New blog

I have decided to create a seperate blog for the "Too Big: Wolves at the door" project.
Here is the link.  http://dancingwolvesatthedoor.blogspot.com

There is also a link to the right.

Something you carry with you

Great rehearsal.  Beautiful movement generation.  We used the prompt, "Something you have been given (object) that you carry with you, like when you moved to college you brought it with you - or something that you have given someone else, that has had the same role in their life."
We went around the circle and each person shared.  Then we made a gesture to go with each object.
The gestures were very rich, and the level of the dancers caused me to go right into the deep exploration phase.  Each dancer was assigned to create a solo within these parameters:
- Use all 14 gestures, or eliminate some if you would like
- Keep them in the same order
- Elaborate, elongate, expand, push the gestures
- You may change your gesture if you feel it isn't quite right, but you can't change anyone else's.

Solos were wonderful.  Video- ed.  They will be posted.

The poem, "Fifty-fifty" by Patricia Clarke was distributed and small groups read and discussed, then we discussed it as a whole group.  Emma took notes.

To close, everyone performed their solo as I read the poem.  Caleb and Emma watched.  There were some amazing line ups/link ups.  Wish I had taped!  Will see if we can do it again on Thursday.

Movement Generation for "Rate of Exchange" A score for trios

MOVEMENT GENERATION THREE:

Trios:

As a trio create movement score from this sequence of imagery.  Think of it as a sequence, with some sort of narrative nature (not literal) to the unfolding events:

• ·       Make a pocket
• ·       Discover a hole
• ·       Go through the hole
• ·       Find one of the original gestures from Movement Generation: "What is of value?"
• ·       Pull it out
• ·       Examine it
• Send a whisper, like a shiver, through your group

Movement Generation for "Rate of Exchange": what makes a whole?

MOVEMENT GENERATION TWO:

Working with a partner call them “1” and “2”.  “1” creates a movement image from the A column, “2” responds to that movement with a movement image from the matching B column.  Think of these images as fitting together to create a whole.  Then “2” creates a movement image from the “A” column, and “1” responds with the corresponding image from the “B” column

Proceed through the entire list.

Develop the material so that it may or may not have stillness between what each person “offers” and responds with.  Create a new something to distinguish that you have moved onto a new row.  For instance:  change of facing, change of levels, one exchange happens only as upper body gestures, one exchange is all about fast, dangerous movement through space. 

Share.  Select a limited number of these duets, or assemble a limited number of these duets through all the material generated.  Everyone learns these.

Maybe this chart helps:

Dancers 1 and 2.  Indicated below is which dancer starts, which one responds.  Dancers use the A column as the start, B column for the response.	A	B	Suggested movement challenges that could inform movement choices
1 starts, 2 responds	coat	pocket	Use only isolated body parts
2 starts, 1 responds	Tea cup	saucer	Movement must move from a point A to a point B
1 starts, 2 responds	shelf	Tin on the shelf, filled with ??	As full out and wild, risky movement as possible
2 starts, 1 responds	window	Highway seen through the window	A lift must be involved
1 starts, 2 responds	Counter of a convenience store	Map on the counter, directions marked out	Moments of extreme slowness, attention to details
2 starts, 1 responds	Paper Grocery bag	Receipt at the bottom of the bag	Radical level changes
1 starts, 2 responds	mailbox	letter	Sharp contrast in the movement qualities between 1 and 2 (i.e. sharp/smooth; loose/tight)
2 starts, 1 responds	Screen porch	lawn	Attention to focus, which is always away from where the movement is headed
1 starts, 2 responds	Spare key	Lock on a door	“Spell” at least one word from each column.  “Spell” as in write the word in space, trace on the floor, or on the body.

Movement Generation for "Rate of Exchange" in three posts: "What is an exchange? What is of value?"

MOVEMENT GENERATION:

Prompt:

Something (an object, a tangible "thing") that you have been given (or have given to someone else) that means something to you, that you have taken with you when you move to new places (even if you have lost it over time) because it means something to you.

 In a circle, let everyone tell what their object is, and a little of the story behind it.

Create a gesture for each person’s object.  Create a movement phrase stringing them all together.

Read poem “Fifty-Fifty” by Patricia Clarke.  (Link here: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/245682)

In duets, discuss with another person.

Some questions:  What is the relationship between the two people in the poem?  Why are they having an exchange? Can you imagine an exchange like this between yourself and someone?  Is it truly a 50-50 exchange?  What is a give and take?  What connects the “give” in this poem to the “get”?

Come back together as a large group and share reflections

Return to the movement phrase created from the individual gestures.  How can one gesture “make way” for the next one to be received?  Think about this quote: “In addition to saving: give” Play with this as soloists.

As a group - look at the enhanced gestures.  Decide on what might be adapted.

In break out groups – take the movement phrase and turn it from a solo movement phrase into a group movement phrase.  It does not have to be unison.  How can one gesture “decorate” another?  How can the whole group stick themselves together and deliver a single gesture?  How can you incorporate space and level more deeply and intentionally?  What are the opportunities for transitions?  You may use all the gestures, or just some.  You can also repeat key gestures, especially if you want to create a motif that runs through your study. 

Scarcity and Abundance in the Digital Age: Seth Godin

A link to Seth Godin's blog

composition corner

caleb here, for composition ideas and curiosities:

7/16/13 

as a starting point this summer, i am interested in the harp for both recordings and performance, as it seems to possess a range of color, comparable to the piano (possibly making it versatile); has a unique physical presence on or near a stage (which is wonderful to explore visually); and is able to create both singular melodies and dense textures depending on the piece (which makes it a flexible foreground and background instrument).

this is an example of what i'm thinking about when it comes to a highly-affected (e.g. distortion, layering, reverb, etc.) harp recording, from flying lotus (LA):



i'll have to see what kind of contribution the harpists that i know at grinnell can afford—ideally a performance but i'd also make some recordings to play with and layer/affect. perhaps both intermittently would yield the most interesting music!

Too Big: Project for 2013-14

 “Too Big” is a project meant to use the arts to spur a national dialogue about the economy, access, and opportunity.  Satellites have been created on campuses across the country. I will be exploring ideas with Big If in Atlanta, and the Dance Ensemble/Activate in Grinnell. 

Read more about "Too Big" under the "Stories" tab above.  

Here are some images that have come to mind:

- The wolf is at the door.
Perhaps title is "Tell the Wolf I'm Home".  Idea being that we can't run away from the economy, so maybe we should just invite him in.

- Image: Economist pontificating  away, dancer following, has a bouquet of roses.  more and more desperately trying to give him flowers.  they are shredding they are falling apart. so is the dancer.  Simultaneously, a boy and a girl ("Hansel and Gretel" reminiscent) leaving a trail of bread crumbs.  Same desperation.  Evoke notions of "Bread and Roses".

- Choreography material: create word=movement for "money" adages

- Community dance + text Workshop prompts:
- What is of value to you?  What is the currency you trade in, and how do you trade it?
- On a scale of 1-10, how taboo is talking about money in your family?
- Money/finanacial advice you've been given : the wild, the wacky, the wonderful
- Your relationship to money

Scarcity/Abundance: Its all about the lens. Seth Godin's blog has been very inspiring for this.

Big If dance.theatre

Thanks all. What a great day. I totally love these Sundays and wish for them to just go on and on into perpetuity. We missed those of you who were in travels elsewhere and glad for those of us who traveled the journey of today's excursion.
Our Process today. We started with a download/debrief/update of the state of things with the Emory/CCE relationship. And I presented a proposal for August 3. It is inspired by this: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/324/5925/332.2.full

Inspired by that: I want to get three scientists to give us their download. (We've got two - David Lynn and Martha Grover - from whom I have articles, and lectures, and some discussion) I would like them in addition to the weightier stuff, also provide a one sentence summary. Just like the scientists did for their collaborators in the linked example.

We will then create three short dances (which for the sake of August 3 will be videos). Each dance/video goes with one of the scientists' research. Mannie will be filming and editing the dances to work for video.

At the event on August 3.
The audience will be given a handout which outlines the experiment. It also has a summary of the three scientists' researches. Then the audience will watch each of the three video dances. (Each video will be relatively short.) After viewing, the audience is asked to match dance video to research. As they are trying to decide, all three videos will play, simultaneolsy so that the audience can remember what was in each one. The screen will be divided into three areas so we can look at each one as we choose. The videos will loop so that you can reference as needed. (Maybe the theme from Jeopardy will be playing at this point...) Then three volunteers are asked to tell why they think a certain dance goes with a certain piece of research. They must "defend" their decisions. After an audience member has made and defended their decision, "I think Video A goes with research #3 because.....) the audience, if they have a different opinion gets to state their defense.
The ultimate purpose of this experiment is to use art as a way to talk through a different metaphor when thinking about the science.
Mannie will be videotaping our process, discussions with scientists (if we can schedule) and also the event itself, especially the audience part of the interaction. I am hoping to get Dr. Cherilynn Morrow to be our facilitator for the discussion.
The second part of this experiment is to repeat the exact same thing but for an audience of "general public" at my studio. Then we can compare the two different audiences. Of course, ideally would be to do this several times - what would it be like to do it for: an undergrad course at Emory, Ga Tech or GSU? For a grad course? For an Emory dance or theatre class? And for different configurations of "general public"?
I'm suddenly very excited.....
I think our method of creating material - the three x three improv is also providing a rich way of getting at material. I liked our process today:

Version 1: Read the science text before dancing and then try and keep it in mind while improv unfolds.
Problem: There seems to be a general consensus that we loose track of the science text, possibly because we aren't completely immersed in a full understanding of it.

Version 2: Everyone was assigned a key word from the text. This word was to guide movement choices. The words were: polymer (Taylor), copy (Nicole), mutate (Damita), response (Corissa), encoded information (J). My job was to participate in the improv, but in some way that on the third round I could read the text aloud as a layer for the improv.
Problem: The limitation/restriction that the word placed on imagination and bold choices perhaps because of the parameter of having to repeat/remember and the word becomes parameter #2 and we need more time to practice working like this.

Version 3: I read (a new) text from the essay by Tirard, Morange, and Lazcano that David gave us. Dancers were to respond to the text as they heard it. "Illustrating" it in a way, but then the second and third time of the improv I didn't read the text and the dance had to unfold on its own terms, memory, mutations and adaptations.

Happy 4th of July.

Rehearsal Notes May 15

I realized that by the time I finish this piece, the whole thing, not just the zillion ideas I have for pieces of the piece..... It could be (if it's anything like the time frame I spent on "The Annunciation") after Alexandra graduates from college.
But that said:
Rehearsal notes for today: We worked for the first part of the time to really get better at the Richard Bull improvisation. To get that "muscle" working. The structure: Timer set for 3 minutes. enter the space when you are ready. interact. when the time is up. exit. Timer is re-set. Enter the space and try to repeat exactly what you did. When time is up. exit. Timer is re-set once again. Enter the space and try again to repeat exactly what you did.
On the third one: new layerings from the outside. In this case: text.

We talked about the dilemmas. Do you always try to repeat version 1, or on the third round do you try to repeat the changes that happened in version 2 and they become the new baseline that you try and repeat? Talked about this in terms of evolution. If you let go of version 1, and try to repeat version 2 there is a possibility that someone was relying on some part of the version 1 and if you take that out, you might be taking out a whole eco-system. OOOps - there go all the frogs.

I loved Damita's comment. We were all trying to talk about what cues/signals etc we used to help us remember what we had done. Damita commented that she "tried to remember things of substance" Jennifer asked, wryly "And how do you determine what has substance?" Damita replied, "Sadly, it was inanimate objects... oh, and Simon."

I really want us as a group, divedance, to get really good at this improv structure. I think it could be very interesting to share the structure with the audience and then try and do the improv and get exact replications of what came before. Let the audience be watching to see if we can. I am intrigued as to how that changes how an audience looks at what they are looking at. I then want to have a conversation with the audience framed with such questions as: "How did what just happened connect to ideas about chemical evolution?" And then let the discussion between artists and scientists unfold. Thank you Richard Bull for this structure.

After a break a smaller group stayed and we worked with the script I am developing. A blend of narrative from "The Magician's Elephant" with David Lynn's lecture on Supramolecular Assembly and Koshland's "Pillars of Life" (PICERAS)

As for what/when the first performance? For the Chemical Evolution gathering in July I see the improv with discussion and the scene we are working on from the script. Perhaps also setting it up as a workshop with scientists - the way the TWISTS (Theatre Workshop in Science Technology and Society) workshops happened at Virginia Tech in relation to the Living Darwin project.

And meanwhile I am also working on a touring show for grades 2-5 to come out of this. Something about: "What is an idea and where do ideas come from?" Certainly can't ask "what is life and how did life start?" Not in U.S of A public schools....... But can I make a piece that triggers 8 year old's imagination in such a way that as they continue science (and other studies) through their school career they realize the delight in asking the "what if?" "could it be?" and "why not?" questions.

Chip continues to explore the "What is Life?" "What is Art?" "What is Music?" idea and how a conversation evolves around that. He wonders if scientists at work on their research projects are always asking the big question, "What is Life and how do you go from non-living to living?" or is that just a given and their more specific question is their focus. Do we as artists ponder the"what is art?" throughout and intentionally as we are making work? I would say - depends. I think I am often asking: what is dance? I am not sure I care if the answer is - no, but I do worry.

And then there is the Emory Dance Company piece for the Fall - where I would like to explore these ideas with a cast made up of double majors in Dance and Science.

That's all. For now.
Thanks for everyone who shows up.
Love

Mother's Day Rehearsal

Notes May 8

Discussion with Chip prior to rehearsal.
My ideas: I am interested in seeing what happens if we craft an image, a talk/dance image that we show to the scientist, and then ask them to interpret that image (midrash) using their research as the explanation for what they saw. Basically, to make sense of what is presented to them by using their research. This is what I always do – layer two different sources and make sense of it - but it would be interesting to hear how the scientist would construct meaning.
Chip has been thinking about working through like a scientist and setting up a series of experiments. If the scientists are asking: “What is life?”, we are asking (actually have been asking along with others in the arts) “What is art?” or more specifically, “What is dance? What is music?”. The question of “what is dance” led me to the definition of dance, that as I reflect – in the process of trying to come up with a definition big enough to hold all of what is dance, was similar to the scientific search for a definition big enough to hold all of what is life. (My definition of dance: Dance is movement aware of itself practiced with intent. When working with kids I have modified that definition for 2nd graders to: In dance we use our BODIES to make choices about how (EFFORT) we move in SPACE and TIME to express ideas.) Chip was talking about intelligence. The connection between life – what is/what isn’t- and ideas of intelligence. That reflects a lot on my definition of dance – how does just something moving turn into Dance. The idea is the intention. Yes, any movement can be dance, but the “can be” is motivated by making intentional choices to shape that which it is. Chip’s music experiment idea is to play a note, play a note, etc and when does it become music?
Chip and I are both anxious to get hooked up with a scientist. Up to this point we are working off printed materials. Looking forward to talking with a scientist who is actually at work on a project around “what is life?” and the specific questions they are researching. We have three connections about to happen within the next several weeks. I will be interested to see how this changes things.

Rehearsal:
Work on the Richard Bull improvisation. The parameters are:
A timer is set for three minutes. Performers enter the space when they are ready, and engage with movement ideas. Timer goes off. Performers exit the space. Reset the timer. Performers must exactly recreate what they did. Repeat this many times.

I want us all to get very good at being able to do this improvisation. So good that it would be exciting for an audience to watch us try and do this improv structure. But also I am interested in using it as a trigger to set movements from the improv and layer text over. Which is what we did.

We did the improvisation, but also with the parameters of PICERAS as the thought overlay for our movement choices. Program, Improvisation, Compartmentalization, Regeneration, Adaptability and Seclusion. Interesting how those now all have so much more meaning to me because I have been dancing and writing with those concepts. Now I see them everywhere and feel their immense logic.

On the fourth or fifth time through I layered on top the reading of a text I created that is an intersection of some language about PICERAS, some of David Lynn’s lecture on supramolecularity and excerpts from The Magician’s Elephant. I am not exactly sure of the connection between these yet, but I feel something is there and that if I just hang with it long enough it will begin to come clear. Actually, it did become clearer and clearer as we repeated and repeated, adapted, reproduced, evolved…..

I am enjoying this particular process. The Annunciation took me six years. Four of those years were me just working with me. Then Chip and I, with Nicole worked for a year on the process that created The Prologue for my MFA thesis. And in the 6th year, the Cast Extraordinaire assembled and we all know what happened next….
So this process – to be at my usual early, early stages of development but sharing in the process with others so early on is very unusual for me. Thank you to everyone who is willing to play in the vagueness.

I have rewritten our “script” based on what happened and hearing the words actually spoken in space. Next Sunday I will step out so that I can direct some of the ideas. For people who weren’t here I want to add a layer that would form a frame for what we worked on today to take place in. My image is a high platform along the back wall, with interesting looking chairs and a tight gestural phrase that takes place in/on/under/around/through those chairs.

I also want to get back to the duet that Taylor and J created with the swimming pool ladder. I want to see if that translates into an indoor space or not.