Monday, December 28, 2009

20 Rules for choreography

Many years ago Sharon Mansur and I came up with 20 things that we thought were important things to think about when making a dance. I am going to publish them as we wrote them but perhaps they deserve some more thought. These are things that annoyed and frustrated us when we watched dance concerts.

1. NO Reaching
2. Don't looking meaningfully unless it means something
3. Move from your core
4. Go off vertical often
5. Don't show something, do something
6. Pay attention to phrasing, especially watch stops or pauses between phrases
7. Do not give subtle messages, be very clear
8. Don't substitute powerful music/sound for physicality
9. Falling on the floor and jumping does not always translate into being physical
10. If you don't have to build up your stamina to get through your choreography then it is too easy and will look that way
11. Don't slap markers of meaning on your work in terms of its artistic importance
12. Don't hear silence
13. Your first impulse is no different from a first draft of a paper. While there may be something important there you can make it better by developing your ideas
14. Show yourself and allow the form to shape your work
15. Challenge yourself when you make work. Push yourself to experiment
16.Take risks even if the outcome is not so good. The more dances you make the better your skill becomes
17. Make a statement and commit to it
18. Your unique perspective lies in the details
19. Let the dance take you places that you don't control, let the process teach you something you did not know
20. Come to some conclusion or give some insight, the age of abstraction was in the 1960's make work about and influenced by now

Thursday, September 10, 2009

RWP54321

video project for http://rettocammewebproject.blogspot.com/

Monday, July 27, 2009

Wedding Dances

Since 2005 when the first wedding dance video went viral I have thought that there is something changing in the nature of weddings. One can't deny that the push for and against same sex marriage has some influence over this however small. Actually one can deny whatever they want just look at those who deny that President Obama is an American and deny that he has not produced and birth certificate. Somehow they believe that this stunt masks their overt racism. There is something delightful about seeing this new viral wedding dance video break with the traditional procession but it is still a procession and as my friend Randa said still "heteronormative" but unlike the 2005 video this one takes place inside the church and not at the reception. I suspect that there will be more weddings that not only dismantle the courtly traditions but also introduce new ideas that become integrated into traditional weddings. Of course the context of their performance had a lot to do with the shock/surprise/unusual nature of the dance as it was combining the sacred and the secular and eliminating traditions of the familial roles and the father's possessiveness and ownership of the bride who is publicly given to the husband. However as an artist I am delighted that dance is so popular and at the same time can't help but feel jealous that another dance video by non-dancers has gone viral. Eventhough I know that what makes these videos interesting is the fact that they are being performed by non-trained dancers. Trained dancers like those in the new Dancemedia reality series Dance212 fails to do the one thing that makes reality tv interesting to watch, it does not make you cringe. It is a show about beautiful wonderful dancers doing beautiful wonderful things, BORING!!!! What is up with the 80's intro and cheesy green screen AND when you are editing video, keep it moving people no one wants to read a lot of text in a video. Hey, I know it was made for 12 year old's but still. . .

First Viral Wedding Video

JK Wedding Entrance Dance


Annie Sprinkle and Elizabeth Stevens have had yearly Weddings since 2005


Dance 212

The Show Mus Go On- Jerome Bel

I remember watching Jerome Bel's "The Show Must Go On" and hating it because he used non-dancers and basically interpreted the words to every song in sometimes interesting but always repetitive ways. However, now I feel that Mr Bel may have discovered something that I am a afraid of and that is creating a compelling dance may not that hard despite all of the hell I went through in learning to do it. As some of you know I posted hundreds of dance videos on my website danceaday.com but my karaoke video still got thousands more views and many more comments than my dance videos. It just makes me wonder what I can do to bring dance as a art form to the masses. I will just have to get more inventive perhaps I should make a wedding dance video.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Tribute to MJ

I was out in Lubber Run park where I was doing my tribute to Michael Jackson.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Reality Dancevision: An Intimate Screen Capture of Dance Vloggers

The dance vlogger it seems, is a rare person to find. It is relatively easy to find dance bloggers, dance writers and dance photographers but finding professional dancers/choreographers who use the web as a primary source for showing a dance is more difficult. We see the powerful influence of the web with the disappearance of news papers and the emergence of e-book readers such as the Kindle that allow for downloads of books and newspapers, the emergence of iTunes Music Store as the largest seller of music as well as the question of whether Blue-Ray DVD’s will soon be outpaced by movie downloads. People love dance as evidenced by video sharing sites that are replete with videos of the latest social dances and sophisticated dance videos made by amateurs. The professional dance artist seems to hold up the theater as the ideal destination for presenting their work. I think that just as reality television can take you into the lives of ordinary people, online dance can take you into the lives of dance makers. We can get an intimate look at the person, not just the performer, through online video. The modern dance movement was based on rebellion. Isadora Duncan searched for “natural” movement that did have the constrains of ballet, Martha Graham and Doris Humphrey rejected Ruth St Denis and Ted Shawn to find “American” movement ideas and Anna Halprin searched for the “real” in her work which spawned the postmodern movement. Who dares to rebel against postmodernism? I can’t predict that the web will provide a revolution in theatrical dance. However, I do sense a shift by some artists who feel as I do that one does not have to wait for their two nights in the theater to share their work. For this program, I will present several works by amateur and professional dancers that reveal the artist as both a performer and a person in a way that illuminates the purpose of dance in our lives as well as acknowledge the value of web as a venue.

http://pentacle.org/movement_media_screenings.asp

Matt Harding

Inspirational dance done by an amateur dancer who has a corporate sponsor.

Where the hell is matt/ 3:42/2006/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNF_P281Uu4

Soulja BoyTell’em

Example of social dancing on the web and an example of how dances get passed down from person to person. Soulja Boy also had a hit dance and song that was replicated on the web by many.

Do Da Stanky Leg/ 1:53/2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro0DCOxxG18&feature=related

Leili

Belly dancing- Raks Al Baladi an example of social dance on the web.

Iranian Girl/2:53/2009 http://vimeo.com/3391786

Conor Clarke

Conor and Matt get inspired and dance for fans of their sketch comedy show. Amateur performance made entertaining through the use of editing.

Dance/:52/2009 http://vimeo.com/2529997

Dance2/2:18/2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPuh3Th-MmQ

Emma Noel

A response dance that shows the power of editing as well as show the differences in movement styles.

http://vimeo.com/76701

Mike Long

Mike did a year long dance video project posting a video everyday for a year and dance in various locations mostly around where he lived in Hamilton, Canada. Mike is a DJ and humorist with a large youtube following.

Picture on the Wall/2:32/2009/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMJAtQ-hrIo&feature=channel_page

Nick “Fresh” Puzo

NickFreshAlive is a friend of Mike Long who was inspired by him to make a video series of his own. This was a dance he did on a dare to dance in a crowed bar in front of people.

Shake Shake Shake Shake/2:43/2007 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kYkKqpKaFs&feature=channel_page

Melanie- Dance everywhere

Melanie creates video dances around the San Francisco area.

Tune G at Southside Park/1:29/2008 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti793fHZ-bM&feature=channel_page

Lee Atwell

Lee creates a dance video everyday inspired by butoh. She owns a yoga studio in Seattle.

Garden Shack/1:59/2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjzcd8i6SRM&feature=channel_page

Liz Roncka

Liz makes a new dance video daily.

56/ 10:00/2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VflNTlX-Q4g&feature=channel_page

Gesel Mason

Gesel has started to experiment with creating work specifically for video.

1 Thing/ 4:36/ 2009

Ashley A. Friend

Ashley combines typical vlogging or talking videos with dance. She is skilled as a dancer, choreographer and editor.

Dance and Clutter and Talk and Bathroom and Dog/8:38/2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBsyaoXKo70&NR=1

Boris Willis- Danceaday

Some examples from my site danceaday.com

Colleen and Jaclyn/:22/ 2007http://blip.tv/file/230716/

Meryl /1:24/2007 http://blip.tv/file/852526/

Human Zoo/2:39/2007 http://blip.tv/file/270927/

Capitol Spring/ 2/1:26/ 2007 http://blip.tv/file/312988/

Splinter/ 1:09/2007 http://blip.tv/file/446973/

NYC Subway /1:04/2008 http://blip.tv/file/854614/

Prayer /1:11/2007/ http://blip.tv/file/368253/

Trolley People/ 1:04/2007 http://blip.tv/file/358980/

Friday, February 13, 2009

30 Dances in Vermont -30 Dance Company of Middlebury


30 Dances in Vermont -29 Ben and Jerry's

I took a little trip over to Stow and visited the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Factory. I can't eat ice cream but I can watch it being made. I ate some sorbet and it was good.

Isa

Isa with her mom and dad Tiffany and Marty and me hang out at Steve's Diner.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

The Beautiful Ones Karaoke

The full music video of The Beautiful Ones by Prince from Wildstar: A Karaoke Movie.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

30 Dances in Vermont 28 -Boris and Cynthia

Cynthia and I reconnect after many years of not dancing together and yet is is like we never stopped moving with each other.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

30 Dances in Vermont 27- Side of the road

Driving back to DC from Vermont I took a break by the side of the road to get to 30 Dances before I left the state

30 Dances in Vermont 26- Brandon

I love this little town that I drove through on the way to Mt Holyoke every weekend to rehearse with Cynthia.