What a year! The latter part of which forged trails of exposure. First, I was interviewed for a CBC radio programme which gave me 30 mins air time in which I voice some of my own dance ideas, processes and thoughts. Some of these I heard out loud for the first time. I thank Sheryl MacKay for being so interested and supportive of my musings.
Project CPR and my own show put my choreographic perspective out there on the Vancouver dance floor- as a facilitator and mentor and as an artist and practitioner. I am now also putting myself out there in Vancouver as a teacher within the professional dance milieu. I have ben teaching and choreographing for fifteen years. Some times this community makes me feel like a novice or a fake. It is such a critical and unforgiving community. Protectionist and territorial- I can relate to that. I behave similarly with my home and my friends sometimes (in my weaker moments)- but not with my art anymore.
I am also gearing up for National Novel Writing Month again. November here we come. This time I can use my travels as a point of departure (pardon the pun). I am going to Japan at the end of October and this will undoubtedly give me new inspiration for a novel. My last one started on a plane. I have done a lot of traveling recently.
November also sees the inaugural concert in a new dance series at Christ Church Cathedral which I initiated.
Nov 21st @2pm. More details of this and the show mentioned above on my dance website at www.restlessproductions.com
More soon...
Friday, October 2, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Saturday, July 4, 2009
July 2009
This blog is now going to be my practice ground for my writing. I write about dance from my perspectives as a choreographer, dancer and teacher, observer and lover of dance. I also write poetry, stories and reflections on social and worldly issues. Might even dabble in some research stuff on here.
For my professional dance history and current works please visit
http://www.restlessproductions.com
For my professional dance history and current works please visit
http://www.restlessproductions.com
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Plans and all that happens in-between
Life is busy- the sun is shining. I am working on two dance pieces at extremes of the scale in some regard. One is the solo that Laura and I seem to have been working on for a long time. I am not complaining - the time we are spending and not spending in the studio is paying off in the work. It is going to be a stunning solo. I am so excited. It no longer looks like the video entry you see on this blog but I agreed not to post it until we both feel ready. At the end of August we will post the new 20 minute version.
The other piece is a group work. I had hoped for 15 dancers. I have been working with between 7 and 12 on different days. I am using this as a self-initiated research opportunity. Originally I planned a two week creation period to realize some ideas. I was then given a performance/presentation opportunity of the work. This is a double edged sword -cloaked in velvet. As a choreographer I want feedback and the dancers want the performance opportunity. However, I also want to have some 'control'
(that word) over what is communicated in the work and that takes time- much longer than two weeks. Or does it?
I am glad to be presenting the work early. I think it can go in several directions. It is forcing me to be clear , simple, and focussed and encouraging me to articulate my needs to the dancers quickly and carefully. I don't want the performance to dictate the research but it is also part of the research so we'll see how this week goes.
Presentations of this very new group work will be on 8 &9 July 2008 @ 8pm at Bloom, produced by Mascall Dance
Details at http:// www.mascalldance.ca
I am also embarking on a research project to assess professional development opportunities in the city (Vancouver). This is mainly a consultancy for the Dance Centre through which I will be assessing their current programming against other offerings in the community, and also aligning their programming with these external opportunities. I also hope to create a way in which their programmes and the connections between their different pockets of interest can be aligned to show that their support of an artist goes beyond one project. I am also interested in the artists' responsibility in each of these situations. Evaluation/ feedback / follow through and progression are all vague areas currently. How to improve communication will be a focus of my investigation.
More to come...
The other piece is a group work. I had hoped for 15 dancers. I have been working with between 7 and 12 on different days. I am using this as a self-initiated research opportunity. Originally I planned a two week creation period to realize some ideas. I was then given a performance/presentation opportunity of the work. This is a double edged sword -cloaked in velvet. As a choreographer I want feedback and the dancers want the performance opportunity. However, I also want to have some 'control'
(that word) over what is communicated in the work and that takes time- much longer than two weeks. Or does it?
I am glad to be presenting the work early. I think it can go in several directions. It is forcing me to be clear , simple, and focussed and encouraging me to articulate my needs to the dancers quickly and carefully. I don't want the performance to dictate the research but it is also part of the research so we'll see how this week goes.
Presentations of this very new group work will be on 8 &9 July 2008 @ 8pm at Bloom, produced by Mascall Dance
Details at http:// www.mascalldance.ca
I am also embarking on a research project to assess professional development opportunities in the city (Vancouver). This is mainly a consultancy for the Dance Centre through which I will be assessing their current programming against other offerings in the community, and also aligning their programming with these external opportunities. I also hope to create a way in which their programmes and the connections between their different pockets of interest can be aligned to show that their support of an artist goes beyond one project. I am also interested in the artists' responsibility in each of these situations. Evaluation/ feedback / follow through and progression are all vague areas currently. How to improve communication will be a focus of my investigation.
More to come...
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Reflections on a November
.
November is over. This means that National Novel Writing Month is over. I managed to write 50,000 words in a month. So I am a winner! Got the certificate and a novel called By Association. I will post it, and other writings soon. I have begun rehearsals with Laura Hicks for a new dance work. This piece concentrates on physicality. Through our movement expression and our verbal dialogue we are exploring and refining our understanding of authentic communication through movement. Back to the body as the means to a language. This requires that we balance intuitive response, with disciplined investigation. What does our impulse look like? Where does it take us? Following the essence of the impulse - what is its expression? This work is an exploration of dynamic potential to create meaning. I usually work from a title and the piece unfolds formally and conceptually around the title. While this might be a useful process, and has proved successful for me in the past, I now feel that I need to pay attention to the extremeties of my work. In order to generate ideas, I am providing single, specific tasks through which we both create movement. I would normally juxtapose or layer these ideas to create the work and be content that because the work was about the title and the structure was about the title, the piece would be about the title. I realise now that this is a safe process. I got results but they were almost pre-determined results. There is a sophistication to my previous work. I think it is fair to say that there are elements of restrained chaos in each of the works that I have created up to now. Restrain and chaos. By separating these contrapuntal elements I can began to investigate the extremities of my choreographic language, and reveal the dynamic potential. This is a necessary direction for me now. Follow through. A longer bungee chord.
I want the content of my work to inform what the piece will become. I will be relying more strongly on my own imagination and my own connections to create the structure of the work rather than treating the structure of the work as a formal process. In our first rehearsal I found myself already staging our investigations. As Laura knows that I am working to prevent this she is able to pull me back to the task. As I am very intense and interested in the details of movement, I am able to encourage Laura to investigate the movement more deeply. Together we are discovering overwhelming possibilities for a single movement, word, limb.
At this early stage of the work, we are releasing ourselves from the pressures of selection. In our first few rehearsals we will experiment without setting anything. We will continue to explore potential movement through set tasks, and then release ourselves from one idea to explore another. Later in our process after a few rehearsals we will revisit the tasks and see if any of the old ideas return...
There are themes- wide open themes- these serve to limit but also to free the mind and body from habitual movement- hopefully ...eventually...
Into December, and it's snowing. Footprints in the snow. New snow falls. Clean slate.
November is over. This means that National Novel Writing Month is over. I managed to write 50,000 words in a month. So I am a winner! Got the certificate and a novel called By Association. I will post it, and other writings soon. I have begun rehearsals with Laura Hicks for a new dance work. This piece concentrates on physicality. Through our movement expression and our verbal dialogue we are exploring and refining our understanding of authentic communication through movement. Back to the body as the means to a language. This requires that we balance intuitive response, with disciplined investigation. What does our impulse look like? Where does it take us? Following the essence of the impulse - what is its expression? This work is an exploration of dynamic potential to create meaning. I usually work from a title and the piece unfolds formally and conceptually around the title. While this might be a useful process, and has proved successful for me in the past, I now feel that I need to pay attention to the extremeties of my work. In order to generate ideas, I am providing single, specific tasks through which we both create movement. I would normally juxtapose or layer these ideas to create the work and be content that because the work was about the title and the structure was about the title, the piece would be about the title. I realise now that this is a safe process. I got results but they were almost pre-determined results. There is a sophistication to my previous work. I think it is fair to say that there are elements of restrained chaos in each of the works that I have created up to now. Restrain and chaos. By separating these contrapuntal elements I can began to investigate the extremities of my choreographic language, and reveal the dynamic potential. This is a necessary direction for me now. Follow through. A longer bungee chord.
I want the content of my work to inform what the piece will become. I will be relying more strongly on my own imagination and my own connections to create the structure of the work rather than treating the structure of the work as a formal process. In our first rehearsal I found myself already staging our investigations. As Laura knows that I am working to prevent this she is able to pull me back to the task. As I am very intense and interested in the details of movement, I am able to encourage Laura to investigate the movement more deeply. Together we are discovering overwhelming possibilities for a single movement, word, limb.
At this early stage of the work, we are releasing ourselves from the pressures of selection. In our first few rehearsals we will experiment without setting anything. We will continue to explore potential movement through set tasks, and then release ourselves from one idea to explore another. Later in our process after a few rehearsals we will revisit the tasks and see if any of the old ideas return...
There are themes- wide open themes- these serve to limit but also to free the mind and body from habitual movement- hopefully ...eventually...
Into December, and it's snowing. Footprints in the snow. New snow falls. Clean slate.
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