Refreshing: Attitude The Dancers Magazine

Attitude: The Dancers Magazine is now available, by single purchase or subscription, online. Editor-in-Chief Bernadine Jennings hereby welcomes you to its "Maiden Voyage onto the Cyberspace Realms."

Refreshing: UCLA's performing arts series

Fresh name and perspective for UCLA's performing arts series
by Mike Boehm, Los Angeles Times, April 26, 2012

Dance critic Tobi Tobias receives honor

While I was away on vacation this month, dance critic Tobi Tobias--my dear colleague and former review editor from my early days at Dance Magazine, who now blogs on dance for ArtsJournal.com--sent word that she had been named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism!

My congratulations to the Pulitzer winner, Wesley Morris, film critic at The Boston Globe, but I'm going to continue to borrow a little of Tobi's glow to bask in for the arts of dance and dance writing! Note the historic nature of this honor: "...the first time a dance critic has been given the Pulitzer distinction for work created for the Internet...."

We're on the move!

Here's Tobi's note:

Dear Readers,

I want to share with you the honor and pleasure I feel in having been named a finalist in this year's Pulitzer Prize for criticism.  The citation reads: “For work appearing on ArtsJournal.com that reveals passion as well as deep historical knowledge of dance, her well-expressed arguments coming from the heart as well as the head.”

This year's winner is Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe for film criticism; the other finalist is Philip Kennicott of The Washington Post for cultural criticism. 

I'm especially pleased about the fact that this is the first time a dance critic has been given the Pulitzer distinction for work created for the Internet--in my case, reviews written for my column, "Seeing Things," which appears in ArtsJournal.

Readers are an essential part of a writer's life.  I thank you--friends, colleagues, and hundreds of people I've never met--for your contribution to my work.

tt

Hearty congratulations, Tobi!

Now from TenduTV: "The Co(te)lette Film"

The Co(te)lette Film (58:16)
Savage Film, Red Mullet, WArd/waRD (2010)

Director: Mike Figgis

Choreography: Ann Van den Broek

Winner, Best of Festival Award, Dance Camera West Festival 2011 (USA); Best Dance Film, Cyprus International Film Festival 2011 (Cyprus); Le Prix du Film sur l’Art, 11th Festival du Film sur l’Art (Brussels)

Watching Mike Figgis' film of Ann Van den Broek's provocative, award-winning dance production, Co(te)lette (2007), reminded me of how a colleague had raised an objection after a showing of Nicholas Leichter's work-in-progress, Twenty Twenty. This critic thought that aspects of that dance too often verged on the pornographic. I walked away thinking, Hmmm... Well, even if that were so, what exactly would be the problem with a choreographer dipping into this other site of the body's vulnerability and power? Twenty Twenty, as a lot of folks will readily tell you, is growing into an outlandish duet (with Leichter's amazing young dance partner, Bryan Strimpel), but if Twenty Twenty makes you squeamish, you're simply not ready for Co(te)lette.

Van den Broek has her three female dances start out down on all fours in short, lightweight skirts and sparkly ballroom shoes. Backsides to the camera. Butts twitching in precise, mechanical rhythm. A metronomic trio panting industrial breath. Butts sloshing like a washing machine's agitation. Torsos swerving with the big swoosh of a cleaning rag or scrub brush in a cleaning woman's sturdy and determined hand. Gazed at as if from directly behind, from overhead, from one side or another and... But wait: The camera pulls away to reveal that there are others coolly watching the women's all-in, increasingly ferocious action from the sidelines as if visiting a cage in a zoo.

Concert dance shies away from much of what follows in Co(te)lette but, by doing so, sidesteps its potential to illuminate this treacherous, ambiguous, suspended place between the real and the artificial, the danger of being embodied and sexual, particularly embodied and sexual as female in a world where straight men hold the lion's share of power. This idea might be usefully conveyed by words alone. But dance must also be there, and this dance is there.

Click here for The Co(te)lette Film from TenduTV.

Sarah Lawrence adds Dance/Movement Therapy program

New Program in Dance/Movement Therapy

at Sarah Lawrence College

Open Houses in April, May, June

Sarah Lawrence College has announced a new graduate degree program in Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT), with applications now being accepted for the first class entering, fall 2012. Open Houses will be held on campus to explain the program, of which dance is at the core, on April 16, May 8 and June 11 from 5:30–7:30. For more information please call (914) 395 2371 or click here to email.

The Program’s director, Cathy Appel, a Sarah Lawrence alumna with 20 years of clinical experience in the field of Dance/Movement Therapy, founded in 1992, the Creative and Movement Arts Psychotherapy Program at  the International Center for the Disabled a comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facility in Manhattan. Her vision and commitment to integrating the creative arts into mental health treatment made Appel’s contributions unique in ICD’s Behavioral Medicine Department.

Dance/Movement Therapy is the psychotherapeutic use of movement to further the emotional, cognitive, physical and social integration of the individual. It is based on the empirically supported premise that the body and mind are interconnected and interact in health and illness.

Sarah Lawrence has an unusually high percentage of graduates in the field of  DMT. In 1966, several SLC alumni were among the founders of the American Dance Therapy Association, the first organization in the world to establish and maintain standards of professional education and competence in the field.

Appel, who came to Sarah Lawrence as an undergraduate following a career in dance, has remained involved with the College, supervising many SLC graduate and undergraduate service learning interns and teaching as guest faculty in the Dance program. “We are looking for students with a background in dance who are interested in making a difference in the lives of others,” she said. “Graduates of this program will be well prepared to take advantage of the recent advances in neuroscience research that have created new opportunities for Dance/Movement Therapy professionals.  The program will also provide a setting for ongoing research and innovation among established practitioners.”

Dean of Graduate Studies Susan Guma, who has worked closely with  Appel in developing the program, observed, “The College’s interdisciplinary approach to education and the strength of its programs in dance, psychology, child development and health advocacy combine to create an unparalleled opportunity to prepare students to enter the growing field of Dance/Movement Therapy.”

Sara Rudner, Director of the Sarah Lawrence Dance Program, said in an announcement about the program to other college dance programs: “ For many, many years, if not decades, I have been pondering how dance could reach its full potential as a life enhancing – sometimes even life-preserving – pursuit. 

Applications are due April 15, but admission is on a rolling basis and may be submitted through July 15. 

 For more information, click here to email Program Director Cathy Appel, or call the Graduate Office at (914) 395-2371.

Beller's house of stories

Excerpt from other stories

How many times have I seen versions of other stories? I forget, but it's likely at least three now with the opening of Alexandra Beller/Dances' 10th Anniversary season last evening at Joyce SoHo. And, of course, no matter how many times other stories is seen, it will always be different according to which guest--chosen from among contemporary dance's most fascinating artists--has been tapped to catalyze the current performance.

As described by the company, the game plays out like this: "Each performance is a high stakes event featuring a pivotal, improvisational performance by a guest artist who has rehearsed minimally, if at all, with the company." Yeah, bring it.

Last night, that catalyst was Jennifer Nugent, a lithe, springy, Puckish spirit of vitality and fun. Some of her best moments came near the end of other stories, as she returned to a circle of the dancers, scattering them and, to my mind, dispersing the mystifying fog of gestures and juxtapositions, mosaics of story fragments, dream-like driftings and memories constructed through lush, sensitive choreography and Martijn Hart's beautiful filmwork.

other stories, for me, inspires unconditional love, the way one takes a good friend to heart, accepting that there will always be things about that person that cannot be fully known or comprehended. This seems to be a dance about just that--opening with Hart's videocamera focused on one corner of a lovely Flatiron District building and a couple, just behind its large windows, holding a conversation that we cannot hear. The camera zooms in close but to no avail. We will never grasp what is being said nor know its history or current context. We're left to project interpretations onto the couple's body language and gestures.

We do much of the same throughout other stories with its plethora of imagery. When we hear words, they merely fan out in the general direction of something that we can only imagine out of our own personal experiences: "This is the only place that makes me laugh," or "This is the space that will not close," or the disjointed recounting of a medical history, audibly redacted. We watch inexplicable expressions wash over the face of one or another dancer; the look is soon wiped away, replaced by another or...nothing. It feels as if we're being plunged into the life recall or dreams of not just one person but a whole tribe, simultaneously.

So, of course, it's not going to make sense. And, of course, it makes sense.

Have I mentioned that I love it?

Dancing by Beller, Lea Fulton, Toni Melaas, Kendra Porter, Edward Rice and Simon Thomas-Train plus the evening's guest artist. Original music composed and performed live by Robert Poss. Lighting by Amanda K. Ringger. Costumes by Karen Young. Set design by Brian Ireland.

See other stories at Joyce Soho through April 21. There will be also be a 10th Anniversary Celebration on Friday, April 13. For season schedule details and ticketing, click here.

Joyce SoHo
155 Mercer Street (between Houston and Prince Streets), Manhattan
(directions)

Taking the measure of "Parallels"

Parallels—a two-month series commissioned by Danspace and curated by Ishmael Houston-Jones—is arguably the most significant event of the current dance season.

To read more of my Dance Magazine review of Danspace Project's PLATFORM 2012: Parallels, click here.

New Kota Yamazaki work coming to Japan Society

from Kota Yamazaki's (glowing)
(Photo: Ryutaro Mishima)

Japan Society will present (glowing), a new work from Bessie Award-winner Kota Yamazaki (of Kota Yamazaki/Fluid hug-hug), co-commissioned with The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center/EMPAC.

Friday, April 27 and Saturday, April 28 at 7:30pm

In (glowing), Bessie Award-winner Kota Yamazaki explores his butoh roots through collaboration with an international company of dancers, and notably, through African dance.

Inspired by the renowned essay In’ei Raisan (In Praise of Shadows) by the great modern Japanese novelist Jun’ichiro Tanizaki (1886–1965), which describes Japan’s appreciation of the exquisite beauty found only in darkness and shadows, this new work by Kota Yamazaki re-examines the fundamentals of butoh, the form in which he received his training.  

Six dancers hailing from Senegal, Ethiopia, Japan, and the US, perform within a set that evokes the soft lighting and dim interior of a traditional Japanese house, where shadows contribute to a visual atmosphere.  Set Design is by Robert Kocik.  Lighting Design is by Kathy Kaufmann.  The original score/soundscape is by Tokyo-based composer Kohji Setoh.  (glowing) is performed by: Marie Agnes Gomis (Senegal), Shiferaw Tariku (Ethiopia), Ryoji Sasamoto (NY-based/Japan), Mina Nishimura (NY-based/Japan), Eva Schmidt (US) and Maggie Bennett (US).

For more information and ticketing, click here.

Japan Society
333 East 47th Street (between 1st and 2nd Avenues), Manhattan
(map/directions)

MAP Fund announces latest grantees

dancer-choreographer Reggie Wilson

Reggie Wilson, Ralph Lemon, koosil-ja, Joanna Haigood, DD Dorvillier, Yasuko Yokoshi, Peggy Shaw, Sharon Bridgforth, and Anthony Braxton are among 41 artists working in performance disciplines who have just been awarded grants--ranging from $10,000 to $45,000--from Creative Capital's MAP Fund.

To learn more about the MAP Fund, click here.

To learn more about this year's grantees and their projects, click here.