Last week we asked our Twitter followers to gives us movement & ideas based on the phrase, “Freedom looks like _______.” Studio Series artist Sahar Javedani took some time to join us in the offices to help realize the movement. Take a gander and after watching, comment below on the order you would like to see the moves performed and where you envision the final dance happening.
An ingenious trompe l’œuil fusion of physical and video-image bodies…merged and then disappeared with magical and fascinating suddenness” - New York Times
With a nod to classical icons of cinema, choreographer/performers Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer blend live camera, hand-drawn animation, and prerecorded urban settings to create multilayered perspectives and surreal mindscapes amid a highly sensual alchemy of the live and the virtual. Video by Peter Bobrow, music by Ken Field, animation by Karen Aqua, and lighting design by Frank DenDanto III.
Baryshnikov Arts Center
Howard Gilman Performance Space
450 W. 37th Street
New York, NY 10018 www.bacnyc.org
EMPAC DANCE MOVIES COMMSSION 2010-2011: OPEN CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Troy, NY – In April, while artists propose new works to be made for this round of the DANCE MOViES Commission, the five projects currently in progress will be finishing up post-production for a premiere at EMPAC in the fall. Projects from past years continue to tour to festivals and film venues around the world.
EMPAC (the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) is now accepting proposals for its 2010-2011 DANCE MOViES Commissions. The deadline for the proposals is April 15, 2010. This year, selected artists will receive awards ranging up to $30,000.
In addition to the funding, artists can also apply to create their works in conjunction with the Artist-in-Residence program at EMPAC. Works commissioned may take advantage of EMPAC’s spaces and technology, using infrastructure such as computer-controlled rigging or large-scale immersive studio environments.
As the first major US-based commissioning program available to dance-film artists in the Americas, the DANCE MOViES Commission represents an important opportunity for those working at the intersection of the moving body and the moving image. The commission has funded thirteen projects in the last four years, with four of them also winning residencies at EMPAC.
Commissioned works range from a finger puppet musical to a poetic film based on the autobiographical account of a US-based African choreographer returning to dance in Zimbabwe; a piece in which a contemporary Russian dancer is viewed in the aesthetic context of post-Soviet surveillance to a film were three street kids in the streets of Rio seem to juggle air; and an installation created through 3D laser scanning to another installation where multiple video screens installed side by side layer film samples and a dancer’s gestures to create counterpoints of movement and image. More information on these works and other DANCE MOViES Commission recipients can be found on the EMPAC website. Read the rest of this entry »
“But Blocks of Continuality feels not only like a retread but several retreads run together–the geeky computerized command base set-up; the almost ritualistic “calibration” of equipment and NASA-like checking in and launching; the live movement determining what the techno-toys do, and vice versa.” - Eva Yaa Asantewaa, Infinite Body BlogREAD MORE
“Once we enter the land of virtual bodies, I can feel both my desire to understand the interactive system’s rules and my engagement with the work as a performance wane substantially. I start thinking about Philip Auslander’s arguments about “Liveness.” What is the value of live performance in a world dominated by mass media? What is the value of live performance when the product is a 3D image projected onto a 2D surface? In an age when the audience/participant divide continues to disappear and we culturally have become increasingly more willing to author our own scripts and direct our own experiences in virtual landscapes (I mean, back when I had a Second Life, my avatar could fly to see the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling), what is the ultimate value of my body’s presence in the theater for this?” - Maura Donohue, CulturebotREAD MORE
“The concept for Blocks was ambitious, but the layout of the piece and the program notes were overwhelming, and the process that was shared with the audience was incoherent. koosil-ja’s fascination with integrating media and movement is admirable, but the result was not reflective of technology’s intricacies and advances.” - Evan Namerow, Dancing Perfectly FreeREAD MORE
“Seeing PARK (still in progress) at Dance Theater Workshop’s 3rd floor studio on February 18, I was acutely aware from the start that I was witnessing bodies deforming themselves through movement techniques. These deformations occurred during Abby Block’s parts, whereby she would thrust and gyrate her pelvis violently with her back towards the audience. …” READ MORE
“Koosil-ja is most interested in how the approach, which she first experienced while working with the Wooster Group, removes as many references from the body as possible. From the outside the method desexualizes the body. In the final meditative solo Ms. Guerrero begins to mumble directions to herself like, “Leg to the front and side.” Eventually her body grows still, though there remains imperceptible movement. It’s as if beneath the surface of her skin, her muscles and tendons refuse to stop dancing.” - Gia Kourlas, New York Times
Geoff Matters uses his own software “GDAM,” along with innovative homemade and repurposed physical controllers in live and interactive music performances, under his real Read the rest of this entry »
Dance Theater Workshop's blog promotes its mission to identify, present, and support independent contemporary artists and companies to advance dance and live performance in New York and worldwide.
RT @wperrondancemag: Am going 2 see Lyon Opera Ballet tomorrw. am curious 2 see them 2 Merce & Forsythe. Don't anyone tell me how it is yet. 16 hours ago
RT @saharjavedani: TONIGHT we premiere our new work in progress 'The Turquoise Lounge' at @DanceTWorkshop Studio Series 7:30p. 219 W 19th st 24 hours ago