Dancing on the Edge

mandance at the Joyce

2009-04-15T10:42:00.000-07:00

mandance project
Choreography of Eliot Feld
The Joyce Theater
Tuesday March 31, 2009

(Dancer Yu-Kang Chen, photo by Lois Greenfield)

The first piece of the evening, a premiere called Radiance, was an extremely lighthearted solo and uplifting display of simple joy. Female dancer, Ha-Chi Yu, wore a purple one strap dress asymmetrically cut with fabric connected into one purple boot and wore a pink ballet shoe on the other foot. Her long flowing brunette hair flipped in circles as she executed a series of turning triplets, writhing and flicking through the stage space. The stage was set as a lowered back scrim to expose the far brick wall and open side wings to show the boom and lighting fixtures. After a repetitious series of pique hops and arm waving, Ha-Chi planted her hands and one foot on the ground and lifted her leg up to a split, holding momentarily before fanning that leg open and tumbling to the ground. She resumed the same series of hair flipping triplet turns until the piece ended. The exaggerated white space created by the Marley floor and the white backdrop felt enormously vast and helped to create the contrast between the darkness that followed with the next piece, Proverb. (Dancer Ha-Chi Yu, photo by Lois Greenfield)

Darkness masked the stage until suddenly a ball of human sitting cross-legged became visible with light radiating from the center between his legs. He slowly extended limbs to reveal the glowing light attached to the palm of his hands; two gloves with compact lights connected herein. Dancer, Wu-Kang Chen, clad in a simple nude dance belt allowing the eye to see the precision of his movements slowly stood and began to encircle his body with his light-casting hands while moving steadily across the stage. His gloves were the only source of onstage light, causing the audience to focus all their attention on the multifaceted angles of his moving body. A pale yellow green light gently warms the backdrop as Wu-Kang began to flip his hands against himself and the audience, in-and-out, to create a strobe light effect on the viewers’ eyes. he had the ability to extinguish the lights, and would turn off the lights and reappear on the opposite side of stage when he re-activated them. Over and over, he reappeared in different spots, creating the illusion of transport from place to place.

The haunting music of Steve Reich echoed throughout Proverb, repeating the question, “How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life?” The minimalist repetition of the music led me to believe there to be some larger than life meaning behind the dance. Perhaps the inward and outward dichotomy was meant to provoke thought of reflection for members of the audience as we were seeing this constant hand and light flipping onstage. There are always two sides to a story. Is it I? Or is it you? Four bulbs faced outward, his hands flipped inward and outward and then disappeared into darkness. This was one of my favorite pieces of the evening as I am a fan of experimentation with light sources.

The Spaghetti Ballet premiere began with a stilted woman in a black hat (think old Clint Eastwood western movies, complete with the dueling music). She burst through center stage saloon doors and stood intimidatingly staring down the audience with her ripped abs exposed and smoke blazing from the end of her lit cigarette. (This is not a bitch to be trifled with!) Three stereotypical Mexican-types marched in close behind her (her accomplices), wearing oversize sombreros, makeshift ponchos and extra large cowboy boots. These accomplices looked exaggeratedly short next to the stilted women (dancer, Ha-Chi Yu), but are actually younger students of the ballet tech school. Three dancers entered wearing costumes with giant metal-sculptured horse butts and long swinging tails including Heather Lang, telling knock knock jokes to the audience.

The funniest part of the ballet was a scene with a blind girl (Ha-Chi Yu) sits down for a big spaghetti dinner with the male character (played by Heather Lang) served by the funnyman chef, Wei-Chia Su. The blind girl cannot see the dish obviously but she follows her nose into the delicious oversize bowl only to dive so far in that only her feet are sticking out. I was not expecting this, as I had no inkling of the hole in the bowl into the box below, which made it hilarious. But on top of diving so far into the bowl the chef then offers her cracked pepper. I chuckled.

The rest of Spaghetti Ballet was filled with a lot of slapstick humor, which is not my favorite and was always the reason that I didn’t particularly like Looney Tunes as a child (i.e. doors slamming in people’s faces over and over, and death by electrocution). Especially funny was dancer Wei-Chia Su, who managed to master the element of timing for maximum effect of humor. Overall The Spaghetti Ballet felt like it was still a work in progress as many segments felt very disconnected from one another although it had some great moments.

The closing piece, after 20 minutes of setup, an elaborate stage-enclosed netting and an estimated 50 air blowers along the sides of the stage, was well worth the anticipation to make its premiere. A solo for Wu-Kang Chen, Dust, began within the netting-enclosed space and the stage completely littered with newspapers. The solo began slowly to the sounds of a distant siren, music by John Adams, and Wu-Kang cautiously gathered newspapers from all directions of the stage to place in a pile in the center, while half the blowers cast a gentle breeze to stir the paper. He wore a constant look of bewilderment and fixation with staring above as if aliens were about to land or a hurricane about to touch down. After he gathered from all directions and placed in the center, he picked up the center pile and let it trickle out of his hands as the spotlight above him faded out. Many people thought this was the anti-climatic ending, but were quickly surprised by the pounding the of drums and the full force of the blowers blasting paper in a whirlwind of all directions.

Wu-Kang's movement throughout this time was very slow and cautious but seemingly different and more purposeful from earlier in the piece. With the pressure of the wind encircling, he gripped the paper and it naturally clung to him creating the illusions that he was a man completely composed of newspapers, not unlike the photo above. Dust is an amazingly simple conceptual piece and very similar to the Fall time phenomenon of being caught up in a mini cyclone of fallen leaves swirling and encircling.

Alchemy Acclimates to The Joyce

2009-03-02T13:40:00.000-08:00

Two Varone Classics and the NY Premiere of “Alchemy”
The Joyce Theater, DOUG VARONE AND DANCERS, Feb 27, 2009
Photo © Phil Knott, Dancers: Eddie Taketa and Natalie Desch

Tomorrow, music by Reynaldo Hahn
Lux, music by Philip Glass
Alchemy, music by Steve Reich
review by Amber Connors

“Tomorrow” starts with two women standing closely onstage in silken, cream- colored gowns. Erin Owen walks to the other side of Julia Burrer and begins listening to the beating of her heart. Erin places the right angle of her elbow over Julia’s shoulder blade in two gestures, detailing the space. The duet later transforms into a mass entanglement and organized chaos ensues. It is truly one of Varone’s trademark styles to arrange these intricate patterns weaving and mingling like a complicated little universe; simultaneously occurring glorious galaxies, spiraling in close proximity. "Tomorrow" carries a hopeful anticipation in the disposition of the dancers. As they huddled into a group, one girl exited stage, leaving Erin Owen to be hoisted by the two men, her feet pedaling like a bicycle as they left the ground and blended with the air.

“Lux” began with Eddie Taketa dancing solo, his arms reaching upward with two fingers on each hand. Set to the music “The Light,” composed by Philip Glass, “Lux” features a brightly lit ball suspended above upstage center, one foot from the ground at the start of the piece. Eddie’s arms slice and envelop the space. Soon the stage is flooded with dancers jogging in a circle, their arms sweep and encompass the space around them. The jogging is repeated again, sometimes backwards in a circle. The ball is rising at an unnoticeable speed and before I realized its ascent, it was halfway traveled towards the ceiling.

Photo © Richard Termine, Dancers: Daniel Charon, Ryan Corriston

A common excitement and hustle pulsates amongst the eight dancers onstage. Throughout “Lux,” there is an overwhelming life force, a quickening buzz with invigorating bursts of energy. The dancer’s flinging and throwing limbs looks easy and effortless. Occasionally I saw a dancer smiling naturally at the enjoyment of pure dance, it must have been difficult to suppress the pleasure of this movement. Ending as the piece began, Eddie Taketa repeated the same gesture of two fingers scraping upward to the sky. The glowing orb illuminated Eddie from high above now, creating a moonlight effect on his silhouette.

There was a long pause intermission before the New York premiere of “Alchemy” started, heightening its anticipation. Steve Reich’s score, “Daniel Variations”

which juxtaposes text from the biblical book of David and the words of Daniel Pearl, the American journalist kidnapped and slain by Islamic extremists in Pakistan in 2002. Reich’s music pays homage to all victims who, in the face of violence and cruelty, courageously reveal the dignity and beauty of humanity. (program notes)

Immediately, I noticed the scenery; cold stonewalls landscape created by Timothy R. Mackabee. One dancer, Erin Owen stood in the spotlight, her lips mumbling as she constricted her body dealing with some internal resistance. Alchemy is a powerful piece, which depicts suffering and struggle. Sudden light changes from shafts of sidelight to overhead light projecting down onto the stage like stars shining through the bars of a prison, a design of Jane Cox. The dancers repeatedly collapsed to the ground sliding their hands forward and focusing intently on the ground as if engaging in prayer. Their bodies struggled and at time seemed to surrender. Alchemy is successful depiction of the beauty of mankind amidst turmoil during times of war, a saddening yet touching portrait as well as a must see for fans of Doug Varone and Dancers.

Photo © Phil Knott, Dancers: Daniel Charon, Alex Springer, Ryan Corriston, Eddie Taketa

Dance Animation Program with Doug Fox

2009-02-10T19:41:00.000-08:00

Doug Fox gave an interview for Dancing on the Edge about his upcoming program.

On Wednesday, February 11, 2009, Doug Fox (of Great Dance Blog) will be screening videos as part of Ana Brady Nuse’s program at Kinetic Cinema.

The project first began one year ago when he started studying animation and dance. He started by teaching himself on the 3D animation software, Maya. When he became more interested he started to learn animating terminology, then researching specifically dance in animation.

“The program has two aspects to it; creative and practical,” Doug explained.

“I would like to take the project out on the road offering it to all types of organizations and festivals. Perhaps create a screening program in an educational setting such as Universities teaching students about the tools, software, and technologies.”

“For dancers, it raises the points of how animation relates to dance and how these different techniques can render the body in animation.”

Here is a sneak peek of a clip being shown at the program; a collaboration with Bill T. Jones.
Ghostcatching by The OpenEndedGroup

Amber:
How do you envision motion capture technologies further integrating with concert dance?

Doug:
So few dancers have experimented with these technologies, because there aren’t enough opportunities out there. The equipment is expensive and unique and its also difficult work. It can be challenging to get everyone together with the same expertise. Also so little has been done for exploring dance movement in a systematic way. But I think that there is room for much more experimenting and research.

Thank you so much for the interview, Doug. And see you all at the screening.

The Videos I am most looking forward to are The Triplets of Belleville which is currently not available to view online. Released in US by Sony Pictures Classics. Courtesy of New Yorker Films.

And I'm also looking forward to hearing more about the video for Wanderlust by Bjork in collaboration with the dancers of Misnomer Dance Theater.

For more information, here's Doug Fox's Multimedia Guide

Dance Animation Program at Chez Bushwick
Wednesday, February 11th at 7:00 pm
part of Anna Brady Nuse's monthly Kinetic Cinema program.

Buglisi Dance Theater, a review

2009-02-09T20:04:00.000-08:00

Buglisi Dance Theater

The Joyce Theater

Friday, February 6, 2009

Frida, Interplay No. 9-1, Suspended Women, and the world premiere of

Wild Mannequins & Wing Walkers

Three dancers began silhouetted downstage in a triangle formation while a Frida Kahlo painting projected behind them. When lights illuminated their figures, I noticed the difference in costumes between the three women. Two wore dresses of different styles and the third woman was dressed in pants and a jacket. The beige toned dresses of a corset-like bodice and flowing long skirts were embellished with sparkling appliqués and deep-colored flowers of red and green. Near the collarbone was a webbed design similar to the thorn necklace in Kahlo’s Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird. (right)

The movement of Frida was comprised of slow arabesque lines with flexed feet and abrupt contractions that are held strong in the dancers firmly disciplined bodies. The slow and steady movement is accompanied by the raspy-voiced narrator, Cynthia Adler, reciting a compilation of text “derived by Buglisi from the letters and diary of Frida.”

“Only one mountain can know the core of another mountain.”

There was an intense passion and raw emotion as Kahlo divulged her true emotions through her letters and diary. She had a turbulent marriage to muralist Diego Rivera, which survived several affairs a divorce and a remarry. Her paintings use surrealism to elicit deep visceral reactions of intense and grotesque nature. Many depict internal organs seen through the surface of the body’s skin to suggest Kahlo’s emotional state at the date of the composition.

How clever of A. Christina Giannini to connect the very nature of Kahlo’s paintings into the details of costume design! Dancer, Terese Capucilli, wore a multi-layered skirt with removable pieces. Lifting the top layer of the skirt to expose the unseen, a tan layer of the skirt was illustrated with brightly colored organs, painted by the set designer, Debora Mache.

The chants of Arvo Part’s De Profundis led Helen Hansen’s steady ascent to stand atop her stool, using it as a pedestal from whence to better enchant the audience. Slow hip undulations and enticing arm reaches draw the audience closer into this spellbinding trance. Photo Left: Buglisi Dance Theatre (c) Nan Melville

Jeanene Winston captured my attention in a more masculine role, wearing a correlating pants suit. Perhaps this figure is another aspect of Kahlo’s personality, as she was often known to dress boyishly. Winston rolls languidly across the floor with sweeping arm gestures striving to express an unspoken pain.

The piece ends with Winston standing on the chair in a flexed back attitude, below her sits Hansen straddling the body of Capucilli who has just shimmied out of the lop layer of her skirt leaving it halfway overhead with her face covered and her body on the floor. Frida is a striking triptych into the fascinating and inspiring life of Frida Kahlo.

Interplay No. 9-1 began with nine dancers onstage in black pants and all different styles of solid colored leotards. The stage is set with chairs where dancers are relaxing and sitting watching several very different duets happen. The environment felt like we were being privileged to enter an intimate open rehearsal happening onstage. A program note said “A Viennese picnic in the Tyrolean Garden at Schönbrunn Palace.”

Dancer, So Young An, was especially captivating wearing a purple leotard and her long brunette hair pulled back into a straight ponytail. Her thin elongated body emoted with a supple flexibility that was accompanied by a heartbreaking sadness expressed in her eyes. One movement repeated throughout her duet; a longing reach into the distance and then a quick rotate around her partner, Jason Jordan.

The piece ended as an endearing tableau. Two statuesque couples sat downstage uniquely entwined in their love interests with the rest of the dancers gathering downstage of the couples. All movements stop for everyone to raise one hand towards heaven slowly, and then lower it gently like a falling star, silently in the night.

Suspended Women was an absolutely gorgeous piece with thirteen women all wearing luxurious gown type dresses of various colors and textures.

Suspended Women spoke to the duality of a woman’s identity; tender femininity paired with a vivacious strength. The colorful pastel dresses were in silk, chiffon, feathers and sequins. Some flowed freely while others wobbled with a hoopskirt to the sounds of Maurice Ravel’s Gloria. The eclectic dresses added a romantic timelessness to the piece. (Right Photo: Bill Biggart)

Buglisi has a talent for creating memorable conclusions to her well-crafted works. All thirteen women focused forward while treading their feet onstage, creating the effect of an invisible treadmill. Each Woman at this moment demonstrated the essence of royalty. Three men nonchalantly entered extending their coat in front of them as if to hang. Junichi Fukuda extended his coat to Helen Hansen but immediately pulled the coat away and the men exited, left the women onstage to tread lightly, suspended.

There was a quiet anticipation in the audience moments before the World Premiere of Wild Mannequins & Wing Walkers. The audience ooo’d in delight as the curtain raised to reveal nine gray mannequins suspended in a row hanging above center stage; the designs of Ralph Pucci of Ralph Pucci International. Each figure’s feet were in a loose fifth but held differently positioned arms.

Onstage were several full and half mannequins legs and faces and the cloudy cover of a rolling fog.The men wore white spandex pants while women wore white unitards with tulle and feather embellishments on the back to look like wings and also tied onto one calf. Several women read aloud from history books about times of the past when women’s bodies were acceptably larger and even desirable because of the implication of status. They also spoke about notorious women such as Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt. Two women floated around the stage holding mannequin faces, staring into them up close. They wore oversized headpieces comprised of three-foot-long sticks. Dancers moved jarringly and rigidly like joint-limited dolls.

Wild Mannequins & Wing Walkers carried a message about vanity and the cost of an obsessive self-image. The piece ended when the two women manipulated couples like misguided dolls. They repositioned arms and faces to control the interactions until they had redirected everyone. Proudly they admired their handy work and nodded approvingly as the curtain lowered. (Below Photo: Kristin Lodoen Linder)

I was very pleased with Buglisi Dance Theater’s program and immediately admired the choreography and the dancers. Suspended Women was my favorite piece to watch but Frida left a lingering curiosity for me about the fascinating painter. I look forward to seeing more work of this talented company.

Bridging the Generational Gap

2009-02-04T22:15:00.000-08:00

Town Hall Meeting
Dance NYC
Youth Advisory Committee (YAC)

Monday February 2, 2009

Attending the town hall meeting about bridging the generational gap in the dance community was very interesting and brought up a lot of great points of conversation. Hearing the different experiences of panelists was insightful.

Panelists included:

Laura Bennett (Programs and Operations Director of the American Dance Legacy Institute),
Tim Cynova (interim Managing Director of Misnomer Dance Theater),
Lauren Gibbs (Development Officer for Ballet Hispanico and as a Nonprofit and Development Consultant),
Laura Glenn (faculty at Juilliard and Artistic Director of the White Mountain Summer Dance Festival),
Risa Jaroslow (Artistic Director of Risa Jaroslow & Dancers),
Iquail Shaheed (Artistic Director of DANCE IQUAIL!),
and Paul Singh (freelance dancer and Founder of Singh & Dance)
and our Moderator for the Panel Discussion was Robert Dorf (Managing Director for Susan Marshall & Company)

Of the seven panelists at the meeting, the one that I found myself identifying with the most was Paul Singh. Paul is 23 years old, a recent college graduate of The University of Illinois who moved to New York City three years ago. Self described (jokingly) as the coined MMDW (Male Modern Dance Whore), Paul has danced for 23 different choreographers in that short amount of time. Simultaneously, he has embarked on the arduous journey of showing his own choreography at self-producing venues such as Dance Theater Workshop (DTW), The Queens Museum, Dance New Amsterdam (DNA) and Judson Memorial Church (including an upcoming show this weekend 2/9/09). And like me he also survives half his week off of the generous free meals provided by the restaurant where he works.

The reason I most identified with Paul (besides the closeness in age) is because of the “defined model” that he explained he saw himself following.This model is the same that I have begun and also envision myself following as well; College, move to New York, dance in a company or produce work, Graduate School, then teach at a University or have your own company if you would like to. (Great minds think alike, right?)

In speaking to any particular structures or methods that these successful dance professionals found useful in their education and/ or training a few panelists mentioned the same three things.

1. Networking

Tim Cynova explained that in his position as executive director of Parsons Dance, his saving grace was having a group of other “dance executives” in comparable dance companies to meet with and ask the questions he needed to know. Its good to know who to go to for anything from workers compensation to mass mailing postage.

2. Mentor
Most all of the panelists agreed that the single greatest influence in an artist’s life could be the guidance of a mentor. “Having mentors has been key,” commented Laura Bennett. Laura recommends having not just one mentor even, but several from different generations with a variety of background experiences.

Lauren Gibbs, after completing her Masters in Arts Administration soon found herself working in Count Basie Theater of New Jersey. Her executive director was very encouraging of Lauren to mentor with people in all positions of the theater from stage hands to performing artists. Her advice to younger professionals is to “find a place that feels like home where you can be mentored and take your career where you want it to go.”

3. Passion
More than anything else the thread that connected each person in the room was the passion for what it is that we do. Laura Glenn explained that this was a major factor in the survival of dancers of her generation. “Dancers had the intelligence to maintain a poverty mentality realizing that our riches didn’t lie in our pockets but in the work that we produced.” Risa Jaroslow said that we (as dancers and artists) need to survive off of the passion to create and be motivated to do the work because we have to in order to survive.

The meeting was encouraging to the fact that surviving on very little in this profession is possible and that I am not alone. It also showed me that its quite alright (encouraged infact) to ask questions and for guidance from more seasoned professionals along the way.

Cheers!

2008-12-23T13:36:00.000-08:00

The past four months have been of little blogging and lots of working. My internship with Parsons Dance is 3/4 of the way complete. It will be culminating in a big 2 week company run at the Joyce Theater January 6-18, and it's not too late for you to buy tickets! During this time I will be working to assist with production and backstage needs to assure that everything runs as smoothly as possible.

So whats next for me? I wish I knew. My compass is leaning towards choreography once again ( I am feeling the itch...) I have begun taking steps to apply for several different choreography initiatives that would allow me to produce new works for concerts in New York City. My research feelers are also out to figure out the best places for renting rehearsal space. Dancers looking for opportunities in New York stay tuned!

At the same time, I am still in need of a full time job. With the internship ending in less than a month the resumes and cover letters are flying out in every direction. (ouch... papercut) But seriously, could I have picked a worse time in the economy to be job hunting?? I think not. I'm not worried though because I still have my waitressing job at Arte Pasta to pay the bills. When the right job comes along, it will find me.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Just Dance

2008-10-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

In follow up to the previous post about Agnes DeMille, I was delighted to learn that at a later age in her autobiography, Dance to the Piper, Agnes did in fact grow a backbone and stand up for herself. I admit that my rant about the book was somewhat harsh and perhaps uncalled for, but let it be known that my frustrations were more with her choice in lifestyle than in any capacity her quality of work produced. (Hence why I gave kudos to her for several of her best works). And I know for a fact that Agnes is an extremely talented writer because I loved reading her book, The Life and Work of Martha Graham.

I was excited at the amount of responses that came from that post. Some people agreed with me to an extent while others were offended that I focused more on her lifestyle. Many of my friends admitted that they neglected to read the book in school as well, but wanted to after reading my reactions and descriptions. Since I am happy to promote literacy, I invite others to read the book too and see what your own reaction is.

If there was one thing that this book taught me, it was at the point in the book when Agnes was choreographing Oklahoma!. Having reached her final breaking point, Agnes decided that she was getting paid to do it her way, so she wouldn't worry about what anyone else thought. She decided that this would be her last choreographic work, so nothing else mattered after this and she could feel free to pour herself into the work without worry. What I took from that was the fact that other people will respect you for standing up for yourself. And also that one of Agnes' best works was created with disregard for what other people think. She totally earned back some of my respect at that point. The irony here is the fact that this lesson parallels my life right now and how I am having to toughen my outlook to survive in New York City.

But when life gets you down, or the negativity is coming at you, you only need to remember one thing....

In the words of Lady GaGa, "Just Dance." Simple.

O Agnes

2008-10-14T21:09:00.000-07:00

Agnes George de Mille (September 18, 1905 – October 7, 1993) was an American dancer and choreographer. (thank you Wikipedia)

I'm reading Dance to the Piper- her autobiography, which I was supposed to read in college and am just now getting around to it, and I am completely underwhelmed by how depressing it is.

I'm not finished yet (on page 209 of 256) so there is the slightest possibility that Agnes will surprise me and finally have some self esteem for crying out loud.

Its like she can never just be in control of her own life and things only happen TO her. Her visa expires in the UK, she gets sent home. Her agent squandered her money because she was too stupid to ask questions. The lights weren't illuminating onstage for a stadium sized performance, so she did practically a whole show in the dark, and then acted surprised that the press was "murderous." She gets fired from jobs and just constantly drains her mothers money supply just to give herself a chance to perform. She wants people to consider her a serious concert dancer like Martha Graham, but excels at performing comedies.

The most upsetting part for me (so far) was the first page of Chapter 23. Agnes DeMille is now 30 years old, having just got sent home from London. Before she even gets home she writes to Mom to get her an apartment. So her mom gets her a place on 9th st on the East side that Agnes admits is too expensive. Even though her mom asked her to live with her, she insists on having her mom pay for an apartment for her to live in. She's killing the poor women!

If someone I know is still mooching off Mom or Dad at the age of 30, they can expect a wake up call from yours truly.

The thought for her to get an actual paying job to support herself and supplement her art doesn't even occur until after the age of 30 in chapter 24, when she mentions thinking about going to Macy's to get a job at the ribbon counter (whatever the hell that is)! Way to go.

Hey Agnes, ever heard of supporting yourself? Maybe live off a budget and file an annual income tax?

Granted, it must be difficult to be close friends with Martha Graham when you feel a bit overshadowed.

Kudos on Oklahoma!(1943) Fall River Legend (1948) and Rodeo (1942)
http://www.agnesdemilledances.com/

Paying my Dues

2008-10-01T23:13:00.000-07:00

I know you are just dying to know how the new internship with Parsons is going….

It is going great! I love the atmosphere and the people. The first project that I began was archiving and helping to transfer the VHS videos to DVDs. Two big benefits of this task were learning how to use the software, iMovie HD and iDVD, as well as getting to watch the pieces as they were recording to the computer. This is a huge undertaking to switch the entire collection (over 700 videos). And they are also being edited somewhat as well, so it does take some time. After the completion of the upgrade, the VHS tapes are being donated to the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts. I estimate that this will take several months.

Last Wednesday I also had the pleasure of watching a company rehearsal for the piece Fill the Woods With Light, which is being performed in the upcoming season at the Joyce Theater. Fill the Woods With Light is a jazzy sounding and technologically innovative work. It experiments with the placement of stage lights being carried onstage by some dancers to illuminate a series of seductive solos. As I was watching it, all I could think was that I wish I thought of this! (At the time it was more like “I know I’ve thought of this- but now I’m seeing it- and it was done by someone else!” But of course it was really just some artsy déjà vu translating to “I wish I thought of this.”) Hence why I feel privileged and excited to be helping prepare for the upcoming Joyce Season.

Monday was a day of errands. Mail proposals at the post office, make a deposit at the bank, return extra shoes to the Capezio Store, return some flashlights to Home Depot, go to Marymount Manhattan and pick up a DVD, and grab Willi's new business cards on the way back. It was a great chance for me to familiarize myself with the city…. considering I got lost at least five times.

A large part of the interns' responsibilities is to keep social networking sites such as Myspace, Facebook, and Flickr up to date with any new photos. (I didn't even know they was on these sites) It is amazing how many more people the company is reaching by exposing themselves to these online communities. Uploading pictures and accepting friend requests is actually something with which I do have experience.

Below are some photos to show you where I work.

Times Square is so glitzy… Love it!

Parsons Wants Me

2008-09-23T18:31:00.001-07:00

You are now reading the words of the newest administrative intern at Parsons Dance Company.

Perhaps you've heard of them since they are a world reknown company. Currently the dancers are on a world tour that began in Mexico (shout out to Billy Smith, GMU Alum '07).

Tomorrow is my first day and I couldn't be any happier!

"The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes."
-Earl of Beaconsfield

A Note About My Dance Reviews

2008-09-23T12:07:00.001-07:00

As a follow up to the Fall for Dance Review, I just wanted to mention a couple notes.

Purposely, my reviews are becoming more descriptive and slightly less poetic. I want the dances to resonate to people who maybe didn't even see the show and not just mentioning the highlights to remind those who did see it. Also, for me to babble endlessly about what the choreographer's intent may have been is borderline presumptuous.

I also realize that my reviews can be lengthy at times, but I don't care. The beauty of having a dance blog is that I have the freedom to take as many words as I want without the limitations of editors trying to fit advertisements on the same page as my reviews. So if it looks like too much for you to read- feel free to skim and stop in the places that catch your eye.

Otherwise, do as I do and luxuriate in the descriptions of dance!

Fall for Dance Festival

2008-09-20T20:37:00.000-07:00

New York City Center
Wednesday, September 17, 2008, 8 pm
Works by Shen Wei, Pichet Klunchun, Larry Keigwin, and Jiri Kylian

Shen Wei Dance Arts- Map (excerpts)
Map begins with a collection of floor sequences, spiraling floor rolls and bodies sweeping along the floor. Costumes are different brightly colored socks, gray running pants and fitted spandex tees. Octopus arms trail weightlessly out from the bodies during chaine turns.

A curly-haired dancer steps into a downstage spotlight with her back to the audience. She begins a series of little undulations bubbling up from her insides. The undulations echo into a trio when two other dancers join her movements. Eventually this movement takes the trio into the full area of stage bouncing splashing their languid limbs.

Dancers collected upstage in a box formation that had a sequence of moving parts in the front four dancers. Overlapping in timing, the four dancers stepped forward and spun causing a twinkling effect to the group. Unexpectedly, the back of the box filed out to create a full stage circle. Eight dancers moved in a one-count canon phrase, their heads lead their bodies backwards through space. Spiraling turns take dancers down to and up from the ground, each body displaying a different shape in a set position like numerals on a sundial. Socks added a gliding and slippery feel to the circular loops being inscribed in space.

Hypnotically, this lasted for several revolutions until morphing into a large group of flocking. Dancers are constantly swirling with soft curvy arms on top and quick skittering feet on bottom. Gradually they slip and spin down to the ground to end in a wipe-out.

Pichet Klunchun Dance Company- Chui Chai- World Premier
Six spotlights illuminate, setting the stage in silence.

Whispers* Coughs* Seats squeak* cough* fidget*cell phone ringing
(American Audiences have no patience for movement during extended periods of silence)

Figures appear and stand in stillness just outside of their spotlights. Unsure as to when their movement began, the dancers slowly rocked forward in a weight change from one foot to another. Slowly creeping toward their predicted destinations my eyes eagerly awaited the moment of arrival. Heaven behold the sight before me when they reached the warmth of light, their costumes glittered in solid gold sequins, a traditional Thai costume including a reflective glistening headpiece. A divine presence of six goddesses maintained their enchantingly slow speed while manipulating and articulating the flexible joints from their hands to fingertips.

Gradually the dancers movement accelerates. Feet pitter-patter, gently skimming the stage surface to carry the held positions of the statuesque women from stage right to stage left. Vertical lines change into figure eight patterns and continuous circles. With the appearance of a plainly-dressed man in black from upstage, all women leave the stage minus one, leaving man and woman.

A program note:
“Chui Chai” means the process of physical transformation. The princess Benyakai is ordered by her king to transform herself into Sita, the queen of his enemy.

A duet ensues between the presumed princess and her king, danced by Klunchun. He sternly articulates the muscles between wrist and fingertips while carving circles in his kinesphere. Movement that begins in the hands gradually spreads to carving with his full body.

Appropriately the dance ends in silence. Dancers slowly creep across a corridor of light and out of vision, leaving only Klunchun visable as the curtain descends.

Keigwin + Company - Fire
Fire is a four-part piece that displays a dynamic range of modern and contemporary dance forms in a humorous light.

Flicker
Curtains rise to reveal a stage lit with red lace gobos setting a fancy atmosphere and accompanied by a Handel opera, Al lampo dell’ armi’. Three dancers enter in spandex body suits enhanced with padding and designed to look similar to a superhero’s getup. The two women’s corsets are embellished with feathers, sequins, and topped with swim caps. Extra long sleeves wiggle in place of hands, trailing behind each spin. The movement is technically correct, arabesques and swings, yet made absurd by the outlandish suits.

Simmer
The lights black out and dancers gather in the downstage right corner, shedding the outer layers of their costumes. Off come the caps and hand covering sleeves. Obsessively, the dancers begin to examine their faces in an invisible mirror in the audience. An entwining trio ensues, sporadically interrupted with the awkward compulsion to examine the skin on their faces. Untangling her body a dancer separates from the trio and lights a cigarette, exhaling in relaxation.

Burn
A spotlight is onstage, a dancer runs in to occupy it but it quickly moves to elsewhere. She chases the limelight, constantly seeking our focus and wearing a commercial smile. The vocals of Patsy Cline’s Crazy illustrate dancer, Nicole Wolcott’s insane desire to be the center of the spotlight. Her arms flail in desperation, but the effort is merely humorous.

Flame
Unexpectedly the mood went from funny to hilarious when the trio again took the stage to Walk it Out, a current rap hit. The dancers maintained their serious composure and rocked out the same modern phrases but with a new feel. Julian Barnett was exceptionally dedicated to hyping the crowd and showing off his swagger, an instant crowd pleaser. The effect was a successful reminder that modern dance can be goofy at times but still spectacular.

National Ballet of Canada- Soldiers’ Mass
A drastic difference from the previous piece, Jiri Kylian's Soldiers’ Mass had a bold and serious tone. Twelve muscular men in bloused shirts, fitted pants and suede boots filled the stage evenly spread apart. Running across the stage, hands outstretched pushing the air forward, the men accumulated in a line, filling in the gaps like missing puzzle pieces. The line morphs into several that weave in and out of one another. Bodies gather upstage left, lifeless and dead to the eye, while a trio develops downstage. The men arabesque and delicately two lift the third.

Suddenly the lifeless bodies rise and all men stand feet apart, singing out to the audience, chanting the haunting lyrics of the music by Bohuslav Martinu. Assembling their anger as one unit, all twelve men rip off their shirts and crumple them each into a tiny sweaty ball. Perhaps displaying their disgust at the tragedies of war, they all threw their balled shirts down and one by one collapsed to the ground.

Related Articles:
NYTimes Review by Gia Kourlas
LifeWork Company- Pichet Klunchun

Make it Rain!

2008-09-15T22:11:00.000-07:00

Happily I begin working tomorrow as a server and bartender at Artepasta in the West Village. It is such a relief to have some type of income. Now I can continue to search for a part time internship with a dance company so I can gain the right NYC experience for my career in the arts.

Special thanks to Daniel Puneky (or rather Nikki Nax) for connecting me with the manager to get the job. As they say, employment is about who you know rather than what you know.

More updates to come... ciao!

A New Beginning

2008-08-25T08:31:00.000-07:00

Dancing on the Edge after a long vacation, will now be relocating to New York City as I have just secured an apartment in Manhattan.

It was a stressful, frustrating and quite expensive process, but after two months of searching, Ashleigh and I have finally found a cute little clean apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan about 4 blocks from Central Park. Special thanks to her mom, Sharon, for her unwavering effort and assistance.

The next step is securing employment and a routine dance class schedule. One thing at a time, and then I can get back to more regular dance review posting.

Karen Reedy Dance is performing at the Kennedy Center, DC
Millennium Stage, premiering her new work, Sleepwalking
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
6:00 pm

This performance is FREE!!

Dancing in a Crowd

2008-06-18T13:17:00.000-07:00

review by Amber Connors

The struggle to find peace amidst chaos
BosmaDance’s, “Sky Kisses Earth”
Joe’s Movement Emporium, 4th Annual Gala, June 14, 2008
Meisha Bosma- Artistic Director/ Choreographer

What this second “Sky Kisses Earth” performance lacks in formalities of live music, it makes up for in the intimacy of space. Having witnessed the premier collaboration with Alexandria Symphony Orchestra in the Rachel Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center, I prefer the live music presentation. However, in the narrow confines of Joe’s Movement Emporium, raw emotions in facial expressions are more readable and comprehensible to the audience.

Seven dancers in brightly colored silk move clumsily; tripping bumping and chugging like crowded pedestrians. One at a time, a dancer removes them self from the bustling mass, to settle peacefully and calmly in a second position squat, breathing from the gut with an organic sway. In an awakening duet, dancer and choreographer Meisha Bosma catches her partner forcibly between her palms; placing one hand on her forehead, and the other on her partner’s jaw. By forcing her eyes to look out into space, Bosma was commanding her to see the reality of now. Her partner resists, stubbornly insisting on the role of empty vessel, eyes extended out beyond the manipulative hands, ignoring the efforts of Bosma.

Gallantly bounding onstage, dancer Daniel Zook plunges into action with an expressive solo comprised of engulfing leaps and swooping turns. His mustard-yellow silk dress trails after his body like a noble’s cape. At the climax, the seven dancers fall in sync with one another, lunging and diving in a colorful, clean moving unit, repeating the same gesture-laden phrase on each of the diagonal facings, until eventually settling peacefully on the floor.

BosmaDance’s next performance is at Dance Place on June 21 and 22. Details can be found on the Dance Place website.

Review by Amber Connors of previous BosmaDance performance,

http://choreo-grafitti.blogspot.com/2008/02/bosmadances-euphoria.html

Songwriters Re-Write History

2008-06-18T12:58:00.000-07:00

review by Amber Connors

Historic choreography paired with legendary music
CityDance Ensemble, The Songwriters, Friday June 13, 2008 8 pm
Folksay- Sophie Maslow, music of Woodie Guthrie
Born to Run- Paul Gordon Emerson, music of Bruce Springsteen
Harmonica Breakdown- Jane Dudley, music of Sonny Terry
Falling- Paul Gordon Emerson, music of Otis Redding
On a Train Heading South- Brenda Way, commissioned score Jack Perla

Closing its 2008 season with a bang, CityDance Ensemble performed an eclectic mix of repertoire spanning the past 70 years. Last Friday, The Music Center at Strathmore was home to a full audience, excitedly anticipating The Songwriters.

Sophie Maslow’s “Folksay” (1942) is so timeless a piece of choreography that it still has resonance to a modern audience sixty-six years after its birth. “Folksay” began with a poetic exchange of commentary, folk songs of Woodie Guthrie, dancing, and small-town conversation. It was a brilliant combination of text and movement. The men danced squarely with flexed feet and ninety-degree-angled legs and arms, and wore cuffed jeans and flannel shirts. The women danced equally square but their three-dimensionality was highlighted in the swirl of their flowing cotton skirts.

“Born to Run,” (2007) a recent addition to the CityDance repertoire was choreographed by Paul Gordon Emerson. Set to the music and voice of Bruce Springsteen, the piece began in bold-colored silhouettes. An audience favorite, “I Ain’t Got You,” transformed a table into the jungle gym of dancers Delphina Parenti and Jason Garcia Ignacio. The couple flirted and fought over several cigarettes as they cart wheeled, slid, and tumbled above, under, and around the table. Later, a duet between two men unfolded to the sound score, “The River.” Dancers Bruno Augusto and Christopher K. Morgan successfully displayed a give-and-take tension during a Springsteen monologue about the relationship between him and his father in the late sixties. The two men log rolled over top of one another. Sporadically they paused, the weight of their bodies counterbalanced between them.

“Harmonica Breakdown,” (1938) choreographed by former Graham dancer, Jane Dudley, was a clean and concise solo filled with pelvic contractions. Slowly dancer Alicia Canterna glided across the stage, consistently maintaining a forward incline in her body. Composing herself, she planted her feet firmly in place and began to tremble and quake from the knees up to her head.

“Falling,” choreographed by Paul Gordon Emerson, was a seductive and entangled duet between Bruno Augusto and Kathryn Pilkington, rough with pauses. The audience was surprised when Frederic Yonnet strolled in from the back of the house blowing into his harmonica. He wailed away with a dirty-blues tone, steadily working all through the audience until he arrived on stage. “Falling” was tightly woven with unconventional lifts and inventive balances. It seemed despite the dancers’ conscience resistance, the physical attraction between them overpowered, bringing the two together like magnetic poles.

The evening ended on a political note with “On a Train Heading South,” (2005) a piece by choreographer Brenda Way, which addressed the issue of global warming. The stage was set with twelve dangling ice blocks that continued to melt as the stage heated up and the story progressed. The clairvoyant Greek figure, Cassandra, played by dancer Delphina Parenti, frantically warned her counterparts of the dangerous rise in temperature that was to occur. Despite her efforts she was continually ignored, until her dancing, like the liquefied ice blocks, gradually melted and was too heavy to leave the floor.

Collectively, the past and present fused to create a memorable evening at The Music Center at Strathmore. Farewell and best wishes to dancer Bruno Augusto who will be leaving the company in September to pursue a MFA in Dance from New York University.

Related Articles:
Article by Nora Guthrie on the collaboration between Woody Guthrie and Sophie Maslow, http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/guthrie110706.html

Interview of Brenda Way about "On a Train Heading South," http://www.grist.org/comments/interactivist/2005/02/28/way/index1.html

CityDance Blog, by Paul Gordon Emerson, on the restaging of Folksay http://powerpassionpurpose.blogspot.com/

Jenn Ruhl's Debut

2008-06-12T13:25:00.001-07:00

Jenn Ruhl Contemporary Kollaborations....

This is the final name Jenn has decided on for her modern dance company. Our debut performance is going to be June 21, 2008 at the annual Chris Collin's Dance Studio Recital. Hosted at Hayworth Highschool on Telegraph Rd in Alexandria

Performance times are;
Saturday, June 21- 1:00 PM and 7:00 PM
Sunday, June 22- 2:00 PM

Jenn has shortened the piece that we auditioned at Dance Place, "Personifications," to be a better length for the recital. This is not a reccommended classical or modern dance show, but it would be entertaining for kids or family members of the performing students to watch. As far as I know, the studio offers most every style of dance imaginable. This is officially the first performance for Jenn's company. Let's break a leg!

Happy Wednesday

2008-06-10T10:50:00.001-07:00

DCA Conference

2008-06-02T07:21:00.000-07:00

Dance Critics Association Conference, June 13-15, Kennedy Center, Washington D.C.

I sent in my registration. Did you send in yours? This years Dance Critics Association Conference along with the Kennedy Center "Ballet Across America" program are being held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. It's a three-day conference taking place on June 13, 14 and 15. This is a wonderful opportunity to take review writing workshop classes from well-known teachers such as Elizabeth Zimmer. Chief Dance Critic from The New York Times, Alastair Macaulay will be the keynote speaker and also speaking will be former NYT Chief Dance Critic, John Rockwell.

The Kennedy Center Millenium Stage is presenting dance performances of all types including BosmaDance, Jazzdance DC, and Silk Road. There will be mixed repetory performances from students of Bolshoi Ballet, School of Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Ballet School, and School of American Ballet. Here is a list of other area performances happening during this event.

My past experience at the National Dance Association and my current experience preparing for the NIRI Annual Conference has taught me that conferences are a great chance to both learn from speakers and workshops, but also to NETWORK with professionals in your field. I am extremely excited for the knowledge to gain and people to meet at the DCA conference. I hope to see you there!

BFA, Dance 2008

2008-05-29T07:05:00.001-07:00

Please allow me to reiterate to any college-age young adults that being independent is extremely stressful. However, I find it rewarding to be able to handle.

A change in the players... but the game stays the same....

Karen has decided that now is not the best time for her to move to NYC. But being reunited with GMU dancers at graduation brought face-to-face with Ashleigh Gurtler, who is simultaneously planning a move to NYC, and looking for a roommate. Therefore, that problem has solved itself.

In other updates, the Dance Place Audition with Jenn Ruhl and Company went well. Unfortunately, we did not get a place in the upcoming showcase. There were over 30 acts auditioning and only 9 spots in the show. It was a good opportunity for us to perform as a group and to see how well we really know the dance. Our next scheduled performance will probably be the annual recital for Chris Collins Dance Studio.

This Saturday at the Reston Community Center, The Young Actor's Theatre is performing "A Cinderella Story." But its actually different than the Cinderella versions you have heard before. With an original script written and directed by Mark Brutsche. This is a combination of stories, including Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Rumplestiltskin. We have a lot of work to do to prepare for the show tomorrow. I won't give up until it is perfect.

New York City, NY...

2008-05-15T06:18:00.000-07:00

I am moving at the end of July for sure, but happily sooner if I get one of the many jobs I have applied for. I have applied to dance companies, dance organizations, and tour booking companies. I have received responses from three. One is considering having me come to New York for an interview. And the other two responded to let me know they received my resume and are reviewing it as we speak. Each day, I search for new administrative and management jobs with a dance affiliated organization.

As soon is something becomes available, I blast my best, most polished cover letter in that direction altered to fit the exact needs of that company. The truth is, until I committed to moving to New York and beginning a dance administrative career, I never realized how much experience I actually had. I am confident that the right thing will come my way at the right time. But meanwhile, I am loitering the job ads. Something that the world of dance is lacking right now is help with writing dance-related cover letters and resumes. I have noticed resume tips aimed at dancers seeking performance careers, however there isn't much help available in the way of dance administration. I plan to change that in upcoming posts with examples of cover letters I have written.

Housing... is another road bump. I have found on Craigslist several decent two bedroom apartments in the Brooklyn area. Brooklyn is about twenty minutes away from Manhattan and conveinient if you have train access. Surprisingly, the prices for monthly rent are not too far off from what I have been paying in the Northern Virginia area. I realize it would be for a smaller space, but being a young women in the beginning of her professional career is all about sacrifice. I don't know where the money for a sudden move would be coming from either. I just know that when I need it, it will come to me. In the meantime, I am working as much as possible to stay ahead of the current bills that are rolling in. Thankfully my car will be paid off in two months (woohoo!) but then I also start paying back my student loans (boo!).

Karen, Hasan (my boyfriend), and I are traveling to the City in a week for Memorial Day Weekend. We will be arriving Thursday night and coming home Sunday or Monday. Thankfully, the generous, Dr. Madhu Boppanna, has offered his humble abode in Chelsea as a place to stay. We have all day Friday and Saturday to look at apartments. If I am lucky enough to have anyone schedule me for an interview, it could happen on that Friday. But realistically, if they wanted me there in three hours, I would make that happen too.

Having this new New York project is exciting and makes me so hopeful for what is to come in my career. I feel so good about taking a step in this direction. It feels right... and I like that feeling.

In other current events... tomorrow is GRADUATION DAY!!!!!!
I'm so excited and I just can't hide it! I am sending out graduation announcements today also. I am extremely proud to announce this to my family, since I am the first person in my family to graduate from college. (Go Me!). I am looking forward to carrying on the GMU Dancers tradition of walking across the Concert Hall stage barefoot. My callused feet will glide across the marley surface one last time in honor of the days I danced before the college audience. It is the closing of one chapter and beginning of another.

Saturday...
Saturday is judgement day for Jenn Ruhl Kubilis' Dance Company. We have our first audition for an upcoming showcase after about half a year of work to mature the company. Look out DancePlace, here we come!

Until next time, dance like your life depends on it.

North Bound

2008-05-06T06:44:00.000-07:00

All compasses, moral and polarized, are pointing North. I've pitter paterred long enough in hopes of finding some reason to stay here. When it comes down to it, the only thing holding me back is excuses. I thought that the temp agency was simply a necessary evil to sustain income until a better job came along. But it turns out to be a blessing in disguise because I have a steady income until just about the time I would like to be moving anyway.

Let the job hunt continue, but now I am honing in on the City of New York!
Here are a few of the sites I have come across that have been helpful in my NY planning.

dancenyc.org (affiliated with DanceUSA but way better, many helpful directories for dancers)

danceruniverse.com (affiliated with Dancer Magazine, good for the scoop on NY Dance Scene)

And don't think I'm doing this all alone, that would be pretty scarry (biting nails...eek). If I have to, I will do it alone. But if all goes as planned, the fabulous Karen Dunn will also be making the colossal life change as my once and future roommate. So I have begun scoping out housing on newyork.craigslist.org. Updates on this exciting endeavor to follow!

In other exciting news, The JRuhl Dance Krew (name change pending) led by choreographer and fellow alum, Jenn Ruhl Kubilis, will be having its first audition for performance at DancePlace. The audition is in two weeks, on May 17...( one day after my College of Visual and Performing Arts Graduation from George Mason University!) If accepted into the showcase we are auditioning for, we will be performing in late July.

Precursur

2008-04-19T07:12:00.000-07:00

The petitioning for signatures week is finally over. It was an experience and I am thankful its over. So the permanent job hunt ensues and along the way I have accepted another temp job, this time as a data entry clerk/ receptionist. This is a more long term assignment, it should last about 2 or 3 months. But I intend to continue interviewing while still working at this job.

Tonight is the Spring Concert for the GMU Dance Company held in Harris Theatre. I am excited because Karen Dunn, my college roommate and fellow dance alum will be attending with my boyfriend and I. I am also looking forward to the alumni gathering beforehand at Damon's Grill on campus. I can't wait to see what the dancers have choreographed for the concert tonight.

I must hurry today because I have to prepare for rehearsal with Jenn Ruhl Kubilis. Only three weeks until my college graduation, and also our audition for the upcoming Dance Place Performance.

Cauterizing Political Platforms

2008-04-07T14:06:00.000-07:00

Sadly, my class with Curt Haworth was the last dance class I have taken. My priority of securing an income with a steady full time job has taken front seat to dance class attendance. This is due to the fact that the average dance class in the DC area costs $16. Buying class cards are usually a much better deal, but only if they don't expire and you fully intend to use every last class you bought. $16 becomes $48 a week if I take three dance classes. The creditors are closing in on me and my free-pass-because-I'm-a-student-ride is officially over. In a semi-regular call to transfer more credit into my checking account to pay bills, I was not only denied the money I requested, but my credit was cut back by $2,000. Fair enough because I am really not supposed to be living off credit, but now the desperation to secure employment becomes even more necessary.

So in my continuing saga of the job search I have been to three interviews last week and worked two temp jobs. Interestingly enough, last Tuesday I worked as a medical assistant at a dermatology office in Vienna. This involved constantly chasing the doctor from room-to-room to examine the skin of a variety of men and women old enough to be my grandparents and crusted with "barnacles." Despite its reminder to me of a dormant great whale, I assure you that "barnacle" is a medical term and made me laugh a little each time I heard it. Most of the patients were being checked for signs of skin cancer, but possible basil cells were removed in a punch biopsy which I saw and then witnessed the stitches closing the gaping hole. I also had the fantastic opportunity to witness a surgery removing basil cell carcinoma- the most deadly skin cancer. This lasted longer because it involved cutting out a deeper layer, cauterizing the open wound, and then closing with stitches again. This wasn't too disgusting, but I did get worried that I may faint due to the heat in the room. I had happily forgotten about the experience until I went home that evening and decided to help my boyfriend cook hamburgers on the grill and was reminded of the sound of cauterizing flesh. Great experience of a paid workday, but I declined the full time job offer in hopes of finding a less career-track job in a place that I wouldn't be so exposed to the probability of getting warts.

Somewhere down the road, I agreed to interview with a temp agency, Robert Half International, and accepted a temp job for this week. Today was my first day at the temp job that I was informed would involve helping Julien Modica (D) in his campaign to run for U.S. Senate. I have heard about the process of campaigning before so I openly asked my recruiter if this job would involve petitioning for signatures. "No," he replied, "nothing like that." He said it would be organizing the already collected signatures and also doing administrative work including scheduling, typing, and answering phones. With the decent pay that was offered and the party affiliation that Modica is a Democrat, I agreed to help for the week. So guess what i found myself doing at 10AM this morning... petitioning for signatures at George Mason University to get Modica on the ballot for the Democratic Primary on June 10. All of my coworkers were also from the same temp agency and had also received very incorrect information as to what the job would entail. i hated when people in the quad used to be doing political crap and chasing me down, I would often walk far around them or fake a phone call just to get through there as quick as possible and once again I find myself doing a job that I have always been against.

But I just said, "What the hell!? It's a job for the week, and its guaranteed to be a memorable experience." So besides the fact that it was freezing cold and half drizzling wet, I managed to get a good amount of signatures. It definitely helped that I was comfortable at my Alma Mater and ran into many of my friends or old acquaintances that I recognized. But I think I reeled most people in with my cute hair and adorable smile. So Mason was so successful as a place of gathering signatures that we are planning to go back again tomorrow morning and try all over again. We will be there approximately all day, but definitely in the morning and noon time. Please come out and help petition if you are a registered VA voter. It's not a promise to vote for him, it's just giving Modica a chance on the ballot for Senate.

Maybe I'll learn so much in this one week, that I'll be able to run for office and make some positive changes to benefit the dance population. Here are some of the campaign platforms that I would support if I were in office; more dance curriculum in public schools, better foreign policy with Cuba to allow the dance program that Jim Lepore loves, better health care support for independent artists, and capping the tuition rates for college students. I also strongly oppose affirmative action. I think it is outdated and unnecessary- it's basically reverse discrimination and personally all it has done is harm me from getting things I needed to fund a college education like certain financial aid and scholarships.

My mother always told me that God never gives you more than you can handle, so even if I was mislead to get to this place, maybe it will prove to be a valuable and useful experience. And plus at least he is a Democrat.

Easter Sunday

2008-03-24T20:46:00.000-07:00

The weekend in New York was like a breath of fresh air. Just the sound of night air in NYC is specific to its location. Some of my trip highlights include bubble tea, escargot, squid, octopus, and a Sunday afternoon dance class at Dance New Amsterdam. All of the above were firsts for me except the bubble tea and the dance class. I absolutely loved the escargot; the squid and octopus were bearable, but made me a little sqeamish.

My Dance New Amsterdam Intermediate Modern class was taught by Curt Haworth. Curt taught a gestural class. We did do full body movement, but I found that the focus for this Easter Sunday class combination happened to revolve around a gesture phrase that could be interpreted 360 different ways. Curt was very receptive to the students' input and feedback. He was encouraging, challenging, and a pleasure to learn from.

I love waking up in New York City.

seven days closer

2008-03-21T10:03:00.000-07:00

Proudly, in the past week, I have taken three dance classes now. Not exactly the model dancer, but its a step up from doing absolutely nothing. Last Thursday, I took Intermediate Jazz at Joy of Motion in Friendship Heights with Maurice Johnson. I just love Maurice's jazz class, the warm up is extremely effective and high energy. And his end of class combination is always a mixture of jazz, modern, and lyrical. Its heartfelt and often evokes thoughts well after I have left the class.

Last Saturday, I met as scheduled with Jenn and the JRuhl Dance Krew to rehearse the modern piece we are collaboratively choreographing. No details yet as to our debut performance, but I believe the venue we are looking at for this performance will be an upcoming choreography showcase in the spring at Dance Place. I truly love what this piece is becoming. I am also so excited to be apart of Jenn's company because I am confident that she has the leadership abilities to make something happen.

On Monday, St. Patrick's Day, I took an Adult Advanced Beginner Ballet class at Maryland Youth Ballet, with Michelle Lees, my occasional ballet teacher at Mason. I decided to ease into ballet with this class since it had been a couple months since my last ballet class. If nothing else, the class served as a reminder as to exactly how out of shape I am. My calves really felt it the next day. But it put the ballet bug in my head and three days later on Thursday, I found myself back at MYB to take an Intermediate class with Patrick Doyle, a sweet man that teaches a mentally stimulating ballet class.

So I think my next dance class will be somewhere in New York City, my favorite city. I am leaving to go there this afternoon, just for the weekend. I will probably take class at the Dance New Amsterdam studio, I always love the classes I take there.

As for the job hunt, I have two medical receptionist interviews for the upcoming week. I also interviewed with a temp agency yesterday, Robert Half, in Tysons Corner. So hopefully of all those possibilities, I can start to have an income really soon.

I have also recently decided to revisit the Senior Synthesis book, Creating a Life Worth Living. I am reevaluating my original after college plans to incorporate the things that really matter to me at the moment. I am also giving thought to finishing my public school dance teaching certification. I'm only about three classes away from completing that, so I might as well. If nothing else, it will be a steady income to support my continued training as I save funds to support myself in New York City.

no one's looking

2008-03-13T13:11:00.000-07:00

I have decided finally, after two months of stillness, to take two dance classes this evening. Dance is not an artform I can casually pick up like a hobby and then put in the back of my closet for a rainy day. I believe Nietsche once said, "A day without dance is a day wasted." I have wasted far too many days and one begins to wonder, how many days do I have to waste before I cannot say I am a dancer, but rather I used to be a dancer.

I have been sending my resume every way the wind blows but crossing my fingers that I can specifically land a dance or arts-related job. I do want to stay in this area however for the time being. So the job hunt continues, and on that note I leave you with yet another quote...

"Happiness is a journey not a destination, work like you dont need money, love like you never been hurt, and dance like no ones looking." -Buddha

Two Weeks in the Bullpen

2008-03-05T08:04:00.000-08:00

I do not advise this as a career move....

After two weeks at MacArthur Associates, I quit my job. It was truly not a good fit for me. I hate doing cold calling because no one wants to speak to you. And why should they?! They are in the middle of a very productive workday. The last thing they want is a recruiter calling and offering to fill a postition that they are paying internal recruiters and human resources to fill already. I just couldn't take any more. When I was being hired for the job, the hiring manager told me that she was concerned that I am soft spoken and may not be able to handle rejection. I can handle rejection just fine, but only when its deserved. And often they expect me not to take "NO" for an answer. If five people from MacArthur have already called and spoke to someone at a company and been rejected, its still fair game to keep calling because that means that we are not already working with them. No thank you. I can find a much more productive job that doesn't require interrupting people's workdays, being called a telemarketer, and being hung up on.

I am not a salesperson. I am an artist.
... and the job hunt continues...

Inspired by Inspirations

2008-03-04T17:05:00.000-08:00

During my last visit to the Big Apple, I was able to catch a Saturday afternoon matinee of the New York City ballet, entitled Inspirations. Upon first entering the Lincoln Center, I was immediately struck with awe at the dazzling oversized rhinestone chandelier hovering above the audience. I was excited to be seeing an extremely reputable company in a first class theatre, all within my favorite city. The opening number, Divertimento from “Le Baiser de la Fée,” a sweet soft-spoken duet, was choreographed by the company father, George Balanchine to the music of Igor Stravinsky. It consistently enthralled the audience with two bodies delicately mingling and connecting like divinely intended puzzle pieces. Especially memorable was Megan Fairchild’s passage of bourees diagonally down stage, intersected by Benjamin Millepied into a subtle lift as if to bypass an invisible onstage water trench. The sculptural body shapes created illusions of cohesive solid objects rooting and sprouting before our very eyes like the decades old ivy on a charming Victorian home. In a moment of bittersweet division the two incomplete beings were visually separated by the corps of dancers onto two parts of the stage, an unattainable love, denied by the masses.

Following this tender duet was a larger scale piece set to the minimalist music of John Adams. Chairman Dances immediately enticed the audience with the spectacular eye-catching scenery, a giant red silken banner. The soloist for this piece, Abi Stafford, wore a teal bodice and translucent camisole with hot red pointe shoes. Stafford’s costume stood out drastically against the red and violet pieces worn by the corps members. This piece was filled with sweeping arm gestures and full body movement. Chairman Dances was choreographed by the Ballet master in Chief, Peter martins, in 1988. There were flexed foot pas de basques complimented by flexed hand in the upper body, reminiscent of traditional Cambodian dance. Slightly camp, but absolutely glamorous, there was a canon echoing through the corps of dancers morphing into all different poses like snapshot photos from a fashion magazine. The piece didn’t carry much of an underlying message but spoke to the spectacle and elegance of Chinese royalty.

The third piece of the show held a lasting significance to the City Ballet. Rococo Variations is Chris Wheeldon’s final work as the Resident Choreographer. He has decided to graciously progress to the development of his own dance company, Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company. Rococo Variations took the stage cautiously by first building a small visual landscape, layering one dancer at a time in the downstage left corner. There were two costume coordinated couples, the women in deep violet tutus trimmed in gold, and the men in tan tights, a princely white blouse and gold vests. The repeating theme throughout this piece was the fulfillment of symmetry. Several times the women would repeat a sequence of romantic movements. For Sterling Hyltin and Giovanni Villalobos, it was the Hyltin’s collapse over the top of her pointe shoes, knees folded to the ground, followed by Villalobos’ unwinding her and spiraling through the space under his arm to guide her back to her feet. The other woman’s repeated sequence was a flawless 180 degree penche that elusively slipped into his arms unwinding her body and then melting the two together as one, the male then guided her gracefully offstage as the next woman once again entered. The most unusual and unique lift I saw at the show was between Sara Mearns and Adrian Danchig-Waring. It was an arabesque into a horizontal back lift, Danchig-Waring rotating Mearns as if she were the blades atop him, the helicopter. I was pleased to see this same lift repeated later to take the dancers offstage.

Stars and Stripes is still as flashy and technically correct as when Balanchine first choreographed it in 1958. The piece is filled with undeniably impeccable line formations, reminiscent to an award winning marching band field show. Stars and Stripes displayed wonderful timing coordinated with the John Phillip Sousa march. I was pleased to see the consistency of characters, for example never just walking between steps, but always marching. In the fourth campaign, Liberty Bell and El Capitan stole the show. Not only did she demonstrate an impressively stable and strong developpe, but she held it long enough to be rotated by her soldier en pointe, 360 degrees. This was followed by an eye catching solo by El Capitan with double turns ending in a salute. I commend Mr. B on his exquisitely impeccable usage of formations and disbursement of males among the females considering the ratio. This is probably one of the most famous ballets as far as popular goes. This was my first time seeing Stars and Stripes live, but I had actually seen a clip of the ballet in the movie, “Center Stage.” In the program notes, I learned that the ballet has been performed for many special occasions, including the inauguration of Nelson Rockefeller as governor of New York, as well as tributes for President Kennedy and President Johnson. Overall the show was absolutely dazzling and a memorable first experience with the New York City Ballet.

12 Degrees of Seperation

2008-02-25T18:25:00.000-08:00

Twelve Days since my last post equals far too long. Besides the obvious reason, that my readers grow restless with the lack of new material, is the broader spectrum. So much can change in twelve days. In twelve days, I went from Reston to New York and back again. I began a new job at MacArthur Associates, and I even survived a visit from my parents. The trip to New York was phenomanal! Extremely memorable was the experience of seeing the New york City Ballet for the first time. A great thing about NYC is the flexability of spontanaity to see shows on a whim. I had not planned to see the show, but a touchscreen news ticker in a taxi cab revealed the NYCB upcoming performance a day before the show, and I couldn't resist a show in the city. Expect a review of the performance to follow.

Equally spontaneous and artistically rewarding, was a performance art show that I saw on a day of whim, called "FuerzaBruta." Literally translated, the Argentinian show title means, "a brute force." The show was recomended to me by a friend in New York who insisted that I not research or attempt to YouTube the show in the slightest. Nothing anyone could have told me would have prepared me for the incredibly dynamic and colorful display I witnessed that evening. I would normally link the title of the show to a website demonstrating exactly how fantastic this performance was. But I recommend that you, the reader, do the same if at all possible. See the show with no sneak peaks, just know to expect the unexpected and spectacular.

Another reason I have delayed the blog recently, was the confusion and exhaustion of beginning my new job at MacArthur Associates. With a 45-minute commute, I am working 12-hour days in a field that is extremely challenging. Not only am I dealing with IT, specifically software developers, but a large portion of my job entails sales. After a week at the new job, I am just now beginning to be more comfortable with speaking to new companies. The first few painfully nerving calls seemed borderline impossible to complete because of my intense adrenaline rush and extremely fast beating heart. It's an understatement to say that I am still adjusting to this new career.

However, despite my full time workweek, I fully intend to continue with my dance training. My class goal for this week is to attend two dance classes. I will most likely go to Joy of Motion since I have been riding the metro to work each day. I'm completely dead tired... as we speak.

*Coming Soon*
Review of New York City Ballet weekend performance
DC Dances, a current dance improv video I am developing

BosmaDance's Euphoria

2008-02-11T16:36:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend I saw a show presented by BosmaDance in collaboration with the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra. I thought it appropriately titled, "Euphoria," acknowledging the combination of audio and visual stimulation. The first half of the show was entirely orchestral presentation. The ASO performed works by Strauss, Bach, and Tchaikovsky. In an effort to involve the dance enthusiasts of the audience, the director, Kim Allen Kluge, encouraged the audience to see the intricate ballet happening between the instruments and the hands commanding them. "Bows leaping across strings," was how he phrased it. Though it was a noble effort, I do not think that music can be justly compared to ballet in those terms. Dance should be a mindful expression, filling your eyes with your hearts unsung emotion. The glorious distinction of music is in its rapturous and exquisite sound, incomparable to dance for they are two complimentary yet different art forms. If in these two hours of watching the orchestra perform I saw any dance upon stage, it was not between fingers and instruments, it was the musicians' uncontrollable urge to sway to the passionate phrasings within the score.

After a brief intermission, the orchestra again set onstage, this time further away from the audience leaving a spacious canvas for BosmaDance. In an informal, yet polite introduction, director, Kim Allen Kluge, brought Artistic Director, Meisha Bosma, onstage to speak about the three pieces she created for this occasion. The first piece, "Her Majesty," held a prissy air throughout. It was performed with Gabrieli's Canzona. Individually dancers would set in silhouette, back to the audience. The costumes created an alien shape on the dancers, reminiscent of colorful polka-dotted puff pastries. Choreographically the focus seemed to always be on the individual, even throughout the partnering sections. Movement was hard-edged and disconnected from the other members of the quartet. It seemed as each dancer sauntered onstage, arms swinging, they were each vying for more of the audiences' attention, while simultaneously mimicking the choreography of the previous dancer. Perhaps "Her Majesty" spoke to the flighty superficial behavior of the aristocracy.

The next piece, "For What Was," paired with the music of Bachianas brasileiras No. 5 Aria, by Heitor Villa-Lobos was a passionate duet of two women. Bosma said that this duet was about coping with the human emotion of accepting the loss of a loved one. Despite the fact that it was two women performing, she clearly explained that it was a non-gender specific dance and held universal meaning. The piece, danced by Meisha Bosma and Leah Wrobel, was immediately enticing with extended full lines. The duet was exquisitely rehearsed, demonstrating expert timing. The choreography exhibited a passionate melting continuity from one movement to the next. It reconciled appropriately with the refusal to be abandoned, Bosma struggled trying to drag Wrobel by the foot back to center stage. But Wrobel overcame and broke free, leaving Bosma in solitude.

The last piece, "Sky Kisses Earth," was set to the music of Fantasia concertante on a theme of Corelli, by Michael Tippett. Bosma explained that the inspiration for this piece came from her overwhelmingly busy thoughts upon first listening to the music. She tried to intelligently choreograph the moments in life where calm meets chaos. She referred to the "high and low," as well as the "ebb and flowing." The following quote was printed in the program and offered some insight to the fine line where calm and chaos meets.

"Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart." - Anonymous

"Sky Kisses Earth" began as a rapturous cluster of silken colored dancers on stage right, writhing in a pool of light. What begins as competition for sunlight evolves when two dancers find the voice to elope from the group. This gesture gradually inspires a mass migration across the stage scattering dancers like windswept dandelion seeds carrying heartfelt wishes. One reoccurring gesture seemed to carry meaning, a deep plie with elbows resting at thighs, watching and waiting like the eerie calm before a boisterous storm. There were four different color silk gowns, a pair of each color, rippling and flowing, vivaciously swirling like lively paint on this audio-clad canvas. In the effort to unite the seam between calm and chaos, dancers traverse personal struggles to overcome their own physical maladies and discomforts. Notably captivating was dancer, Daniel Zook, who courageously bridled the untamed chaos to truthfully express the human desire for calm and peace in our hearts. His glorious emanation, a distinctive, intangible raw passion, shone beyond the borders of the concert hall on that Sunday afternoon.

Personally, I am always a devout believer in live music paired with live performance. I thought the collaboration for "Euphoria" was an appropriate match and also an intelligent move to mix two potentially unaware audience types, musicians and dancers. I did not feel that it particularly enhanced or detracted from the performance by positioning the orchestra onstage. While the dancers were onstage I did not choose to watch the orchestra upstage of them. I feel that while it was a bold experiment, perhaps the orchestra could have stayed in the pit to allow more space for the dancers on stage, or the directors could have better integrated the two groups' visual appearance to harmonize their visual relevancy. Overall it was an artistically fulfilling experience. For more information about "Euphoria," check out the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra Blog.

Inside the J Ruhl Dance Krew

2008-02-05T07:31:00.000-08:00

I am currently in the middle of a move from my Burke apartment into a house in Oakton, which always tosses everything up in the air. I will be starting my new job February 19th, since we have Presidents' Day off work as a holiday. Yesterday I went into the new job and recieved my benefits package. So now I have to figure out how to fill all that paperwork out so that I can recieve benfits. I also went out this weekend and bought a few new business suits that I can wear to the new job. Appearances speak for themselves and first impressions are never easily forgotten. Even if I am clueless as to what I am doing, I intend to look great doing it.

Every Saturday, I have been rehearsing with the J Ruhl Dance Krew, led by Jenn Ruhl Kubilis out of the Chris Collins Dance Studio in Alexandria, VA. Originally we had been focusing on dancing in a club setting as an easy way to make money to fund our contemporary performances. But for some reason, Jenn informed us, her dancers, that the club thing wasn't working out exactly how she wanted. So the past three weeks or so, our focus during rehearsals has been more on contemporary choreography. To start with, Jenn is teaching us the repetoire of the choreography she did at Mason. She plans to restage and recast three of her pieces ("Organized Chaos," "Falling From Grace," and "Split Personality") into a three-part piece. A percussionist friend of hers has been rehearsing with us to possibly use as live music for the performance. She also told us that she will set original work on us dancers starting this upcoming Saturday.

As far as performance opportunities, there is possible talk about an upcoming choreographer's showcase for which we would have to audition. I like Jenn's style of dancing because it can be stylized and emotionally expressive, as well as physical and funky. Since the undertaking of this full-time job, J Ruhl Dance Krew has been my only creative outlet as far as dance is concerned. It fits into my schedule well because I know Jenn has a full time job, so we have only rehearsed on Saturdays thus far. I am unaware of the official number of company members, because some people attend more regularly than others. I am usually always there and there are about five other people that I regularly see in rehearsal. I look forward to seeing how this company will grow in the future.

Also, before I begin my new job, I am doing my best to finish setting choreography on the 25 children of the Young Actor's Theatre at the Reston Community Center. Their performance is March 8, I believe. I have finished one dance with the children, so now I have two more to set. Normally we rehearse on Fridays, but once I begin this job I won't make it in time. So before I begin work at MacArthur I want to get as much done as I can. After I start the job, I will probably have to come in for some time on Saturdays to rehearse and clean their dances. I am just trying not to skip out on the kids since it will be my last teaching opportunity for a while.

I got the JOB!!!

2008-02-01T08:52:00.000-08:00

For anyone following my life via blog, you will be pleased to know that I was offered the position with MacArthur Associates and I accepted. I will begin work on February 18. Until then I am trying to finish the choroeography for the session of Young Actor's Theatre that I have already begun. Their tech and performance week will be my second week of the new job, so I think I can manage to squeeze that into my days.

Glory Days will be fine without me. There has been such a huge turnover in workers there lately that I hardly recognize any of my co-workers anymore.

Unfortunately, I will be unable to attend the New Genre Festival with Kathleen since they are departing on a Wednesday and I don't want to take time off work when I am about to begin this new job. However, I will still be posting updates here on the blog. And I have already been told that she found another dancer to join the group, George Mason undergraduate, Allie Linn. Best of luck to the dancers and (the) giants of gender.

Interview of a Dance Alum

2008-01-27T19:20:00.000-08:00

There comes a time after graduation where we must put into action all the skills we have practiced in school. It feels like the culmination of everything I've learned in my life thus far. It's like I'm freaking out in Senior Synthesis with Susan Shields all over again. My job hunt ensues as I have been going to some interviews for jobs that are completely non-dance related. All I am looking for here is some full-time work, something to pay the bills until I can figure out exactly what my dream job is, or until somebody reading this blog will find my writing articulate and compelling enough to pay me for all my work.

Maybe this can also be of some service to the students currently facing the stresses of Senior Synthesis back at the Mason dance department.

Honestly, I would love to be in New York City, a place where I can find many arts-related jobs as well as practice my craft of dance by taking classes. It's really just a matter of sacrifice, however. If I really want to go to NYC, then I will get there. And either way, I will probably struggle. But if I can have eliminated debt from the past four years as well as accumulated a savings to fall back on, maybe the struggle will not be as much of a financial burden for me. So for now, NYC will have to wait for me.

So, based on my experience with the National Dance Association, I have been looking for an administrative office job. Something full-time with health benefits and without a horrendous commute if I can help it.

My first, most promising offer was from a company called MacArthur Associates located in Arlington. It's not too bad of a commute, it's metro accessible, the pay is decent, and it would put me on a management track which would potentially lead to a series of raises. MacArthur Associates is an IT job placement company matching companies with employees to fulfill their needs. My job would begin as a placement counselor. Some of the questions I was asked at my interview were as follows:

What makes you a good candidate for this position?
What motivates you?
Why do you think you would excell in this environment?
How does your dance experience prepare you to fulfill the necessary job requirements of this position?

To which I responded;
I am extremely motivated and hard working, demonstrated by my part-time work experience throughout college while still being a full-time student. This is also proven by the fact that I began dancing at the age of 15 and seven years later was awarded a college degree in the focus of modern dance. I am motivated by myself with little outside influence. I achieve for myself and no one else. The ability to support myself independently motivates me to target a high paying job that will solely support me and allow me to eliminate the low-paying part time jobs that I have maintained throughout school. I would excel in this environment because I am surrounded by other hard-working and motivated individuals. My experience from the level of excellence at GMU has shown me that I work best in this type of environment. My experience as both a dance teacher and also as a student choreographer would make me an excellent leader or manager. I possess all the skills necessary to lead a group towards accomplishing an end goal while still maintaining a specific focus of integrity and outward appearances.

It is answering the generic interview questions with relation to your own personal experiences that demonstrates the ability to transfer dance skills into the real world. Of course I would rather accept a dance or art related job, but in the meantime I would like to prove to myself that there is nothing out of my reach.

Motif of an Improv

2008-01-24T07:30:00.000-08:00

Here is a video displaying the motif for the New Genre Improvisation. A motif is a recurring subject, theme, idea, etc. In this application, the motif is a choreography phrase that Kathleen plans to repeat with variation throughout the improvisation.

This is also the costume we are planning on wearing for the performance, although Kathleen is planning on altering the costume slightly to enhance the flow of fabric from underneath. The music in the background is a piece by (the) giants of gender called those are your skeletons.

A305 Renovations

2008-01-24T07:21:00.001-08:00

So by now, I am sure all the returning GMU students have had a chance to ooo and ahhh over the shiny new floors in the dance department. But maybe you are no longer a student at GMU and you are curious as to the product of the renovation photos I showed a while back. Maybe your eyesight isn't what it used to be and you didn't notice the floors. Maybe you have an uncanny obsession with floors and floor photos are exciting to you. Well let me satisfy your hopes with a couple snapshots of A305.

ooo...

and...

ahhh...

More News in the New Genre Chapter

2008-01-20T10:04:00.000-08:00

Last night, I spent approximately seven hours working with choreographer, Kathleen Larrick, in preparation of the New Genre Festival in March. Diverting from our original grant proposal of four dancers, we will now be attending with only two dancers due to time conflicts in the men's schedule. I know Kathleen felt extremely disappointed to have a cast of only half the people originally planned. But I managed to help her look beyond this speed bump and to work with the dancers she does have, herself and me. Choreographers are often expected to think quickly on their feet in an event like this, that their original plan is not possible. I am proud of her for not being too uninspired by this minor setback.

We have been assembling a press kit that we can release to the festival coordinators. Our photographer, Michael Ross, spent time helping us create the images that we will advertise for the event. Kathleen had originally envisioned sculptural connected shapes involving the four people. So with the absence of two dancers we created some weight share with the two of us and also had a third model, Sharon Choi, step in to create some images of three dancers.

After the photography, we shot video clips with the help of friends, Josh Johnson and Sharon Choi, of the phrases that Kathleen has choreographed. The video is being sent to our band, (the) giants of gender, a new age classical improvisation troupe based out of Youngstown, Ohio who will also be traveling with us and performing at the event. This will give the band some idea of the themes and motifs of movement that we will be improvising onstage.

The improvisation performance will last for 1.5 hours onstage without exiting the stage at any time. The square stage will be indoors and surrounded by audience members on all four sides. Currently, I believe that this festival may also include a second indoor performance occurring in the setting of an office building.

Kathleen and I are extremely grateful to the Redick's who were kind enough to loan us their studio space at the Reston Conservatory Ballet. This gave us the space for rehearsal and our photo shoot.

Hopefully I may be able to post some of those photographs and/ or video to give you all an idea of the work we are creating and taking to the festival. I am looking forward to when we can start improvising with the band in preparation for the actual festival.

Guest Artist Residency Update

2008-01-20T09:41:00.000-08:00

After I dropped in on the GMU Dance Department last Tuesday, I decided to blog about some of the progress of the current residency. Peering into studio A307, I saw the cast of dancers rehearsing Twyla Tharp's, Eight Jelly Rolls, a contemporary piece created to the music of Jelly Roll Morton. Setting this residency is Tharp dancer, Katie Glassner. Congratulations to the cast and understudies of this piece. I only saw a couple minutes but it looks like the dancers are having some fun with this piece.

I was also able to catch the tail end of the rehearsal for Mark Morris' Gloria. I am especially proud of the cast and understudies of Gloria. Marjorie Folkman, of the Mark Morris Dance Group, had been working with the cast of this piece during the residency period. But after working in the department for only 2 days, her father, Judah Folkman, passed away unexpectedly. Folkman was an extremely well-known cancer researcher throughout the medical world.

Cast member, Nate Bond, spoke to me about the incredible talent of Marjorie Folkman and how much the cast was able to accomplish before she left. "We were able to learn two full sections and the theme steps for the rest of the piece before she had to leave unexpectedly."

After Marjorie Folkman's unfortunate departure, the cast has been piecing together the remainder of the dance using video of the MMDG, as well as the knowledgeable resource of former Morris dancer, Dan Joyce, a respected faculty member here at GMU. On Saturday, Joe Bowie of MMDG, arrived to finish setting and cleaning Gloria, working through Sunday and Monday.

A few of the cast members were nice enough to show me some of a phrase from Gloria for the blog.

One motivating factor about dancing in Gloria is the fact that Morris and his company will be watching a rehearsal when they come to perform at the Center for the Arts in February. (No pressure here!) Marjorie Summerall, Program Coordinator of the dance department, has been acting as my informer on the inside since my graduation. When she told me that Morris would be watching rehearsal, she explained what an honor this is to the department and especially the cast. She said, "The music department can learn a piece by Mozart, but he won't be walking into one of their rehearsals." It's truly inspiring to have a living, working artist that can see how his dance looks as it is reset on a new cast and additionally offer that cast feedback.

Read any good books on vacation?

2008-01-16T07:55:00.000-08:00

I always felt like I never had time to read for pleasure while I was attending school. So the first thing I did after my last semester was over was finish the book I had started reading a while ago. Dancing on my Grave by Gelsey Kirkland with Greg Lawrence, was an intimate and accurate look at the ballet world from one of the best American ballerinas of this century.

I love how this book is written. Kirkland would describe events and performances from her point of view, but then also include many of the reviews that were published pertaining to those performances. Including her reviews, both positive and negative, gave the book more of a historical accuracy for me. About the last quarter of the book is the saddest in her story. Kirkland gives a powerfully chilling description of her descent into depression and battle with overcoming the control of cocaine.

Without a personal artistic purpose, dancing became her burden and could only be accomplished with "a quick blast of confidence." The coke and dancing were synonymous and though she knew she loved one, she couldn't figure out which.

While I was reading the horrible images of her having brain seizures, losing teeth, losing friends, losing her job, I started getting so angry with her and wondering why she would try to glamorize this disillusioned state of being, giving dancers a bad reputation. But like eyes glued to a train wreck, I was unable to turn away.

Finally Kirkland met someone who, like herself, also had a life-threatening addiction. Greg Lawrence helped Kirkland by giving her a way out. Ending the self destruction also required quitting dance for a time period. Together, they left the city and lived in solitude on a farm in the country. It gave them both the stress-free environment needed to clear their mind of negative thoughts. At the same time, they welcomed the ideas of the classical artists. They used their minds to overcome the addiction, flooding their heads with music, art, and literature until they could make sense of the concept of art and its application to their lives.

Finally the reason she wrote the book came into the light. Writing her story was therapeutic for Kirkland to overcome everything she had been through. But it was also a huge contribution to the dance world and even to society. Kirkland wrote this book to prevent others from experiencing the same tragedies. And that is a cause that I can personally respect.

So Whats Next?

2008-01-15T14:48:00.000-08:00

2008 is a NEW YEAR! My past month post graduation has been a wonderful vacation. After spending some time with my family over Christmas, I began my travels with a venture to New York City to celebrate the New Year. Unfortunately I was unable to see any dance performances but I did make it to take a modern class at Dance New Amsterdam. Being in New York always makes me feel at home, so I began my year with a resolution to make the move to the Big Apple this year.

After I returned from New York, I set out for Denver, Colorado. While I was unable to dance during that trip, I did learn how to ski. The body coordination of learning to control my body on skis was a fearful and exhilarating challenge. But after a day of lessons in Beaver Creek and two days of practicing at Vail, I managed to accomplish full green and blue runs.

Current dance projects include my ongoing rehearsals with J Ruhl Dance Krew, led by GMU dance alum, Jenn Ruhl Kubilis herself. We have been on a brief holiday break, but rehearsals are now resuming. The upcoming months should bring some promising performances from this group.

Another current project is the New Genre Dance Festival in Tulsa, OK. I am excited to be apart of this project and will release more details as to what this entails as they unfold. This work is currently being coordinated by fellow dance alum, Kathleen Larrick.

As far as my own professional endeavors are concerned. The best solution to my monetary struggles is the temporary solution of finding a full-time job. Moving to New York requires funding and planning. Working full-time for right now will give me the means and buy me the time to plan my big move. The job hunt continues....

The Olympic Improvisation

2007-12-19T18:29:00.000-08:00

I have now finished college at George Mason. It feels absolutely incredible to say that and I truly feel that I have accomplished something exceptional.

During the past semester, a few dancers and I suddenly decided that we felt like improvising by these beautiful statues that were temporarily on display at George Mason. After I showed the video to fellow graduate, Daniel Zook, he generously agreed to do some video editing and the following is our first video collaboration, "Olympic Improvisation."

I also have been checking in on the current dance department renovations. As scheduled, the department has begun replacing the flooring in three studios. Being the journalist that I am, I couldn't resist the urge to share these pictures with dance blog subscribers.

This is the pile of lumber in the hallway.

Studio A301

Studio A305

Studio A307

I for one am extremely excited about the renovations and cannot wait to see the finished product. More updates will be sure to follow.

Thank you to everyone who recently joined my blog groups on facebook and myspace. I intend to use these as a means of assembling performers for upcoming improvisations and video works, so stay tuned!

COMING SOON...
The full performance video of my finished choreography piece, "The World's Oyster."

Tech, Dress, and Opening Night

2007-12-07T15:17:00.000-08:00

The Tech Run, Dress Rehearsal, and Opening Night all went smoothly. I was a little worried for opening night when there were some unexpected timing issues that had never occurred before. But I think it was just the adrenaline rush of being on stage that caused the dancers to rush. But nevertheless, everything worked itself out for the opening night performance. I was pleased with the on-stage chemistry the dancers created to embody the specific relationships. I think the most clear and consistent relationship is that between dancers, Nate and Chrissy.

Today is Friday and the second night of the concert. During phrases before the show tonight, I plan on working on the ending of the dance. The ending will be the last thing that everyone sees of my dance so I want to make sure there is a solid lasting image in people's memory. I am extremely pleased with how the dance has matured. I love how each time I watch this same concert, there are new moments that I had not noticed previously.

This entire concert has really impressed me. Whenever I see the student work produced by the dancers of GMU, it gives me a sense of pride in my school and also pride to be associated with such a sophisticated and artistically inclined group of individuals, such as the GMU Dance Company.

Today was my last day of college classes.

December Already!!

2007-12-04T12:16:00.000-08:00

I just cannot believe that it is December already! It is now the week of the December Concert. As one might expect, I am experiencing a variety of emotions. I am excited to see the piece on stage and in the context of a concert, but along with that excitement comes a tinge of nervousness... the what-if's. And simultaneously, I am excited that it's the last week of classes. But, it feels too soon for college to be over.

The dancers and I finished the piece last Thursday. We spent some time in an extra rehearsal over the weekend to clean the movement and elaborate on the relationships that happen in the dance. I have tried to bring out the differences between all the relationships that occur. I think that this dance will be meaningful to a widespread audience. Everyone has a variety of relationships in their life. It is through relationships that we can experience growth. Hopefully this will read in the dancers' performance this week.

Tonight is the tech-run of the show. Wednesday is the dress rehearsal and then opening night is on Thursday!

Work in Progress

2007-11-20T11:54:00.003-08:00

My latest work will be performed in a couple weeks in the December Dance Concert at GMU. Here's the plug:

December 2007 Concert
Thursday, December 6th, 8:00 pm
Friday, December 7th, 8:00 pm
Saturday, December 8th, 8:00 pm
Dance Performance Studio, A301 Performing Arts Building
Tickets: $10, full; $7, students, staff, & seniors

There will also be pieces by Ina Brunette, Ashleigh Gurtler, Allie Linn, Anna Headen, Lianne Pignatello, and a faculty piece by Karen Reedy. (Check out her website! Karen Reedy Dance)

I have a cast of six dancers and we have been working on this piece since the beginning of September. Here is the latest recording. I apologize ahead of time, but my video recording skills do leave much to be desired.

I have enjoyed working on this piece so much that it is hard for me to finish it. It seems that I have become attached to the process of creating almost more so than witnessing the finished product.

When I fist began this piece back in September, I decided to create a dance inspired by the book, Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino. One of my favorite cities described in the book was the city Valdrada.

" The ancients built Valdrada on the shores of a lake, with houses all verandas one above the other, and high streets whose railed parapets look out over the water. Thus the traveler, arriving, sees two cities: one erect above the lake, and the other reflected, upside down. Nothing exists or happens in the one Valdrada that the other Valdrada does not repeat, because the city was so constructed that its every point would be reflected in its mirror, and the Valdrada down in the water contains not only all the flutings and juttings of the facades that rise above the lake, but also the rooms; interiors with ceilings and floors, the perspective of the halls, the mirrors of the wardrobes."

My original music was a remix of a Nine Inch Nails song. The music sounded very electronic and industrial. I liked the hard sound I had combined with somewhat soft edge movement. However, when I reached a dead end in my flow of creativity, I found a renewal in my choreographic progression when I made a music change. In the end I have decided to change to the current music which is called "Sun Will Set," by Zoe Keating.

Choreographically, I never really felt like I had created the setting from the city of Valdrada. But the architectural imagery provided a starting place from which I was able to create sculptural shapes and invent some new movement.

I was originally planning on naming the piece Valdradum because of the above city described. Since my piece has since taken a new turn, I am unsure what to title it. Any suggestions for a title after viewing are welcome. After discussing the piece with my dancers, we decided that the intent or purpose of the choreography is to relate to relationships throughout life. All elements are connected in the great wonders of the universe. I wish there was even more time to work on this piece, but that's the way a production goes.

Here is an earlier version of the piece that was recorded a few weeks before the video shown above. It was actually recorded on Halloween night... which is connected with some of the dancers' appearances. Again, sorry about my shouting but this is a dance rehearsal.

Our next rehearsal will be Tuesday Nov, 16. At that time I must finish the piece to have adequate rehearsal time to clean and polish before the concert performance. As always, please feel free to leave comments or feedback. Thank you!

Composing and Arranging

2007-11-20T10:30:00.000-08:00

Choreography, n. the art of composing and arranging dances and esp. ballets (defined by Merriam-Webster)

Choreography has opened up a whole new realm of expression for me. Since I have been at Mason, I have choreographed four pieces and I am currently working on my fifth. Hopefully soon I can have video of all my pieces on here.

Here is video of two of my dance peers discussing choreography from a college student's point of view.

Much of choreography is first born through a process called improvisation. Improvising means to do something in the spur of the moment. In dance, many people like to improvise with music and see where their internal rhythm leads. Last Friday, November 16, we had an improv jam in the dance department. All artists were invited (musicians, dancers, visual artists, thesbians, etc.) We had three musicians come to the improv and a few new dancer faces. Here is some video of the last ten minutes of the hour and a half jam.

Personally, I felt torn between taping this magic moment and actually participating in the dancing. I have not done any improvisation with a group of dancers since my freshman year of college. The experience was invigorating and exciting. So many uncanny and timely interactions occur between people. Improvisation is just a wonderful way to be dancing... always in the moment.

I welcome comments to my blog from anybody with input or feedback. If you were there, feel free to comment on what this experience was like for you. Until next time!

Dancing at Mason

2007-11-20T09:46:00.000-08:00

Dancing on the Edge is the name of my favorite book, by Han Nolan. I read the book in middle school and it was my first exposure to modern dance. The book is not about a famous modern dancer, but rather a troubled youth who is able to express her bottled confusion and anger through the freedom and rawness of modern dance. The name is sacred to me because it led me to discovering modern dance for myself which has opened up worlds of possibilities. My life would be unrecognizable without modern dance. It has helped me overcome a lot of pain, it led me to meet both the most psychotic and most compassionate people. However, I would not change anything. I love all the questions that dance has raised in my mind. It has become my window through which I interpret the world.

Coming to George Mason was the most life-changing decision I have ever made... good thing I made the right choice. Mason was my top-choice school simply because it was somewhat close to my home in Winchester, and I was remarkably impressed with the dance program. The facilities alone are breathtaking. And they are even about to be renovated! The faculty had world-class performing experience when I came into the program, and they did nothing but impress me with their teaching abilities the longer I have been here. Well, I shouldn't say nothing, the other thing they have done is inspire. They inspired me to create choreography and they inspired me to create this blog. The faculty and people I have met here have all inspired me to do everything I am about to do in the so-called "real world" after Mason. I have been here now for 4 and a half years. My last day of classes is December 7, 2007. After that... well you will just have to wait and see!