choreography – Page 11

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…]

Naked Dancing: A Cautionary Tale

August 28, 2012 by 4dancers

by Lauren Warnecke, MS

In 2010, Alastair Macaulay seriously pissed me off.

His gross review of NYCB’s Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier, and specifically his comment on their waist sizes, sent shockwaves through the interwebs. I wouldn’t say that he’s necessarily done it again, but there’s a little buzz beginning on the social media about his new editorial on naked dancing.

437px-Bakst_Nizhinsky — Naked or nearly naked dancing is not new: the bare-chested Nijinski shocked his 1912 audiences with the overtly sexual L’Apres Midi D’Une Faune

I’m hardly shocked that Macaulay’s first paragraph, and most of the essay, are comparing modern experimental dance to porn and strippers. To be honest, I fully expected to be writing another rant about sensationalism in dance writing….. but I have to say, I’m aligned with Mr. Macaulay on a couple of points.

Dancing in the buff has serious implications that you can’t avoid (no matter how much we want them to). It’s an artistic choice that instantly personalizes dancers and makes them into real people, with legs and hips and – other parts. Depending on the degree of naked, your costume (or lack thereof) also creates the distinct persona of sexual beings, and if that’s what you want, then go for it.

But…

Naked is not a decision you should make lightly as a dancemaker, or, in my opinion, frequently. That’s not because I don’t want to see naked people; it’s because the one thing that you think is so extreme and unique and impactful is actually quite overdone. It’s sort of like making a dance to Barber’s Adagio. Like it or not, most audience members are going to have preconceived notions about nudity. Maybe you can prep them in program notes and pre-show talks to depersonalize the dance and see the beauty of the human form in motion, or maybe you’re okay with the influence of the giggling twelve-year-old boy in all of us seeping into the overall impact you want your piece to have. If not, find another way.

I’m not frustrated by nudity in dance because I find it offensive. Rather, I’m put off by the fact that the choreographer couldn’t find another way to represent vulnerability, or truth, or love, or whatever. Getting naked isn’t as extreme as you might think… I’ve used it (more than once), along with almost every dancemaker in my acquaintance.

My point is: Go ahead! Get naked if you have to, but recognize that there will always be that guy giggling in the back comparing your art to a strip club. Just, whatever you do, please don’t make a naked dance to Barber’s Adagio…

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 was 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.

Competition Dance: Maximizing Peak Performance Part I

August 9, 2012 by 4dancers

This month’s guest contributor to the Dance Wellness column is Robin Kish, MS, MFA, who is on the dance faculty at Chapman University in Orange County, CA. She is a leader in the field of dance medicine, and is especially focused on competition dance.

Robin comes from that background herself, and most of the students she trains come from competition studios as well. Many of them graduate to teach in that same environment. Others have become professional dancers in shows such as “Wicked”, competed at the highest levels of “So You Think You Can Dance”, and joined such top notch companies as Momix.

Robin’s passion is to help competition dancers look for ways to be able to dance / compete / teach without feeling broken. We are so pleased she has joined us here on 4dancers.org, sharing information especially for this important segment of our dance community.

– Jan Dunn, Editor, Dance Wellness

by Robin Kish, MS, MFA

Olympians, professional athletes, and even collegiate athletic programs have something in common….they all provide a team of medical health professionals to promote wellness and maximize peak performance.

Where is there anything similar for competition dance?

Choreography, music, costumes, hair, make up, technique class and 100’s of hours of rehearsing make up the day to day life of young competition dancers. The bread and butter of private studios today are competition teams, with students ranging from ages 5-18.

Competition organizations have been around for a while, however; in the last decade the level and interest in competitions have reached an all-time high. In addition to the increased opportunities to compete, there is also a continuous stream of conventions and workshops available for dancers to take technique class and learn choreography from the latest and greatest artists. Reality TV shows such as “So You Think You Can Dance” and “America’s Best Dance Crew” have helped promote dance in the public arena. That said, the missing factor supporting a dancer’s longevity and maximal performance is wellness…i.e, what this column is all about!

Beyond the rhinestones and sequins, the most important instrument the dancer has is their body. The hours of hard work take a toll on the body and sensations of pain may increase; therefore, a decrease in performance may develop. Since the focus of training frequently is toward the final product and the tricks necessary to score big at each competition, dancers forget to listen to their bodies along the way. [Read more…]

Making Dances: To Theme or Not to Theme?

June 21, 2012 by Ashley David

by Lauren Warnecke

I was working tech on a show recently and the choreographer presented two pieces of modern dance. Before the show she gave a brief introduction to each piece, and explained that the first piece was a narrative and the second was a “pure movement” dance. She encouraged them to find the story within the first dance, while not toiling over the second; just to sit back and relax. It might be crucial to mention at this point that the audience consisted of 800+ physicists who inherently look for the greater meaning in everything. This got me thinking about how they might respond to the two pieces, both individually and as a whole experience.

There are conflicting opinions in modern dance with some choreographers gravitating toward stories and themes, and others making “dance for dance’s sake”. Many do some combination of the two, or abstract their work to the point that any allegorical relevance is beyond comprehension to the naked eye (this is where program notes come in handy). Some dances may rely on a simple adjective, feeling, or concept to generate the dance, where others may go to the extreme of being full-on story ballets that aren’t ballet. You might see this in choreographers like Mark Morris, while Trisha Brown runs a tight ship of process-driven, anti-thematic dances consisting of pure movement. [Read more…]

the Glass Child – On Dancing A Story

May 24, 2012 by 4dancers

And now for something completely different…

Today we have with us Charlotte Eriksson, aka “the Glass Child”. Charlotte is a singer/songwriter originally from Sweden that recently collaborated with two dancers for a video that showcases her new song. It’s also meant to raise awareness of an important issue that is near and dear to her heart…

1. What is your background in the arts?

I’ve been writing since a very early age but I started writing music when I was around 15. When I got into music I just knew that this is how I wanna spend my life. I’ve been dancing since childhood too, not on a professional level, but dancing and the way dancers can speak so loud without words, will always stay with me.

2. Can you tell readers a bit about your single, “I’ll Never Tell” and why you decided to use professional dancers in the video?

I released this song to raise awareness of domestic violence and personal struggle. The idea for this started by all these people I connect with online through my music. I get so many heartbreaking stories on Twitter, Tumblr and email every single day from young people who are going through these things, but no one seems to dare to talk about it out in real life. I wanted to speak up and let all these people know that they’re not alone, there are so many struggling with these things, but the people are still so uncomfortable around these subjects.

3. How did you choose these dancers?

I find a lot of inspiration through finding dance-clips and choreography on youtube, and I’ve been a fan of Francesco and Enza Cara for a long time through their youtube-channel. So I basically reached out to them, told them about the song and the message and asked if they wanted to collaborate with me by telling this story through their language, through dance.

4. What was it like to work with them?

It’s been such an honor to see how they embraced my story and put their heart into it. They worked so hard with both the choreography and the video-editing and I couldn’t be more happy with the result.

5. What did using dancers bring to the mood of this video?

Everything, really. Art in every form is so powerful and it can reach you in ways you never thought, and I think to have dancers speak my words through their movements makes every single word mean so much more.

6. How do you think dance helps illuminate the subject matter? [Read more…]

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