Choreography by today's Leading Contemporary Dance Artists

Hi Class,

We've talked about the past and where the ideas of contemporary are coming from, and now I'd like to introduce you to choreographers of today. These three choreographers are some of the most recognized companies within the world of innovative contemporary dance. Anna Teresa De Keersmaker and Meg Stuart both make work out of Brussels, Belgium while Tere O'Connor is a New York based dance artist. Please watch each piece and come to class Monday with your questions, observations, and overall response to these works. They are all short excerpts from larger hour-long pieces, so please be aware that all of it is taken out of context. But knowing that, watch, enjoy, and notice what stands out for you and what questions about dance come up for you.

Happy Dance Watching!

Alicia

Rosas | THE SONG #2

Tere O'Connor Dance, BABY (2006) excerpts

MAYBE FOREVER - Meg Stuart & Philipp Gehmacher

Hi Class -

Your assignment this week is to watch these THREE videos (less than 20 minutes).  I have included interviews with my great teacher Deborah Hay and two other dance artists I admire, Meg Stuart and Simone Forti.  Each of these women discuss important ideas about improvisation and performance that really resonate with what we are working on in class.  After you've watched these videos (do it sooner rather than later) your second assignment is to pay attention to the world around you.  Listen. See. Notice. Let go and notice something else.  Put your ipod and iphone away and give the world your attention.  Pay attention to the way the world around you moves and the way you move within the world around you.  You can do this assignment anywhere and everywhere.  As you walk to and from class, on the bus, at the store, while you brush your teeth...we'll talk/play with these ideas in class on Monday.  Bring your sneakers!!!

Meg Stuart Interview @ YBCA

Otis Visiting Artist: Simone Forti

An Interview with Deborah Hay - Up Until Now

Merce Cunningham Video

Hi Class -

I found this great mini-documentary about Merce Cunningham.  Some great old footage of both Merce Cunningham and Martha Graham to give you a little context for understanding "modern" dance.  Please watch (17 minutes), enjoy, gather your own questions/thoughts, and we will discuss Monday.

Before, During, After

Cunningham - thoughts/questions about dance

Hi Class -

The assignment that was given Oct. 5 and is due Oct. 10th is:

Write a paragraph or two (up to a page printed on paper and turned in to me in class Monday) reflecting on your own personal movement history.  In your life, what type of movement has your body experienced?  Is it related to dance, sports, running, playing, standing, sitting, cooking, flying, walking...?  What stands out to you as familiar in your body?  What stands out as unfamiliar?  I'm simply curious to know how you relate to the "dances" that you've been doing all your life.  Or do you often forget that you have a body and give priority to your brain/mind?

Curiosity - Questions - Ponder - Unsure - Trust - Respond

Tere O'Connor Dance

Hi Class -

This next selection comes from Tere O'Connor. He is a choreographer from New York who is also a huge advocate for discussions about contemporary dance and choreography. He is a current and established member of the dance scene and is very interested in getting into a dialog about dance and what dance can be. He is an important influence and support to emerging choreographers in this field. Please watch both of these videos and we will discuss them next Tuesday 2/22. For more on Tere O'Connor visit: www.tereoconnordance.org

Enjoy,

Alicia

Tere O'Connor Dance RAMMED EARTH (excerpts)

Notes on Prisma Forum - Tere O'Connor

Martha Graham - mother of modern dance (rebelling against ballet and "frivolous" dance)

Martha Graham was an American dancer choreographer regarded as the mother of modern dance. Graham was a galvanizing performer, a choreographer of astounding moves. She invented a new language of movement, and used it to reveal the passion, the rage and the ecstasy common to human experience.

Ovation TV | Martha Graham: The Dancer Revealed

Yvonne Rainer - Trio A

Yvonne Rainer - An initiator of the post-modern dance movement (rebelling against modern dance and ballet)

Yvonne Rainer was one of the organizers of the Judson Dance Theater, a focal point for vanguard activity in the dance world throughout the 1960s. A turning point in Rainer’s choreography came in 1964, when, in an effort to strip movements of their expressive qualities, she turned to game structures to create works. All movement aimed to be direct, functional, and to avoid stylization. In so doing, she aimed to remove the drama from the dance movement, and to question the role of entertainment in dance. Throughout this stage of her choreography she worked towards movement becoming something of an object, to be examined without any psychological, social or formal motives. She opted for neutrality in her dances, presenting the objective presence of the human body and its movements, and refused to project a persona or create a narrative within her dances. In 1965, as a reaction to many of the previously stated feelings, Rainer created her "No Manifesto," which was a strategy formulated to demystify dance.

No Manifesto:

No to spectacle.
No to virtuosity.
No to transformations and magic and make-believe.
No to the glamour and transcendency of the star image.
No to the heroic.
No to the anti-heroic.
No to trash imagery.
No to involvement of performer or spectator.
No to style.
No to camp.
No to seduction of spectator by the wiles of the performer.
No to eccentricity.
No to moving or being moved.

Rosas - Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker

Hi Class!!!

Here we are with our own blogger.com site. With this first assignment, what I ask of you is that you watch the required videos, do whatever additional research you might be interested in doing, and choose to comment if something strikes your interest. Also, feel free to pose questions to one another. But always be respectful of other's thoughts and opinions. Conflicting opinions is great, but only if we honor everyone's aesthetic.

So, lets get started:

We talked last week about what is going on in contemporary dance now. Of course, contemporary dance continues to grow. Where once there were the original four, now are countless choreographers making all kinds of work and asking different questions. Though the post-modern techniques of release and contact improvisation have thrived over the last 50 years, some of the core philosophies of that originating post-modernist era have been overlooked by next generations. Now, international choreographers are picking up on these core philosophies and making work that starts to surpass the work started by American artists. That is not to say that these experimental philosophies aren't happening here in the US, but with budget cuts to funding in the arts in the late 80's, producers and theaters wanted to present work that people were familiar with. Work that would be safe and make them money. That is why Alvin Ailey is so well known and yet such an old dance company. His most popular work was made in the mid-1950s. What does that say about progress in the arts in America?

So, the artist that I am highlighting in this post is Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and her company Rosas from Brussels. I have given you two videos. One appears as a link and is an interview with her (5 min) and the other which is a previous post is a short dance excerpt (5 min). It is a recent piece of hers called The Song. She is one of the leading choreographers of our time and her work travels all over the world. These are trained dancers and this is set choreography. Many of you brought up questions about trained vs. untrained, set vs. improvised, and everyday movements vs. "dance". I think this piece demonstrates the line between all of these things well. Let me know what your thoughts are.

http://bcove.me/7nclvk3b

Also - the link to her website: www.rosas.be

Enjoy,

Alicia

Rosas | THE SONG #2