It's been a busy season: Bryn Mawr Faculty show, 'Current' at Studio 34, InFlux at Mascher and next week, the Bryn Mawr Spring Concert. I've been working with the students there on a new piece called 'Monster Radar'. Music by Micronesia. Come check it out~

SPRING DANCE CONCERT
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, APRIL 25th AND 26th
7:30 PM MARSHALL AUDITORIUM/Haverford College
Free and open to the public; reception follows

Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Swarthmore students perform in works by faculty, guest, and student choreographers ranging from ballet, to modern, to funk, to African.

Current at Studio 34
One night only!!!
SATURDAY 28th , 8 p.m. $5
Don’t miss a great line up for a super low price. Come meet and support local artists!!!
www.herebegindance.com/current.html

Saturday, Feb. 28th, 2009
Studio34 in West Philly
4522 Baltimore Ave.
www.studio34yoga.com

Alie Vidich (dance theater)
Annie Wilson (dance on film)
Christina Gesualdi (dance)
Michelle Stortz/Ring Dance Theater
Headlong Dance Theater
VISUAL ART BY J. Marshall - Lively

"Current" series is proudly starting its third year of existence as a guest at Studio34Yoga's monthly Studio Series. Come see some witty, funny and thoughtful pieces. "Joga"(not Yoga) performed by Alie Vidich will enlighten you with the practice of the art. Christina Gesualdi’s dance piece is asking "What would a duet look like that starred the characters: Nothing and No One?". Michelle Stortz/Ring Dance Theater is exploring the Flow Theory and opens a new chapter for her company exploring rhythm and spatial relationship. Annie Wilson will show a short dance on film while Headlong Dance Theater will present a brand new duet. Visual art will be by West Philly artist J. Marshall-Lively.

Hope to see you there!

New Old Thoughts

working on new movement material...thinking about time, rhythm... i'm actually counting. why did we stop counting? needed to i suppose.

am showing this material this friday. a friend pointed out – after i shared my concern about it not being 'finished' – that i could look at this process as being much larger and longer and that this showing happens to fall somewhere in the middle. i like this idea and it is not new. how do i forget these things?

my specific inquiry at this point is about the internal experience in shifting from set choreography to scored improvisations. there's something more in here about how i'm creating, my approach, that i can't put my finger on. feeling very 'old school'.

presently very inspired by Batsheva Dance Company and the Gaga approach to movement.

My First Butoh Ride

I was just in Katsura Kan's 'Curious Fish'. This was my first real Butoh experience and I loved it! I loved the use of internal story, the concept of filling a mask with emotion, the sense of ancient-ness, the taboo and beauty and absurdity. I especially had fun as a chicken. And I got to be naked - woohooo! On the whole, I went on a rich internal journey within a landscape of sparse and delicate physicality. Lovely.

Study 349

The Spiel Uhr show on Oct 18/19 went quite well. We got lots of great feedback on 'Study 349' – "interesting use of character and abstraction" – and the dancers seemed to enjoy themselves. This is the project on Flow theory that I've been working on and in this phase I was able to introduce some methods like repetitive movement and Viewpoints. Unfortunately our rehearsal period was so short that we hardly scratched the surface. In some ways it boiled down to standard rehearsals – shaping choreography, getting the details, etc.. So I'd like to get back into the studio with the dancers and really have an extended lab around the Flow state.

photo by Bill Hebert. dancers: Jodi Obeid and Sara Narva

Impatient Patients

I can't believe the incredible thick bureaucracy of the medical system! My husband and I just spent six and a half hours in the hospital trying to get two different kinds of scans done. My husband has been dealing with brain cancer for two and a half years now, with a recent recurrence this summer. So while waiting two hours for his second scan of the day, a CT scan, we also find out that a particular conversation between two of our doctors, regarding an important transfer of information, has never transpired. We've been waiting for three weeks for information to pass between these two. How FRUSTRATING! My husband's treatment is waiting on all these people to get COORDINATED! Meanwhile the cancer cells grow... Really, what kind of person do you have to be to get efficient medical treatment in this country? A Senator?

Here's hubby's blog: http://brain.fraczard.com/

So how can I continue to be an artist during all this? Jon says that knowing I'm following my path is what keeps some sense of sanity in our lives. I keep grasping for threads of integrity. How can I spend so much of my time in a field that seems so narcissistic and ego-centered? By telling myself that I'm investigating embodiment - how can we live in our diseased bodies in this toxic environment with any hope of Grace. I'm looking for Grace.

Which brings me to Flow theory and my project incorporating Flow into the choreographic process. It's an odd task I've set for myself and my dancers... finding this expansive state of mind and body during a creative process. What I'm finding is that the Flow state is really more accessible at the beginning of the process – in the improvisational stages – and in performance. The middle is full of nuts and bolts dance crafting. But we keep our Flow lens on, attending to the 'how' of the making and hope that it will all make sense in the end.

The Next Project

I'm working on a new project wherein I, with Ring dancers, am investigating Flow Theory. Flow is the state of consciousness that is achieved through a practice of total attention and absorption in an activity. Major research was conducted on Flow Theory by Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and later published for the layperson in his book, Flow: the Psychology of Optimal Experience. It is from this book that I will be basing my experiments on the intersection of the choreographic process and the Flow state.

I have two methods for entering this state and am relying on the group process and feedback at each rehearsal to modify add or delete any aspects of these. The first is Viewpoints which is a technique of improvisation that provides a vocabulary for thinking about and creating movement for the stage. Viewpoints separates the various components of stage action into nine categories: spatial relationship, tempo, kinesthetic response, shape, duration, gesture, repetition, architecture and topography. The practitioner is to stay aware of what category he/she is operating in in any given moment. Thus it is an exercise for mental clarity.

The other method is a movement score involving the extended repetition of a Qi Qong movement. I call this the Swing Score and it is one simple movement performed right and left for 15-20 minutes as a kind of meditation. The repetition activates a different part of the brain, taking us out of analytical thinking and putting us into a calm, receptive presence.

I'm relying on these two methods to bring us into a Flow state from which we will generate and shape movement material into a new piece which I am currently calling "Out of Play". We will be performing the first draft of this as guests at Group Motion's concert, Spiel Uhr, at the Community Education Center, October 18-19.