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Finding Balance: Artistic Exhange & Trust

June 25, 2012 by 4dancers

by Emily Kate Long

Emily Kate Long, Photo by Avory Pierce

Lately I’ve become increasingly aware of—and increasingly excited by—how much hard science goes into this esoteric and ephemeral art form. The study of technique is, at its roots, a study of kinesiology: physics applied to the human body. Broadening the scientific scope a bit, the emotional, intellectual, and sensory exchanges that happen in the studio and onstage are roughly analogous to biological mutualism. This installment of “Finding Balance” is a look at the fine balance between needs and gifts of the participants in artistic exchange and the trust that’s required to achieve equilibrium—the balance of science with something greater and less measurable.

In biology, mutualistic relationships are categorized as obligative (the relationship is necessary for the survival of one or both participants) or facultative (useful but nonessential for one or both participants). Additionally, the interaction can be described in terms of what is being exchanged between parties: services, resources, or both.

Often the focus is on the relationship between performers and audience, but there are a lot of other players here. Teachers, directors, choreographers, musicians, production staff, and stage crew all make necessary contributions to the presentation of the artistic product, and each derives benefit from the process and the product. The right balance of mutualistic relationships in nature encourages the success of ecosystems. The right balance in professional dance is necessary for the survival and advancement of our art form.

Dancers require opportunities to hone our craft, opportunities to share our art, and individuals or ideas from which to draw inspiration. Classes and rehearsals offer opportunities to perfect movements, and for those things, dancers need a facilitator—a teacher, director, choreographer, or stager. Sharing our art can’t happen without another party present; that’s where the audience comes in. Dancers draw inspiration from a multitude of sources: the audience, the facilitator, the dance itself, the music, fellow dancers, emotions, and past life experiences. Our relationship to all of these things is largely obligative—we cannot intuit technique or dance exclusively by instinct. We cannot be our sole source of motivation and we definitely can’t watch ourselves from across the footlights.

The primary need (arguably, the exclusive need) of the audience is an exceptional sensory and emotional experience, which is delivered directly by the performers, choreographer, musicians, and designers. Of course, this delivery would be impossible without the work of directors, coaches, and crew as well.  The audience’s relationship to the performers and facilitators is ambiguous in terms of being essential or simply beneficial—certainly, society at large benefits from art, but only individual audience members (and sometimes not even they) know whether they need to engage in a relationship with dance. [Read more…]

Filed Under: 4dancers, Editorial, Finding Balance Tagged With: audience, choreographer, dance teacher, dancer, performers

Keeping Dancers Dancing: Outside Conditioning — The Franklin Method Part I

June 14, 2012 by 4dancers

by Jan Dunn MS

Happy Summer!  Our last few posts have been about conditioning, and we’re still on that topic…

Today is all about the Franklin Method (FM).  The FM is not really an “outside conditioning” method, although it can be used for only that  – but it is really much more. It is something which can be integrated into dance training and your daily life — a movement education system that can be very beneficial not only for learning new movement, but also for “re-patterning”.  That term refers to when we have a poor movement habit or postural pattern, and want to change it to one that is more efficient and healthy for our body.

The FM is science-based, founded on principles from physics, biomechanics, evolutionary anatomy (how the human body has evolved over time in its movement capabilities), concepts from both Western and Eastern science —and is especially based on the new science of Neuroplasticity – i.e, the plasticity of the brain.

This has been one of the most important scientific discoveries of the late 20th / early 21st centuries.  Science is only beginning to understand how amazingly flexible our brains are, not just when we are infants / young children, but though out our lifespan.  How we live, what we do and think on a daily basis, profoundly affects and shapes our brain –constantly. We DO have the capacity to change our brain, and thus our bodies as well (“The Brain That Changes Itself”, by Norman Doidge, MD, is a terrific book about this field – available on Amazon and in bookstore). The FM gives us the tools to accomplish those changes ourselves.

Eric Franklin

The founder of the FM is Swiss-born Eric Franklin, a multi-talented man who is a:

-dancer

-choreographer

-educator

-author (10 English-language books currently on the market,  3 of them completely dance-oriented)

-movement scientist, who began developing his work nearly 30 years ago.

The FM is now taught and used world-wide, in dance as well in many other environments, such as:

-Music (The Music Conservatory of Vienna, for example)

-Pilates (many FM instructors are also Pilates teachers, and it has been presented at Pilates conferences in the US)

-Yoga (again, a number of  FM trainers also are Yoga instructors, and it is taught at Yoga centers and conferences in the US and UK)

-Sports (Franklin has worked with world-class athletes, including those at Olympic level)

-Medicine (US PT’s are increasingly becoming certified and using it in their clinical work, and in Europe it has been used for many years in healthcare systems, including physical therapy and midwifery)

Tune in tomorrow for a closer look at the FM in the dance world!

Jan Dunn, MS

Editor Jan Dunn is a dance medicine specialist currently based on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, where she is affiliated with Pilates Kauai. She is also a Pilates rehabilitation specialist and Franklin Educator.

Originally a dancer / choreographer, she became university dance faculty, most recently as Adjunct Faculty, University of Colorado Dept. of Theatre and Dance.  Her  28 year background in dance medicine includes 23 years with the International Association of Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS) – as Board member / President / Executive Director – founding Denver Dance Medicine Associates, and establishing two university Dance Wellness Programs.

Jan served as organizer and Co-Chair, International Dance Medicine Conference, Taiwan 2004, and was founding chair of the National Dance Association’s (USA) Committee on Dance Science and Medicine, 1989-1993. She originated The Dance Medicine/Science Resource Guide; and was co-founder of the Journal of Dance Medicine & Science.  She has taught dance medicine, Pilates, and Franklin workshops for medical / dance and academic institutions in the USA / Europe / Middle East / and Asia, authored numerous articles in the field, and presented at many national and international conferences.

Ms. Dunn will be writing a new column, “Dance Wellness” for 4dancers in 2012 and will also be bringing in voices from the dance wellness/dance medicine field to share their expertise with readers.

Filed Under: 4dancers, conditioning, Dance Wellness Tagged With: choreographer, dance medicine, dance wellness, dancers, dancing, iadms, the franklin method

Utterly Memorable: Approaching Ecstasy

June 2, 2012 by 4dancers

by Gigi Berardi

Bamberg Fine Art, Dancers: Chalnessa Eames and Andrew Bartee

 

In May, Seattle experienced a major dance event with 53 performers on stage and Olivier Wevers producing his best work ever – Whim W’him’s Approaching Ecstasy. The 86-minutes of music was composed by Eric Banks in a Paris attic, and the poems sung a capella (again, for 86 minutes, in English and in Greek) by his 40+ member Esoterics, some of whom danced on stage as well. Banks wrote the music to 18 sensuous poems by the 19th century Greek poet Constantine Cavafy (the audience is treated to just 18 of the hundreds of superb poems Cavafy wrote). It took the composer, choreographer, and other members of the production team four years to get all those artists on stage – well worth the wait for such a memorable performance.

The astounding concert featured the haunting music of Banks and vocal performance by his Esoterics, Seattle masters of contemporary a cappella. The choral setting that Banks provided for Cavafy’s erotic poems was, quite literally, a masterpiece – 18 vignettes, with Wevers’ 18 pieces of choreography – a rightful homage to the closeted gay poet. Every detail of the performance paid tribute to this 19th century quiet man-hero, who lived his life in an office, in a business suit (similar to the one the 53 performers wear on stage). The eerie scenic design, the underplayed overhead lighting, the gut wrenching music expertly played by the St Helens String Quartet (led by the magnificent Michael Jinsoo Lim) – all were utterly remarkable. At the premiere, the music and chorus were beautifully amped and the dance was understated, striking.

Bamberg Fine Art, Dancers: Lucien Postlewaite and Andrew Barte

Wonder how this will play in Europe.

For dancer Lucien Postlewaite, this was his last performance for Whim W’him (and husband Olivier Wevers) as a Seattleite (he joins Les Ballets de Monte Carlo in August). Their professional and love relationship is so strong, it is clear it will thrive, even as a multicontinental one (see my articles in February and July (forthcoming) issues of Dance Magazine. For now, Wevers focuses on his major upcoming gig at the Joyce, and commissions worldwide – while young Lucien is Europe-bound.

For more on Whim W’him’s niche in the world of Seattle dance, see http://www.dancemagazine.com/reviews/January-2011/Whim-WHim and http://www.dancemagazine.com/issues/January-2011/Seattle-Takes-Off).

Gigi Berardi

Gigi Berardi holds a MA in dance from UCLA. Her academic background and performing experience allow her to combine her interests in the natural and social sciences with her passion for dance, as both critic and writer. Over 150 articles and reviews by Ms. Berardi have appeared in Dance Magazine, Dance International, the Los Angeles Times, the Anchorage Daily News, The Olympian, The Bellingham Herald, and scientific journals such as BioScience, Human Organization, and Ethics, Place, and Environment. Her total work numbers over 400 print and media pieces.  Her public radio features (for KSKA, Anchorage) have been recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists.  She has served on the Board of Directors of the Dance Critics Association, and is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, as well as Book Review editor for The Journal of Dance Medicine & Science.  A professor at Western Washington University, she received the university’s Diversity Achievement Award in 2004.  Her fifth book, Finding Balance: Fitness and Training for a Lifetime in Dance, is in its second printing. Her current book project is titled A Cultivated Life.

Email: Gigi.Berardi@wwu.ed<mailto:Gigi.Berardi@wwu.edu>u

Website: http://myweb.facstaff.wwu.edu/~gberardi and http://www.gigiberardi.com/

Blogs: http://blog.gigiberardi.com/ and http://resilientfarmsnourishingfoods.blogspot.com/

Filed Under: Performance Reviews Tagged With: choreographer, constantine cavafy, dance magazine, eric banks, gigi berardi, les ballets de monte carlo, lucien postlewaite, seattle, seattle dance, whim w'him

Choreography: Play Between Past & Present

May 17, 2012 by 4dancers

This is the last installment in our series of posts on The Dance COLEctive‘s upcoming choreography showcase. We’ve talked with each of the choreographers, and today we have Melissa Pillarella with us to talk about her piece, where the dancers confront the complexities of feeling and accepting resentment by incorporating athleticism and a non-linear structure. Music from local band To Destroy a City furthers the tone and theme of the piece.

Melissa Pillarella

In life, I think there are always past events that people look back on and hold a little resentment or regret towards. Even if those events have brought them to a place where they are satisfied and happy, they may still think in the back of their mind about how they would like to go back and change something or do something differently. Of course, it isn’t possible, but the play between the present and the past, moving forward and looking back, is something that makes us who we are and is endlessly interesting to me.

What role did the band play in this process?

Usually music is one of the things I struggle with most, and I feel like it always becomes an afterthought once the piece is finished. I create something, and try to find something to slap on top of it that isn’t completely distracting. This time, I wanted to approach this project with a clear idea of what kind of music I wanted to use. I saw To Destroy a City perform at The Empty Bottle, and I turned to my brother and said, “I want to dance to that.” I was really into the mood and atmosphere they created with their intricate soundscapes.

At the beginning of the process, when we were first focusing on inventing movement, I played the album throughout rehearsals which I think influenced a lot of the vocabulary we created. As we got deeper into the project I was influenced by other sounds that I also wanted to incorporate in the piece, and it started to go a different direction. I decided I wanted to create a piece that used different samples of sounds I was interested in and convinced my hesitant friend, Donovan Lampa, to help me. Donovan is not a musician, so it was an experiment for both of us.

We liked what he created, but it needed something else. We decided to try reincorporating To Destroy a City, and it was exactly what the piece needed coming full circle. Now, the music is partially our experiment and partially the band (which is much better than our sorry attempt, but here goes nothing).

How did you communicate the idea behind this piece to the dancers—and was it difficult to do?

I actually waited until we were a few rehearsals in to discuss my idea behind the piece to the dancers at all. I didn’t want to feel confined by the desire to get a specific thought across, but instead I wanted to see where the piece naturally took us. It was only difficult to talk to the dancers about the idea because it wasn’t very easy for me to articulate. I do believe the original idea, whatever that was exactly, is very prevalent in the piece at least in structure and overall mood.

How much collaboration was involved in the creation of the piece?

I came into the process with some movement phrases and also gave specific assignments to the dancers to generate material. Together, we played with layering and working more in depth with the movement both I and they had created. Then I used a trial and error method for structuring the piece by watching the dancers work with various potential structures I threw out until we found one that seemed to make sense both thematically and aesthetically. Overall, I think the process was very collaborative, and I was incredibly lucky to have such talented dance artists working with me. The piece would not be the same without them.

Did you enjoy the choreographic process—or how would you describe it?

I have a love/hate relationship with the choreographic process. Like any true love, it can be horribly frustrating and totally satisfying all at the same time. Sometimes I wanted to throw out everything I had because it was shit and start over, and other times I thought that I was a genius who had just created the best work ever seen. In reality, neither are true, and I’m just beyond privileged to have a creative outlet that can sweep me up in the process… sometimes.

If you are interested in seeing this show, it runs May 18 & 19 at 8:00pm and May 20 at 7:00pm. Tickets are available here.

BIO: Melissa Pillarella, originally from Chicago, began dancing at Whitney Young Magnet High School and received a BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois.  While at U of I, Melissa performed in works by Jan Erkert, Linda Lehovec, Rebecca Nettl-Fiol, Lorie Carlos and others. Currently, Melissa also dances with Mordine & Co. Dance Theater as well as independent choreographer Cristina Walterman.  Melissa is excited and honored to be returning for her second season with The Dance COLEctive.

Filed Under: 4dancers, Making Dances Tagged With: choreographer, choreography, dancers, Melissa Pillarella, the dance colective

Choreography: Transforming Personal Poisons Into Beauty?

May 14, 2012 by 4dancers

Atlanta Ballet’s New Choreographic Voices is exactly what it sounds like–a showcase for talented emerging choreographers. This year, the company presents three pieces–two world premieres and one Atlanta premiere. The choreographers include Christopher Wheeldon, Helen Pickett and Atlanta Ballet’s own company member Tara Lee.

Tara Lee, Photo by Charlie McCullers

Lee is a principal dancer in her sixteenth season with the Atlanta Ballet, and her choreography has also been performed by New Orleans Ballet Theatre and Emory Dance Company. Here she shares some of the ideas that inspired her latest piece, as well as what it was like to collaborate with a composer…

How did you first begin choreographing for Atlanta Ballet?

The ballet held a choreographers’ workshop years ago, where those of us who were interested could create a piece on the company and then show our work to a small audience in our studios. I presented an unfinished piece for the workshop, and (Artistic Director) John McFall invited me do a completed version for the company’s following season. “Sixteen String” was my first professional work; it premiered at the Ferst Centre in 2003.

How many works have you choreographed so far?

About 6…”Pavo” will be my third work for the Atlanta Ballet.

What was your process like when you created this piece?

The process of creating “Pavo” has been unique, because we commissioned an original score (a first for me) from Dr. Nickitas Demos, professor at Georgia State. It has been quite an experience, to create something that is in constant flux from all ends. Thankfully, Nick is a wonderful artist and collaborator.

As for the choreography, it ended up being a mixture of prepared material and spontaneous creation in the studio with the dancers. I might teach a body of material, and then ask the dancers to insert their language into those sequences. Then we would continue to adapt that new information further.

Working on "Pavo", Photo by Charlie McCullers

Jesse Tyler (my assistant choreographer) and I might improvise some partnering work in the studio, end up teaching it to the cast, and then evolving it with the dancers’ input. We would usually put the music into the mix after the choreography was already shaped and find the dancers’ natural timing to synchronize all the elements.

Can you tell us a bit more about the inspiration behind your new work?

Initially, Nick and I had a couple of meetings to see if things clicked, and we quickly came up with a couple of themes we were interested in exploring: cycles and continuum. After deciding on instrumentation, length of movements, and general dynamics of each section, Nick began to send me pieces of the score.

I was at a bit of a loss at first. The music was dynamic, but I didn’t know what to do with it, choreographically or thematically. Then I found an article about the peacock. It resonated with me instantly, and it became clear that I wanted to base the ballet on the spiritual symbolism of the bird. “Pavo” is the Latin word for peacock.

Photo by Charlie McCullers

When I learned that the peacock can digest poisonous snakes, and therefore represents the transmuting of one’s personal poisons, I recognized one of Nick’s sections to be “the digestion of poisons”.  Some riffs even sounded like snake charmer music. I read further and discovered that peacocks dance restlessly before rainstorms; this presented the inspiration for the musical section I was worried about–it’s a very complex, feverish 3 minutes, and it made sense that it would be the storm section.

Nick had also sent me a lovely adagio for the featured duet, and when I read that peacocks also represent fidelity and faithfulness, I thought it was another great match. It was exciting to see our once broad themes become more focused and inspired. We had talked about cycles at our first meeting, and the metaphor of the peacock represented a breaking out of a cycle—a negative one. Awesome.

What do you enjoy the most about choreographing a piece?

I love walking out of a rehearsal being completely surprised at what we all just created.

New Choreographic Voices will run May 18th – May 20th on The Alliance Stage at the Woodruff Arts Center.

Watch an interview with Tara Lee:

Filed Under: 4dancers, Making Dances Tagged With: atlanta ballet, choreographer, choreography, christopher Wheeldon, helen pickett, john mcfall, new choreographic voices, pavo, tara lee

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