Thursday, July 9, 2009
"i bloom so lonely"
Yes folks, it's semi-official.
What once was "Glass Tree" is getting over-hauled and re-worked and will now be (the/ilona's/a) "Bloomcycle".
Why?
For starters, "glass tree" was an idea and image that was, to me, very specific to Julia. Since she's no longer dancing it, I needed to mentally shift it before a choreographic re-envisioning could be made. This is, you'll remember, the section that once was Julia dancing 30 short phrases with a plastic bag (cut off by her injury), which was genesis for the SIDEsubTEN project (cut off by inexperienced planning on my part). With all that bad karma (silly as it sounds, it really starts to weigh you down if you don't address it) I felt a need to re-examine and redefine it if we were going to keep it in the piece.
Not that this is a bad instinct for any section - we've been doing it organically for all the sections, and this one just got dusty because we left it under the bed for so long. So yes - time to redefine.
For starters, i want to give it more of a contrast between the lightness (almost unapparent in the first version) and more breadth spatially. I'm also playing with ideas about involving the whole group into it (either as to-be-thrown-bag suppliers or as movers) and really focusing on what it means that it's the last "spot of time" that She attempts to show Him, and how it can or can't function as the end of the piece or transition to that end. Also, with Ilona dancing it (for now) and Ilona being Her (for now), there are certainly questions bubbling up about how that changes both it's positioning within the piece, and the movement itself. So that's a lot.
Why "bloomcycle"?
Well...i was looking through an old notebook trying to figure out what to do with the material we'd made, looking for things we'd moved on from or forgotten, and i came across this:
"Bloomcycles" and further down the page "i bloom so lonely"
both of those kind of stuck with me, despite the fact that i have NO recollection of why i wrote them down, though i can recall the rehearsal, place i was sitting, and people who were there. I think it fits with what that section is aiming for - She (and bear with me, becuase this is new, as of Ilona being cast as Her) is finally exploding, or blooming, or wilting, or even just saying something, even if it's just a whisper. She's finally using her own voice, rather than speaking through these other metaphors, and it's directly about her state - the conflict of feeling okay, feeling progress, feeling some semblance of power, and then also being continually undercut, getting more and more frustrated, feeling less and less progress. So the idea that blooming could be lonely, that fits. And the idea of it being a cycle points to the possibility of involving other dancers, and the notion that becuase of the undercutting, her evolution is cyclical. And then of course there's Leopold Bloom, and he fits with everything.
Maybe i'm christening this a bloomcycle to see where he leads it - he's always taking me somewhere interesting.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
A conversation:
"Have you found what you're looking for? Have you made sense of it?
(pause) Do you have an answer? A conclusion?"
"Not yet."
"Do you need to go back? See it all again?"
"Yes."
(and later)
"Why can't i see the real thing?"
"Because it's not yours. It doesn't exist any more."
"Then what am i seeing? Why am i stuck here?"
"Look again."
(pause) Do you have an answer? A conclusion?"
"Not yet."
"Do you need to go back? See it all again?"
"Yes."
(and later)
"Why can't i see the real thing?"
"Because it's not yours. It doesn't exist any more."
"Then what am i seeing? Why am i stuck here?"
"Look again."
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
New videos for your face to see + heartmuscle to love
The other exciting news of late is that the AOMC has finally caved (at the suggestion of Richert, after seeing the quality from his new baby) and bought a flip camera! I've been hearing Doug Fox talk about them for a while, but was never really convinced until I got to take a look firsthand.
It was getting increasingly hard to get my camera (which, make no mistake, i LOVE, but it's HUGE) to rehearsals, and I didn't want to worry about it getting stolen, damaged, etc from carrying it around all day for a rehearsal at night. Anyway - this is great news for all parties involved, because it makes it incredibly easy for us to get you footage of rehearsals. Take this week for instance.
We're back in the studio after some time off post DC show (which was FAB, thanks! I have some awesome pics, but need to get rights to them before i can post...) and I had the dreaded first day back by myself. I'm working on creating creating a solo for myself to put in the epic, which, lordbabyjesus knows, is neither my strong suit, or my idea of fun. HOWEVER, I'm committed to giving it a try. A really tough rehearsal all around, but here are some clips I pulled from my improvisations of things that stuck out to me.
Today was much more fun.
I had rehearsal after work with Lillie @ Chez Bushwick, and we banged out a few things. We worked a little with ideas of sloughing and drunken stumbling for a new beginning to SLFdstrcTV and started playing with this little cutie of a phrase:
and Lillie also helped me work on some improvisation and movement sourcing for the solo. We used a structure (loosely) based on one that Ashley Byler did with us a lot in her last piece i was in - on person looking at the other dancing, taking it in, and then trying to replicate points of interest and/or specificity that the are clear in the other one. We went back and forth a few times, discussed, did it again.
We used some music by Atmosphere to bring out some qualities I'm interested in putting in the solo - force and effort-laden movement that seems to be natural to me, the idea of threat or violence outside vs internally, etc. We wanted to test a hypothesis about using this music to create something that, once the music was taken away, came across as more violent and neurotic. What do you think?
Moresoon, lovealways,
xoxox.
It was getting increasingly hard to get my camera (which, make no mistake, i LOVE, but it's HUGE) to rehearsals, and I didn't want to worry about it getting stolen, damaged, etc from carrying it around all day for a rehearsal at night. Anyway - this is great news for all parties involved, because it makes it incredibly easy for us to get you footage of rehearsals. Take this week for instance.
We're back in the studio after some time off post DC show (which was FAB, thanks! I have some awesome pics, but need to get rights to them before i can post...) and I had the dreaded first day back by myself. I'm working on creating creating a solo for myself to put in the epic, which, lordbabyjesus knows, is neither my strong suit, or my idea of fun. HOWEVER, I'm committed to giving it a try. A really tough rehearsal all around, but here are some clips I pulled from my improvisations of things that stuck out to me.
Today was much more fun.
I had rehearsal after work with Lillie @ Chez Bushwick, and we banged out a few things. We worked a little with ideas of sloughing and drunken stumbling for a new beginning to SLFdstrcTV and started playing with this little cutie of a phrase:
and Lillie also helped me work on some improvisation and movement sourcing for the solo. We used a structure (loosely) based on one that Ashley Byler did with us a lot in her last piece i was in - on person looking at the other dancing, taking it in, and then trying to replicate points of interest and/or specificity that the are clear in the other one. We went back and forth a few times, discussed, did it again.
We used some music by Atmosphere to bring out some qualities I'm interested in putting in the solo - force and effort-laden movement that seems to be natural to me, the idea of threat or violence outside vs internally, etc. We wanted to test a hypothesis about using this music to create something that, once the music was taken away, came across as more violent and neurotic. What do you think?
Moresoon, lovealways,
xoxox.
the AOMC + Urgent Artist are back in action!
Hi all - apologies to begin for the increasing lack of posting. We've been taking some time to rest (ha, no, not really) and plan for the future, but starting right now we're back with a vengeance!
We had a great company meeting a few weeks ago, and one of the things we talked about was really improving the blog, doing a total revamp both in terms of look and writers, and really giving you more and better. It will be done! Watch for some new writers soon, and as always, if you have something you'd like to contribute, just let me know!
We have some insanely exciting news for you - 2 pieces actually - but until a certain contract is signed I'm only at liberty to tell you about one, so here's the first:
If you haven't been following, EMPAC's DANCE MOViES Commission is awarded to four projects annually, and funds the creation of a new dancefilm. We applied with a proposal to turn "13 Variations on a Car Crash" into a dancefilm - hopefully the first step in making a dancefilm version of the whole epic. It's a complete honor to be chosen for the shortlist - the group of films that make it to the second round to be judged by the pannel - and we'll know by July 15th who the lucky four are. It's still a LONG ways off and really tough odds, but I feel really great about our applicaiton. It would be so exciting to get to start work on a film and really feel like we have the budget and support to really make it the way it wants to be made rather than shoestring budget and no time, but for now i'm concentrating on that perfect balance of not thinking about it too much and crossing my fingers whenever possible. WANT IT. send your good vibes our way.
The second piece of news is equally exciting, but you'll have to stay tunned for that one. I promise - the second i'm allowed to tell you'll know becuase i'll blurt it out everywhere.
Anyway, just wanted to let you know that we're back, we're excited, and we can't wait to get you back up to date on what we've been working on, wondering, watching, and other w words.
lovealways,
Sarah A.O. // the AOMC
We had a great company meeting a few weeks ago, and one of the things we talked about was really improving the blog, doing a total revamp both in terms of look and writers, and really giving you more and better. It will be done! Watch for some new writers soon, and as always, if you have something you'd like to contribute, just let me know!
We have some insanely exciting news for you - 2 pieces actually - but until a certain contract is signed I'm only at liberty to tell you about one, so here's the first:
we've been shortlisted for EMPAC!!!
If you haven't been following, EMPAC's DANCE MOViES Commission is awarded to four projects annually, and funds the creation of a new dancefilm. We applied with a proposal to turn "13 Variations on a Car Crash" into a dancefilm - hopefully the first step in making a dancefilm version of the whole epic. It's a complete honor to be chosen for the shortlist - the group of films that make it to the second round to be judged by the pannel - and we'll know by July 15th who the lucky four are. It's still a LONG ways off and really tough odds, but I feel really great about our applicaiton. It would be so exciting to get to start work on a film and really feel like we have the budget and support to really make it the way it wants to be made rather than shoestring budget and no time, but for now i'm concentrating on that perfect balance of not thinking about it too much and crossing my fingers whenever possible. WANT IT. send your good vibes our way.
The second piece of news is equally exciting, but you'll have to stay tunned for that one. I promise - the second i'm allowed to tell you'll know becuase i'll blurt it out everywhere.
Anyway, just wanted to let you know that we're back, we're excited, and we can't wait to get you back up to date on what we've been working on, wondering, watching, and other w words.
lovealways,
Sarah A.O. // the AOMC
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