FYI

Sara, David and I are performing on Saturday at 8pm at Experimental Movement Concepts (3618 Falls RdBaltimore, MD 21211(410) 366-2626). It's an open choreography showcase, hosted by the Collective Dance Co., and it's free and open to the public.

So, come out!

fun with photos, reflections on light

We wanted to have pictures that would make people come to the dance concert so we got together to make them. Sara, in black velvet with no sleeves, her white legs bare from above the knee, Zach with his camera, David with his guitar (hair sleek but not slicked, each curl a picture of the shape of the universe). I wore gray. We met in a grand ballroom of an old hotel (all the lights out) and danced in the space of light on the floor that came in from the tall windows. We wanted to be in the room, with all its old world glamour, with all of my strange gestures.

We felt like gangsters sneaking into the grand hotel, but when I left for home, walking quickly through the yellow-lit streets, I realized that what I felt, really, was the illusion of being part of a rococo painting. The chiaroscuro; the light and shadow brought my dances to life in still shots more than I was capable of doing on stage. In that tall light streaming across the carpet, everything took on weight and we stacked the gold painted chairs into a sculpture that was perfect for breaking our bodies into fearfully beautiful chair-like pieces and the light made the shadows seem so heavy and significant.


The light coming in from the yellow-lit city was not so different from the sunlight that used to stripe across our bedroom walls and ceiling in our first apartment (in Keene), blind-shaped tiger stripes of light that a film major once told me represented imprisonment when shot in a film, and if I'm honest, there were times that I felt trapped. The sunlight striping the old bedroom walls is not so different from the splotches of sunlight (shaped like the negative space between the leaves and branches of trees) that decorated thousands of notebook and novel pages from the time I could read and write and walk in the woods alone. The light of the space between tree leaves is not so different from the soft orage glow of the night-light, shaped like a turtle that was the first birthday gift from my first and only boyfriend when I was 17. The light of the brass turtle (that still sits in my bathroom) is not so different from the vivid twinkle of the stars in Drewsville NH in December in the cold and snow when all other light is extinguished.

All photos by Z. Z. Handler 2009

Great Choreography Tool

http://www.danceexchange.org/toolbox/home.asp

Liz Lerman's site is pretty much the go-to for fun and creative choreography ideas...gets the juices flowing.

Community Project 2009 Video

This is the link to the youtube vid of the Community Project 2009, "Paper or Plastic", choreography by Jessica Fultz.

It was so much fun, and I hope to someday replicate the Community Project idea in other cities, because I think that it expands the audience for dance, and brings the experience of performing to a group of individuals who might otherwise never have that opportunity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo5OmcntDrA

The Community Project--Photos

The Collective's Community Project is an annual opportunity for adults with all levels of movement experience to learn a piece and perform it on stage at the Baltimore Museum of Art. This year the piece was called "Paper or Plastic" and was choreographed by Jessica Fultz.

Zach Handler took some pretty swell pics backstage which show how much we came together as a cast. It was a really great experience and I look forward to doing more dancing with these great folks.

See the pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zzhandler/sets/72157615251664721/

Thoughts on Creativity (not mine); should keep you busy for a while...

Twyla Tharp (her book, The Creative Habit, is worth reading if you like making stuff...dances or whatever):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLzl6D8kYuY

Amy Tan (I've never read her books...she's funny and smart though):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D0pwe4vaQo

Bill T. Jones (won the genius award, because, well...he kicks ass, skip to 5:47)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-LVmfTbJYs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYKYOsuOFR8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2YVsUFi31Y

And the best Bill T. vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOSsDHLooi0

Dance specific, William Forsythe improvisation technology:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsRnVW96KN8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-32m8LE5Xg
(this goes on and on, very complex, see it in action in the next vid):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wym1-b48NbY

On collaboration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THuyhgEhkdU

Another fun one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjwUn-aA0VY

Bob Dylan Suite Part One...except performed to Fleet Foxes...