Blog – Page 101

Caitlin Trainor: What is Dance?

What is Art?

Editor

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April 5, 2009

I am not sure if I can put a tag on what dance is exactly, not sure that I can pinpoint what makes sense on a stage with an audience watching, waiting….. but on a grand scale, I think that life itself seems to be one great big cosmic dance.

I don’t necessarily believe in the God that sits on a cloud and fixes the maladies of mankind, but I can say that I have reverence for the life of the universe evident through movement. The planets, hula-ing their great looping ellipses, the microscopic vibrating orgy of fission and fusion, the crashing momentum of wind and waves, babies pressing out of bellies, and even fallen leaves in their slow crumbling decay; all seem part of an infinite and immeasurable dance.

Dancers, wrestling with physics every day, harness and refine the forces of nature. Rather than becoming masters of theory, dancers directly experience centrifugal and centripetal force, levity, gravity, momentum, mass, inertia and so on. The dances of the stage, codified, controlled, and personal, are a different entity.

Art involves artifice, manipulation, and choices- some successful, some less so. But I believe that one evening of art that can stir the soul is worth every failed endeavor. Maybe it is these moments, when a dance on a stage steals breath and draws gooseflesh, that lift the spirit beyond the walls of the theater and into the wild thrumming rhythm of life.

– Caitlin Trainor

Krista Racho-Jansen: What is Dance?

What is Art?

Editor

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April 1, 2009

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movement through space over time

deliberate trajectories

joy, self expression through physical movement, self questioning/imaging/thinking through physical movement

creating art with your body

creating images that are there and then are gone with your body

[Editor’s Note: I do not have a bio yet for Krista. Will update with that information when I get it. For now: Krista choreographs and performs in New York City.]

Creating ‘My Ocean is never blue’ by Daniel Burkholder

Editor

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March 15, 2009

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Creating ‘My Ocean is never blue’ by Daniel Burkholder

For the past two and a half years my company, The Playground, and I have worked exclusively on “My ocean is never blue”, an ever changing and evolving performance project that explores our multi-faceted relationship to water – from the personal, to the ecological, societal and political. This work reflects the complexities of our relationship to water by layering choreographed phrases, improvisational movement, live music, text and video to create an ever evolving, collage-type work.

We have explored a wide range of material in the creation process, and have been inspired by various reflections, including: the impending water shortage, irrigation, the meanings of the word “drench”, the molecular structure of water, tsunamis, baptism, the tidal zone of the eastern sea board and the Japanese Tea Ceremony. In the research process I also came across the book Who Owns The Water?, edited by Kaus Lanz, Lars Muller, Christian Rentsch and Rene Schwarzenbach. The book contains some striking statistics that highlight our complex relationship to water. Finding a way to integrate all of these diverse thoughts has profoundly influenced how we are making this piece.

Many companies set ahead of time every motion that will be performed on stage. My company, The Playground, has always performed improvisation. Where other companies rehearse the very specific motions that might appear on stage, we rehearse the process that leads to those motions. Often our work is very open-ended and completely different with each performance, but sometimes we use a very strict structure so that each performance is similar to the next. For instance, in 2005 as part of a Local Dance Commissioning Project from The Kennedy Center, I created a re-imagination of Twyla Tharp’s classic Nine Sinatra Songs. While we were performing improvisation, our structure ensured a similarity and consistency from one performance to the next. With “My Ocean is never blue”, the company and I are exploring greater fluidity – which for us means not just ‘improvisation’ as a performance practice, but fluidity within the structures that combine to create the whole work.

There will never be a final version of this work. As we prepare for each performance we add, subtract, edit, rearrange and reconfigure the different sections to create a performance that, like water, is never the same twice. For each set of performances we recreate the structure of the piece, including the number of people in the work (from 7 to 18) and its duration (from 12 minutes up to 55 minutes). Sometimes the order of sections is set, and sometimes the order is open ended, created as we perform. For example, at our fall 2008 performance on The Millennium Stage at The Kennedy Center we set the beginning and ending, and we knew what sections would be performed in the middle, but not their order. After the opening section the dancers would trigger which section would follow, and since this was always different, the order of the work was always different. So, if the order is never the same, were we performing the same piece at each performance, or somehow an entirely new piece each time?

In our first version of the work we created a number of solo, duet, and small group sections that we juxtaposed in performance with large group sections. In that first version the smaller sections were distributed evenly amongst all of the dancers, so that no one dancer stood out from the group. In a more recent version I focused the dance around one dancer, Christine Stone Martin. In that version Christine performed all of the solos, and was part of every group section as well. Working with form in this way has provided an additional opportunity to explore performance structure in relationship to perceived meaning.

Because this project doesn’t entail having a set piece that we perform over and over, each audience gets a different take on the work. An audience member at one show sees only some of the possibilities within the whole. I’m curious about people’s interpretation of the work when they see it once, and then how that might change as they see the work in different contexts, with different structures and with different material edited in or out.

Creating this work is a multi-year research project into water, and its various meanings. It is also a lens to explore composition: how meaning is affected by shifting structure and its context. I hope you’ll join us at Dance Place on March 28th and 29th to experience our continued explorations of ‘My ocean is never blue’.

Daniel Burkholder is the Director of The PlayGround, a movement based improvisational performance group, and Co-Director of Improv Arts, inc. His work has been awarded the 2006 Metro DC Dance Award for “Outstanding Group Performance in a Dance Production” and in 2005 he received a Local Dance Commission Project through The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He has served as a curator of the DC International Improvisation Festival and on the Steering Committee for the West Coast Contact Improvisation Festival. His work has been seen throughout the Metro DC area, New York City, San Francisco/Bay Area and the Mid-Atlantic region and has been commissioned by CrossCurrents Dance Company, Montgomery College, Community College of Baltimore, Joy of Motion Dance Studios, Maryland Art Place, Dance Place, and Choreographers Collaboration Project. In the spring of 2003 Daniel was a Resident Artist in the Djerassi Artist Residency Program in California. He currently teaches at George Washington University, Joy of Motion Dance Studios and Dance Place. Additionally, Daniel is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner and maintains a private practice in Silver Spring, MD (www.integrated-body.com)

Remembering Mary Saludares (1989 – 2009)

Rob Bettmann

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February 26, 2009

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Remembering Mary Saludares (1989 – 2009)

Mary Saludares, a gifted young member of Washington D.C.’s dance community, died on February 20th, 2009. She was 20 years old. A member of the Washington Ballet Studio Company, she passed after being struck by a car. At the time of the accident Mary was on tour in Baltimore performing with the company. As reported by Sarah Kaufman in the Washington Post,

“Saludares had danced a pas de deux in George Balanchine’s “Who Cares?” and returned to her hotel along with staff members and the other Studio Company dancers. The dancers’ plan was to spend the rest of the evening watching a movie, ballet officials said yesterday. Saludares and two other company members decided to walk across the highway to a convenience store for snacks. They didn’t make it. Bel Air police say Saludares dashed in front of an oncoming Chevy Impala about 10 p.m. while crossing Route 24. She was pronounced dead at Upper Chesapeake Medical Center an hour and a half later. The driver was not charged.”

The remainder of the tour was cancelled.

In the press release sent by The Washington Ballet, Artistic Director Septime Webre stated: “No words can describe the pain of losing Mary. She was not only a beautiful dancer, but a radiant soul who emitted peace, and joy. The entire Washington Ballet family mourns her passing, and extends its thoughts and prayers to Mary’s family.”

Local dance critic Carmel Morgan stated, “I noticed Mary immediately when I saw her perform this past fall. She caught my attention because she exuded such positive energy. I remember pouring through the names on the program to figure out which dancer she was. I was excited to have discovered her.”

In Jean Marbella’s article in the Baltimore Sun, Washington School of Ballet director Kee-Juan Han is quoted saying, “Some dancers have a lot of technique, that is their drive. But some dancers are born with a more innate quality. For Mary, everything came from inside. She had this passion. Even at rehearsal, she danced as if she was on stage.”

Robert Mulvey (15), a Washington School of Ballet student quoted in the same article, stated “I still picture her dancing, how beautiful she was. I used to do a pas de deux class with her, and she was very easy to partner. But we never did a show together.”

To the many who knew her socially, Mary was a loving and loved friend. She laughed easily, and possessed a depth unusual for any age. A longtime friend and colleague of Mary’s posted the following on his blog:

“You knew how to have a great time. But you were my friend because you also had substance. You weren’t just a girl in the world. You had brains, heart, and passion. You loved your family, friends, and teachers. Unlike me, you were very vocal about this. You were a university and college scholar at UP and made sure you got good grades. You would work on your roles with passion and ferver. Always testing how far you could go. We could talk about life and love for hours on end. Even though I missed you, I was really happy you were in the States to realize your dream. We shared the dream, didn’t we? To dance for others and touch lives through our art.

I was looking forward to seeing you this May. I was hoping that Steps would have us partner again. I was looking forward to your jokes, your kwento’s and your company. Now, I am glad I was able to tell you a few weeks ago that I miss you and that I love you. Yes, Mary, I will mourn for you. And I will remember you. But I will also rejoice because you are in heaven. There is no better place to be than there.”

The Washington Ballet has established a fund to defray the Saludares’ funeral expenses, and plans to hold a memorial service early next month, though a date has not been set. The accident was reported in the Baltimore Sun, and later on DCist.

– Rob Bettmann, Editor – Bourgeon

Susana Weingarten on DanceVert at Dance Place

Editor

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January 31, 2009

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Susana Weingarten on DanceVert at Dance Place

My partner and I have had a dance company for 20 years. Last year we relocated from Ohio (where we made a huge mark, collaborated with many artists, and worked in many schools and universities.) Our transition to the DC area has brought a shock of test after test. Our art is our priority, but we are looking for jobs as Artists that Teach with The Kennedy Center, Young Audience of Virginia, and independently in schools, health clubs and whatever place is interested in dance (not exclusively as an art, but as a means to health.)

Our first performances in the area are February 13 and 15 at Dance Place. We will be presenting a program of chamber works – solos and duets from past and recent present. We created the program with the theme of Spirituality and Sexuality in mind. I believe that many of our problems as a society come from personal issues with Spirituality and Sexuality. I believe that Sex and Spirit are not separate from each other, and that if they are there is a problem. I believe there are many layers and dimensions to life that many people are oblivious to. The world is not like the one presented to us through TV, radio and propaganda. The form and style of our dances take different shapes, as will be seen at these performances. But we are always working these issues.

I love all of ‘the arts’. I love music because I am married to it, and many genres and styles are mine. I love visual arts, and enjoy oil painting. I enjoy writing and would love to write and produce film. But as the Great Duke said: there are two kinds of music – good and bad. Just as wine or food or clothes or anything in life, I work for the good.

What is is Spirituality for me? Simply put, the relationship that I have with the world in general (simply put.) And how does that connect to Sexuality? Again, simply put, it is how we procreate, and is a central emotional attribute of many problems/issues in our psychological lives. I believe that kids need to be taught as soon as possible of the beauty and reality of sex as many other aspects of life…I believe one must talk to kids openly and without secrets or lies, because if we do not, they only learn to hide and lie in their lives, and to fear much.

[flashvideo filename=/video/Diva.flv /]

The program we’ll be performing Feb 13 and 15 is tagged as ‘Mature Content’, mainly because of partial nudity. The reason for the nudity is that these issues are not easy stories to tell, and they are clearly understood with conventional imagery. What do I call this style of work? We have done it for a long time, and though it has been called risque, edgy, and different, I am not certain that it wouldn’t be better to call it Realism.

I love to follow my instinct, but in many cases this goes against what the “norm” would call for. If I need to use nudity for a Purpose in my work I have no question nor concern if ” someone ” would be offended. I need to be creating regardless of what it is created. I need Art in my life. I believe there is much too much interest in money, sex and food. Those three need to be balanced as they become addictions that break and kill the possibility of great achievement, and great processes. I suppose what I am saying is that everyone eventually in life is given a special gift or skill that can be developed for a good human reason, and if we do not listen carefully, this can be ignored, and humanity does not benefit from our lives here on earth.

I am very fond of the following quote from Andre Gide: “Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.”

Currently my life is going through many tests. We all go through these regularly, and it is up to us to understand and go with them, or to get frustrated and fight. I have been a dancer and an actress all my life, but I really believe that no dancer, or artist, or person can get too polished or really get to be so darn good and so much inspired in one life. I think it takes many lives to fully express our passion.

We’re a little concerned for this show. We are new here, and many have no clue who we are. I grew up in a country where the culture is old, and the traditions are strong. I am shocked and disquieted by the lack of humanity and lack of consciousness that I find daily in this area. I feel that I sometimes feel this is a close-minded and conservative community for our work. I hope to help with my art, and would love to see an audience that genuinely wants to grow and learn what they do not know from an artist. It would really be wonderful to find many people coming to see our work, to see another side of this area.

The performances will be on Friday , February 13, at 8PM, and Sunday, February 15 at 4PM (2009) at the Dance Place, located at 3225 8th Street NE Washington D.C.

Born and raised in Mexico City, Susana started her Ballet training at the age of four in The Mexico City Academy of Dance under the direction of Ms. Cristina Perez Escamilla. She studied modern techniques at the Ballet Nacional de Mexico, at the Ballet Independiente de Mexico, where she danced professionally. She moved to New York City, continuing her dance training, appearing with Linda Diamond and Dancers at the Symphony Space, and Lincoln Center Annex, in New York City.

While in New York she met her future husband – Tom Evert – a Paul Taylor Company member. They moved to Cleveland, Ohio with their son, Max, and co-founded “The Tom Evert Dance Company”, where she served as artistic associate, principal dancer and choreographer for ten years. During those years the company toured extensively nationally and internationally, participating in collaborations with prestigious organizations including: The Great Lakes Theatre Festival, The Cleveland Orchestra, and The Cleveland Museum of Art.

Currently Susana is the co-Director of DANCEVERT. Through her years as a teacher, she has developed a unique style blending modern dance techniques, QiGong, and Afro-Latin and Caribbean dance styles. Susana has won several awards of excellence in choreography and performance, including awards from The Ohio Arts Council, and Northern Ohio Live magazine.