sly punch.
The concert runs through next Sunday, February 17, and you owe yourself this hearty feast. Click here for schedule information and ticketing.
For information on other TAID events, call 201-587-9633.
The geographical/cultural range of dances is impressive, from the tender Caribou Dance of Alaska to the virtuousic Plains region hoop dance--with its mindboggling, intricate footwork and hoop-handling--danced to perfection by Donna Ahmadi (Gullah/Cherokee/Chickasaw) and Michael Taylor (Choctaw/French). New York dance fans will recognize Ahmadi from her performances in works by Stephan Koplowitz and Alison Chase as well as Tom Pearson and Zach Morris of Third Rail Projects. Pearson (Coharie/Muskogee/Cherokee) also lends his spirited, focused performing to the current TAID show. You'll also enjoy superb storytellers: the soulful Matoaka Little Eagle (Santo Domingo/Chickahominy) and Muriel Miguel (Kuna/Rappahannock), beloved of fans of New York's Spiderwoman Theater, who brings color, rhythm, suspense and humor to tales that deliver a sly punch.
The concert runs through next Sunday, February 17, and you owe yourself this hearty feast. Click here for schedule information and ticketing.
For information on other TAID events, call 201-587-9633.
Get in on the act
When Audiences Get In on the Act
by Charles Isherwood, The New York Times, February 10, 2008
...about theater, of course, but with some important consideration for the dancemakers and dance audiences
INVITATION TO InfiniteBody READERS
After you've read Isherwood's piece, please send me a brief account (250 words, maximum) of any recent experience you've had with interactive dance or performance--the nature of the experience, your role in it, your reaction to it and its overall effectiveness. I will select a few of these replies to post here.
Remember, keep your remarks concise and to the point, and it's more likely that I will select your reply.
Send it to:
hummingwitch[at]gmail[dot]com
Deadline: Wednesday, February 13 (5:00AM, EST)
Thanks!
by Charles Isherwood, The New York Times, February 10, 2008
...about theater, of course, but with some important consideration for the dancemakers and dance audiences
INVITATION TO InfiniteBody READERS
After you've read Isherwood's piece, please send me a brief account (250 words, maximum) of any recent experience you've had with interactive dance or performance--the nature of the experience, your role in it, your reaction to it and its overall effectiveness. I will select a few of these replies to post here.
Remember, keep your remarks concise and to the point, and it's more likely that I will select your reply.
Send it to:
hummingwitch[at]gmail[dot]com
Deadline: Wednesday, February 13 (5:00AM, EST)
Thanks!
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Friday, February 8, 2008
Not dance, I know...and my heart's still on my sleeve...
But some of you out there are (or know) visual artists. So here's an announcement from some good folks who want you to get involved.
--Eva
***************
Art for Change
Are you an artist who has been inspired by the grassroots movement supporting Barack Obama? Come join other creative folks for Art for Change, a unique grassroots organizing event and celebration of the Obama movement. We are currently accepting submissions from talented artists and graphic designers. Your art should be inspired by and communicate the passion, ideals and vision of the Obama movement.
We are accepting all types of media and styles. We hope to get creative campaign posters, buttons, paintings, digital art, video clips, drawings, t-shirts, pottery, toothbrush covers and whatever else your creativity inspires.
We will display the art at an event in New York City prior to the important March 4th primary, when Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont hold their primaries, with 450 delegates at stake. As soon as we have finalized the time and place we will send out more information about the actual event.
We hope to do three things with the art that is gathered:
1. We will display the art at the event. We will also auction certain pieces (with your agreement) as a donation for the campaign.
2. We are in contact with the Obama campaign about selecting the best submissions to be considered for use at official Obama campaign rallies and events.
3. Most importantly, we will use the art to communicate with millions of people on the internet as they get ready to vote.
Please submit a photo of your art in jpeg format for consideration.
Artists have always been at the forefront of bringing emergent ideas and trends into cultural consciousness. They have been the vanguard in recognizing and catalyzing the paradigm shifts that have propelled human history forward. The Obama movement presents a great window of opportunity to bring about a paradigm shift in our country's politics.
Please submit your art to help bring the change our country so desperately needs!
To discuss submissions and get more information, please contact Adi Flesher at adiflesher@gmail.com.
--Eva
***************
Art for Change
Are you an artist who has been inspired by the grassroots movement supporting Barack Obama? Come join other creative folks for Art for Change, a unique grassroots organizing event and celebration of the Obama movement. We are currently accepting submissions from talented artists and graphic designers. Your art should be inspired by and communicate the passion, ideals and vision of the Obama movement.
We are accepting all types of media and styles. We hope to get creative campaign posters, buttons, paintings, digital art, video clips, drawings, t-shirts, pottery, toothbrush covers and whatever else your creativity inspires.
We will display the art at an event in New York City prior to the important March 4th primary, when Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont hold their primaries, with 450 delegates at stake. As soon as we have finalized the time and place we will send out more information about the actual event.
We hope to do three things with the art that is gathered:
1. We will display the art at the event. We will also auction certain pieces (with your agreement) as a donation for the campaign.
2. We are in contact with the Obama campaign about selecting the best submissions to be considered for use at official Obama campaign rallies and events.
3. Most importantly, we will use the art to communicate with millions of people on the internet as they get ready to vote.
Please submit a photo of your art in jpeg format for consideration.
Artists have always been at the forefront of bringing emergent ideas and trends into cultural consciousness. They have been the vanguard in recognizing and catalyzing the paradigm shifts that have propelled human history forward. The Obama movement presents a great window of opportunity to bring about a paradigm shift in our country's politics.
Please submit your art to help bring the change our country so desperately needs!
To discuss submissions and get more information, please contact Adi Flesher at adiflesher@gmail.com.
ALASKA. Having a miserable time. Wish you were here.
What if somewhere inside me there is a dark limbo where all the truly important memories are heaped and slowly turning into mud? -- Haruki Marukami, Norwegian Wood
ALASKA, that is what we call a supposed interior space, the existence of a last room. The body as a tenant of spaces, as a container of memories...ALASKA, a place we all know but nobody has ever been. -- from program notes for Diana Szeinblum's ALASKA
I've missed previous work by Argentinian choreographer Diana Szeinblum--in particular, her Secreto y Malibú, which has won international praise and honors. So, I'm grateful that a friend urged me to take the opportunity to see ALASKA (2007), now in its New York premiere season through tomorrow evening at Dance Theater Workshop. I saw it last night, and the experience wracked me in body, mind and soul.
Szeinblum, who trained and performed with Pina Bausch, created this work with her dancers--she prefers to call them "interpreters" and considers movement to be a form of text--who worked with her for the past 1-1/2 years. In that short amount of time, they developed an uncommon degree of trust. The piece demands extraordinary physical and emotional vulnerability and courage.
In every moment, the obsessive, brutally-driven movements show the body's desperation to violently expel toxic experiences and memories lodged in every cell. If it is necessary to tear itself apart to do that job, it will make every effort to do so. I have always maintained that those of us who are finely sensitive to energies--and, in particular, sensitive to dance--are deeply affected and changed by what we see dancers do. It's unlikely that many observers will leave this performance feeling untouched by it.
Szeinblum's creative team includes interpreters Lucas Condro, Noelia Leonzio, Alejandra Ferreyra Ortiz and Pablo Lugones; composer and pianist Ulises Conti; violist Mariano Malamud; lighting designer Gonzalo Cordova. It has been suggested to me by one observer that Secreto y Malibú is the far better work. If so, I resolve to see Secreto y Malibú someday.
For more information and tickets, click here.
ALASKA, that is what we call a supposed interior space, the existence of a last room. The body as a tenant of spaces, as a container of memories...ALASKA, a place we all know but nobody has ever been. -- from program notes for Diana Szeinblum's ALASKA
I've missed previous work by Argentinian choreographer Diana Szeinblum--in particular, her Secreto y Malibú, which has won international praise and honors. So, I'm grateful that a friend urged me to take the opportunity to see ALASKA (2007), now in its New York premiere season through tomorrow evening at Dance Theater Workshop. I saw it last night, and the experience wracked me in body, mind and soul.
Szeinblum, who trained and performed with Pina Bausch, created this work with her dancers--she prefers to call them "interpreters" and considers movement to be a form of text--who worked with her for the past 1-1/2 years. In that short amount of time, they developed an uncommon degree of trust. The piece demands extraordinary physical and emotional vulnerability and courage.
In every moment, the obsessive, brutally-driven movements show the body's desperation to violently expel toxic experiences and memories lodged in every cell. If it is necessary to tear itself apart to do that job, it will make every effort to do so. I have always maintained that those of us who are finely sensitive to energies--and, in particular, sensitive to dance--are deeply affected and changed by what we see dancers do. It's unlikely that many observers will leave this performance feeling untouched by it.
Szeinblum's creative team includes interpreters Lucas Condro, Noelia Leonzio, Alejandra Ferreyra Ortiz and Pablo Lugones; composer and pianist Ulises Conti; violist Mariano Malamud; lighting designer Gonzalo Cordova. It has been suggested to me by one observer that Secreto y Malibú is the far better work. If so, I resolve to see Secreto y Malibú someday.
For more information and tickets, click here.
Internal Landscapes with John Ollom
Another interesting event at New York's LGBT Community Center this month...
Center Orientation presents
Internal Landscapes
with John Ollom
Sunday, February 24 (7pm)
Admission: $20
For men only
Internal Landscapes is the methodology taught by John Ollom, artistic director of Ollom Dance Theatre. This clothing-optional class is divided into three parts. The first part is the Ollom Floor Series which incorporates ab work, flexibility training and breath work. The second part of the class involves movement creation from the subconscious. The third part is partnering between men.
The Center is located at 208 West 13th Street, Manhattan. For further information, click here.
Center Orientation presents
Internal Landscapes
with John Ollom
Sunday, February 24 (7pm)
Admission: $20
For men only
Internal Landscapes is the methodology taught by John Ollom, artistic director of Ollom Dance Theatre. This clothing-optional class is divided into three parts. The first part is the Ollom Floor Series which incorporates ab work, flexibility training and breath work. The second part of the class involves movement creation from the subconscious. The third part is partnering between men.
The Center is located at 208 West 13th Street, Manhattan. For further information, click here.
Ellis Wood's Falcon Project to take wing at New York's LGBT Center
Wednesday, February 13 (6:30pm)
Ellis Wood Dance will offer members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community a chance to participate in free dance workshops and performances of the Falcon Project: A Meditation on Movement and Gender Identity.
The company will give two four-week workshops at the LGBT Community Center in Manhattan. Meeting once a week for two hours, these workshops will culminate in a video documentary and a performance at the Center in April. An excerpt will be shown at the Dancers Responding to AIDS benefit on Fire Island in July, and the work will receive its official premiere this fall at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center.
The Center is located at 208 West 13th Street, Manhattan. For complete information, visit Ellis Wood Dance and The Center (LGBT Community Center).
Ellis Wood Dance will offer members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community a chance to participate in free dance workshops and performances of the Falcon Project: A Meditation on Movement and Gender Identity.
The company will give two four-week workshops at the LGBT Community Center in Manhattan. Meeting once a week for two hours, these workshops will culminate in a video documentary and a performance at the Center in April. An excerpt will be shown at the Dancers Responding to AIDS benefit on Fire Island in July, and the work will receive its official premiere this fall at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center.
The Center is located at 208 West 13th Street, Manhattan. For complete information, visit Ellis Wood Dance and The Center (LGBT Community Center).
Becoming Intimate with the Body: Awareness in Stillness and Motion
I'm happy to pass along the following announcement for one my Body and Soul podcast interviewees, Nadine Helstroffer. To hear my interview with Nadine, click here.
--Eva
****************
New York Insight Meditation Center presents a day-long retreat with Nadine Helstroffer and Sandra Weinberg--Becoming Intimate with the Body: Awareness in Stillness and Motion.
Saturday, February 16, 10am–5 pm
Fee: $40
28 West 27th Street, 10th floor, Manhattan
Phone: 212-213-4802
E-mail: nyinsight@earthlink.net
This day is an opportunity to enjoy getting to know yourself in your body. As we tune into the spaciousness inside and outside the body, we come closer to our true nature. Building on the foundation of mindfulness practice, we will engage in a joyful and challenging form of inquiry in both stillness and movement. We will shift our awareness from concepts about the body to the arising and falling of each moment to moment experience. The four postures of body--sitting, standing, moving, and lying down--will be the place of exploration of our grasping and letting go.
NADINE HELSTROFFER
A Buddhist practitioner and a New York-based dancer-choreographer, Nadine Helstroffer has directed workshops in France, Canada, Korea, and the United States. In 1998 she founded the Resonance Body workshop, which explores the link between meditation and movement. She has been presenting her workshop at the Zen Center of New York City, the New School University and Bowling Green State University, Ohio. Vajra Realm, a dance pilgrimage with Nadine filmed in Central Tibet, was released in January 2007 and distributed by WGBH Boston/PBS as a special feature on the DVD Vajra Sky Over Tibet by John Bush. In collaboration with John, she is preparing the feature-length dance art film Schimmer, a meditation on impermanence.
SANDRA WEINBERG
Sandra Weinberg is a co-founder, member of the Teachers Council, and Board of Directors of NYI. She has studied and practiced mindfulness meditation for over 25 years and is a graduate of the first Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leaders Program. Sandra has taught insight meditation at NYI, the New York Open Center, City University of New York and elsewhere. She is a psychotherapist in private practice in New York City.
--Eva
****************
New York Insight Meditation Center presents a day-long retreat with Nadine Helstroffer and Sandra Weinberg--Becoming Intimate with the Body: Awareness in Stillness and Motion.
Saturday, February 16, 10am–5 pm
Fee: $40
28 West 27th Street, 10th floor, Manhattan
Phone: 212-213-4802
E-mail: nyinsight@earthlink.net
This day is an opportunity to enjoy getting to know yourself in your body. As we tune into the spaciousness inside and outside the body, we come closer to our true nature. Building on the foundation of mindfulness practice, we will engage in a joyful and challenging form of inquiry in both stillness and movement. We will shift our awareness from concepts about the body to the arising and falling of each moment to moment experience. The four postures of body--sitting, standing, moving, and lying down--will be the place of exploration of our grasping and letting go.
NADINE HELSTROFFER
A Buddhist practitioner and a New York-based dancer-choreographer, Nadine Helstroffer has directed workshops in France, Canada, Korea, and the United States. In 1998 she founded the Resonance Body workshop, which explores the link between meditation and movement. She has been presenting her workshop at the Zen Center of New York City, the New School University and Bowling Green State University, Ohio. Vajra Realm, a dance pilgrimage with Nadine filmed in Central Tibet, was released in January 2007 and distributed by WGBH Boston/PBS as a special feature on the DVD Vajra Sky Over Tibet by John Bush. In collaboration with John, she is preparing the feature-length dance art film Schimmer, a meditation on impermanence.
SANDRA WEINBERG
Sandra Weinberg is a co-founder, member of the Teachers Council, and Board of Directors of NYI. She has studied and practiced mindfulness meditation for over 25 years and is a graduate of the first Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leaders Program. Sandra has taught insight meditation at NYI, the New York Open Center, City University of New York and elsewhere. She is a psychotherapist in private practice in New York City.
DancerUniverse.com requests your ratings
DancerUniverse.com invites members of the dance community to "rate and review every company that has anything to do with dance, across many different categories and genres." To participate, click here.
To add a listing or add descriptions to your current listing, send email to joecote@danceruniverse.com.
To add a listing or add descriptions to your current listing, send email to joecote@danceruniverse.com.
2008 Arts Journalism Institute call for applications
NEA Arts Journalism Institute for Dance Journalists
(for professional print, electronic, radio and television journalists)
hosted by the American Dance Festival
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina
June 21-July 11, 2008
Director: Suzanne Carbonneau, Ph.D. (dance critic and historian)
Application deadline: Wednesday, April 2, 2008
For full information, call 919-684-6402 or click here.
(for professional print, electronic, radio and television journalists)
hosted by the American Dance Festival
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina
June 21-July 11, 2008
Director: Suzanne Carbonneau, Ph.D. (dance critic and historian)
Application deadline: Wednesday, April 2, 2008
For full information, call 919-684-6402 or click here.