February 23, 2008

I feel like this every once in a while

"All I know is I'm losing my mind," Franny said. "I'm just sick of ego, ego, ego. My own and everyone else's. I'm sick of everybody that want to get somewhere, do something distinguished and all, be somebody interesting. It's disgusting - it is, it is. I don't care what anybody says... I'm not afraid to compete. It's just the opposite. Don't you see that? I'm afraid I will compete - that's what scares me. Just because I'm so horribly conditioned to accept everybody else's values, and just because I like applause and people to rave about me, doesn't make it right. I'm ashamed of it. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody. I'm sick of myself and everybody else that wants to make some kind of a splash."  -- J. D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey

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February 15, 2008

Reviews - Who? Why? Who cares?

This photo is of my company, The PlayGround, performing our pre-performance section of My ocean is never blue in the lobby of the Clarice Smith Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Maryland College Park as part of the annual Choreographers' Showcase. In the foreground you can see Adelais, my 9-month old daughter . Later, during the show, we performed another section on stage.

On the Tuesday following the concert we got a review in The Washington Post which was negative in regards to my work and mixed over-all. I have received many good and bad reviews over the years, so while it is always unfortunate to receive negative reviews it doesn't upset me too much. But, what was problematic about this review  was that the writer, Rebecca J. Ritzel, doesn't seem to have much understanding of dance. In looking at her bio on her website  it appears that she doesn't have any training or education in dance - this to me seems like a huge problem. How does The Washington Post, and media in general, decide who is qualified to review dance or pass judgment? I find it unacceptable that Ms. Ritzel was given this and further assignments to critic dance as she seems unqualified for the job. One the of dancers in my work, Amanda Abrams, wrote into The Post and had her letter published in the Op-Ed section. I think she did a good, succinct job at getting to these points. Of course, this debate about reviews - who gets to do it, what are their purpose and how much weight do we give them - is ongoing. Just recently there was a gathering of dancers and dance critics to discuss this issue here in DC - unfortunately I was not able to attend, but Rob Bettman did transcribe a bunch of the meeting (I can't find it though, Rob is it online?). As an artist I have to be prepared to except both positive and negative reactions to my work, but when that reaction is going to be published and presented as authoritative it seems like I should get the respect of having it reviewed by someone with an understanding and knowledge of the art form.

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February 5, 2008

under over faster faster

This is an excerpt from a recent rehearsal. We're working on a section titled "under/over" - each section (trio, duet, solo) is working with this image/concept. This is a rough draft, but it is a good beginning. Also, I've sped up the video some since often when watching dance on video it is perceived as much slower than when watching live. I especially like when the other dancers run in and out - kind of Benny Hill like...

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