November 25, 2007

I'm an elitist, and so are you

Aren't we all elitists? I mean, not just you and me, but everyone?

As soon as we begin to acquire specialized knowledge and communicate with others with similar knowledge we begin to leave people out of the conversation. Individually or privately this may not be much of a problem, but when we present a performance and some members of the audience don't "get it", aren't we leaving them out? Could we have made it easier for them "to get"? But, if I go to a model train convention, or a neurology conference, I'm pretty much out of luck in both of these cases Are the people attending these events being elitist? Should they start from square one for me? Or, is it my responsibility to acquire knowledge if I'm interested? Both? How many entry points are necessary before a community has done its share to be welcoming? Is it everyone's job to be an entry point for a general audience?

Dance is specialized knowledge, whether your a student, performer or audience member - so is model train building, neurology, plumbing, interior design and hip hop music. People come to it, or not. Are interested in it, or not. And, when is enough enough? If they love Dancing with the Stars do they have to become fascinated with Merce Cunningham's choreographic procedures? If they enjoy Mark Morris', or Rennie Harris', or Pilobolus' work is that enough? Must they enjoy Joe Goode, Bebe MIller or David Dorfman as well? Not to mention Phffft Dance Theater, Mansurdance, or Joe Kreiter. If they like dance that is pretty and exciting if that enough? Or must they be fascinated with post-modern explorations of audience/performer relationships and the connection of movement vocabulary to structural form?

Of course, there is a range of interest - both visceral and intellectual. I will, most likely, always have a smaller audience than the Washington Ballet, and that is fine. One could say my work is more elitist than their work because it doesn't follow as familiar norms. But, Riverdance has a larger audience than the Washington Ballet. And more people watch So You Think You Can Dance than go see Riverdance. And, most people don't see any of these dance performances.

Boo-hoo. If you're a dancer, your elitist. If you're an artist, your elitist.

I invite everyone to be an elitist with me.

Posted by Daniel Burkholder at 2:48 PM - Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

October 11, 2007

Drought

Water is everywhere. Well, kind of. Earlier this week on the Kojo Nnamdi Show (DC/NPR radio program) had a discussion about the state of the Chesapeake Bay. Today on the front page of the Washington Post in an article about the lack of rain fall in the DC area. On the Kojo Nnamdi show it was mentioned that Maryland would be the third most impacted state due to rising oceans after Louisiana and Florida - mostly likely because of the bay. And, some counties are starting to put restrictions on water use because their reservoir are low. It will be interested to see what happens if water becomes more of an issue in the DC region. Adding drought to the fact that the Potomic and Anacostia Rivers are incredibly polluted, it just might get some people's attention. There is nothing like having an international crisis all of a sudden in your backyard - as when all the senators and congresspeople can't water their lawns... I'm not saying this would be a good thing, but it might get things moving. 

Posted by Daniel Burkholder at 10:58 PM - Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

October 9, 2007

Breathing Together

Last weekend (Fri & Sun) we began rehearsing with the new members of the company. It is always interesting to have new people and their energy in rehearsal. These first couple of rehearsals are more about getting to know each other than about creating work. I try and take time to just move together, to establish a language and a sense of one another. Rushing to quickly into trying to be productive always seems to be counter productive. So, for these first rehearsals we really just worked on different improvisational skills, structures and concepts. We started each rehearsal doing some Contact Improvisation and moved into solo and group scores. On Sunday we went through some scores that focused on the breath. Here is a brief description of the solo and groups scores:

Breath Phrasing: First just breath. Follow the inhale and the exhale. After a time, begin to move - doing only one movement with each breath cycle. One movement that spans the inhale and the exhale. Continue like this for a while. Then begin to do one movement with the inhale and one movement with the exhale. Two movements for each breath cycle. Continue to do this for a while. Begin to change the number of movements per inhale, per exhale. Maybe do 3 movements during the inhale and 2 during the exhale. Or, 4 during the inhale and 1 as you exhale. Keep playing with the number of movements during your breath cycle. Let movements overlap from one to the next. Continue. Breath Coordination: Standing in a circle, one person begins to coordinate their breath with a simple plier - inhale and straighten the legs, exhale and bend the legs. As the rest of the circle coordinates their breath with the first person they add in to the plier. All breathe and plier together for a time. Gradually dancers can begin to explore their breath phrasing while staying in breathing coordination with one other. As the phrasing develops, let the circle dissipate, move through the space, all the time keeping the intention of being in breath coordination with one other. Continue to let it develop.

These scores, which are such a nice way to connect inner to outer and individual to group, were inspired by my music for dance teacher at Sarah Lawrence College, Norma Dalby.

Posted by Daniel Burkholder at 10:39 AM - Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

October 4, 2007

Library Videos

Two people videotaped our performance last week at the Martin Luther Kind Library, as part of the DC Improvisation Festival, and posted these videos to their blogs. Here they are:

The first, from Shallom, posted to her blog Dance in Time and Space, is an excerpt of the middle of the work:

The next video is an edited version that Boris Willis posted to his Dance-A-Day site:

Click To Play

I had two reactions to these videos - 1. I loved that the performance was videotaped and then shared on the web - especially since I didn't get it together to get it videotaped myself. 2. I wondered what the protocol is to videotape someone else's work, edit it and then post it to your website. Neither of these people asked permission to video or post the video even though the work is copyrighted and clearly under my direction. Now, with Boris, I follow his Dance-A-Day site and thought he might videotape the performance and post it, but never had a conversation with him around that. I had no idea Shallom was even videotaping and wouldn't have known about the post if I didn't see it listed on another blog. Again, I'm actually fine with the fact that it happened, it just made me wonder about the legal and moral responsibilities of this kind of act. Is it necessary to ask permission? Is it just good manners? Does it even matter?

Posted by Daniel Burkholder at 10:28 AM - Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)