Alessandra Belloni interview on Great Dance Podcast

clipped from greatdance.com

Visit Great Dance Podcast for my audio interview with dancer-musician Alessandra Belloni who specializes in the healing ritual dances and music of Southern Italy.

If you like what you hear, please leave a comment on the Great Dance Podcast page. I greatly appreciate your support. And remember to subscribe to Great Dance Podcast by clicking on the orange button.

Thanks!
Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Results of "So You Think You Can Dance?" Poll

"So You Think You Can Dance"

builds new audiences for the art of dance.	12 (52%)
increases respect for dance and dancers.	9 (39%)
increases interest in dance training.	9 (39%)
increases interest in dance among mainstream media.	15 (65%)
misrepresents the art of dance.	4 (17%)
is basically harmless.	7 (30%)

Votes: 23
Poll closed as of 7/30/07

The (un)raveling of Dance's Public Discourse

[Editor's Note: For further information about the following announcement, write to submit@itchjournal.org.]

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: ITCH #6

The (un)raveling of Dance's Public Discourse

Journalism--albeit selective and to some extent limited by the needs of the larger publication that prints the material (including ITCH!)--is an important product of dance culture. It's what is written, dictated, interpreted, and recorded of a dance for the purpose of public consumption. To some extent, it is a dance's second life, its public face.

It's also a tool. For some artists, getting "written about" is as important as having a live audience. (Where else might you get the bodacious "dynamic athleticism!" quote to validate your production packet or grant application?) Still others anticipate having their work acknowledged in contexts that are more scholarly.

While all perspectives are valid, when we look beyond the concerns of our individual work, it is hard to ignore the fact that the vibrancy of the vast dance culture rests, in part, on a certain level of visibility that journalism provides.

But journalism itself is changing. While dance editorial space in the print media has been slipping, the use of electronic media forms like myspace, youtube and blogs have broadened the prospects for those interested in maintaining dance's presence in the public arena. This
change has raised important questions about the accountability of mainstream journalism to represent the performing arts community (especially considering the authority and reach they have within the public sphere) and the necessity of artists to become the reviewer/pre-viewer/moderator/scholar/critic/journalist, etc of their own community.

We Ex*perts

Artists have the capacity to push dance culture forward, in part determined by the manner in which we engage with, add to, respond to, rebut, oppose, and create alternatives to the production of the public discourse surrounding dance. For this issue of itch, we would like to focus on 1.) artist-initiated projects that seek to broaden the public discourse on dance, and 2.) initiate a dialogue concerning the state of dance journalism starting from your direct experiences, thoughts, concerns and observations.

We welcome your submissions in a variety of forms including critical theory, prose, faux-reviews, documentation, brainstorm, line drawing, haiku, interview, self-analysis, fluff, lists, archival material and manifestos.

*Also, for our rolling dialogue section, please submit your responses to issue #5: fiction and fictions

Deadline: Saturday, September 1, 2007

Send submissions, questions, concerns, provocations, etc. to submit@itchjournal.org.

PS: coming soon: itchjournal.org

itch is an evolving art project in the form of a journal that aspires to serve the community of dancers and other artists of the Los Angeles area and beyond. Practice participation in the developing LA dance culture: insert your thoughts, your body, your voice. help itch grow should you be enhanced by it...

M-Plateau: Koosil-ja's rehearsal space for rent in Williamsburg

[Editor's Note: Please note Koosil-ja's downward revision of her rental rate. She has also decided to name her space M-Plateau.]

An announcement from dancer-choreographer Koosil-ja:

Hello friends,

I am in a process to sign a lease for 1,000 sq ft space at 195 Morgan Avenue, 3rd floor of 3rd Ward. I would have to store 30 TVs and other goods in this space, so the actual space for your use would be 700 sq ft.

I am thinking to rent it out by hour, with the rate of $5. The space will be available starting September. It is 24/7 access.

Let me know if you have any question or are interested to rent. I'd appreciate your support and please spread the word.

Thanks.

koosil-ja

Location: 195 Morgan at the corner of Stagg Street, East Williamsburg, Brooklyn

By subway

• Take the L line to the Grand Street stop. Head south on Bushwick Avenue (towards the school) one long block and make a left on Stagg Street. 3rd ward is located three blocks down Stagg Street on the corner of Morgan Avenue.
• We are also easily accessible from the Montrose and Morgan Avenue stops on the L train.

Keeney says "Shake it!"

A busy summer has left me less time than usual for reading--no languorous lounging on the beach! However, one book I gladly made time for was Bradford Keeney's latest: Shaking Medicine: The Healing Power of Ecstatic Movement. The well-traveled and rather intense Dr. Keeney--I recall him well from a New York Open Center workshop years ago--combines extensive training in psychotherapy and the shamanism of indigenous cultures. His book details his discovery of the curious ritual practice of physical shaking for healing and transformation of consciousness that is a characteristic of traditions as geographically and culturally diverse as the Bushmen of the Kalahari and the Quakers of America.

Keeney has fully embraced this sacred body-based technology known to traditional peoples around the globe, and he has done so with evangelical certainty and glee. This fascinating book can only take you so far. If you're itching to know what's shaking and why, Keeney invites you to try it. You'll find a 40-minute CD of drumming for ecstatic movement tucked inside the back cover. (2007, Destiny Books. ISBN: 1-59477-149-9.)

New DTW director Greco in video interview

Doug Fox, my blogging colleague and friend, has posted an interesting video interview with Stephen Greco, the new executive director of Dance Theater Workshop. Click here for Doug's Great Dance Blog.

FAR Space Grants from The Field

Field Artist Residencies provide rehearsal and showing space grants to performing artists to develop new pieces, find new ways to generate material, work on collaborative ventures, or anything that would benefit from time and space. Deadline: August 15.

For further information or applications, click here or call 212-691-6969.