As the voting round of Dance Advantage's Reader's Choice Top Dance Blogs 2010 FINISHES, I thought I'd do a post a day for a week giving you reasons to go ahead and VOTE FOR ME :) Today's the last day!
Vote for Off Center
Reason #7: I'm Ancient
Reason #6: No Ads
Reason #5: Community
Reason #4: Writing Quality
Reason #3: Endorsements
Reason #2: Redesign
Reason #1: I Love It
I love sharing my dance experiences. I love translating dance into words. I love giving a voice to dancers. I love hearing from readers and meeting new people. I love checking my stats and seeing that people care about what I have to say. I love connecting with other blogs. I love giving insight to a relatively closed off world. I love discovering new dance companies and giving them reviews they otherwise wouldn't get. I love having a natural outlet for my writing. I love dancing. And I love blogging.
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
7 Reasons to Vote for My Blog: #4 - Writing Quality
As the voting round of Dance Advantage's Reader's Choice Top Dance Blogs 2010 approaches, I thought I'd do a post a day for a week giving you reasons to go ahead and VOTE FOR ME :)
Vote for Off Center
Reason #7: I'm Ancient
Reason #6: No Ads
Reason #5: Community
Reason #4: Writing Quality
So, maybe this is subjective but...outside of dance, my second career and passion is writing. I have a BA degree in Communication Arts (focus in journalism) and a Masters degree in Publishing. I've written about dance for Pointe Magazine, Dance Teacher Magazine, Movmnt Magazine, ExploreDance.com, and numerous other dance websites. I took a writing class with a NY Times dance critic, was the Features/Arts editor of my college paper, and interned at 4 magazines (including The New Yorker).
Even though blogging is meant to be casual and quick, quality should not be sacrificed. I am by no means perfect - most of the time I'm blogging in a hurry and forget to go back to edit - but I think I've got a little credible edge there...?
Vote for Off Center
Reason #7: I'm Ancient
Reason #6: No Ads
Reason #5: Community
Reason #4: Writing Quality
So, maybe this is subjective but...outside of dance, my second career and passion is writing. I have a BA degree in Communication Arts (focus in journalism) and a Masters degree in Publishing. I've written about dance for Pointe Magazine, Dance Teacher Magazine, Movmnt Magazine, ExploreDance.com, and numerous other dance websites. I took a writing class with a NY Times dance critic, was the Features/Arts editor of my college paper, and interned at 4 magazines (including The New Yorker).
Even though blogging is meant to be casual and quick, quality should not be sacrificed. I am by no means perfect - most of the time I'm blogging in a hurry and forget to go back to edit - but I think I've got a little credible edge there...?
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Black Swan, Eating Disorders, and So On
So recently I was asked to respond to some of the hoopla going on lately about ballet dancers and eating disorders and Black Swan and so on. I wrote this as a guest blog for a bigger site but time restraints made them unable to post it so...here it is now, haha. This was somewhat ins response to this post.
---
There’s some kind of artistic hunger ingrained in us as young ballerinas-in-training. I’d sit in the wings of the second act of Boston Ballet’s Nutcracker entranced by the lights, the beauty, the precision onstage. Behind me was the blackness of backstage, the scent of Tiger balm, the whining dancers, the clunk of props. I was so lucky to see both sides of this elite world.
I ached to be a part of it.
That hunger for opportunity is the true meaning of a starving artist. We can be deprived of so much as ballet dancers – a childhood, a prom, a stable career. But our appetite for art supersedes all that.
It’s an addiction really, that obsession for perfection. During one summer at Boston Ballet I was living at home, an hour away from the city. While all my fellow students returned to the dorms for their dinner break between rehearsals, I stayed to take an extra class. We already had two technique classes a day, plus rehearsal and maybe Pilates. It wasn’t enough for me – I’d take men’s class during our lunch break and more technique at dinner. I loved it.
While training in New York City (and taking an overload college course schedule and holding an internship) I used to get to the studio early on Fridays for an extra semi-private class with my favorite teacher. I’d dance 6 hours without a break. That last push at the end of the day felt amazing.
Years later as a professional, I would do three shows a day at Radio City Music Hall and then run across town to take a class or two at The Ailey Extension. It just made sense to me to do more. Ballet was my life.
Is my life.
Because I’m mostly freelance, there’s this constant fight to find a job. A fight with myself, with my body, with my competition. Every day in class we’re told what’s wrong with us. We stare hours on end at our bodies just in a leotard in tights. It’s frightening honestly, but we often blame the mirrors.
Oh I can’t stand at that barre – that’s a fat mirror.
Aronofsky’s film Black Swan really captures that mental struggle we face daily. Though Nina’s (Natalie Portman) actions are obviously taken to extreme, her intentions and motivations are completely realistic. She wants to be perfect. She wants to be thin. She wants her role. NYCB principal Wendy Whelan has it right when she says, “Dancers learn to take on these subtle head-trips every day.”
Though there has been much discussion about the film’s depiction of eating disorders, I actually think it did well in not making that a huge focus (as other silly ballet movies like Center Stage did). The truth of the matter is that ballet dancers can’t maintain these kinds of training schedules without eating anything. And those who don’t eat don’t last very long. Where would the stamina and strength come from?
During my season of 17-show weeks at Radio City I’d eat at least three big meals a day (I’m talking bacon and eggs, big plates of pasta, chicken parm…) and I still lost weight unintentionally. Though ballet is anaerobic exercise, it still burns calories fast as muscles tone. I don’t think Portman and Kunis lost 20 pounds each just to look like ballerinas – their training to dance like ballerinas naturally thinned them out. With a professional schedule you’re going to lost weight whether you’re eating nothing or everything.
Our bodies are our tools. Unlike a painter whose brush is not physically a part of them, our art and our selves are one in the same. Our entire self-perception falls prey to that – healthy or not. We’re not hungry for carbs. We’re hungry to dance.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Writing Class - Start of a Memoir Excerpt
The past two nights I took writing classes for free as part of Gotham Writers' Workshop Fall Open House - and they were fantastic!
Tuesday I took a fiction class, and last night was memoir writing. I LOVED it and really want to write a memoir of some of my dancing in New York City experiences - although I'm not sure anyone will want to read it, haha. She emphasized that you don't have to be famous to write a memoir. But, um, you sort of have to be famous to sell books about yourself, haha. Oh well - while I have less time dancing and more time for writing during my recovery I may try to start something for the fun of it.
In the class we had to make a list of five firsts. They could be anything. Then we later chose one and wrote about it. Since it's been on my mind lately, I wrote about my first major paycheck for dancing. And I actually volunteer to read it to the class - which I don't think I've EVER done in my educational life, haha. I figured I should get as much as I could out of the 1 hour free class, since I won't be able to take the full 6-week course like I want to. I know I'm the most gigantic dork ever, but I desperately miss being in school. I love learning and discussing and hearing other people's points of views about things. Especially in a writing class, it's fascinating to me to see how 10 different people can take the same assignment and come up with such drastically different and interesting things.
Anyway, I thought I'd share mine here...
It came in a purple-speckled envelope marked "MSG." B. handed it to me and I saw my name and new upper-west side address peeking through the plastic window. I couldn't tear it open fast enough. There were bumpy perforated edges on 3 sides but I ripped just one (not neatly) and peeked inside. Everyone around me was doing the same.
$000! Oh my God! I hadn't made that much money in my entire 20-year life combined to that point. Here I was dancing in rehearsals for The Radio City Christmas Spectacular for just half a week and I got my first professional union pay check. As if the music, the Broadway roster of co-workers, the gigantic stage, and the joy of dancing weren't enough.
The muscles in my cheeks twitched as I tried not to beam. They were all used to this kind of thing. Chatter about lunch and 4-show days and physical therapy trips went uninterrupted by pay day.
I sat in a split on the crunchy rug of our (less-than-glamorous) dressing room. The floot was hard, in the basement of a church, and uncomfortable to be on. my little green tennis ball smooshed the meat of my aching left calf to the sides as it massaged the muscle. With one hand I took a bite of my salad - the other dug into my right arch where the nail in my pointe shoe had scraped raw. The stench of overpowered the room.
"Oh honey," J. said, dumping Aleve into his mouth straight from the bottle. "They don't pay us enough for this."
I stifled a laugh. Was he kidding?!
"I know! This is only 1/2 a week we started with," complained one of the pretty blonde dancers whose name I couldn't remember.
"Don't worry - it doesn't include bear-head pay, sheep pay, overtime, holidays..." J. explained. "Once we get into shows you'll get more."
More? This was more than I could ever ask for.
Tuesday I took a fiction class, and last night was memoir writing. I LOVED it and really want to write a memoir of some of my dancing in New York City experiences - although I'm not sure anyone will want to read it, haha. She emphasized that you don't have to be famous to write a memoir. But, um, you sort of have to be famous to sell books about yourself, haha. Oh well - while I have less time dancing and more time for writing during my recovery I may try to start something for the fun of it.
In the class we had to make a list of five firsts. They could be anything. Then we later chose one and wrote about it. Since it's been on my mind lately, I wrote about my first major paycheck for dancing. And I actually volunteer to read it to the class - which I don't think I've EVER done in my educational life, haha. I figured I should get as much as I could out of the 1 hour free class, since I won't be able to take the full 6-week course like I want to. I know I'm the most gigantic dork ever, but I desperately miss being in school. I love learning and discussing and hearing other people's points of views about things. Especially in a writing class, it's fascinating to me to see how 10 different people can take the same assignment and come up with such drastically different and interesting things.
Anyway, I thought I'd share mine here...
It came in a purple-speckled envelope marked "MSG." B. handed it to me and I saw my name and new upper-west side address peeking through the plastic window. I couldn't tear it open fast enough. There were bumpy perforated edges on 3 sides but I ripped just one (not neatly) and peeked inside. Everyone around me was doing the same.
$000! Oh my God! I hadn't made that much money in my entire 20-year life combined to that point. Here I was dancing in rehearsals for The Radio City Christmas Spectacular for just half a week and I got my first professional union pay check. As if the music, the Broadway roster of co-workers, the gigantic stage, and the joy of dancing weren't enough.
The muscles in my cheeks twitched as I tried not to beam. They were all used to this kind of thing. Chatter about lunch and 4-show days and physical therapy trips went uninterrupted by pay day.
I sat in a split on the crunchy rug of our (less-than-glamorous) dressing room. The floot was hard, in the basement of a church, and uncomfortable to be on. my little green tennis ball smooshed the meat of my aching left calf to the sides as it massaged the muscle. With one hand I took a bite of my salad - the other dug into my right arch where the nail in my pointe shoe had scraped raw. The stench of overpowered the room.
"Oh honey," J. said, dumping Aleve into his mouth straight from the bottle. "They don't pay us enough for this."
I stifled a laugh. Was he kidding?!
"I know! This is only 1/2 a week we started with," complained one of the pretty blonde dancers whose name I couldn't remember.
"Don't worry - it doesn't include bear-head pay, sheep pay, overtime, holidays..." J. explained. "Once we get into shows you'll get more."
More? This was more than I could ever ask for.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
My Article on Injuries
Last night I was going through some things and happened to come across the first big article I ever had published in print - and ironically it was about dancers and serious injuries:
from Movmnt Magazine Spring 2008
I remember sitting through these interviews at the time, both in awe of the wonderful people I was speaking to and in strong sympathy for their stories of pain and recovery. Only now that I'm going through it all myself does my own writing take on new meaning. Hmm...
My last paragraph:
"Despite their temporary loss of ability for creative expression, the injured try to stay positive. “To get back from an injury is like getting ready for the next show,” says (ABT soloist Carlos) Lopez. “At the end of the day you’re investing in your body. That’s what you have. This career is not that long as a performer. I think if I can invest as much as I can right now, then I have time later to recover from the damage that we’re doing all these years.” Dancers face these inherent problems daily, but like life, the show must go on."
Monday, September 13, 2010
42 Free Writing Classes!
I was super excited to see this offer in my inbox this morning!If anyone else is interested, Gotham Writers' Workshop is offering a bunch of free classes next week as part of their fall open house. I've been dying to take a writing class again to give me structure and basically force me to write, haha. I signed up for 2 of these classes in hopes that they'll inspire me to do more. Money's tight nowadays so the fact that they're free is a-w-e-s-o-m-e!
They have everything from Creative Writing 101 to Memoir Writing to Standup Comedy Writing and more. Check it out here.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
a novel length update on everything else
So I finally had some time tonight (admittedly, while killing time at work before my next assignment...) to write about recent events I've missed blogging about. There's a LOT to say and I apologize for the length and disorganization, haha. If you care to read it all, great. If you don't, I totally don't blame you - it's all a little insane, haha. But it helps me just to get it all down anyway. So here it is: a novel length update on everything that's been going on that I promised to describe in an older post:
-end of my writing on dance course
As you know, last month I took a 6 week Writing on Dance Course with NY Times Dance Critic Claudia La Rocco at DTW. It was one of the most interesting and exciting classes I've taken in my intense college/graduate education thus far, and it didn't even count for anything except my own enrichment.
It was so great. Each week we had an assignment to see a show and write about it in a different way - in a specific word count, bending certain rules, etc. It really got my creative juices flowing and got me so much more engaged in reviewing performances than I had been previously. From the conversations and the workshopping of different people's writing I started to notice different aspects both of dance and of criticism that are really exciting to me. I was really inspired each week and since it has ended I've missed it! Haha I guess that's a bit odd but not really...I'm super quiet by nature and didn't say much during the discussions, but taking it all in - everyone's opinions, creativity, passion for dance from all perspectives - was such a unique and great experience. I hope DTW continues to offer that kind of course because there is little outside opportunty to disucss the art form on that level (which is a shame).
I churned out quite a few reviews during the course and definitely think it has improved my writing compared to those I wrote beforehand.
-numerous recent auditions
Ah yes, spring is audition season. Ballet company -type auditions were early this year but I skipped out on most of those, largely because I've made up my mind that it's not worth it to me to be an unpaid, overworked, under-performed (made up word, yes) apprentice or student with a ballet company in a smaller city or town when I can do that and SO much more here in New York City. I have too much to be thankful for in my life here and now that what I once wanted makes no sense anymore.
SO I have been only doing auditions for things around here. As you saw from previous posts, the most successful one thus far has been for Radio City's Christmas Spectacular. I'm super excited about that and I want it SO much, but I won't know for sure until July. I'm trying to be optimistic (a concept often lost to me, unfortunately) without getting my hopes up too much.
-my "choreographic debut" with the high school kids i taught
The kids I was teaching all this semester did really well with their performance. It was my official little 'NY choreographic debut' and I was pleased with it. I wasn't able to make it to their dress rehearsal so I was a bit nervous for them the night of the show, but it went really really well. I was proud of them and it felt good to see my work completed with lights and costumes and the works. They brought me up onstage to introduce me and give me flowers - a nice touch :). Teaching has really been a side thing for me to this point but it's definitely something (one of MANY things, good God) I'd like to pursue eventually.
-seeing my old studio's spring performance
Since I am still in charge of their newsletter even though I finished an issue just recently, I got to attend my old studio's spring performance. I'm working on the next issue for June and had to squeeze in time to catch the show between everything else going on, but I'm glad I did. All my former classmates were wonderful. It's so funny to watch like that as an outsider when I was once so involved myself (the past 2 years). But I wasn't really nostalgic or wishing I was a part of it this time, which is odd. It felt right to be in the audience cheering them on and writing about it like I've been doing for a while now. They deserve the spotlight.
-additional blogging opportunity
Amongst new endeavors for the summer, a new website has asked me to blog for them. I know, I continue to add projects endlessly but I do try to see them through and I only take things I think are worth it (okay, maybe I say yes to everything that comes at me, but it's all worth it so far). DanceChannelTv.com recently launched and I'll be writing for them. It's a social network kind of thing along with dance videos and such. Interesting...check it out.
-not getting one of my dream jobs
This was a big one. Being the obsessive person that I am, I'm constantly on both audition and job websites looking for my next opportunity. Since I just completed my internship at The New Yorker, my 4th magazine internship and 6th internship overall, I've come to the logical conclusion that my days of unpaid labor are largely over and done with, haha. And what's the next step after that and graduation?
Well, it SHOULD be a full time job, I suppose. Unless you're only 19 and in graduate school. But that didn't stop me from applying to the most ideal entry level job ever for my situation. I don't want to specify exact details just yet, but it's exactly the position I would want in publishing...but maybe, like, 5 years from now.
I was asked in for an interview (a story in itself...) and I seemed to have a decent change of getting it. The problem: it would have meant a full time job, which means no time for dancing. The long week I waited to hear back about the job practically killed me - on the one hand, I wanted it so bad because it's exactly what I've been preparing for and a great step towards my one career. On the other, much stronger hand I couldn't bear the thought of sitting at a desk full time at this point in my life, and giving up my first love. No I could never quit dancing all together, but basically getting this job would have meant (to me, anyway) the end of my pursuit of a professional career.
Many have told me this wouldn't have been the case and no decision means forever and blah blah blah, but it was tough for me to consider. Luckily, or unluckily depending on my mood, I didn't get the job. I'm glad for the moment because I can continue trying to dance for now, but part of me is a bit lost in thinking what will come next. I've been going crazy over this one...more details someday when I get the courage, haha.
-being interviewed for the big website mediabistro.com
MediaBistro.com, one of the sites I check regularly for publishing jobs (ironically, where I found the aforementioned failed dream job listing) contacted me for an interview to be posted on their site. I found it kind of humorous honestly, because I feel like that site is so professional and high status and I'm just a (relative) newbie to the media industry. BUT the writer spoke with me about arts journalism and starting a career in the field. It was really interesting to hear myself talk about this, haha, because I'm still navigating my way and trying to launch myself in this dying area. I'll be interested to see the final article in a few weeks, and will post a link when it's up.
-official college graduation ceremony (and getting sick beforehand!)
Just as a funny milestone of the past month: I went to my official Marymount Manhattan College graduation ceremony at Avery Fisher Hall (!) a few weeks ago, even though I officially graduated months ago. It was amusing for many reasons, but mostly because I got really sick that morning for no apparent reason. It was not fun, but funny in hindsight. I was quite miserable the whole day, which was unfortunate because that's one of the first "real life" milestones I've experienced. My high school graduation was a joke because it was held in a ballet studio with 4 other graduates. Prom was equally lame. Moving away to college was unmomentous because I had been away since age 14. So finishing and sitting through the ceremony was kind of big, haha. I felt like I was at Hogwarts or something with all the professors in uniforms and such. Maybe I'm revealing a bit too much of myself in this post, hahaha but I don't care.
-other teachers i've been taking class with
Since my fabulous teacher went away all this month I started branching out and taking ballet class with numerous teachers I haven't experienced before...and I really like them! Different styles, different approaches...but good classes. The famous Madame Darvash was teaching at a small open studio and few people knew about these classes, so it was an extreme privilege to learn from her with a very small group. She gave me a ballet book she swears by to "study" and taught me A LOT about her way of seeing placement and weight distribution and such in a very short time. She's great. As are many of the others I've been taking with and plan to continue with after ABT's intensive the next 3 weeks.
-recent & upcoming performances
Last week was the little play I was in, which went well. Next Sunday is our student showcase, and I'm doing a variation from Le Corsaire, which I just saw ABT do (wonderfully). We're also doing some group pieces...should be fun. Also at the end of ABT's intensive we have 2 studio showings, but won't know what we're performing until rehearsals get underway this week.
Well, there you have it...a novel about the past month. There's probably a ton of things I've missed and should have added, or tons I should have left out (haha) but it is what it is. The rate my life is going right now is insane and hard to keep up with, but I'm enjoying every minute. Thanks for keeping up with my blog despite some lag time :)
PS- If you made it all the way through this crazy long post, I admire you! Haha
Happy Memorial Day to all, and I'll be starting at ABT's Collegiate Intensive on Tuesday so look for posts all about that soon.
-end of my writing on dance course
As you know, last month I took a 6 week Writing on Dance Course with NY Times Dance Critic Claudia La Rocco at DTW. It was one of the most interesting and exciting classes I've taken in my intense college/graduate education thus far, and it didn't even count for anything except my own enrichment.
It was so great. Each week we had an assignment to see a show and write about it in a different way - in a specific word count, bending certain rules, etc. It really got my creative juices flowing and got me so much more engaged in reviewing performances than I had been previously. From the conversations and the workshopping of different people's writing I started to notice different aspects both of dance and of criticism that are really exciting to me. I was really inspired each week and since it has ended I've missed it! Haha I guess that's a bit odd but not really...I'm super quiet by nature and didn't say much during the discussions, but taking it all in - everyone's opinions, creativity, passion for dance from all perspectives - was such a unique and great experience. I hope DTW continues to offer that kind of course because there is little outside opportunty to disucss the art form on that level (which is a shame).
I churned out quite a few reviews during the course and definitely think it has improved my writing compared to those I wrote beforehand.
-numerous recent auditions
Ah yes, spring is audition season. Ballet company -type auditions were early this year but I skipped out on most of those, largely because I've made up my mind that it's not worth it to me to be an unpaid, overworked, under-performed (made up word, yes) apprentice or student with a ballet company in a smaller city or town when I can do that and SO much more here in New York City. I have too much to be thankful for in my life here and now that what I once wanted makes no sense anymore.
SO I have been only doing auditions for things around here. As you saw from previous posts, the most successful one thus far has been for Radio City's Christmas Spectacular. I'm super excited about that and I want it SO much, but I won't know for sure until July. I'm trying to be optimistic (a concept often lost to me, unfortunately) without getting my hopes up too much.
-my "choreographic debut" with the high school kids i taught
The kids I was teaching all this semester did really well with their performance. It was my official little 'NY choreographic debut' and I was pleased with it. I wasn't able to make it to their dress rehearsal so I was a bit nervous for them the night of the show, but it went really really well. I was proud of them and it felt good to see my work completed with lights and costumes and the works. They brought me up onstage to introduce me and give me flowers - a nice touch :). Teaching has really been a side thing for me to this point but it's definitely something (one of MANY things, good God) I'd like to pursue eventually.
-seeing my old studio's spring performance
Since I am still in charge of their newsletter even though I finished an issue just recently, I got to attend my old studio's spring performance. I'm working on the next issue for June and had to squeeze in time to catch the show between everything else going on, but I'm glad I did. All my former classmates were wonderful. It's so funny to watch like that as an outsider when I was once so involved myself (the past 2 years). But I wasn't really nostalgic or wishing I was a part of it this time, which is odd. It felt right to be in the audience cheering them on and writing about it like I've been doing for a while now. They deserve the spotlight.
-additional blogging opportunity
Amongst new endeavors for the summer, a new website has asked me to blog for them. I know, I continue to add projects endlessly but I do try to see them through and I only take things I think are worth it (okay, maybe I say yes to everything that comes at me, but it's all worth it so far). DanceChannelTv.com recently launched and I'll be writing for them. It's a social network kind of thing along with dance videos and such. Interesting...check it out.
-not getting one of my dream jobs
This was a big one. Being the obsessive person that I am, I'm constantly on both audition and job websites looking for my next opportunity. Since I just completed my internship at The New Yorker, my 4th magazine internship and 6th internship overall, I've come to the logical conclusion that my days of unpaid labor are largely over and done with, haha. And what's the next step after that and graduation?
Well, it SHOULD be a full time job, I suppose. Unless you're only 19 and in graduate school. But that didn't stop me from applying to the most ideal entry level job ever for my situation. I don't want to specify exact details just yet, but it's exactly the position I would want in publishing...but maybe, like, 5 years from now.
I was asked in for an interview (a story in itself...) and I seemed to have a decent change of getting it. The problem: it would have meant a full time job, which means no time for dancing. The long week I waited to hear back about the job practically killed me - on the one hand, I wanted it so bad because it's exactly what I've been preparing for and a great step towards my one career. On the other, much stronger hand I couldn't bear the thought of sitting at a desk full time at this point in my life, and giving up my first love. No I could never quit dancing all together, but basically getting this job would have meant (to me, anyway) the end of my pursuit of a professional career.
Many have told me this wouldn't have been the case and no decision means forever and blah blah blah, but it was tough for me to consider. Luckily, or unluckily depending on my mood, I didn't get the job. I'm glad for the moment because I can continue trying to dance for now, but part of me is a bit lost in thinking what will come next. I've been going crazy over this one...more details someday when I get the courage, haha.
-being interviewed for the big website mediabistro.com
MediaBistro.com, one of the sites I check regularly for publishing jobs (ironically, where I found the aforementioned failed dream job listing) contacted me for an interview to be posted on their site. I found it kind of humorous honestly, because I feel like that site is so professional and high status and I'm just a (relative) newbie to the media industry. BUT the writer spoke with me about arts journalism and starting a career in the field. It was really interesting to hear myself talk about this, haha, because I'm still navigating my way and trying to launch myself in this dying area. I'll be interested to see the final article in a few weeks, and will post a link when it's up.
-official college graduation ceremony (and getting sick beforehand!)
Just as a funny milestone of the past month: I went to my official Marymount Manhattan College graduation ceremony at Avery Fisher Hall (!) a few weeks ago, even though I officially graduated months ago. It was amusing for many reasons, but mostly because I got really sick that morning for no apparent reason. It was not fun, but funny in hindsight. I was quite miserable the whole day, which was unfortunate because that's one of the first "real life" milestones I've experienced. My high school graduation was a joke because it was held in a ballet studio with 4 other graduates. Prom was equally lame. Moving away to college was unmomentous because I had been away since age 14. So finishing and sitting through the ceremony was kind of big, haha. I felt like I was at Hogwarts or something with all the professors in uniforms and such. Maybe I'm revealing a bit too much of myself in this post, hahaha but I don't care.
-other teachers i've been taking class with
Since my fabulous teacher went away all this month I started branching out and taking ballet class with numerous teachers I haven't experienced before...and I really like them! Different styles, different approaches...but good classes. The famous Madame Darvash was teaching at a small open studio and few people knew about these classes, so it was an extreme privilege to learn from her with a very small group. She gave me a ballet book she swears by to "study" and taught me A LOT about her way of seeing placement and weight distribution and such in a very short time. She's great. As are many of the others I've been taking with and plan to continue with after ABT's intensive the next 3 weeks.
-recent & upcoming performances
Last week was the little play I was in, which went well. Next Sunday is our student showcase, and I'm doing a variation from Le Corsaire, which I just saw ABT do (wonderfully). We're also doing some group pieces...should be fun. Also at the end of ABT's intensive we have 2 studio showings, but won't know what we're performing until rehearsals get underway this week.
Well, there you have it...a novel about the past month. There's probably a ton of things I've missed and should have added, or tons I should have left out (haha) but it is what it is. The rate my life is going right now is insane and hard to keep up with, but I'm enjoying every minute. Thanks for keeping up with my blog despite some lag time :)
PS- If you made it all the way through this crazy long post, I admire you! Haha
Happy Memorial Day to all, and I'll be starting at ABT's Collegiate Intensive on Tuesday so look for posts all about that soon.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
recent reviews posted
Since I've been behind in my blogging I haven't posted many of the reviews I've been writing on here, but they HAVE been going up on ExploreDance. Here are links to the most recent ones if you want to check them out...
-Dance at DiCapo
-Cedar Lake Glassy Essence
-NYCB Bernstein Collections
-TAKE Dance Company
ABT's Corsaire review to come soon...other performances coming up include an NYCB dinner event, Cedar Lake's spring season, Trinayan Collective Dance, and more.
Plus I've made some updates to my website, which celebrated its 1 year anniversary recently :)
-Dance at DiCapo
-Cedar Lake Glassy Essence
-NYCB Bernstein Collections
-TAKE Dance Company
ABT's Corsaire review to come soon...other performances coming up include an NYCB dinner event, Cedar Lake's spring season, Trinayan Collective Dance, and more.
Plus I've made some updates to my website, which celebrated its 1 year anniversary recently :)
Sunday, May 4, 2008
now for good dance writing
Two good articles for your reading pleasure:
-Jowitt on Yasuko Yokoshi's work in the Village Voice (she was at the same performance I reviewed here). She's brilliant with description...I felt like I was entirely reliving the piece as I read her writing.
-Times on lighting dance, which often goes overlooked especially in classical dance
"...'the current international trend of lighting dancers from angles that will make them partly or largely shadowed to the audience.' If it is a trend, it suggests a move away from an emphasis on the dancer as individual toward the dancer as an element in a visual composition...have a particular resonance in a contemporary world filled with visual and aural fragmentation. (The individual dancer is also more likely to be de-emphasized when the full-length story ballet is no longer the paradigm for new work, even if it is still tenaciously loved by audiences and those who balance ballet company budgets.)" -Sulcas
Very interesting.
-Jowitt on Yasuko Yokoshi's work in the Village Voice (she was at the same performance I reviewed here). She's brilliant with description...I felt like I was entirely reliving the piece as I read her writing.
-Times on lighting dance, which often goes overlooked especially in classical dance
"...'the current international trend of lighting dancers from angles that will make them partly or largely shadowed to the audience.' If it is a trend, it suggests a move away from an emphasis on the dancer as individual toward the dancer as an element in a visual composition...have a particular resonance in a contemporary world filled with visual and aural fragmentation. (The individual dancer is also more likely to be de-emphasized when the full-length story ballet is no longer the paradigm for new work, even if it is still tenaciously loved by audiences and those who balance ballet company budgets.)" -Sulcas
Very interesting.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
newspaper cuts
As much as I'd like to blame our culture's lack of appreciation for dance for recent cuts in dance criticism in print, the truth is that all editorial content in print is at risk.
Times reports newspapers on the decline.
Times reports newspapers on the decline.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Cedar Lake Review
Should be on exploredance soon...even though we were allowed to take pictures, my camera was acting up so I enjoyed it without the lens to my face and thus have nothing to show for it except my words, haha. Any bloggers want to lend me pictures? You can see other blogger reviews here from Matt, Evan, Philip, and Tonya. And the Times review here.
Cedar Lake's Glassy Essence
Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet has been at the forefront of innovation in dance since its inception. Their newest venture, “Glassy Essence,” is a performance installation unique to the company’s greatest resources: its wealth of dance talent and its luck of space freedom. Highly publicized online through their website glassyessence.com, the process is just as interesting as the product.
Throughout the performance, which runs twice a night for two weekends in May, dancers move about the company’s vast, open theater space that has been emptied of seats and wings. Here, there are no boundaries. The audience is part of the performance, moving amongst the constantly shifting exhibits of dancers, sometimes retracting back in discomfort, sometimes aggressively getting in the way of the action.
A panel of marley dance floor circumscribes half of the space. The center backdrop is like a cubed climbing wall, with squares poking out at various depths and heights. A raised stage slightly larger than a pool table sits at the middle of the room, surrounded by an unsure audience waiting for lighting cues to signal the start of their interactive experience.
As the dances come out and step off the dance floor into the crowd it’s like they purge from a magic mirror. Suddenly an idolized image becomes real. The dancer is a person, not a fixture on an untouchable stage. And yet they remain in their own reflective world, refusing to make eye contact but sifting through the audience with high sensitivity. The audience revokes as if the dancers’ auras cast them aside.
Gravity is nonexistent in their world that collides with ours. Large hang-gliding like structures harness the dancers at one point, allowing them not to fly carelessly but to slow down weight. Partnering with this quality is impressive, as two dancers waver above the raised stage, or the men stand upright on each other’s shoulders.
They defy reality even without special effects. As men sit on the cube wall they hold the women with their feet under their arms as if they just caught them from falling off a cliff. Danger isn’t an option, though. The hanging ladies swim and waft through space as if their air were heavy, imprinting their beauty invisibly on their atmosphere, not ours.
This is where dance is headed. Parts are reminiscent of a nightclub with flashy lighting and tight crowds, but the engagement of the audience in movement appeals to the new generation of dancegoers. While boundaries are broken, the dancers are still otherworldly. There is so much going on that it is difficult to catch many moments. But no performance will be the same, the exciting nature of this type of work.
Cedar Lake's Glassy Essence
Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet has been at the forefront of innovation in dance since its inception. Their newest venture, “Glassy Essence,” is a performance installation unique to the company’s greatest resources: its wealth of dance talent and its luck of space freedom. Highly publicized online through their website glassyessence.com, the process is just as interesting as the product.
Throughout the performance, which runs twice a night for two weekends in May, dancers move about the company’s vast, open theater space that has been emptied of seats and wings. Here, there are no boundaries. The audience is part of the performance, moving amongst the constantly shifting exhibits of dancers, sometimes retracting back in discomfort, sometimes aggressively getting in the way of the action.
A panel of marley dance floor circumscribes half of the space. The center backdrop is like a cubed climbing wall, with squares poking out at various depths and heights. A raised stage slightly larger than a pool table sits at the middle of the room, surrounded by an unsure audience waiting for lighting cues to signal the start of their interactive experience.
As the dances come out and step off the dance floor into the crowd it’s like they purge from a magic mirror. Suddenly an idolized image becomes real. The dancer is a person, not a fixture on an untouchable stage. And yet they remain in their own reflective world, refusing to make eye contact but sifting through the audience with high sensitivity. The audience revokes as if the dancers’ auras cast them aside.
Gravity is nonexistent in their world that collides with ours. Large hang-gliding like structures harness the dancers at one point, allowing them not to fly carelessly but to slow down weight. Partnering with this quality is impressive, as two dancers waver above the raised stage, or the men stand upright on each other’s shoulders.
They defy reality even without special effects. As men sit on the cube wall they hold the women with their feet under their arms as if they just caught them from falling off a cliff. Danger isn’t an option, though. The hanging ladies swim and waft through space as if their air were heavy, imprinting their beauty invisibly on their atmosphere, not ours.
This is where dance is headed. Parts are reminiscent of a nightclub with flashy lighting and tight crowds, but the engagement of the audience in movement appeals to the new generation of dancegoers. While boundaries are broken, the dancers are still otherworldly. There is so much going on that it is difficult to catch many moments. But no performance will be the same, the exciting nature of this type of work.
Times at midnight
Lately in my late night ways, particularly since I started the Writing on Dance course at DTW with a New York Times critic, I've taken to refreshing the NY Times' Dance page repeatedly until tomorrow's reviews are put online. I'm rarely in bed before at least 1am nowadays, so as I'm doing my work I keep checking to see what new 300 word critiques I can read and critique myself.
I go through time spurts where I never make it to a theater to see dance and don't really mind because I'm distracted by so many other things. And then I go through periods, like now, where I can't get my hands on enough tickets (press, comps, or paid) to performances because there's so much I want to see that I HAVE to make time for it. I've been very fortunate to get into some great shows the last few weeks, and this week I spent literally every night from Wednesday to Sunday in some theater or another - not dancing, but watching and writing.
It's made me more inspired to write quickly, too. I used to see something, wait a day or two until I had a free moment, and then writing a blurb about what I saw. Lately I've been dashing to my laptop as soon as I get home from the performance...or sometimes even on the way home if Starbucks is still open, haha.
Anyway. This Writing course has also gotten me more into reading criticism. Before I would skim the Times dance page to see who had been reviewed and what the pictures looked like, only reading in detail if it was something I had seen or was going to see (but not review). Now I'm obsessed with reading everything that comes off the Gray Lady's dance page (or...its internet page, admittedly), and as soon as it comes out. No time in the morning, I need me news at midnight, haha.
I was rooting for Rebecca Kelly to get a review over the weekend but if it wasn't published by now it probably won't be. Too bad...they deserve the publicity, good or bad! That's one of the issues I find really interesting in dance criticism: who is worthy enough to be reviewed at all. With so much dancing happening in New York City it seems like there should be some way to document it all...I suppose the internet is helping with that, but not entirely...
I go through time spurts where I never make it to a theater to see dance and don't really mind because I'm distracted by so many other things. And then I go through periods, like now, where I can't get my hands on enough tickets (press, comps, or paid) to performances because there's so much I want to see that I HAVE to make time for it. I've been very fortunate to get into some great shows the last few weeks, and this week I spent literally every night from Wednesday to Sunday in some theater or another - not dancing, but watching and writing.
It's made me more inspired to write quickly, too. I used to see something, wait a day or two until I had a free moment, and then writing a blurb about what I saw. Lately I've been dashing to my laptop as soon as I get home from the performance...or sometimes even on the way home if Starbucks is still open, haha.
Anyway. This Writing course has also gotten me more into reading criticism. Before I would skim the Times dance page to see who had been reviewed and what the pictures looked like, only reading in detail if it was something I had seen or was going to see (but not review). Now I'm obsessed with reading everything that comes off the Gray Lady's dance page (or...its internet page, admittedly), and as soon as it comes out. No time in the morning, I need me news at midnight, haha.
I was rooting for Rebecca Kelly to get a review over the weekend but if it wasn't published by now it probably won't be. Too bad...they deserve the publicity, good or bad! That's one of the issues I find really interesting in dance criticism: who is worthy enough to be reviewed at all. With so much dancing happening in New York City it seems like there should be some way to document it all...I suppose the internet is helping with that, but not entirely...
Sunday, April 27, 2008
finally saw Cedar Lake
After hopelessly retaining myself from reading everyone's blog posts about Cedar Lake's Glassy Essence Installation this week, I finally got to see the performance last night.
It was great. So different from a traditional performance, and very cool. I'll be writing more detail soon (I know I keep promising to do that - and I WILL do it, but I have finals this week among other drama)...I think this is where dance is headed, though. The interactivity with the audience is much more engaging than watching something abstract, sitting still, in darkness. Hm.
To complete my 5 consecutive day run of seeing performances, today I'm going to "Dance at Dicapo" where Nilas & Co. is performing. Looking forward to that...
The next week or two is going to be crazy...between writing reviews of everything I've seen this week, finishing up projects and exams for grad school (where did the semester go??), starting a new job (and waiting to hear back on another, important job...), and some other stuff, I'll be luckily if I make it through alive...
It was great. So different from a traditional performance, and very cool. I'll be writing more detail soon (I know I keep promising to do that - and I WILL do it, but I have finals this week among other drama)...I think this is where dance is headed, though. The interactivity with the audience is much more engaging than watching something abstract, sitting still, in darkness. Hm.
To complete my 5 consecutive day run of seeing performances, today I'm going to "Dance at Dicapo" where Nilas & Co. is performing. Looking forward to that...
The next week or two is going to be crazy...between writing reviews of everything I've seen this week, finishing up projects and exams for grad school (where did the semester go??), starting a new job (and waiting to hear back on another, important job...), and some other stuff, I'll be luckily if I make it through alive...
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Times' Sulcas on Yasuko
NY Times review on Yasuko Yokoshi's "Reframe the Framework DDD", which I saw and reviewed Thursday night...
I think I met Roslyn Sulcas without knowing it was her, haha...Claudia was talking to our Writing on Dance class and I stepped away for a second, came back and another lady was talking with us about dance criticism, but nobody caught her name. She sat with Claudia and then this review just came out, so I can only assume it was her, haha!
I think I met Roslyn Sulcas without knowing it was her, haha...Claudia was talking to our Writing on Dance class and I stepped away for a second, came back and another lady was talking with us about dance criticism, but nobody caught her name. She sat with Claudia and then this review just came out, so I can only assume it was her, haha!
Friday, April 25, 2008
Youth in Yasuko's "Framework" review
completed review of Yasuko Yokoshi's "Reframing the Framework DDD" at The Kitchen tonight. Not being posted anywhere else since it's just for my Writing on Dance course at the moment, but enjoy. May help to read the previous post before this one...FEEDBACK WELCOME and encouraged. I'm trying to improve my writing through this class and otherwise...
Youth in Yokoshi’s Reframing the Framework DDD
“Talk with Mom so she doesn’t think I hate her.” “Finish that essay.” “Science class.”
Everyday high school kids from suburban Vermont shout their daily tasks. But “perform a groundbreaking live dance drama in New York City” should be added to their modest list.
Nine students from Brattleboro School of Dance perform in Yasuko Yokoshi’s “Reframing the Framework DDD,” a recreation of choreographer David Gordon’s 1984 piece “Framework.” Through a marriage of video, dance, and spoken word, we learn more about these kids in one hour of performance than any casual conversation or flimsy Facebook profile could reveal.
Videos of interviews with the students play as the backdrop to the teens, who recount anecdotes of friendship, cattiness, sisterhood, and first kisses. Their words are powerful. Resonating, each story is told with mundane facial expressions. Dialogue is interspersed with gestures representing punctuation marks - a jump for an exclamation point, a curved hand for a comma, a stomp for a period. Even the squiggly hyphen used to sign off in today’s email jargon is embodied with a worm-like movement when one dancer completes a touching monologue, where she reads aloud an email about her depression.
Their nil default emotion is occasionally freed with yells of frustration and then immediately recuperated. The angst of teenage-hood is hidden beneath their young eyes, trembling behind unquivering lips, boiling below broken out skin. And it is all released when they go silent and just dance. It’s the heart moving moments – the separation of lifelong best friends, the awkwardness of sexuality – that are expressed entirely through motion.
“I enjoy dancing,” one says briefly, with a straighter face than a serious student perfecting plies. Hinting at irony, she continues. “It makes me feel good. Free. Happy.” Their ability to mask this with empty expressions while physically embodying that joy is commendable given their youth.
An orange rectangular outline the size of a doorframe is often shape-shifted between them, usually moved by Andrew Marchev, the only male in a sea of gaggling girls. The frame reverts back to Gordon’s original choreography, which is screened just long enough, at the very beginning and end, to give the live work context. Where the 1984 piece commented on the communication technology of the telephone, Yokoshi’s interpretation gives relevance to today’s conversational conventions, including Myspace and typing abbreviations like BTW (by the way) and G2G (got to go).
Yokoshi has created much more than a dance docudrama. This is a live, ephemeral vehicle for these kids’ experiences that gives each the opportunity to be his or herself and explore troubled emotions further. We meet them and hear their stories. We attach emotionally and see them grow. By the end, we care deeply about who they are, expressing as dancers and as humans.
After the bows the video continues with outtakes. Two girls gossip to the camera. “Like, what if we perform it well but people just don’t like the piece?” they ask sarcastically, igniting a laugh from the audience. There’s no adolescent annoyance here. The piece is a youthful breeze in the stark wind of contemporary dance.
Youth in Yokoshi’s Reframing the Framework DDD
“Talk with Mom so she doesn’t think I hate her.” “Finish that essay.” “Science class.”
Everyday high school kids from suburban Vermont shout their daily tasks. But “perform a groundbreaking live dance drama in New York City” should be added to their modest list.
Nine students from Brattleboro School of Dance perform in Yasuko Yokoshi’s “Reframing the Framework DDD,” a recreation of choreographer David Gordon’s 1984 piece “Framework.” Through a marriage of video, dance, and spoken word, we learn more about these kids in one hour of performance than any casual conversation or flimsy Facebook profile could reveal.
Videos of interviews with the students play as the backdrop to the teens, who recount anecdotes of friendship, cattiness, sisterhood, and first kisses. Their words are powerful. Resonating, each story is told with mundane facial expressions. Dialogue is interspersed with gestures representing punctuation marks - a jump for an exclamation point, a curved hand for a comma, a stomp for a period. Even the squiggly hyphen used to sign off in today’s email jargon is embodied with a worm-like movement when one dancer completes a touching monologue, where she reads aloud an email about her depression.
Their nil default emotion is occasionally freed with yells of frustration and then immediately recuperated. The angst of teenage-hood is hidden beneath their young eyes, trembling behind unquivering lips, boiling below broken out skin. And it is all released when they go silent and just dance. It’s the heart moving moments – the separation of lifelong best friends, the awkwardness of sexuality – that are expressed entirely through motion.
“I enjoy dancing,” one says briefly, with a straighter face than a serious student perfecting plies. Hinting at irony, she continues. “It makes me feel good. Free. Happy.” Their ability to mask this with empty expressions while physically embodying that joy is commendable given their youth.
An orange rectangular outline the size of a doorframe is often shape-shifted between them, usually moved by Andrew Marchev, the only male in a sea of gaggling girls. The frame reverts back to Gordon’s original choreography, which is screened just long enough, at the very beginning and end, to give the live work context. Where the 1984 piece commented on the communication technology of the telephone, Yokoshi’s interpretation gives relevance to today’s conversational conventions, including Myspace and typing abbreviations like BTW (by the way) and G2G (got to go).
Yokoshi has created much more than a dance docudrama. This is a live, ephemeral vehicle for these kids’ experiences that gives each the opportunity to be his or herself and explore troubled emotions further. We meet them and hear their stories. We attach emotionally and see them grow. By the end, we care deeply about who they are, expressing as dancers and as humans.
After the bows the video continues with outtakes. Two girls gossip to the camera. “Like, what if we perform it well but people just don’t like the piece?” they ask sarcastically, igniting a laugh from the audience. There’s no adolescent annoyance here. The piece is a youthful breeze in the stark wind of contemporary dance.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Yasuko's show saves my day
Gosh, I had a really rather awful, insane day today. Moreso than usual.
LUCKILY I was saved tonight by a WONDERFUL performance at The Kitchen. Yasuko Yokoshi's "Reframing the Framework DDD" is so good, and if you don't have plans to see it this weekend you need to rearrange your schedule immediately. I had to go and review it for my Writing on Dance course (still the highlight of my week) and all of us sat together...and it was great...
The piece brings a group of senior high school students from Vermont into a recreation of David Gordon's 1984 piece "Framework." We watched a clip of it in class before heading over to The Kitchen all together, but this work stands on its own without any prior knowledge necessary of the original piece. I'm doing a full review to be posted later tonight or in the morning, but wow. Good stuff.
See Claudia (teacher of my beloved writing course)'s feature about the work in Sunday's NY Times here. Tickets here.
My review to come soon. It was a nice night after a hectic day...my first time at The Kitchen, which is a nice downtown space. And a (Village Voice dance critic) Deborah Jowitt sighting. And before the show I was talking with some classmates and Claudia about the lack of full time dance critics. I think we established that Alastair at the Times is the last one in the US actually on staff at a mainstream publication. Oy.
Anyways...go see the show if you can. It saved me from going insane tonight, haha.
LUCKILY I was saved tonight by a WONDERFUL performance at The Kitchen. Yasuko Yokoshi's "Reframing the Framework DDD" is so good, and if you don't have plans to see it this weekend you need to rearrange your schedule immediately. I had to go and review it for my Writing on Dance course (still the highlight of my week) and all of us sat together...and it was great...
The piece brings a group of senior high school students from Vermont into a recreation of David Gordon's 1984 piece "Framework." We watched a clip of it in class before heading over to The Kitchen all together, but this work stands on its own without any prior knowledge necessary of the original piece. I'm doing a full review to be posted later tonight or in the morning, but wow. Good stuff.
See Claudia (teacher of my beloved writing course)'s feature about the work in Sunday's NY Times here. Tickets here.
My review to come soon. It was a nice night after a hectic day...my first time at The Kitchen, which is a nice downtown space. And a (Village Voice dance critic) Deborah Jowitt sighting. And before the show I was talking with some classmates and Claudia about the lack of full time dance critics. I think we established that Alastair at the Times is the last one in the US actually on staff at a mainstream publication. Oy.
Anyways...go see the show if you can. It saved me from going insane tonight, haha.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Kirov does Balanchine
I finally got to see the Kirov perform tonight - their second to last performance here after 3 weeks at City Center. I would have loved to have seen all of their different programs, but there's only so much time in a week haha. So tonight I saw the Balanchine program.
I'm writing a real review for exploredance (and my crit course...) but my thoughts for now...
they are all such incredible dancers. their feet and legs and everything are just amazing. wow
the program was Serenade, Rubies from Jewels, and Ballet Imperial. By far my favorite was Rubies. Serenade is a gorgeous ballet in itself, but maybe because I've seen it too many times I didn't think it was anything special tonight. I just saw it on the same stage when PA Ballet did it in November and yes the dancers are far different, but I don't know. Rubies was a huge treat, though. Amazing. Ballet Imperial was the only one I hadn't seen ever before and it was pretty...
Maybe I'm going through a phase since I've seen a lot of contemporary dance lately, but, and I reeeeally hate to admit this, I was almost a teeny tiny bit bored tonight. I shouldn't even be writing that casually about a company so great - and they ARE incredible - but after seeing some deep downtown stuff recently that dug further than just 'being pretty' it was kind of a lot of superficial stuff.
I'll probably erase the above paragraph in the morning when I've come to my senses after thinking about the performance and what I'm going to write in my actual review...but that was my initial thought despite the immense talent of the company.
I'm writing a real review for exploredance (and my crit course...) but my thoughts for now...
they are all such incredible dancers. their feet and legs and everything are just amazing. wow
the program was Serenade, Rubies from Jewels, and Ballet Imperial. By far my favorite was Rubies. Serenade is a gorgeous ballet in itself, but maybe because I've seen it too many times I didn't think it was anything special tonight. I just saw it on the same stage when PA Ballet did it in November and yes the dancers are far different, but I don't know. Rubies was a huge treat, though. Amazing. Ballet Imperial was the only one I hadn't seen ever before and it was pretty...
Maybe I'm going through a phase since I've seen a lot of contemporary dance lately, but, and I reeeeally hate to admit this, I was almost a teeny tiny bit bored tonight. I shouldn't even be writing that casually about a company so great - and they ARE incredible - but after seeing some deep downtown stuff recently that dug further than just 'being pretty' it was kind of a lot of superficial stuff.
I'll probably erase the above paragraph in the morning when I've come to my senses after thinking about the performance and what I'm going to write in my actual review...but that was my initial thought despite the immense talent of the company.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
dance writing week 3
The Writing on Dance course I'm taking just keeps getting better and better. It's already half way over, and I wish it were a full semester kind of class instead of a 6 week workshop!
Tonight we got our reviews back that we turned in last week. Mine was what I wrote on Petronio for ExploreDance, which we took apart during the class last week. But it was so wonderful to get written feedback from someone so well respected (C. La Rocco from the Times) as a dance critic. So helpful to see and hear tips and listen to other critiques and such.
Lately I've been able to meet and speak with people about dance on a much higher level of conversation than I've ever had access to before. It's interesting that that doesn't occur more in a school-type situation but rather amongst professionals or just audience members. I love it though.
Just some interesting notes I made to myself throughout tonight's class I thought I'd share...
-readers will not necessarily be able to see the dance piece you are describing, so their experience of the art is only through your verbal interpretation of the movement as the critic
-in contemporary dance you're going into the unknown, which is different from traditional classical dance
-criticism is the meeting of minds: the writer and the artist (choreographer)
-a critic's dialogue is with the audience, NOT with the artist
-what are some theatrical cliches?
I have tons more notes and things to think about and incorporate in my writing but just thought I'd put those up for discussion. I'm so inspired by this course and don't want it to end!
Tonight we got our reviews back that we turned in last week. Mine was what I wrote on Petronio for ExploreDance, which we took apart during the class last week. But it was so wonderful to get written feedback from someone so well respected (C. La Rocco from the Times) as a dance critic. So helpful to see and hear tips and listen to other critiques and such.
Lately I've been able to meet and speak with people about dance on a much higher level of conversation than I've ever had access to before. It's interesting that that doesn't occur more in a school-type situation but rather amongst professionals or just audience members. I love it though.
Just some interesting notes I made to myself throughout tonight's class I thought I'd share...
-readers will not necessarily be able to see the dance piece you are describing, so their experience of the art is only through your verbal interpretation of the movement as the critic
-in contemporary dance you're going into the unknown, which is different from traditional classical dance
-criticism is the meeting of minds: the writer and the artist (choreographer)
-a critic's dialogue is with the audience, NOT with the artist
-what are some theatrical cliches?
I have tons more notes and things to think about and incorporate in my writing but just thought I'd put those up for discussion. I'm so inspired by this course and don't want it to end!
Saturday, April 12, 2008
"big" ballet & outkast
As revealed the other day, I'm doing an article on Atlanta Ballet's collaboration with Big Boi from Outkast in the new work "big," which premiered Thursday night in Atlanta. You can see video of a rehearsal of the piece here.
Here's their NY Times review. "Ballet can’t achieve modernity by association, only by an extension of its own physical laws and principles." Hmm.
I love how the Times only covers out of town when it's reeeally important.
Also since I was working on my piece yesterday and searching to see how opening night went, I was slightly annoyed to have to wait until NOW to get a review. No bloggers in Atlanta posting immediate feedback?
Here's their NY Times review. "Ballet can’t achieve modernity by association, only by an extension of its own physical laws and principles." Hmm.
I love how the Times only covers out of town when it's reeeally important.
Also since I was working on my piece yesterday and searching to see how opening night went, I was slightly annoyed to have to wait until NOW to get a review. No bloggers in Atlanta posting immediate feedback?
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Petronio Review workshopped...
Tonight in my Writing on Dance course I submitted my review of Petronio's performance last week (that I also did for ExploreDance but he hasn't posted it yet...) and it was "workshopped" and reviewed/critiqued by others in the class. I haven't had my writing reviewed like that in a LONG time, so it was really really good and helpful! I need to do more things like this. I was happy with the result.
Since ExploreDance still hasn't posted the review I figured I'd put it up here. This is the UNREVISED version from before tonight's editing/review session.
I just left the Joyce again, where i saw Eliot Feld's ManDance Project to review for both explore and the course again. Will post that when I'm done.
For now, here's Petronio:
Petronio’s Premieres Yell for Attention: Stephen Petronio at the Joyce
Stephen Petronio’s program at The Joyce Theater April 1-6 offers a subtle nod to the past and a proud jump into the contemporary.
His style changes throughout the evening, keeping the eye intrigued. A common theme is his juxtaposition of movement versus stillness, where a single dancer holds a pose as if anchoring down the nearby storm of legs and arms. His dancers often cringe and repulse as if a weighted marble were traveling through their bodies, falling out of nowhere, slipping through the path of their veins, gaining momentum, and rolling out a fingernail or toe for eternity.
The full-length world premiere, “This Is the Story of a Girl in a World,” comprises of five contrasting works aiming to explore the blurred line of gender. Perhaps the most transcendent of these otherwise discrete puzzle pieces is “Snap,” where a male and a female appear in silence only bearing black underwear. Together they hand their previous garments to a stage manager, who casually parades across the proscenium, before taking their pose.
“Ahhh,” they yell simultaneously, startling the sexy silence surrounding them. Moving into images and phrases of feminine influence – limp wrists, abducted shoulders, suggestive facial expressions – their synchronization within abstract movement enhances the uniformity of gender. Interspersed with brief cries and shouts, the beat of their breath is sensuous.
“Beauty and the Brut” is less overt. Movement is trumped by the original contemporary score by Fischerspooner, an art-pop duo whose electric music mixes with vocals narrating a story of a French girl meeting a “freaky guy” at a beach.
Petronio’s 2006 work “Bloom” is more aesthetically pleasing than the two world premieres. Beginning with members of the Young People’s Chorus of New York City walking ominously up the aisles of the theater while humming a capella, the dance proceeds rather solemnly against a navy blue backdrop. The elements mesh into a more subdued, accessible experience unlike the rest of the evening.
Since ExploreDance still hasn't posted the review I figured I'd put it up here. This is the UNREVISED version from before tonight's editing/review session.
I just left the Joyce again, where i saw Eliot Feld's ManDance Project to review for both explore and the course again. Will post that when I'm done.
For now, here's Petronio:
Petronio’s Premieres Yell for Attention: Stephen Petronio at the Joyce
Stephen Petronio’s program at The Joyce Theater April 1-6 offers a subtle nod to the past and a proud jump into the contemporary.
His style changes throughout the evening, keeping the eye intrigued. A common theme is his juxtaposition of movement versus stillness, where a single dancer holds a pose as if anchoring down the nearby storm of legs and arms. His dancers often cringe and repulse as if a weighted marble were traveling through their bodies, falling out of nowhere, slipping through the path of their veins, gaining momentum, and rolling out a fingernail or toe for eternity.
The full-length world premiere, “This Is the Story of a Girl in a World,” comprises of five contrasting works aiming to explore the blurred line of gender. Perhaps the most transcendent of these otherwise discrete puzzle pieces is “Snap,” where a male and a female appear in silence only bearing black underwear. Together they hand their previous garments to a stage manager, who casually parades across the proscenium, before taking their pose.
“Ahhh,” they yell simultaneously, startling the sexy silence surrounding them. Moving into images and phrases of feminine influence – limp wrists, abducted shoulders, suggestive facial expressions – their synchronization within abstract movement enhances the uniformity of gender. Interspersed with brief cries and shouts, the beat of their breath is sensuous.
“Beauty and the Brut” is less overt. Movement is trumped by the original contemporary score by Fischerspooner, an art-pop duo whose electric music mixes with vocals narrating a story of a French girl meeting a “freaky guy” at a beach.
Petronio’s 2006 work “Bloom” is more aesthetically pleasing than the two world premieres. Beginning with members of the Young People’s Chorus of New York City walking ominously up the aisles of the theater while humming a capella, the dance proceeds rather solemnly against a navy blue backdrop. The elements mesh into a more subdued, accessible experience unlike the rest of the evening.
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