Editorial – Page 27

Dracula, Choreography & Artistic Ownership

October 10, 2012 by Ashley David

by Emily Kate Long

ballet quad cities — Ballet Quad Cities dancers Lauren Derrig, Kelsee Green, Margaret Huling, and Emily Kate Long

Last month I had the opportunity to return to the role of Mina Murray-Harker in Deanna Carter’s Dracula. It was the season opener for Ballet Quad Cities when I joined the company in 2009, and my experience then was radically different from now. The process of re-learning got me thinking about the dancer’s function in the existence of a role. To remember and pass on steps is one thing, but what about the aspect of characterization? We must preserve, but we must also advance. Interpretation and personalization are inherent in live art. How can we go about our work in a way respects the choreographer’s wishes?

Mina was the first real character role I ever danced, and Dracula was the first ballet I ever performed as a full member of a professional company. It was the beginning of my awareness of the huge clash between the academic, black-and-white (or, perhaps more appropriately, black-and-pink) framework I clung to as a student and the messy, splatter-colored, pick-your-own-adventure world of a professional career.

My professional performing experience up to that point had consisted largely of being the third-shortest girl in a line of umpteen in hundred-year-old tutu ballets. Conformity was the order of the day, and I quaked in my pointe shoes at the prospect of sticking out—being noticed usually meant you had done something wrong. We had a saying at Milwaukee Ballet among the trainees: “Know your role and shut your hole.” Great for staying out of trouble, not so great for artistic self-discovery.

I had anticipated that professional life would just be an extension of what I already knew: take class and do as I was told, learn choreography and do as I was told, perform choreography and hope I didn’t get reprimanded afterwards. Feedback or not, there was always the nagging question of whether my work had been good enough. Little did I know that being an artist has a lot more to do with being honest and generous and responsible than about being right by arbitrary standards. [Read more…]

On Dance And Momentum…

October 9, 2012 by 4dancers

by Lauren Warnecke, MS

Momentum (n.) force or speed of movement; impetus, as of a physical object or course of events

I couldn’t count the number of times I’ve asked a dancer to “use momentum” to carry her through a phrase. Heck, release-based modern dance is practically founded on the idea of capitalizing on momentum. But what does that really mean? When I was a junior in high school, crying nightly over Mrs. Youel’s AP Physics class, I learned that momentum is equal to the product of the mass and velocity of an object. In other words:

p = mv

where p = momentum (kg*m/s), m = mass (kg) and v = velocity (m/s)

So that’s cool. But how does that apply to dance? Does momentum just exist, or is it something that I can choose to “use” or not use of my own volition.

Here’s an idea: a body in motion (body meaning anything from a particle to an apple to an arm) keeps moving unless something acts on it to inhibit that movement. For example, if Isaac Newton drops an apple towards the ground, it keeps moving until it’s stopped by the ground. If he dropped it into a bottomless pit, the apple would continue to fall indefinitely. This concept is wrapped up in a nice little fundamental law of nature called The Law of Conservation of Linear Momentum. The law states that “the total momentum of a closed system of objects (which has no interactions with external agents) is constant.” Don’t believe me? I double-checked on Wikipedia.

In our case, that “external agent” is usually a muscular contraction, the ground, or the limitations of our bodies’ natural range of motion. Since ROM and anatomy aren’t exactly things we can control, perhaps “using” momentum is simply a release of the muscles to let momentum happen naturally. Who’s crying now, Mrs. Youel?

In dance and in life, momentum is the key. It is the gift that keeps on giving. If you just relax and let it happen, amazing things can occur. I’m joyriding on momentum right now, and trying to remind myself that momentum keeps going unless I do something to stop it.

Contributor Lauren Warnecke, M.S., is a Chicago-based dance artist, educator, and writer. She trained at the Barat Conservatory of Dance before earning a BA in Dance at Columbia College Chicago. In 2009, Lauren completed her MS in Kinesiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, with a concentration in Motor Control and Learning. Lauren is a Visiting Instructor for the department of Kinesiology and Nutrition at UIC, and teaches master classes and seminars in ballet, modern dance, creative movement, and dance pedegogy. She is certified in ballet by the Cecchetti Council of America and a member of the American College of Sports Medicine.

In addition to teaching at UIC, Lauren owns and operates Art Intercepts, under which she creates, informs, and writes about dance. The primary mission of Art Intercepts is to bridge the gap between the scientific and artistic communities to present programming that is informed, inventive, and evidence-based. Lauren is a freelance writer/blogger and maintains monthly columns at Danceadvantage.net and 4dancers.org. and is featured on a panel of nationally reputed dance writers at the 2012 Dance/USA conference. She also works periodically as a grant writer and production/stage manager for artists in the Chicago dance and performance community, and volunteers for initiatives encouraging Chicagoans to engage in local, sustainable, and active lifestyles. Lauren likes to hike, bake scones, and dig in the dirt.

Career Transition For Dancers-Maryellen Langhout

October 1, 2012 by Ashley David

Today we are pleased to announce a partnership with Career Transition For Dancers! In the coming months you’ll be hearing more about this wonderful organization as we post a regular feature highlighting the work that they do in their offices across the country.

We begin with an interview with Maryellen Langhout, LPC, NBCCC – the career counselor in the Chicago office…

ML in office_Cropped_12.6.11 — Maryellen Langhout, Chicago Career Counselor, LPC, NBCCC

1. What is Career Transition For Dancers?

Career Transition For Dancers is the only nonprofit organization in the US solely dedicated to the career needs of dancers. With offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and a mobile National Outreach Project, we have helped thousands of dancers take their first steps in discovering rewarding second careers.

Career Transition For Dancers arose out of a partnership of several foundations and unions, including the National Endowment for the Arts, AFL-CIO Labor Institute for Human Enrichment, and Actors’ Equity Association. Under the leadership of Agnes de Mille, this partnership led to the development and presentation of a conference held in 1982 at Lincoln Center to discuss the need to assist dancers both during and at the end of their careers. The goal of the conference was to find ways to help dancers make use of their individual backgrounds, talents and skills on and off the stage.

2. How did it get started?

Career Transition For Dancers was founded in 1985 by Edward Weston and was originally administered as an initiative of The Actors Fund in New York City. The program was also supported by Actors’ Equity Association, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, American Guild of Musical Artists, and the Screen Actors Guild. The funding provided by these organizations continues today. The original program provided career counseling and scholarship support for the members of these unions who were in the process of transition. In 1988, Career Transition For Dancers became a self-governing 501(c)(3) organization with a refocused mission to help all dancers, not just union members.

3. What is your role in the organization? [Read more…]

The Echos Of Iconic Dance Imagery

September 30, 2012 by 4dancers

by Christopher Duggan

It’s Jacob’s Pillow‘s 80th anniversary, and if you’ve had the chance to visit the Pillow, you’ll know that every year Norton Owen creates a beautiful exhibit in Blake’s Barn. This summer’s exhibit is the Decades of Dance and features photographs spanning the festival’s 80 years. I’ve always been inspired by these historic photographs on the Pillow grounds, and this summer I decided to create a personal project surrounding some of my favorite iconic images.

When The Horse’s Mouth program was presented this summer, taking advantage of the connection to Ted Shawn’s Men Dancers was a no-brainer. We were trying to do something interesting with the group to showcase that Ted Shawn was a pioneer for male performers. We recreated the famous photo of the Men Dancers in their bathrobes.

I wanted to recreate in the spirit of the original image and then we made another photo, because I wanted to give it my own spin with the creativity of the dancers.

That photo shoot got my juices going. I had always loved an iconic image of Ruth St. Denis from 1950 in this beautiful dress. When I saw Jessica Lang’s dance with the white dress by Elena Comendador, I thought “Oh my God, I wonder if she’ll be willing…”

The third and final “Then & Now” from this summer is tribute to a gorgeous picture by John Lindquist of a dancer on the Ted Shawn Theater with the doors open (a lot of people think it was taken on Inside/Out, but this was before the outdoor stage existed).

When I found out that The Joffrey Ballet was going to be in the Ted Shawn Theater and the company planned to open the back barn doors for one of their dances, I was overjoyed. I’ve been waiting for six weeks to make that picture. I was just getting in my mind how I’d execute the photo and things started to unravel. The Joffrey didn’t open the doors because it was too cold, and there were several floor lights on the edge of the stage that would alter the shot. There were so many factors that would make it difficult to recreate the photo that I gave up on the idea. But while the dance photography workshop was going on, I was walking by the theater, and they had just finished company class. I went on stage and showed the photo to one of the dancers on my iPhone, and we went for it.

If you visit Jacob’s Pillow, you’ll notice that every room in every building on campus has photographs on the wall. It’s so obvious that photographs are our window into the past, the living legacy of the festival. I honor that, I’m intimidated by that, and I’m proud of that. This was a way to connect to the past and to leave my own mark.

Christopher Duggan bio — Christopher Duggan, Photo by Julia Newman

Contributor Christopher Duggan is the founder and principal photographer of Christopher Duggan Photography, a New York City-based wedding and dance photography studio. Duggan has been the Festival Photographer for Jacob’s Pillow Dance since 2006. In this capacity, and as a respected New York-based dance photographer, he has worked with renowned choreographers and performers of international acclaim as well as upstarts in the city’s diverse performance scene.

He has created studio shots of Gallim Dance, Skybetter + Associates and Zvidance, among others, and in 2011 alone, he has photographed WestFest at Cunningham Studios, Dance From the Heart for Dancers Responding to Aids, The Gotham Dance Festival at The Joyce Theater, and assisted Nel Shelby Productions in filming Vail International Dance Festival.

Duggan often teams up with his talented wife and Pillow videographer Nel Shelby (http://nelshelby.com). A New York City-based husband and wife dance documentation team, they are equipped to document performances, create and edit marketing videos and choreography reels, and much more.

Christopher Duggan Photography also covers Manhattan’s finest wedding venues, the Metropolitan and Tri-State areas, and frequently travels to destination weddings. The company’s mission is straightforward and heartfelt – create timeless, memorable images of brides, grooms, their families and friends, and capture special moments of shared love, laughter and joy.

His photographs appear in The New York Times, Destination I Do, Photo District News, Boston Globe, Financial Times, Dance Magazine, Munaluchi Bridal, and Bride & Bloom, among other esteemed publications and popular wedding blogs. One of his images of Bruce Springsteen was added to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s celebrated photography collection in 2010. His company has been selected for inclusion in “The Listings” in New York Weddings magazine.

Opus 4, No. 1: The White Swan And A Jungian-style Of Musical Analysis

September 18, 2012 by Ashley David

by Allan Greene

Cue the strings. Prepare yourself for something big. I’ve got a lot of explaining to do.

Opus 4 is going to be big project. It’s going to synthesize several streams of thought that I’ve been carrying around with me for a while, one going back 36 years to when I was a senior at Carleton College. I’ve been intending to do something with these ideas for a few years, since George de la Peña, who was Artistic Director of the Joffrey Ballet School at the time, suggested I give a talk to the faculty and students on music and dance.

In order to get paid for such a talk, George had me submit a proposal to the school’s executive director. Unfortunately, George and the executive director parted ways before my proposal was ever processed. I had proposed doing five lecture/demonstrations on various topics, including the use both Stravinsky and Balanchine made of French Baroque poetry in Apollo, and the how the Ivanov/Legat choreography of the White Swan Pas de Deux in Swan Lake and Tchaikovsky’s music for it are interlaced to create a masterpiece. Long story short, no money, no revelations.

When the editor of this blog, Catherine, asked me to write about music and dance, and gave me carte blanche to write what was on my mind, the first thing that popped into my head was that long-delayed White Swan project. I had intended originally to recruit two dancers to demonstrate various parts of the dance while I played at the piano and did my Leonard Bernstein routine. In cyberspace, however, my audio-visual aids will be a little different. But it will get to the same place.

The more I thought about how to do this, the more I realized that my project rested on assumptions that, to be charitable, not everybody agrees with nor understands. [Read more…]

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