Oct

Dance Across the Board: Call for Proposals

New York University presents:
Impulses to Begin
Dance Across the Board Graduate Student Conference
Hosted by the Tisch Dance Department, NYU, January 31st, 2009
http://dabdance.blogspot.com
danceacrosstheboard@gmail.com

Call for Papers and Performances

Dance Across the Board is seeking proposals that consider the theme: Impulses to Begin. We would like to explore the notion of impulse in the field of dance, and the ways in which it spurs beginnings in practice, theory, and social movements. In this current climate of change, we are interested in examining the stimuli that spark desire for action and transformation.What is an impulse? Why and when does it occur? Does something begin after an impulse, and what happens when an impulse is intercepted? What needs to begin? What has begun? In physiology, an impulse is a “progressive wave of excitation over a nerve or muscle fiber” that can either stimulate or inhibit. An electric impulse is a single, often abrupt, flow of current in one direction. Impulse can also be defined as a force, thrust, push against, pressure, shock, or instinctual urge. The impulse in its various forms is pertinent across cultures and disciplines, and Dance Across the Board encourages papers and performances that approach the topic from any of these angles.

Suggested areas of investigation include, but are not limited to:
Impulses and beginnings in theory, history, choreography, and practice; in relation to the political, the social, the body, technology, education, community, culture, and audience psychology.

Dance Across the Board welcomes proposals in the form of papers, solo or duet performances, lecture-demonstrations, films, and mixed media. Interpretations of the theme are encouraged as the conference promotes new ideas and possibilities. Presentations should not exceed 15 minutes. The conference will be curated into panels. Please be advised that the conference studio is only able to support basic technological needs.

Dance Across the Board (DAB) is an interdisciplinary platform for graduate students in New York City and surrounding areas to present work and works-in-progress on dance and body-based performance. Conceived in the spirit of Dance Under Construction, DAB seeks to provide an East Coast platform where graduate students working in various aspects of dance can come together and dialogue about their research and interests. This first DAB event will feature curated, informal studio choreography showings, papers, and dance technology projects.

Proposals should include the following:
1. Completed Submission Form including:
- Name
- Title of presentation
- Email address and telephone number
- Institutional affiliation
- Names of other participants
- Format of presentation
- Technical requirements
2. 300-word explanation/abstract that describes your presentation and how it relates to the conference theme
3. 50-word bio for all participants
4. For performances, a 3 to 5-minute clip of the piece or a representative work sample. Please mail DVD/VHS or link to an online video.

All proposal materials (except for DVD/VHS) should be emailed to danceacrosstheboard@gmail.com
Please mail DVD/VHS, labeled with your name and viewing info, to:
“Dance Across the Board,” NYU Tisch Dance Department, 111 Second Ave. 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10003

Deadline for Proposals: Wednesday November 26th 2008
Notification of acceptance by: Tuesday December 9th 2008

The conference is free and open to the public
Please direct all questions to: danceacrosstheboard@gmail.com

Posted in Dance Across the Board- DAB | Comments Off

Sep

10

DanCAct: A Movement

Tonight, Brittany and I attended the Dance Community Activism meeting organized by Anthony Whitehurst and Kristen Schifferdecker of Red Novae movement group and Megan Sipe/Dancing Fish Productions. It was held at the Park Avenue Armory, which may soon become an important cultural center. There is already a dance company in residence at the Armory and hopefully there will be more.

Anthony, Kristen and Megan structured the meeting in a refreshingly efficient way that involved some workshop techniques. –>The meeting was casual in mood but professional in execution and direction. We discussed issues surrounding “space,” in particular rehearsal and performance space. Many facets of the nyc dance community were represented; from dancers and choreographers who need space to presenters and people who allocate space. Before the meeting closed, we broke into smaller groups to discuss three feasible solutions for the space issue. The “actionables,” as they were called, were 1) sharing studio space with other artists 2) building a technological hub with centralized information and 3) exploring alternate spaces. We left the meeting excited with prospects of change but also with the realization that there will be much work to be done.The question of whether DanCACT would follow through as a movement was raised. A couple of people were more cynical about it, but everyone saw the immense potential and recognized that such gatherings are necessary.Look out for information on the next DanCAct meeting and a possible response by the initiators of DanCAct.If you were at the meeting, feel free to comment here with your experience.-Faye Limp.s. Sorry for the lack of paragraphs. It is a technical problem.

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Sep

2

Dance Community Activism Meeting

Dance Community Activism Meeting
Wednesday September 10th, 6-8:30pm
Park Avenue Armory- 643 Park Ave, b/w 66th & 67th- 4th floor

RSVP - Anthony Whitehurst: anthony@rednovae.org | 337-277-8441

This is the place to address issues faced by the dance community at large, and to develop creative solutions that involve collective action. Working against traditional models of hierarchical organization- these meetings will be run using facilitation (non-directive leadership) and decisions will be made by the people involved. The meeting will be structured so everyone will have a chance to share their viewpoint and ideas, then people with similar ideas can discuss possible methods of action. The idea is to spend time and energy to save time and energy by developing more sustainable models for dance. This is grassroots dance community activism, let your voice be heard!This meeting will focus around the issue of SPACE. What challenges is the community as a whole dealing with in regards to space? How can these issues be addressed by the community to make space more accessible, affordable, etc? What type of action can address this?

Contact us if you are planning to come to the meeting. YOU MUST RSVP TO ATTEND THIS EVENT.

Submit issues or items to be added to the agenda as a possible topic of discussion for the following meeting.

Forward this to people who would be interested in this type of movement.

We hope to see you at the meeting. Space provided as a part of Moving Theater’s Residency at the Park Avenue Armory, and this is organized under a joint venture of Red Novae movement group & Megan Sipe/Dancing Fish Productions.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Aug

28

Dancer Needs Assistance

This just came in from Dance/NYC. Please help with what you are able and pass along the information. Thank you!

——————————————————————————————

Please Help a Dancer in Need

From our friend Miguel Gutierrez:

I am writing you to ask you for your support for my dear friend Jillian Peña.

You may or may not know that Jillian, who is a dancer, choreographer and video artist, was hit by a car in New York 2 1/2 weeks ago in Brooklyn, NY. This article in the Post has some of the basic information about it. CLICK HERE to read the article.

Since then she has been at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan. She was admitted with two hematomas in her head, underwent multiple surgeries, and is now progressively waking up from a coma.

Despite the gravity of the accident and the anxiety of the past few weeks, I believe that Jillian is definitely on the road to recovery. I have been inspired and heartened by the amount of improvement in her condition in just the past 3 days. Yesterday she was transferred from the Intensive Care Unit to the Rehabilitation floor of the hospital, which, in and of itself is cause for celebration.

For updates and info on her situation, you can go to friendsofjillian.blogspot.com.

Unfortunately, as with so many artists and working people in this country, Jillian doesn’t have health insurance. The medical costs will be staggering. In addition, her parents have re-located here indefinitely from their home in New Mexico, and it will be a huge expense for them as well to stay in NY during Jillian’s rehabilitation.

A paypal account has been set up to receive financial donations to alleviate the financial hardship that Jillian and her family are experiencing at this time. Please consider making a donation on her behalf. ANY amount, any number of times that you can give it, will be invaluable for her and for her family. I know this is hardly a time when people have extra cash, but please know that this donation will provide immediate and much needed assistance. No donation is too small or too large.

To donate, go to paypal.com and sign up for an account (takes literally about 2-3 minutes) and then go to the “Send Money” tab and make the donation to:
donations4jillian@gmail.com

Again, please consider making a donation on behalf of Jillian and her family today. With help from as many people as possible, we can keep the focus on Jillian’s recovery.

And of course, feel free to pass this information on to as many people as you like.

Thank you
Miguel
——————————————————————————————–

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Aug

25

NEW: Dance Across the Board 2009

Dance Across the Board (DAB) is a platform for graduate students in New York State and surrounding areas to share dance through different mediums. It follows the structure of the University of California’s Dance Under Construction (DUC), which is “an interdisciplinary forum for presenting graduate student work on dance, the body and performance.” The first DAB event will feature curated, informal studio showings of student work and papers. There will also be talks by a keynote speaker and representatives from external arts organizations.

Who: Graduate students who make dances, write about dance, or use dance in their work

When: January 31st 2009 (Saturday)

Time: 1000 – 1700 h (tentative)

Where: NYU Tisch Dance Building, 111 2nd Ave. New York, NY 10003

Objectives:

• To provide a space where students are able to present their choreography, research, epiphanies and new technology.
• To build stronger relations between students of various dance related departments.
• To share information about trends and developments within the various dance related departments.

*** More details will be available as they are being finalized***

———————————————————————————————————

If you or your department is interested in participating, please add a comment to this entry or email Faye Lim at <fml235@nyu.edu>

Posted in Dance Across the Board- DAB | No Comments »

Jul

30

Housing: CAVE and Crown Heights

CAVE Arts Space in Williamsburg has a room available from Aug 21st to Sept 31st. There is a short profile on CAVE in our Feb 16th entry, which has some other housing leads. This is CAVE’s description of the room and contact information.

“CAVE room is located inside CAVE’s artists and dance studio complex. Located in one of the hipster neighborhoods of Brooklyn: Williamsburg, (a 5 minutes subway ride to Union Sq, Manhattan). + 10 - minute walk from the Bedford Ave stop of the L train. Great atmosphere for meeting other artists and to experience the live & work art studios of NY. Amenities include a fully furnished bedroom with clothes rack, television with DVD-VHS player, a couch, use of shared kitchen and bathroom, wireless internet access and use of communal computer. If interested please e-mail: info@caveartspace.org Telephone 718 3886780 If taking the whole two months: $700 per month or $350 /week or $60 per night.”

I have recently heard about the artist housing at Crown Heights and found a few sites that provide information you can use. The first site by nrv lowdown gives an overview of the housing and details about life and transportation in the neighborhood. The second site is an entry (dated April 8th 2008) by Gigi Romain for Lightstalkers. She took a trip to the building and found some rental openings. Although it has been more than four months since she wrote the entry, there is no harm in trying for a spot now. Gigi also provides a contact person and number for the residence.

Hope this helps!

——————————————————————————————————–

-Faye Lim

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Jul

6

Dance in Major Journals 6/30 to 7/5

After a long life adjustment period, I am ready to hit the keyboard again and continue commentary on our little community of dancers and dance makers. There were so many times in the last few months that I wanted to write something about an article I read, write a quip about something that I experienced, or comment on something that I experienced, but without some of the analysis that this takes, it is only opinion with little factual basis for my beliefs. I think I have mastered my new time schedule, so here is the chart from the last week:

	NY times	NY Times	La Times	Chicago Trib	NY Observer
	on main	below
Monday	2	1	2	1	1*
Tuesday	0	1	1*	1*	1*
Wednesday	1	1	2*	1*	1
Thursday	0	2**	1	1*	1*
Friday	0	0	0	1*	1*
Saturday	1	1*	1	1*	1*
Sunday	1	0	1*	1*	1*

WEEK TOTAL	5	6	8	7	7


* one repeat
**Two repeated
*** Three repeated

The Los Angeles Times seems to be showing the true flavor of the city without a dance critic sitting at the helm. The pieces highlighted this week included a performance by Meg Wolf and New York mainstay Tere O’Connor. These seem to be more experimental dance than the bulk of the material reviewed in the past, and this is not out of step with what I have seen in the past few weeks. (Noted: the paper is using an extremely cheesy pair of pointe shoes as a dance avatar-ish photo on the arts page to offset the fact that no photographer is sent to these performances. I have now seen it used for another article, and its misplacement is very humorous) Maybe having younger, more adventurous journalists pick the articles they write- without an older head dance critic to “guide” them to more conservative performances- will reveal a real dance climate in the city. I look forward to reading more.

.

The paper also featured a blog post regarding So You Think You Can Dance
on the front page of their online paper. Although the actual conversation within the blog and its readers may turn toward the drama, there is no denying that people are voicing their opinions about what they are seeing performed by the dancers. This is an excellent step in the right direction.

.

The Chicago Tribune seems to either be suffering summer stagnation or a regime change that I have not heard about. The “Art and Architecture” section did not change once during this week. It is a sad week to come back to this project with no new coverage of the many Chicago based dance companies. They usually cannot help but show their hometown pride.

.

The New York Times and New York Observer acted very much the same as usual. The Times, mostly covering ballet but letting a few contemporary pieces pass onto the front page, wrote a profile on Chen Wei, who is acting as Choreographer for the Beijing Olympics this summer. The Observer is still writing only one piece per week or two, and that is principally written by Robert Gottleib, and always classical ballet or modern dance.

Posted in Reviews, press | No Comments »

Jun

10

SEAD/NYU Exchange (updated)

Every year, NYU’s Tisch Dance and the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD) partner in a summer exchange program. This past Friday, I met with the five SEAD students who are attending the Tisch Dance Summer Residency Festival to find out what is going on at SEAD, and to check in with them at the halfway point of their stay.

They are…

Stefania Amaducci, 25, from Italy, 3rd year student at SEAD, appeared as one of the “redheads” in Johannes Wieland’s newyou at the Ailey Citigroup Theater last week

Malika Fankha, from Switzerland, 3rd year student at SEAD, studied classical dance and acting for film in Zurich

Cecilia Nilsson, 26, from Sweden, graduating student at SEAD

Kir Qvortrup, 25, from Denmark, graduating student at SEAD, starting a 2-year Master’s program in Dance Partnership at Skolen for Moderne Dans in Copenhagen

Soren Linding Urup, 28, from Denmark, 3rd year student at SEAD, received his Bachelor’s degree in Rhetorics from the University of Copenhagen

Read the rest of this entry »

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Jun

9

Free Modern Technique Class Tomorrow

Anthony Whitehurst of Red Novae Movement Group is teaching a free modern technique class at TSDStudio in Williamsburg. There are a few cats that share the space so please take note if you have allergies. Red Novae also has other events and artist services, for example, a monthly newsletter on choreographic opportunities. To subscribe to the newsletter, look for the small orange “subscribe” at the bottom right corner of the website. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in general | No Comments »

Apr

10

Jezebels on Dance

During the daytime, I “take mental breaks” from my actual work by sliding around the web. One of my favorite haunts is Jezebel, part of the Gawker Media empire of blogs. It is saucy, and smart- just the way that I like my closest girlfriends. Since I spend my morning reading information related to dance that has been published on the web, I was well aware that London’s Guardian posted an article concerning the lack of ethnic diversity in ballet companies. This article was picked up for massive ranting (I participated) by Dodai Stewart at Jezebel. Stewart, if I am not mistaken, has dance training in her background.

. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Reviews, performances, press, company management | No Comments »

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