605 Collective – Audible

Tags

605 Collective, b-boy, breaking, dance, Dance Criticism, football, media, Modern dance, Social Media, Vancouver, Vancouver dance

In Vancouver, BC, circa 2006, three artists with a shared artistic vision formed the 605 Collective. Since then, these artists – Lisa Gelley, Shay Kuebler and Josh Martin – have collaborated with their dancers on all produced works without any one person acting as the Artistic Director of the group.

This year’s ADF crowd was introduced to the 605 Collective through the performance of the group’s first evening-length work, Audible. This performance featured dancers Scott Augustine and Maiko Miyauchi in addition to the Collective’s three co-founders, in an effort to translate the increasingly invasive, ever-expanding digital world into a physical form.

Born in 2009, Audible addressed issues that, even then, would have been about three years past their prime relevancy.  Though the ideas explored in this piece have been hashed and re-hashed in nearly every intellectual community since Facebook and Twitter exploded between 2005 and 2006, the 605 Collective addressed them in a unique way.  With the creation of Audible, this group melded highly physical movement vocabularies and explored complex choreographic structures in a way that felt fresh.

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At the very top of the piece, dancers established a “watching” dynamic; the five performers looked at one another without really seeing one another in a walking pattern with occasional stillness. Humorous choreographic episodes later in the work sustained and deepened this voyeuristic trend.

In an exploration of the way that individuals accrue “followers” on social media sites, Martin performed a solo while gradually accumulating mimics just out of his range of vision. When he turned around to see what was happening behind him, the other dancers quickly adjusted their actions to stretching, looking elsewhere and even polishing the floor. The laughs continued when Martin’s flock suddenly overtook him in his choreographic phrase; it was then Martin who was struggling to keep up. This change of events spoke to how easily control and ownership of original content can get out-of-hand on the web.

Later, a back-to-back duet performed by Martin and Gelley physicalized the world of online dating and relationship-building. After approaching one another facing backwards, the pair moved like water through moments of dragging and lifting, and during a back-to-back waltz. The dancers had a natural chemistry when facing away from one another, but could not make sense of their connected bodies when they turned around. These moments served as a metaphor for the way that relationships can advance quickly online, but that chemistry can fade when meeting someone for the first time. It is notable that despite their staged incompatibility, the pair had the most believable emotional connection of any of the performers onstage.

Gelley and Martin perform their duet. Photo credit: American Dance Festival. No copyright infringement intended.

I mentioned earlier that the 605 Collective draws from each of its members for choreographic inspiration; knowing this, it came as no surprise to viewers that the movement vocabularies showcased in Audible were both diverse and numerous. The work’s movement language drew from physical practices including hockey, capoeira, judo, football, Aikido and Gaga, and it was sometimes difficult to decipher where one form ended and another began.

Highly physical choreography throughout the work showcased the dancers’ abilities to move seamlessly in and out of the floor, to jump with abandon, to stabilize their balances during inversions and to physically support and manipulate fellow performers in lifts. In one inspired moment, dancers performed a set of choreography for a second time, this time “rewound” to create gravity-defying illusions and unnatural movement patterns.

These complex choreographic sections gave way to more barbaric, less conversational forms of communication in Audible’s later moments, which featured the dancers performing football drills and hockey checks, and grappling with one another while sporting wrestling headgear. Was this a commentary on abrasive social interactions among men, or simply an opportunity to highlight the collective’s brasher repertoire of physical trainings?

I can’t say for sure. What I can say, though, is that this piece is worth a view despite its somewhat tired subject matter.  I especially recommend this work to dancers and choreographers who need a break from conventional movement patterns, because I found myself wanting to watch these dancers move long after the show had ended.

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Did you see the show? Let me know your thoughts in a comment below!

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605 Collective – Audible

Reynolds Industries Theatre, Durham, NC

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Nicholas Leichter Dance – Twenty Twenty

Tags

Bryan Strimpel, Funk, Gender, hip-hop, Modern dance, NCSU Center Stage, Nicholas Leichter, Nicholas Leichter Dance, Sexuality, Titmus Theatre

NC State’s already cozy Titmus Theatre became even more intimate with the performance of Nicholas Leichter Dance’s Twenty Twenty. This work juxtaposed African-American dancer/choreographer Nicholas Leichter against his younger, fairer-skinned protégé Bryan Strimpel in an exploration of gender and sexuality in popular culture. Though the work’s program notes emphasized the men’s different appearances and ages, it was clear that in both body and spirit, Leichter and Strimpel were harmonious.

Nicholas Leichter in Twenty Twenty. Photo Credit: Julie Lemberger

A series of duets and solos made clear the different choreographic roots of each dancer. In solos, Leichter’s funk-contemporary fusion gave an occasional nod to Michael Jackson’s signature moves, while Strimpel preferred to live in the modern-contemporary world.

Leichter and Strimpel adapted to one another’s styles well in duets, and with the exception of a single hopped turn from Leichter early in the show, the breadth of choreography was executed flawlessly. When appropriate, Strimpel and Leichter exchanged smiles onstage, expressing the joy of dancing with partner who is energetically in synch.  The men left their relationship to one another undefined, leaving the audience to question if they were brothers, friends or lovers.

Nicholas Leichter in Twenty Twenty. Photo Credit: Andrew Smrz

From an aesthetic standpoint, Twenty Twenty’s unison choreography made evident the superior extension and flexibility of Strimpel’s body, and drew attention to his fluid movement quality. This was especially true during his solos; one showcased the entrancing ebb and flow of fluid arm manipulation and the other highlighted his modern dance training with repetitive sweeping floorwork. Leichter’s strengths lied in clarity of direction and precise weight placement, in addition to fierce focal intention and energetic integrity.

In a solo set to “Ghetto” by Terius Nash, Leichter explored the boundaries of masculinity and femininity through fashion and movement. The dancer began in laceless gym shoes with lazy tongues, dark sunglasses and a hoodie but changed mid-section to a tight purple shirt and sparkly booty shorts. But what began as gritty hip-hop choreography quickly became an erotic romp. With a swing ‘round the pole, a deep squat and a wayward lick, Leichter transformed himself into a sexual object and the audience into voyeurs. But before viewers could define how the turn of events made them feel, Strimpel sauntered onstage in an unbuttoned coat and tight jeans.

Bryan Strimpel in Twenty Twenty. Photo Credit: Julie Lemberger

And here’s where things got hairy – in an ethical sense. Strimpel’s incredible physical form and his male stripper-esque costume, when paired with pelvic thrusts and a pantomimed sex scene created a palpable, positively-charged sexual tension in the room. This begs the question – why was this section, which arguably created the same amount of objectification as Leichter’s solo, somehow more comfortable for the audience to view than Leichter performing a feminine pole routine? Was the adverse reaction to the previous section a result of the content itself, or a result of the gender norms that it reversed?

These questions were omnipresent for the remainder of the evening, which showcased Leichter and Strimpel in both highly sexualized and platonic duets set to everything from the gritty tracks of Terius Nash (The-Dream) to the hypnotic house beats of Lil Louis and the World. Even Beyoncé’s pop hit “Countdown” made an appearance at the end of the show, because, let’s be real, you can’t do “Diva” without her.

In addition to these artists, Twenty Twenty’s musical progression featured the soulful sounds of James Blake, Marsha Ambrosius, Laura Nyro and Labelle, and the Bee Gees.  Much like Twenty Twenty’s choreography, these artists portray love, sexuality and gender norms with much variation.

At the end of the night, Twenty Twenty ultimately made an artistic statement and, more importantly, an artistic inquiry. Where are the boundaries for gender and sexuality? Why and when are they drawn? How are they portrayed in mass media and how do we, as individuals and as a culture, absorb and interpret them? We’ve seen Leichter and Stimpel’s responses to those questions embodied onstage, now it’s our turn to respond.

What do you think? Leave me a comment and let me know!

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Nicholas Leichter Dance – Twenty Twenty

Choreography and performance by Nicholas Leichter and Bryan Strimpel

Friday and Saturday September 28 & 29^th

Presented by NCSU Center Stage

Titmus Theatre, Raleigh, NC

Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion at ADF

Tags

Abraham.In.Motion, American Dance Festival, dance, Fine Art, Kyle Abraham, locking, Modern dance

Kyle Abraham/Abraham.in.Motion’s “The Radio Show” began in the audience; an oddly dressed man – he wore dress pants and a polo with the back cut out – sat in the theatre’s center section, at times getting up to enthusiastically greet his fellow patrons. This man, who seemed at first glance to be a well-connected ADF student, began to dance in the aisle as the music grew louder and he soon made his way onto the stage. This man, of course, was Kyle Abraham.

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Once onstage, Abraham’s demeanor transformed; the friendly audience member became a wise man with clear trepidations – toward what, it was difficult to determine so early in the piece. In this section Abraham moved at a slow gait, with highly articulate feet and a trembling hand, and introduced locking vocabulary that looked more like a chiropractic adjustment then a form of street dance. Abraham later tried to articulate something to the audience but appeared to choke on his words.

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Photo Credit: Steven Schreiber

Despite these more brittle bits of choreography, Abraham’s solo did not lack fluidity. Abraham moved in and out of the floor with ease, gracefully rolled through off-balance standing phrases and introduced his company’s signature single-bent-leg leap. These movement characteristics continued throughout the evening-length work, each company dancer rivaling Abraham’s solid physical execution.

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“The Radio Show” had a tripartite structure; its three parts were labeled Preshow (Abraham’s solo), AM 860 (Company) and 106.7 FM (Company). Each section had a dense musical score; from live ballads by Aretha Franklin to radio-dial spun snippets of Britney Spears and Beyonce, Abraham’s work painted a picture of cultural change as the night progressed. In addition to popular songs, “The Radio Show” featured humorous clips from radio talk shows, a live Q&A session with audience members, and a fair share of static.

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Inane societal norms and the idea of “selling out” were evident in the work’s last section, and were each addressed with a humorous edge. After a brief segment of choreography, tinny Auto-Tuned melodies boomed through the speakers as live “radio personalities” allowed audience members to “Make or Break” songs by new artists. Formulaic song lyrics included words like “rims”, “Shorty”, “going to the club” and “drinking Patrόn [tequila]”. Dancers were later seen as rock stars in silhouette, striking triumphant poses to an imaginary crowd upstage as snippets of popular music played.

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Photo Credit: Steven Schreiber

On an emotional level, the women in Abraham’s company – Brittanie Brown, Rena Butler, Elyse Morris and Rachelle Rafailedes – were particularly engaging throughout the work. Though the men appeared to be performing for the audience’s benefit, the women appeared to genuinely connect with one another onstage; this sisterly connection strengthened the dancers’ individual performances, and was at its most palpable during a trio to a cover of Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love.” Movement in this section took on a somber, contemplative quality and reflected a sort of mutual understanding among dancers.

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“The Radio Show”’s final scene strongly reflected generational divide; most dancers darted offstage, leaving one dancer lost in a slo-mo run of sorts and Abraham trembling behind her. This brief moving tableau condensed themes of the greater work, effectively giving audience members a bone to chew on if they had found “The Radio Show” to be too abstract.

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In its accessibility, fierce dancing and emotional content, Abraham’s work was an overall success. Did you see the show? Leave me a comment and let me know what you thought!

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Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion
Artistic Director: Kyle Abraham
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Reynolds Industries Theater, Durham
Presented by the American Dance Festival
www.americandancefestival.org
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KT Collective concert debut next weekend – July 13th, 14th

Tags

dance, Durham, fine arts, Kristin Taylor, Lindsay Leonard, NC Museum of Art

In recent years there have been movements to eat local and to buy local, but what about dancing local? Or supporting local dance artists, that is.

Durham native Kristin Taylor formed the KT Collective with seven local dancers in December 2011 and has been deep in the creative process since then. The company’s first concert will be July 13^th and 14^th, marking Taylor’s first time presenting a full evening of her own work. And boy, is she looking forward to it.

“This concert showcases the variety of ways that I move in a single show. I’m excited about that,” Taylor said. “It’s all my work, but each piece is different.”

Kristin Taylor. Photo credit: Alec Himwich (2012)

Taylor explained that her work is influenced by a multitude of things, and that consequently, none of her choreography is meant to represent a single idea.

“[My work is] a combination of things – the music, the original idea of a piece, my overall mood that day,” Taylor said. “Naturally I’m a high-energy mover, jumper, turner and traveler. I’m also big on movement transitions…on how the sequences flow or don’t. My work is the product of all of these variables.”

The KT Collective’s upcoming concert is composed of four dances – “Woven”, a duet, “Sudden Sass,” a jazzy sextet, “Not Myself,” a work commissioned by the NC Museum of Art in 2011, and a solo by Taylor titled “The Lost”. Taylor will also show a dance film by Juel Lane.

Danced by Diego Carrasco Schoch and Brittany Clark, “Woven” explores the experience of starting a life with another person. At press time, Taylor was still unsure as to whether or not this piece will have music.

“Ian Meeks is currently working on duet music, but I’m not sure if I’m going to use it,” Taylor said.  “The duet has been choreographed in silence, so I [have grown attached to hearing] breath when I watch it.”

Music plays an important role in “Sudden Sass,” a work inspired by a song from the movie Errand Boy. In the movie, the song “I’m the Boss,” plays while Jerry Lewis sits at a desk pretending to be all of the people who boss him around. See the scene in the video below.

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“The scene and the section I choreographed have nothing in common,” Taylor explained, “except for sass.”

“Sudden Sass” takes place in a lounge in the late ‘50s to early ‘60s; the dancers perform as different characters that visit or work there.

“[‘Sudden Sass’] is fun to perform, especially with our cast,” said KT Collective dancer Lindsay Leonard. (Leonard is shown right, in rehearsal with Taylor; photo credit Omar Raja.)

Taylor described the movement in “Sudden Sass” as being quirky, energetic and playful, and agreed with Leonard that the dancers’ personalities fit into the piece well.

“It is interesting to see dancers change [their natural behaviors] to work on a character,” Taylor said.  “It makes the piece more than just a dance.”

“Not Myself” is also more than just a dance; originally performed in July 2011, this work was commissioned by the NC Museum of Art and is based two pieces of artwork that the museum highlighted as a part of its 30 Americans exhibit. (See artwork below, “Appear, Appease, Applaud (Also, Perhaps, Maybe)” by Xaviera Simmons, and left, “Untitled” by Purvis Young.) Set to original music by Dave Parent and a poem by Dominique Reed, “Not Myself” explores the idea of feeling like a puppet under constant manipulation.

Appear, Appease, Applaud (Also, Perhaps, Maybe) by Xaviera Simmons (2008)

“[‘Not Myself’] is about 15 minutes long and is made up of a series of duets, trios and solos,” Leonard explained. “This one isn’t as jazzy – it has a bit of an African dance influence and a hip-hop influence as well.”

Though the entire concert is Taylor’s work, she will interrupt the live performances to show “Just Another Day,” a dance film in which she performs. Choreographer Juel Lane created the film in 2010 for a show at University of North Carolina-Greensboro that showcased male choreographers, and used a few dancers from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Taylor explained.

“It is very exciting [to show the film],” Taylor said. “It’s a very unexpected piece, but I think it ties in to the concert as a whole.”

Dancers Nicolette Miller and Lindsay Leonard in rehearsal. Photo Credit: Omar Raja.

And now the audience will see Taylor perform live as well, thanks to a little family pressure.

“I decided today that I am going to dance in the show,” Taylor said in mid-June. “My mom said a lot of people want to see me dance, so I said I would do it.”

Taylor noted that she could not have gotten through the concert planning without support from her family, friends and colleagues.

“I have so much support from people who have known me for a while who are excited that I’m able to support my work…and from those who have just met me since I returned to Durham,” Taylor said. “This is a good step.”

Leonard echoed Taylor’s enthusiasm about the supportive local dance community.

“I’m enthusiastic about the development of a lot of new work by emerging choreographers in this area,” Leonard said. “I think that it is an exciting time to be [in the Triangle].

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Get involved in the growing local dance scene! Come to see the KT Collective performances July 13^th and 14^th at 7:30 PM at the Barriskill Dance Theatre. General admission is $10; purchase online tickets at www.dancektc.eventbrite.com. Tickets also sold at the door. For more information, contact Kristin Taylor at dancektc@gmail.com or visit the KT Collective website www.kristintaylor.webs.com.

Keigwin + Company Werks at ADF

Tags

American Dance Festival, Art, dance, fine arts, Jonathan Melville Pratt, Keigwin + Company, Larry Keigwin, MIA, Steve Reich

Keigwin + Company’s program lit up the stage at the American Dance Festival last Tuesday, both literally – with bright lights and flashy costumes – and in spirit. The concert began with a new work, “Chairs,” followed by the lofty “Trio” and the competitive “Natural Selection”; the second half of the program featured “Contact Sport,” a highly physical quartet for four men, and “Megalopolis,” a work formed at the intersection of minimalism and hip-hop culture.

Photo Credit: Matthew Murphy

“Chairs” brought an immediate intensity of focus to the stage. Twelve company members stood, sat and shifted their weight with rhythmic precision, amplifying the power of the drums in composer Jonathan Melville Pratt’s “Flexus.” Dancers’ movements swelled as the music became more complex; Keigwin’s layered choreography and strategic lighting design allowed dancers in each section of the stage unique moments of visual pull. Chairs performed their own dragging, scooting, turning and folding vocabulary in addition to amplifying the dancers’ inversions and lifts. “Chairs” peaked as dancers, seated side-by-side, engaged in playful gestural conversations and rippling movement.

The night’s second piece, “Trio,” proved refreshingly simplistic. Two men and one woman, dressed in black briefs and bare-chested (the woman wore a nude leotard), performed balletic phrases in alternating unison and fugue, imbuing both loftiness and gentle sensuality into their movements.  Keigwin’s choreography mirrored tonal qualities of the music, “No. 6 for Piano, Marimba, Cello, Violin” by Adam Crystal; dancers remained upright with piano accompaniment but moved to the floor when Crystal introduced the low strings.   Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this piece was not its revolving pairing in partnering and lifts, but instead the subtle differences in each dancer’s approach to identical choreography.

“Natural Selection” brought Darwinian Theory to the stage with notable accuracy. In this work, Keigwin explored three main survival tactics: procreation, community cooperation and individual competition. Dancers pawed at one another early in the piece with a clear sexual appetite and performed duets that necessitated codependence. A stripped stage allowed dancers access to the backstage wall mid-piece; the performers ran, climbed and reached up the wall with the intensity of a caged animal trying to escape captivity.   Throughout the work, grouping and isolating dancers proved to be effective tools in illustrating survival of the fittest situations.  With its conceptual complexity and well-crafted choreography, “Natural Selection” was a perfect way to end the concert’s first half.

“Contact Sport” began the second half with a bit of nostalgia. This highly physical quartet featured four men – meant to represent choreographer Larry Keigwin and his three brothers – engaged in brotherly bonding to the music of Eartha Kitt.  The clean-cut men teased one another and had physical competitions throughout the work, but always in good fun. Though the majority of the work’s movement vocabulary stemmed from modern dance, one dancer brought his B-boy skills to the stage; this brought a strong energetic shift to a piece that was otherwise even-keeled. Overall, “Contact Sport” was enjoyable but was not a standout in an evening of memorable dance.

The program closed with “Megalopolis,” an avant-garde take on life in an ant colony – except this piece was way cooler than whatever ant-dance you just pictured. Dancers clad in futuristic, glittery black and silver bodysuits began the work to music excerpts by composer Steve Reich. Company members often moved across the stage in single file, indicating a sense of hive mind. Chugs in deep plié and pelvic and leg gyrations gave Keigwin’s choreography ties to African dance, but the repetitive circular patterns in Reich’s composition seemed to stifle the movement’s energetic potential. And that’s where music megastar M.I.A. came in.

Though their choreographic phrases remained the same, Keigwin’s dancers lit up from within when Reich’s music switched to M.I.A’s “World Town,” and later to “XR2.” From that point on, dancers began to *WERK, for lack of a better term, and the audience couldn’t get enough. Audience members whooped and hollered as dancers introduced **waacking vocabulary to their phrases, and as stage lights grew flashier. When the electrifying “Megalopolis” had finally come to a close, audience members rose to their feet for the company’s final bows.

As an artistic director/choreographer, ADF Alumnus Larry Keigwin knows a thing or two about pacing and overall composition, and with dancers like his, Keigwin + Company concerts are sure to sell out for years to come.

*Click the link and see definition 3

**See “Voguing”

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See excerpts from the company’s concert here:

Keigwin + Company

Artistic Director: Larry Keigwin

Executive Director: Andrea Lodico Welshons

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Reynolds Industries Theater, Durham, NC

Presented by: The American Dance Festival

Doug Elkins and Friends’ Fräulein Maria

Tags

American Dance Festival, Ballet, dance, Doug Elkins, Fraulein Maria, Hamlet, hip-hop, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Martha Graham, Modern, musical, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Shakespeare, Sound of Music

Doug Elkins and Friends kicked off this season’s ADF mainstage performances last Thursday with a guilty pleasure-indulgent, one-time performance of Fräulein Maria that won’t soon be forgotten.

Doug Elkins and Friends / Photo Credit: Christopher Roesing

This evening-length work, which premiered at the ADF in the summer of 2009, saluted Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music,” navigating the landscape of a familiar story with a comedic edge. Elkins’ work broke the fourth wall of the theater almost immediately, as an emcee conducted the audience in a round of “Do-Re-Mi” and then summoned an invisible Richard Rodgers onstage to speak about his musical masterpiece. In addition, audience members played a key role throughout the evening both physically and energetically; dancers played to  audience members by joking with them, offering crackers to them and even climbing over seated patrons at one point. That must have been what Hammerstein meant by “the hills are alive.” Yuk yuk.

And that’s the kind of tongue-in-cheek humor that permeated the night. From a bell ringer who slowly morphed into Quasimodo to a Mother Superior who channeled Mother of Modern Dance Martha Graham, Elkins’ work was rife with cultural commentary and literary allusions. Even Shakespeare’s Hamlet made its way into the piece as Maria was instructed, “Get thee to a nunnery,” before leaving the Captain’s home. And for the dancers in the audience, Elkins planted jokes in the work that were specific to dance culture – a well-placed Times Step and a marked petit allegro inspired waves of laughter in the audience.

Doug Elkins and Friends / Photo Credit Christopher Roesing

Among the dance styles featured in Fräulein Maria were modern, tap, stepping, waving, voguing, B-boying and ballet, each of which was performed with technical prowess. But even better than the technique were the animation and commitment with which each dancer attacked his or her choreography. The performers sustained high movement integrity while keeping their moods lighthearted; it was clear that Elkins’ dancers let themselves truly enjoy performing together. And it seemed that the dancers especially enjoyed performing non-traditional gender roles.

Nun quintet / Photo credit: Christopher Roesing

Elkins’ cast featured male nuns, a male Maria and a male Liesl (the eldest von Trapp daughter), in addition to same-sex and opposite-sex couples portraying Maria and the Captain. A duet set to “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” featured two male dancers performing particularly scandalous choreography; Elkins’ commitment to outrageous sexual humor made this scene particularly unforgettable, despite its fierce competition from just about every other number in the show.

There wasn’t a single moment during Thursday’s performance where the audience was disengaged, and that’s saying something. Simply put, Fräulein Maria is a knockout of a dance composition. If you get a chance to see it live, take it!

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Have you seen the show? Let me know your favorite part!

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Doug Elkins and Friends’ Fräulein Maria 

Conceived and Choreographed by: Doug Elkins

Directed by: Barbara Karger and Michael Preston

Presented by: The American Dance Festival

Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham, NC

June 14, 2012

http://www.americandancefestival.org/

Dance is cool.

Tags

Ballet, dance, Fine Art, hip-hop, Japan, New York City Ballet, pointe shoes, Power Rangers, YouTube

I’ve come across lots of cool dance videos lately, so I wanted to share them with all of you! Enjoy!

1. Unusually Cool Japanese Dance

 I’m not sure what’s so unusual about it being cool, but I’ll let it slide.

2. TRON Dance

This video features Japan’s most famous dance crew, Wrecking Crew Orchestra in a TRON-themed performance. Just try to figure out how they create their illusions…and then please enlighten me.

3.  New York City Ballet “Pointe Shoes”

This video is a short, informative documentary that explains why a perfect pointe shoe is imperative to a ballerina’s success.

4. Hip Hop Kido

And now, let’s take a moment to remember how cool the original Power Rangers were. You’ll notice some locking at the beginning of his combo.

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What did you think of these videos? Leave me a comment to let me know!

#DanceChat returns Sunday, April 22nd!

Tags

dance, Movies, Social Media, TV, Twitter

As you may know from my About the site page, I started this blog because I want to generate discussions about real issues and recurring themes in the dance world.

This week will mark our fifth #DanceChat on Twitter! The topic will be Viewing Dance: What kind of dance do you like to watch and why? This #DanceChat will focus on our preferences as viewers of dance – both onstage and on video. We will discuss different styles of dance and what things within those dance styles we find to be attractive or repellent. Think about what elements of a dance work engage and excite you, and what things cause you to tune out mid-performance.

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If you have never participated in a Twitter chat before, here’s how it works:

1. Everyone who would like to participate signs onto Twitter at the same time.

Our chat will be at 3 PM EST (2 PM CST, etc.) this Sunday, April 22nd. The chat will last one hour.

2. A moderator (me) will choose a topic for each week’s chat. That person will pose questions related to that topic throughout the course of the hour, and will Re-Tweet relevant responses.

My Twitter handle is @Ascho3, just like my blog address. Be sure to follow me so you can get all of the updates from the chat.

3. All participants in the chat will include the same hashtag (#) in each post, so all of the posts will be organized chronologically under that hashtag.

Our hashtag will be #DanceChat.

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Again, this week’s topic will be Viewing Dance: What kind of dance do you like to watch and why? I’d like to hear perspectives from people with varying dance backgrounds, so please encourage all of your friends to participate!

I really need your help spreading the word; the more people that participate, the more we can all learn! Please use the sharing buttons at the bottom of this post, and be sure to include the following details:

1. This chat is this Sunday, April 22nd at 3 PM EST (2 CST)

2. #DanceChat

3. Moderated by @Ascho3

4. This chat is for EVERYONE.

So, your post may look something like this:

Hey friends! Join me, @Ascho3 and other cool cats in an awesome #DanceChat this Sunday at 3 PM EST (2 CST). Check out Dance in Real Life to learn more!

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Thanks in advance for your help! I can’t wait to talk to all of you on Sunday!

Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tour review

Tags

Cirque du Soleil, Funk, King of Pop, Michael Jackson, RBC Center

Cinematic set design, larger-than-life props, breathtaking acrobatics and iconic dance choreography combined to make watching Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tour a truly magical experience. Animated by Michael’s majestic voice, a mime dressed in glittering white led audience members through an abstract narrative – taking them from Michael’s childhood in the Jackson 5 to his time at the Neverland Ranch, and then on to his megawatt solo career.

While Cirque shows typically include a variety of acrobatic acts, they rarely include as much dancing as is featured in Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tour. Saturday night’s performance showcased a variety of dance styles, and did so in a way that was theatrical but never overdone. From a tap duet and a ballet solo in “Dancing Machine,” to African, Spanish, Thai and Georgian dance vocabulary in the show’s “Mega Mix,” the choreography in Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tour effectively mirrored the worldliness and inclusivity of Michael Jackson’s music. And the dancing didn’t stop there.

Like many of MJ’s concerts and music videos, Cirque’s show featured a wealth of funk styles throughout the evening; popping, locking, breaking, Tutting and waving showed up on several occasions, and MJ’s famous moonwalk was never far behind. The iconic choreographic phrases from videos like “Smooth Criminal” and “Thriller” were also present, and in top form; the lean from “Smooth Criminal” ignited jetpack-like sparks onstage, while the zombie mob in “Thriller” grew to encompass even the live band’s backup singers and trumpeter.

Dancers were creatively used to animate props throughout the show, which added to its enchanted atmosphere. In the show’s first scene, called “Childhood,” dancers created a sentient bronze statue and danced with the mime, played by Mansour Abdessadok; later in the show, dancers brought MJ’s oversized glove and penny loafers to life, and danced to “Beat It.” With the exception of a malfunctioning oversized glowing heart at the beginning of the “Human Nature” section, the show’s props and sets achieved the flawless theatricality that we have grown to expect from Michael Jackson and Cirque du Soleil alike.  But it wasn’t just physical elements that gave the show its “movie magic.”

In addition, the producers’ hyperawareness of audience focus allowed performers, like the hoop artists in “Human Nature,” to seemingly appear out of nowhere during the show. The same awareness of focus made transitions between acts nearly indiscernible; crew members manipulated props in a style as well-choreographed as the show’s dance numbers. And the circus-style numbers were just as well-designed.

Pole dancer Anna Melnikova (above) dazzled the crowd (and a group of male dancers onstage) with her strength, grace and flexibility in “Dangerous,” while contortionist Baaska Enkhbaatar (below) became a bendy creepy-crawly in “Scary Story – Is It Scary.” In addition to these soloists, the show featured aerial strap artists Luba Kazantseva and Igor Zaripov in “Swans – I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” and a virtuosic synchronized tumbling act late in the show. The fearlessness and technical precision that Cirque performers so characteristically display was in full form at the show’s Raleigh performance.

Though until now I have emphasized primarily the movement featured in Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tour, it should be noted that the music was impeccable. The show’s Musical Designer, Kevin Antunes, paired Jackson’s isolated vocal tracks with re-invigorated live musical accompaniment, which was provided by members of Jackson’s own tour band (and a few others) in the Cirque production. In one particularly emotional moment, Michael Jackson was projected at age 9, singing “I’ll Be There” with an incredibly pure and powerful voice, accompanied only by a pianist; I will admit that even I had tears in my eyes.

Michael Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tour undoubtedly did justice to the artist that Michael was, and to the legacy that he left behind. Though we can no longer watch the King of Pop perform, this show is definitely the next best thing.

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Writer and Director: Jamie King

Choreography: Travis Payne, Rich Talauega, Tone Talauega, Debra Brown, Napoleon Dumo, Tabitha Dumo, Jamal Sims, Daniel “Cloud” Campos, Tamara Levinson, Mandy Moore

Presented by Cirque du Soleil / RBC Center, Raleigh, NC / March 10, 2012

http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/michael-jackson-tour/default.aspx

On Teaching Dance

Tags

dance, Dance Training, fine arts, Studios, Teaching, Training

I’ve mentioned before that I am frequently asked if I want to be a dance teacher, and generally speaking, my answer to that question is “No.” But that isn’t because teaching dance isn’t challenging or incredibly important – in fact, it’s probably one of the most difficult careers in the professional dance world. Today, I’d like to take a moment to explain a few things about dance teachers, and about why teaching dance isn’t as easy as the general public seems to think it is.

Paul Dennis teaching class at White Mountain Summer Dance Festival in 2008

1. Dance teachers work with students of all ages, shapes and sizes. 

Students come into dance classes with different physical limitations purely based on the ways that their bodies are formed. It is a dance teacher’s job to teach students to move beyond their physical limitations so they can perform the same fundamental movements in a safe way. This brings me to my next point…

2. Dance teachers must constantly guard against injury.

A good dance class is designed in such a way that all warm-up exercises prepare the body for the movement that comes later in the class, but preventing injury is not always quite so simple.

With more advanced or acrobatic moves, injury can result if the body is unfamiliar with its trajectory of motion – this can mean that the dancer attempts the movement with half of the energy necessary, or twice the amount of energy necessary; it is challenging to find the “sweet spot” where a movement happens organically and efficiently in the body. Until then, dance teachers must act as a safety net to catch dancers at all levels of their learning processes.

3. Few dance studios focus purely on technique.

More and more, dance studios are recital-focused. In other words, a dance class that lasts 1 – 1.5 hours and meets once a week must yield a recital number by the end of the year. Inconsistent attendance to classes makes it incredibly difficult for a dance teacher to create a choreographic work, because time must be spent reviewing in every class for those who were absent in previous weeks. In addition, the time crunch often diminishes the time spent on warm-up and overall dance technique, so a student ends up taking a full technique class for only 1/2 or 1/3 of the year. This annual cycle is frustrating both for dance teachers and for dedicated dance students.

4. Teaching dance is physically demanding.

Depending on the atmosphere in which a dance class is held, a single teacher can lead anywhere from 1-6+ dance classes in a single day.  Enough said.

5. Not every dancer is a good dance teacher.

This applies to more than just dance. Teachers of any subject deserve to be recognized for their dual mastery – in addition to mastering the subject that they teach, they have mastered the art of teaching. There is a reason that people get certified as educators, and though there may not be widespread certification for dance teachers (the Dizzy Feet Foundation is one of note), good dance teachers take time to develop. So let’s give credit where credit is due!

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I always have more to say, but I’ll open it up to you guys now. What are the other challenges of teaching dance? Leave me a comment and let me know!