Monday, September 12, 2011

Performance Assignments for Aesthetics - Environmental

Streetwalker

Did a dance from the restaurant to our hotel room using pedestrian movement with performance qualities.

Hotel Room

Did a dance in our hotel room in which I cleaned up the room.

One Hand In My Pocket

Did a dance based off of an improvisation in which I repeated the action of putting my hand in my pocket.

Dances Viewed This Week

Liz Lerman Dance Exchange - Pas de Dirt

This balletic homage to construction was very inventive, but overall gimicky.  I loved the choreography of the earthmovers, but wanted to see the dance move forward.  It did not become more than the sum of its parts, which bothered me.  I found the way the earthmovers were used to be cute, but ultimately predictable.  All in all, I would say it was a dance that needed more thought, more concept.  It was cute, but it could have been amazing.


Faye Driscoll - 837 Venice Blvd

This excerpt was incredibly fresh and inventive.  Faye Driscoll has created a beautiful psychological landscape here in which she unabashedly explores human relationships.  The excerpt made me want to see more.  I watched another Driscoll piece on video earlier this summer, and was quite impressed by it.  The dance seems to move seamlessly from scene to scene; in fact, it’s the transitions that are often the most interesting.  Driscoll finds beautiful ways of moving between ideas.  It is often difficult to see where one idea ends and the next begins.  Too often dance feels like an awkwardly put together scrapbook, but here the transitions are flawless.  I hope to see this piece in its entirety someday.

Dance Review Review

Sleep No More’ but Move Nonstop

By GIA KOURLAS
Published: September 6, 2011

Fantastic review of Punchdrunk’s “Sleep No More.”  Completely engrossing.  The article described the performance in a way that made me really want to see the piece.  The truth is, I have been trying to get tickets, but they have been completely sold out for the time I am in New York.  The article talks about other reviews, gives commentary from the performers, and describes the show without giving too much away (in case anyone is lucky enough to score tickets).  It was extremely well written.  By the end of the article, I was kicking myself for not purchasing tickets sooner.  The show sounds fantastic, and I sincerely hope that someday I’ll get the chance to see it.

UPDATE:  I GOT TICKETS!!!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Dances Viewed This Week

Thought of You by Ryan J Woodward

I had seen this video dance a couple of years ago and was floored by its simple beauty.  The animation is amazing, and takes dance to that next level, where we can actually physically transform ourselves into something else, as opposed to simply suggesting it, as our limited human bodies force us to do.

La La La Human Steps / Édouard Lock

Crisp, clear, sharp movements all done on pointe.  Two duets shown, both with one man and one woman.  Men are relegated to being props, as the spotlight very clearly only stays on the women and the men are dressed entirely in black, with a black backdrop, meaning that their heads are all that can be seen.


Dance Review Review

Hindu Mythology Comes to Life on the Streets of New York - New York Times 
By
Published: August 21, 2011


The author of this dance review spent the first half of the article talking about things that didn't have anything to do with dance itself, and then only glossed over the dances in the second half of the article.  All in all, I felt as though I wasted my time reading the review, because I did not find it very informative.

Lab 2

Lab 2 Video

Lab 2 was very intense for me.  I brought three objects: a baby brush given to me at my birth, my favorite childhood stuffed extra-terrestrial, (E.T.) and a pillow my late grandmother had needle-pointed for me when I was born.  At first, the rehearsal and the work created was about my childhood, having been known as Sam, my first name, until I went off to college at 18.  Later on in the rehearsal, the subject changed to my late grandmother who died over fifteen years ago and with whom I was very close.  I had a conversation with my mother about her, realizing that I knew very little about her besides the fact that she was my grandmother and she loved Thanksgiving and called me Sambo.  I learned about her college experience, her battle with breast cancer, and a slew of other personal information that my mother requested I keep within the family.  I found myself really missing her; something I haven't done for over a decade.  It was interesting that this happened for me now, considering that my grandfather, her husband, died less than a year ago.  In the end, there was some beautiful material, but I don't think I want to use any of it in the future.

Lab 1


Lab 1 was hard for me at first.  I felt that I had nothing to draw upon because the assignment was simply to show up without any pretense and just make movement.  Eventually I found some pretty interesting movement phrases, but it's too early to tell where they are going.  I can easily see some of these phrases as being a part of a larger piece.