October 29, 2008

Kinetic Cinema Skips a Month, Other November Happenings

Unfortunately, due to difficulties finding space, there will be no Kinetic Cinema screening in November (normally it would be on the first Monday of the month). To make up for it, we will be back on the first of December with a fantastic double program with the sister dance/film duo Sasha and Kerrie Welsh and myself, featuring new works-in-progress, live dance, rare films, and more! Stay tuned for more up-dates.

Everyone's got the pre-election jitters, and while it may be hard to think about anything past November 4th, there are some other things to look forward to next month including the following dance film and media events.

First, it was hinted on Tendu.tv's blog (an excellent source of dance/media/tech information by the way), that Tendu.tv will launch its dance channel on Tidal TV potentially as early as next week, airing Battleworks' "Overture" performed at the Joyce. Other programs coming to the channel will be Jonah Bokaer's "The Invention of Minus One", performed at Abrons Arts Center last year, and Episode 1 of "Dance Tech" - a long form program based on the social network Dance-tech.net created by Marlon Barrios Solano. While the official launch date is not confirmed, I've already gone ahead and registered on Tidal TV's website, so I can be ready to stream Tendu.tv's channel as soon as it arrives.

With the recent technological breakthroughs in broadband video, the media playing field has been leveled somewhat, giving dance-makers opportunities to enter the mass broadcasting industry. I'm really excited to see what happens as Tendu.tv and other dance channels develop. Will they be able to cross over onto regular TV? Will the audience demand for dance programming grow? How will it impact attendance for live performance and live screenings? I'll be writing more about all these issues as events unfold!

Another screening event coming up in New York this month is a program of dance on camera presented by the Dance Films Association at the New Museum of Contemporary Art on November 7th at 7:30pm & November 8th at 3:00pm. The program will feature two silent dance films accompanied by live music, the first is SURFACE directed by Patrick Lovejoy (STOMP and Cirque de Soleil) with music by Grammy Award-winning saxophonist Jay Rodriguez (of Groove Collective fame), and Ben Dolphin's ARISING with music performed by his New Tribal Ensemble. Other films presented will be Pontus Lidberg's THE RAIN (Sweden), Klara Elenius' INSYN (Sweden), and Gabrielle Lamb's QUIZAS, QUIZAS, QUIZAS (Canada). New Museum of Contemporary Art is located at 235 Bowery Street (at Prince Street between Stanton and Rivington Streets, one and a half blocks south of Houston), New York City. For more info go to: http://www.newmuseum.org/

Appropriate for the coming winter, here's a trailer for Pontus Lidberg's THE RAIN:

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October 21, 2008

Dispatches from EMPAC's Grand Opening Weekend

I've written quite a few posts on this blog about the United State's one and only major supporter of videodance, EMPAC (Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center) at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY.

After two years of construction, on October 3rd EMPAC officially opened the doors of their new magnificent state-of-the-art media and performing arts center, and celebrated with two weekends of non-stop performances, screenings, installations and special events. I was lucky enough to be able spend the day on Saturday Oct 4th, seeing this amazing facility for myself. I traveled with a fellow dance filmmaker, Sabine Klaus (aka CreationEditor on dance-tech.net) who was visiting from Scotland. We took in the sights and Sabine recorded much of what she saw on video to create the 25 min vlog post below. Many thanks to Sabine for letting me share it with you here.



The building is a work of art in itself. Designed by the London-based architecture firm, Grimshaw, it is built into the side of a hill overlooking downtown Troy with views of Albany beyond. With its modern glass and steel exterior, and curvey wood interior it looks like both a starship landing dock, and a giant pickle barrel. It was a bit confusing to find one's way around the multitude of theaters, studios and galleries, but by the end of the day I'd gotten my bearings.

In 2007, with the support of a $1 million gift from the Jaffe Fund for Experimental Media and Performing Arts, EMPAC launched the DANCE MOViES Commission which supports the creation of several new experimental dance films by artists from the Americas each year. The premiere screening of the first DANCE MOViES Commission films took place in the huge Concert Hall space on a gigantic screen. I don't know enough to speak about the great acoustical and technical attributes of this space, but it was awesome to see dance films blown up so big with so much visual and sonic impact!

I thought the pieces that showed off the capabilities of the building the best, however were the interactive installations. The Wooster group made a 360 degree video installation that was supposed to be about life in wartime, but it made a more powerful statement about control and editing, as one viewer in the space, sitting in the "chosen" chair, was able to direct the gaze of the group by swiveling around. Wherever this one person looked, that was the part of the video that was in focus and audible. The piece was masterfully designed to look slipshod and casual, but underneath it was very manipulative, making you feel both in and out of control over the action. I'd love to see more pieces like this, but besides major art museums and institutions like EMPAC, it would be hard to find a place with the technical capabilities to mount it. Another great installation was Billie Cowie's 3-D "In the Flesh" in which viewers don the red and blue glasses to watch a dancer lift herself off of a zebra print rug. Like a ghost being conjured at a séance, it felt creepy to see her delicate hand reaching up to me, almost touching, and then fading away.

All in all, EMPAC is an amazing place for experimental artists, but after visiting I had a few questions about what its real world impact will be. Here in New York City, spaces to make and show experimental dance and media are more scarce than ever. Perhaps Troy and Albany will become a new destination for artists seeking cheap and plentiful real estate with adequate cultural and community benefits to support them, but even in up-state New York, the great disparity between rich and poor is quite striking. EMPAC is really designed for world class artists who already have the capabilities, funding, and expertise to take advantage of the unsurpassed technological resources this facility can provide. This makes sense given their situation at one of the world's most prestigious technical/engineering institutions.

Even in the arts, it seems the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I would just like an empty room with lights and heat to rehearse in, and perhaps a new video camera that can record high quality footage. I'd like to be able to pay my dancers and crew adequate compensation for their time and talents, and I'd like to not have to work three jobs in order to practice my art. There is a big gulf between the gutter most of us live in and the glimmering edifice of EMPAC. We need to create a bridge to be able to reach these glorious technological dreamlands of the future. This means radically rethinking how we build support, create community, and raise the value of our work. EMPAC makes experimental art look valuable and appealing to the wider world, but its up to us artists to raise the quality of our work to match those expectations. This takes many carefully measured steps to cultivate  donor networks, major funders, and presenters whose support will be necessary to reach that glittering gem on the top of the hill.

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October 9, 2008

Upload...Download...Perform - score-sharing site for experimental performance

I just learned about this fantastic new wiki site, Upload...Download...Perform, that allows people "to share your scores, actions, rituals, choreographed movements, texts, instructions, suggestions, recipes, meditations, etc." Scores are instructions, either written, visual or oral, that delineate some sort of performance action. Many of the scores on this site are for musicians, but there are a few movement and video scores too.

My favorite score so far is Laundry Mat Music by the site's creator and maintainer, Adam Overton, that calls for a laundry mat, dryers, loose change, and any number of performers. At a designated moment, all the performers start up their dryers with one loose coin inside, and everyone sits quietly and listens to the music that ensues.

This site could also be a great resource for anyone suffering from creative blocks. When you're too tied up in mental knots to come up with your own ideas, just follow someone else's lead. No hurt egos if the work totally bombs either.

Check it out and add your movement/video/sound shenanigans to the pot!

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October 6, 2008

Reminder - Elizabeth Zimmer at Kinetic Cinema Tonight!

Tonight's Kinetic Cinema program, curated and hosted by dance critic Elizabeth Zimmer is not to be missed! She will be showing two rarely seen documentaries, including 1987's "The Way Things Go,"  showing a fascinating Rube Goldberg-like kinetic sculpture by Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss, and a 2007 documentary on six downtown dance artists moderated and interviewed by Zimmer.
Please note the new location below:

Pentacle Movement Media & Collective:Unconscious co-present:
Kinetic Cinema
Monday October 6th, 7:00pm (and the first Monday of every month)
$5 Admission (buy tix at the door)

IRT Theater
154 Christopher Street, Suite 3B (btw Washington & Greenwich Streets)
New York, NY 10014
Phone: 212.206.6875
Trains: 1 to Christopher Street, PATH to Christopher Street
Admission: $5
Space is extremely limited, so get there early!

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October 3, 2008

Cool Workshops, Events, Screenings and More This Week!

This is one of those weeks of when the amount of cool stuff going on in the NYC area has reached a critical mass. I feel compelled to share with you the several of particular interest to dance and media lovers:

DV8 Physical Theatre on Tour!
This company, under the direction of Lloyd Newson has brought us some of the greatest dance films ever made including THE COST OF LIVING, ENTER ACHILLES, DEAD DREAMS OF MONOCHROME MEN, and STRANGE FISH. Newson's working process is generally to create a stage show and then completely re-envision it for screen. You won't want to miss their latest live work "TO BE STRAIGHT WITH YOU", only playing at two more venues in the US! See info below:

2nd - 5th October .... Kasser Theater, tix
MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY, USA

9th - 10th October .... Memorial Hall, UNC, tix
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA, USA
EMPAC Grand Opening!
The Experimental Media & Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY is an incredible facility with even more incredible art-making and programming happening inside of it. Come up to celebrate the opening of the new building and check out the first DANCE MOViES Commissions featuring Kino Eye by Joby Emmons and Elena Demyanenko; Nora by Alla Kovgan and David Hinton, choreographed by Nora Chipaumire; Veterans by Victoria Marks and Margaret Williams; and PH Propriedad Horizontal created by David Fariás, Carla Schillagi and Maria Fernanda Vallejos.

 

Kinetic Cinema Screening with Elizabeth Zimmer!
Elizabeth Zimmer is a renown dance writer and critic as well as the editor of the seminal book on dance for the camera: "Envisioning Dance On Film and Video." You won't want to miss this Kinetic Cinema in which she shares some of her favorite movement-based videos and talks about her interest in dance for the camera.

Kinetic Cinema
Monday October 6th, 7:00pm (and the first Monday of every month)
$5 Admission (buy tix at the door)

IRT Theater
154 Christopher Street, Suite 3B (btw Washington & Greenwich Streets)
New York, NY 10014
Phone: 212.206.6875
Trains: 1 to Christopher Street, PATH to Christopher Street
Admission: $5
 

Interactive dance/media workshop:
FREE WORKSHOP IN ACTIVE SPACE
Presented by MRX with UC Irvine

Saturday, October 18
10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Free Admission

Baryshnikov Arts Center
450 W. 37th Street
(between 9th & 10th Avenues)
New York, NY 10018

Jodi Gates - choreographer
Lisa Naugle - choreographer/improviser
John Crawford - interactive media artist
with guest artists
Patrick Corbin and CorbinDances
The Active Space is John Crawford's interactive media
environment that engages participants in a dialog of
mutual influence involving movement, visuals and sound. It supports body-centered performance practices integrated with software systems for motion tracking, live video processing, special effects and interactive music.

• Work from a somatic, open-looped structure with Lisa Naugle and experience spatial-perceptual movement techniques for whole-body connectedness in the Active Space. This session will focus on developing choice-making, dynamic flow, and dance-technology interaction.
• See new dance/media choreography by Jodie Gates, performed by Patrick Corbin and CorbinDances in the Active Space. 
• Participate in choreographic exploration based on William Forsythe's improvisational technologies combined with Jodie Gates's own choreographic and teaching methods.

SPACE IS LIMITED; REGISTER NOW:
Email info@movementresearch.org
OR
Call 212.598.0551, ext. 261

For More Information:http://dance.arts.uci.edu/nyc

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