September Art and Dance Seminars and Speaking Programs
I'm speaking at two programs in September:
First up, I'm conducting two Internet workshops at the NYS Arts Summit 2009 in Schenectady, New York from September 22nd-23rd.
The first workshop is a nuts-and-bolts introduction to Facebook and Twitter. And the second workshop will offer a strategic overview of Facebook and Twitter with examples of how arts organizations are using these tools. Both sessions are hands-on and participants are encouraged to bring their computers and connect via Wi-Fi.
Then, on September 29th, I'll be on a Movement Research Panel: "Towards an Adjudication Model for Dance Criticism," here in Manhattan.
If you can make it to one or both of the programs, please let me know.
Pictures from My West African Dance Class at Alvin Ailey
I've been taking a wonderful beginner West African dance class with live drumming at Alvin Ailey taught by Maguette Camara.
Emily Cannarella, from Alvin Ailey, took photos of the class this past Monday and was kind enough to forward pictures of me and other students dancing in the class.
Much thanks to our presenters, participants and host at the first Great Dance Meetup this past Monday at Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet.
I thought the event was fun and informative. And it was great to see a lot of interest and discussion about how the Internet, video and social media can be used to promote and share dance with online audiences.
The main point I took from Monday's presentations and discussions is that there are a lot of great online resources for building audiences, networking and sharing dance content. But the real challenge is figuring out the best way to use your precious time and resources to take advantage of these online tools and technologies.
Should you stick with one main social media application such as Facebook, or should you use Facebook, Twitter, blogs, video sharing sites and other tools. And if you do use a number of web applications, what is the best way to learn each one and how much time does it really take to update your content on a regular basis? The answers are, in the end, personal and depend upon what makes the most sense for each individual artist or organization, and what specific goals you would like to achieve.
For the first presentation, Malinda Ray Allen (@MalindaRayAllen) demonstrated the Ustream video application. Ustream allows you to set-up a live video broadcast. Using a consumer video camcorder and Cedar Lake's Wi-Fi connection, we set-up a live video feed so we could see how this application functioned. It worked very well. Malinda discussed how she used Ustream for a broadcast of a 24-hour dance performance that she participated in. I'm curious to learn how others have used Ustream and similar services such as Mogulus (which must have just changed its name to Livestream). These video applications are very versatile and I'm going to write about different applications for them in the near future.
Catherine Paull (@cpmomcat) demonstrated and discussed the popular and inexpensive Flip video cameras. Cathy showed examples of videos she shot and edited for the Logrea Dance Academy. It's surprising how good the video quality is that is generated by these small video cameras. And her presentation really made the point that there are no barriers to shooting and uploading video of any type of dance programs. Cathy brought a regular and the new HD flip cameras. The video she has shot so far has been with the regular Flip cameras. So it will be interesting to see the Flip's HD videos as well.
Jody Sperling (Facebook Page) demonstrated how she uses Facebook to communicate with both her friends and fans. And she highlighted the differences between the new Fan pages and the older group pages. Jody made the point that the status updates and other real-time content serve as an important news source that acts as a connective glue for keeping people informed and interested in what their Facebook friends are up to. And that we've transitioned away from more static content often found on websites to more participatory online communities.
I gave an introduction to Twitterand TweetDeck. I highlighted how Twitter works and the advantages of using applications such as TweetDeck to more efficiently manage groups and focus in on the audiences that you really want to communicate with through this popular social networking site.
And Caleb Custer, the director of marketing for Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet gave a presentation that highlighted how their website serves as an integrated platform for tying together their use of video and social networking sites to communicate with their different audiences and share their creative work. We asked Caleb to speak at the last moment. And his presentation ended-up being an excellent synthesis of the video applications and social media sites that we discussed earlier in the program.
Suggested Topics for Upcoming Programs
With a few minutes remaining, I asked what topics participants would like to see covered at upcoming meetups. Among the suggestions were:
- How to create dance websites
- How dance is being integrated with fashion, art and other fields in the context of the Internet and technology, and
- How dance content, such as dance classes, is being shared and sold online
And for upcoming Meetups, we'll definitely put aside a good chunk of time for networking.
Thanks to Cedar Lake
Much thanks to Cedar Lake for hosting the first Great Dance Meetup in their wonderful theater and providing us with audiovisual equipment and support for this event!
Upcoming Meetup and Feedback
I'll post the details about the next Meetup soon. If you have thoughts and recommendations about last Monday's program or upcoming programs, please comment or email me.
Our first meetup will focus on free and inexpensive ways that dancers can use the Internet and technology to share their dancing with audiences, friends, students and others. And we'll also have an open forum for discussion and demonstrations of dance websites, blogs, social media applications and other Internet and technology resources for dancers.
The program guide and event details are available on: Meetup.com and Facebook.
Much thanks to our presenters who will be discussing and demonstrating free and low-cost approaches to sharing and promoting dance via the Internet:
Detailed overview of first event on Meetup.com and below.
Much thanks to Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet for hosting the first gathering!
Low-Cost Approaches to Promoting Dance Through Video and the Internet
To kick-off our first meetup, we're focusing on free and inexpensive ways that dancers can use the Internet and technology to share their dancing with audiences, friends, students and others. Among the software programs and tools we'll be demonstrating include Flip video cameras, live video streaming, Facebook and Twitter.
And in addition to presentations, we'll have an open forum for discussion and demonstrations of dance websites, blogs, social media applications and other Internet and technology resources for dancers.
Program Guide
1) Introductions and Future Directions for This New Meetup
We'll start the first meetup by sharing our backgrounds and interest in dance, the Internet and technology. Among other topics, we can discuss what Internet, technology, social media, new media and other digital tools we'd like to learn about and see in action. And we can brainstorm about the best format and focus of these monthly gatherings for dancers and other members of the dance community.
2) Demonstrations: Video, Facebook and Twitter
We'll have four presentations (see speaker bios below):
- Malinda Ray Allen we'll demonstrate how she broadcast a solo dance performance in real-time using the free Ustream.tv video service. She will set-up a live video broadcast during our meetup so we can see this service in action and discuss different applications for dancers.
- Catherine Paull will demonstrate how she uses the popular Flip video cameras and easy-to-use video editing software to shoot, edit and upload dance videos to sites such as YouTube and Vimeo.
- Jody Sperling will show how she uses Facebook, the popular social networking site, to help promote her dance performances. And she'll highlight the latest Facebook changes and the benefits of creating Fan pages.
- Doug Fox will demonstrate Twitter and how to use this application to network with dancers, students and audiences. He'll also demonstrate programs such as TweetDeck that offer an improved way to communicate with Twitter friends and followers.
3) Open Forum: Discussions and Demonstrations
Following the presentations, we'll have an open user-group forum for discussing and demonstrating dance websites, blogs, social media applications and other Internet and technology resources for dancers.
Speaker Bios
Malinda Ray Allen
Malinda Ray Allen creates works of body-based theater and film using subtle physicality combined with charmed athleticism. Her roles range from playwrighting and direction, to choreography and performance. Malinda has worked with collaborators ranging from HBO Def Jam artist Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai, to art-punk poet/violinist Alicia Jo Rabins. Her projects have been presented at Dance Theater Workshop, Chez Bushwick, Dixon Place, PS 122, and the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance. Malinda Allen is a 2008 Fellow of the Urban Artist Initiative/NYC. On New Year's Eve 2008, Malinda embarked on a 24-hour continuous dance performance as part of Miguel Guiterrez's Freedom of Information Project - a nationwide remembrance for people affected by the Iraq and Afganistan wars. Her entire performance - along with those of 30 other artists across the US - was streamed live online with viewers across the United States.
Catherine Paull
Catherine Paull has worked in the performing arts all her life. From 1974-1978, Catherine was Assistant to the Administrator for The Eliot Feld Ballet (aka Feld Ballet), overseeing the production of Broadway, Off-Broadway, National and International tours. Highlights from those years were producing Baryshnikov on Broadway, working with Mark Morris and Patrick Swayze. Catherine was Production Administrator for the Spoleto Festival USA from 1976-1986. During these years, Catherine has also functioned as the Administrator of John Paull Productions, which provided production management for "Les Miserables", "Phantom of the Opera", "Miss Saigon" and other Broadway shows. Most recently, Catherine has worked as the Administrator of the Logrea Dance Academy (school of the Westchester Ballet Company).
Jody Sperling
Jody Sperling is a dancer, choreographer and dance scholar. Jody Sperling is the founder/Artistic Director of Time Lapse Dance, a company that gives an avant-garde twist to vintage genres. In particular, Sperling has gained international recognition for her contemporary evocations in the style of Loie Fuller, a pioneer of modern dance and innovator of stagecraft technology. Sperling has performed her own works and/or lectured about Fuller at many theaters, museums, colleges, universities, festivals, and conferences throughout the US, Canada, and Europe.
Doug Fox
Doug Fox is an Internet consultant, educator and writer who focuses on dance and the arts. He created the Great Dance blog in 2005, which covers a wide range of topics related to dance, the Internet, social media, technology and marketing. And, he is the creator of this new meetup group.
I hope to see you at the meetup on Monday, May 18th!
Technology and Internet Topics for Upcoming Great Dance Meetups
I'd like to give an overview of some of the possible topics that we'll cover at upcoming Great Dance Meetups. And please share your suggestions as well.
You can sign-up to be notified on Meetup.com about these upcoming monthly gatherings, which will focus on Internet, technology, social media and new media as they relate to all aspects of dance. And you can read my Monday post as well about the launch.
I'll post the details for the first meetup--speakers, topics and venue--probably by next week. They will take place in Manhattan at dance venues.
Format
Overall, I view these meetups as informal gatherings with brief presentations and lots of opportunities to discuss and demonstrate the many ways that technology and the Internet are used by dancers, dance companies, dance teachers, presenters, studios and others involved with dance.
Often there will be a focus on do-it-yourself, low-cost and relatively simple ways to use technology and the Internet toward practical ends. And participants are invited to show and discuss how they are using the Internet and other tools so that they can get thoughts and recommendations from other participants.
Possible Topics
The topics are likely to be similar to what I cover here on Great Dance:
- Internet marketing approaches and strategies to sell more tickets, reach more dance students, generate more publicity, get more bookings and achieve similar objects.
- Different approaches to designing and building your dance website and the latest content management applications and design tools that simplify this process.
- How to use a range of popular social media applications such as Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and others.
- How to create, promote and optimize a dance blog with WordPress and other blogging software.
- Shooting, editing and posting dance videos to YouTube, Vimeo and other video sites.
- New approaches to generating revenue from your online dance videos: advertising, sales and other models.
- Demonstrations of how to shoot good quality web videos with Flip video cameras and other inexpensive tools.
- Innovative Internet-based fundraising approaches to raising contributions for your dance company, dance studio and your outreach efforts.
- Internet applications for selling tickets and merchandise.
- How dancers can create DVDs and a video portfolio of their work to use for auditions and other opportunities.
- Explorations of the many ways that interactive technologies are integrated into dance performances, installations and research.
I'm sure there are many other possible topics. We'll see what participants are most interested in.
I'm looking forward to these upcoming programs. It will be nice to have on-going face-to-face programs to explore these topics with others in the dance community.
Thanks to everyone who came to my dance and animation program last week. My screening program was part of Anna Brady Nuse's monthly Kinetic Cinema. I appreciate the kind feedback and hope to be offering this program again soon in New York City and other locations.
Dance and Animation Program at Chez Bushwick This Wednesday
If you're in the New York City area, I hope you can make my dance and animation screening program tomorrow night, Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 7:00 PM. The program is part of Kinetic Cinema and the event takes place at Chez Bushwick in Brooklyn, New York.
I invite you to attend my dance and animation program on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 7:00 PM.
My screening of animation videos is part of Anna Brady Nuse's monthly Kinetic Cinema program and this event will take place at Chez Bushwick in Brooklyn New York.
The screening of dance and movement animation videos will be just over one hour. Discussion will follow.
- Take L to Morgan Street.
- Take exit toward back of the subway.
- Take left outside subway station on to Bogart Street.
- Take second left onto Boerum Street.
- 304 Boerum is on left side of street before you reach White Street.
Embedding High-Quality and HD YouTube Videos on Your Blog
If you embed dance and other YouTube videos on your blog, here are instructions for adding high-quality and HD videos. This way, readers can watch the better quality versions within your post without having to jump to YouTube.
Embed YouTube HD
Here's a link on YouTube for the trailer for Madagascar 2. You'll see that on this YouTube page there is a link under the bottom right of the video that reads "watch in HD." If you click this link, you'll watch the HD version of this clip. But what if you want to embed this HD version on your blog and not the standard, lower-quality video?
First, as always, copy the code from the "embed" link in the right column of the video page. And paste this code into the text editor for your blog. The code that you paste will look like this:
My Dance Animation Program at February Kinetic Cinema
I'm looking forward to curating the February 11, 2009 Kinetic Cinema program at Chez Bushwick in Brooklyn. Anna Brady Nuse of Move the Frame created this monthly film program, which explores the intersection of dance and the moving image both on screen and stage.
My program will focus on dance animation and is based upon my directory of 50 Categorized Dance Animation Videos that I posted yesterday. (You can follow the links in this directory to watch all of the videos).
The screening portion will be about an hour and the rest of the program will be devoted to discussing the videos and different aspects of animation, visual effects and related topics.
Anna and I will soon post a complete program guide with the details about the videos that will be shown.
Visualizing Movement with William Forsythe's Improvisation Technologies
One of my favorite dance videos is William Forsythe's "Solo" (1995). I've always liked the fast-paced, unexpected movement patterns and was curious how he performed this piece:
Well, on his 1999 "Improvisation Technologies" CD-ROM, Forsythe provides a hands-on guide to the approach he uses to create different types of movements. His methodology is grounded in using geometric shapes such as points, lines and three-dimensional forms to help dancers develop their own improvisational practice. And each of the video explanations includes overlain animated graphics to help dancers visualize each example.
Here are two video examples that provide a glimpse into Forsythe's methodology. The first video illustrates how to create arm movements by extruding lines from points:
And this clip shows a visualization of creating curves and circles:
(By the way, much thanks to The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. They are always very helpful. Improvisation Technologies happens to use an old version of QuickTime. So the folks in the third-floor research library didn't stop until they found a computer that could run the CD-ROM.)
Origins of Improvisation Technologies
In an interview, "Dance Geometry," with William Forsythe in 1999, digital artist Paul Kaiser explains the origins of "Improvisation Technologies":
I first met William Forsythe in his kitchen in Frankfurt in 1994. The first thing Bill did was to try to explain how he goes about creating new movements. He started drawing imaginary shapes in the air, and then running his limbs through this complicated and invisible geometry. As a non-dancer, I was completely lost.
Later that year, I suggested that he use computer animation superimposed on videos of himself explaining them to make this geometry visible. Together with
and Volker Kuchelmeister at the Center for Art and Media Technology (ZKM) in Karlsruhe, he created a multimedia work along these lines entitled Improvisation Technologies. Since then, he's exhibited this extraordinary catalogue of dance procedures in several museums, and still uses it in training new members of his dance company.
Forsythe says in interview with Kaiser:
So I began to imagine lines in space that could be bent, or tossed, or otherwise distorted. By moving from a point to a line to a plane to a volume, I was able to visualize a geometric space composed of points that were vastly interconnected. As these points were all contained within the dancer's body, there was really no transition necessary, only a series of "foldings" and "unfoldings" that produced an infinite number of movements and positions. From these, we started making catalogues of what the body could do. And for every new piece that we choreographed, we would develop a new series of procedures.
Some choreographers create dance from emotional impulses, while others, like Balanchine, work from a strictly musical standpoint. My own dances reflect the body's experiences in space, which I try to connect through algorithms. So there's this fascinating overlap with computer programming.
For Eidos, I gave my dancers and myself the following general instruction: "Take an equation, solve it; take the result and fold it back into the equation and then solve it again. Keep doing this a million times".
I'm going to take an extended blogging vacation. I might post occasionally but I probably won't be blogging on a regular basis for the next few months.
I have a meeting in Brooklyn later this afternoon near Mark Morris Dance Group. So I'm going to take a ballet class there for the first time. I've been continuing on my non-stop ballet class mission. I figure my technique is never going to improve unless I focus on the basics for the next year or two.
I hope everybody had a good summer and best for the fall.
Last night I took a wonderful beginner ballet class with Yoshimura Hitomi at New Dance Group - I had never heard of NDG until I saw a performance there two weeks ago. It's on 8th ave. and 38th street.
Taking a regular beginner ballet class is a bit on the challenging side for me because I've taken no more than 10-15 hours of ballet. But the class was fun and Hitomi gives a lot of helpful direction. When I figure out my "regular" dance schedule for the fall, I should probably take a combination of a real newcomer beginning ballet class along with a beginner ballet class. (If you haven't taken many concert-form dance classes, "beginner" almost never means beginner; it usually means that you have at least an introductory background in the dance form).
Since I started dancing in my 40s, part of me wants to find a way to accelerate my dance training. But in the end, there clearly is no magical way to learn how to dance faster than people who start at a younger age. I just have to keep telling myself that.
It simply takes time. And given my dance interests, it requires taking lots of modern, jazz and ballet classes.
Intro to Anatomy & Kinesiology
Explore the skeletal-muscular system experientially through functional and expressive movement, activation of the subjective body, group discussion and hands-on work.
Intro to Bartenieff Fundamentals
Immerse yourself in an extraordinary, integrative movement experience that goes beyond technique. Explore the underlying principles of movement through the lens of Bartenieff, the somatic movement approach that is shaking up and waking up the fitness, dance and sports worlds.
Intro to Laban Movement Analysis
Learn to analyze the body in motion, become a more dynamic mover and communicator through understanding your movement preferences and investigate the many ways the body can shape itself and project into space. Experience LMA, applied in fields including the Performing Arts, Public Speaking, CGI and Robotics, Fitness, Psychotherapy, Corporate Team Building, Anthropology, Athletics and at all levels of Education.
Recently, I've been teaching myself more about human anatomy and physiology so I can have a better idea of what teachers are talking about in dance and somatic classes.
An excellent online resource for exploring our skeleton, muscular and other systems is the Visible Body - I've included screen shots below that give you an idea of how you can explore the body with this 3D tool.
Visible Body only runs on a PC with Internet Explorer. My only other complaint is that the muscles of the torso are not delineated. I was really hoping to see a very detailed view of all the core muscles.
What would be great to see in the next version of Visible Body would be 3D simulations. In somatic education classes, teachers are often talking about breathing, the lungs and how the respiratory system works. I'd like to see this entire process in operation so I can see how the parts work together.
Finally, I'd like to explore the rotation of all of the joints. If I clicked on the shoulder, I'd like to then drag and turn the elbow or wrist to see what the full range of the arms were when pushed and twisted in different directions.
Here are some screen shots of Visible Body - click for larger images:
Opening screen for Visible Body:
Ilium bone of the pelvis highlighted in skeletal view:
Fulbright Recipient Deborah Eve Friedes Completes Coverage of Contemporary Dance in Israel
For the 2007-2008 academic year, dancer and dance scholar Deborah Eve Friedes received a Fulbright grant to research contemporary dance in Israel.
I think that Deborah has done a wonderful job of writing about the dance scene in Israel and I encourage you to read her own blog and her posts on The Winger. She has also been conducting audio interviews with Israeli choreographers and dancers on Israel Seen.
You can learn more about Deborah's performances, directing, teaching and other activities on her website.
It's fitting that I saw the Batsheva Ensemble perform the latest version Ohad Naharin's Deca Dance at the Suzanne Dellal Center last week. You see, Deca Dance is the piece that drew me here to Israel. I wrote my Fulbright grant proposal having only seen the Batsheva Dance Company perform an earlier incarnation of this work (albeit 3 times). I hadn't seen any of Naharin's other dances, nor had I seen any other Israeli companies. Now - 4 years after I last saw Deca Dance, 9 and 1/2 months after landing in Israel, 2 days after finishing the term of my Fulbright grant, and 90-some dance concerts later - I feel I have come to the end of a cycle. I set out to learn about the wider field of Israeli contemporary dance, and although there is still more to explore, I have a much deeper understanding of dance's history in Israel as well as the scope of the field today. I devoted a considerable amount of time to independent choreographers and to companies other than Batsheva, but again and again, my attention returned to the origin of my interest, the center point of Israeli contemporary dance.
As I place Deca Dance within the context of Naharin's repertory, Batsheva's history, and the larger frame of Israeli contemporary dance, I realize how much I have gained from my research. I love being able to look at a dance from different angles, and with the information I have gathered, I now have a tempting menu of choices for how to view each performance. I also have had the pleasure of watching the same dancers develop over the course of the season and talking with them offstage; as I'm sure many of you know, it's a delight to watch dancers that you know, to seek them out during the sections at which you know they excel, and to find your attention captured unexpectedly by them when they perform something with added nuance or new skill. A part of me wishes that my Fulbright could continue - after all, it's been a dream to structure my own time and pursue independent research with few restraints! - but I am blessed with the gifts of this grant as I complete this cycle and start the next.
I started taking modern dance classes again after a six-month hiatus. Last night I took Isabel Gotzkowsky's slow intermediate modern class at Dance New Amsterdam in downtown Manhattan. It's always a pleasure to take Isabel's class. I'm going to try to get in a routine of taking her Wednesday and Saturday classes.
I thought Isabel's slow intermediate modern class would be too challenging for me. In the past I've always taken her beginner class. While it was challenging, it felt manageable and my technique will improve more quickly in a more advanced class. The routine she taught the last half hour of the class did feel a little overwhelming at first. But by the end of the class I had the general idea. And she's teaching the same phrase this Saturday.
I even woke-up with minimal pain, which is great. I've actually been preparing for going back to dance classes for about 5-6 weeks. About every other day, I do a two-hour routine of stretching, strengthening and exercises. I incorporate a lot of what I learned from my physical therapy for my back and hips and combine that with exercises from jazz, modern, ballet and yoga. I also use a workout ball for my back and core and use a rubber band for strengthening.
It does take more time than I'd like to do my exercises and strengthening. But at 46, I know my body can't handle the physical stress from dance classes unless I'm in good shape.
Even though I enjoyed my foray into Argentine Tango, I'm much happier taking modern dance classes again.
Dance Class at Movement Research and Creative Tango
After a hiatus of four months, I'm back to "real" dance. That's about the most unfair characterization of different types of dance I could possibly come up with. Starting in January, I became obsessed with Argentine Tango--taking classes, going to practicas (practice sessions) and dancing at milongas.
However much I enjoy tango, for me it's not the "real" thing. It's social dancing. It's not the same as taking modern or creative movement classes. I'm sure everybody has their own notion of what's "real" when it comes to dancing. My definition is related to freedom of movement and experimentation and not being tied down to very specific rules and structures. But even tango can cross-over into the more creative dance realm. I've really enjoyed the Tango-X workshops with Fayzah and Kendra that take place once a month at DNA in downtown Manhattan. They'll take a concept from tango such as sacadas (displacing the weight of your partner) and developing a creative approach to experimenting with this idea.
At the about the 42-second mark of this Argentine tango video, the leader executes a back sacada with his left leg, which requires that his partner move her left leg as well -- this is what is meant by weight displacement:
What I like about the Tango-X workshops is that they are much more experimental than regular tango classes and part of the focus might be on how many different approaches you and your partner can create to doing sacadas. Unfortunately, their classes are only about once a month. I'd like to take the Tango-X workshop once a week.
Movement Research Class with Jennifer Monson
I didn't mean to go into my tango digression. I meant to write about my Saturday class with Jennifer Monson at Movement Research. Jennifer was subbing for K.J. Holmes' Saturday morning class, which is called "The Athletics of Intimacy, Improvisations."
Jennifer is involved in a number of dance programs and research initiatives that are very interdisciplinary in nature. Just the types of projects I'm fascinated by.
Here's an overview of her two-hour class that had eight students:
In the early part of the class we explored the relationship among our kidneys, spleen and heart. How we could move our body from each of theses organs and what the connection was between these organs as we warmed-up.
We then partnered with a fellow dancer for the rest of the class. I partnered with Amy (she said I could use her name if I wrote about the class).
The first exercise was a ground-based contact improvisation exploration where we interacted with our partner while continuing to think about moving from our kidneys, spleen and heart.
Then standing-up, each person would dance for a few minutes while one's partner used one or two hands to press against the location of the different internal organs we were concentrating on for this exercise.
I told Amy after I danced that I would have had a completely different focus if I danced the same exercise again. When Amy danced and I put pressure against her different organs, we were much more engaged in a duet and she was not just using the exercise to be notified of the location of her kidneys, spleen, etc., she was also using this contact to respond to my movement as well. Which in retrospect seems obvious to me but I wasn't thinking about it at the time. It might have been partly that I was warming-up and partly that I was concentrating very much on the specifics of moving my body from each of my organs. Next time, I'll try to be more in a collaborative mind-set.
Energy Lines
Then we moved on to what I believe were exercises based on Skinner Release Technique. While an organ focus was more of a grounded, heavier dance, thinking about energy lines was more outward-directed and flowing.
To get started, one partner would stand still and the other would lightly draw straight energy lines on their partners legs, arms, back, chest and head. In other words, imagine lightly dragging your fingers starting at the bottom of a person's back, and quickly creating a line with both of your hands that goes up between your partners shoulder blades and then moves up into space. You're trying to give your partner a sense of a line of energy that moves beyond the body. This way when they are dancing, they can think about how these lines of energy can direct the flow of their movement.
Then once we generated these energy lines from a standing position, one of us would dance and the other one would continue to generate lines of energy on the different parts of our partner's body. This exercise is a bit awkward because you're trying to draw these energy lines while your partner is moving in unpredictable ways.
Then during the final exercise, we each did about a five-minute dance improvisation while our partner watched. The goal was to think about, in an active or passive manner, the different qualities of either dancing from the organs or moving with energy lines in mind. And to also be conscious of the transitions.
It took me awhile to warm-up for this exercise and I was thinking very analytically about what dance mode I was in and how and when I would transition to the other mode.
When I was watching Amy, some of the time I could tell which mode she was in and when she was transitioning from, say a more weighted organ-focus to the larger movements of energy lines.
I really have to take more classes at Movement Research - I find all of their classes fascinating and I have much to learn!
Lecture-Demonstration Dance Videos Would be Invaluable and Fun
I would like to encourage choreographers and dancers to create lecture-demonstration style videos for the Internet. There are literally thousands of topics that dancers can present in engaging video format that feature brief spoken explanations and dance demonstrations.
For example, in The Kinetic Interface blog I write about body and movement-centric developments taking place in science, technology and other fields. Yesterday, I wrote "The Sources of Vertical Movement," in which I discussed Capuchin, a robot that scales walls and cliffs, and can be used for geological research on earth and other planets. Here is a video of Capuchin:
I think that a fascinating video would be one that features a choreographer who discusses what he or she has learned about vertical-climbing robots from a dancer's perspective. These insights would be interspersed with solo movements and snippets of choreography that spring from this exploration of robotic locomotion. Maybe the choreographer would start a video section by saying, "I'd like to see the robot try this type of propulsion," "What would happen if the rhythmic patterns were altered," "The leg movements of the robot remind me of a dance piece I created two years ago..." or "What would happen if the robot used a different approach to balancing itself." There are many ideas to explore at the intersection of dance and robotics. My main point is that there are many topics to delve into and that dancers can help visualize movements in a way that few others can.
One of the advantages of this interdisciplinary approach is that by definition this video will be of interest to the dance community and the technology community. And the posting of this video provides an excellent opportunity to foster a conversation amongst people with different interests and areas of expertise.
