Well, lots going on in the AXIS Office per usual. The dancers are all back from Washington, DC and its nice to have them popping in during the day. They’ll be heading to Maine shortly for a residency at Bates Dance Festival. They will be conducting workshops and performing various works by choreographers David Dorfman, Alex Ketley and Joe Goode during the Bates Dance Festival.
I recently attended a lecture given at Mills College for Luna Kids Dance by Annika, our education director, and Bonnie, one of our dancers. The lecture was great seeing different clips of class/workshops and hearing different strategies/ideas for integrated dance classes.
I also attended AXIS very first Focus Group and our July board Meeting. While I can not inform you of the significant and important events which took place at our secret board meeting- ok, I’m kidding, I won’t bore you with dry administrative stuff, but there was a dancer/board mixer combined with really awesome food beforehand. The purpose of this Focus Group was to find out how AXIS could serve the community better. It was very interesting at the Focus Group hearing different ideas and opinions about dance and disability, and we’d love to hear from you!
- I don’t believe in barriers or caged beauty. There is no way in these fast times that we can define what dance is. We cannot even definer what art is. [Javier de Frutos, 2001]
Showing posts with label Modern dance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Modern dance. Show all posts
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Olives, Robots & Mythbusters: A workshop with Ann Carlson
"¸¸.•**•♪♫•**•.¸¸¸¸.•**•♪♫•**•.¸¸Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaa oooooohhhh haaaaaa hooooooo.no nieh, Naha...!"
It's a gray Monday afternoon in May. Walking by our studio in Oakland you would think the local chorus or theater group is rehearsing, but it's the AXIS dancers standing in a circle, using their vocal cords. Ann Carlson get's sounds out of the dancers I haven't heard before.
A moment later she get's them to write postcards - dancing postcards that is, about the things they love. Crawling on the floor they share their passion for olives, tulle, squeakily blue deflated dinosaur balloons, quad-rugby, honeysuckle, food (especially carbs, protein & cheese!), laughing, and their love for bikram yoga even though "the room smells like a cat box".
After a 36-minute vocal exercise, basically replicating a sound and moving it along in the circle, Ann explains: "I think this is a great performance exercise. It's a lot about being able to surrender and being wacky. Doing this for a long stretch of time allows you to listen more closely and to relax into the illogic of it."
After a short break Ann get's the dancers seated in a line (even though she hates lines)
and starts directing them: a base, intertwined with heavy breathing, than some mumbling & yelping interjected:
"I really want to try and make a piece one day with a vocal score Ann starts and before we know it, the workshop ends with a discussion about robots, mythbusters, aliens, and mermaids. Maybe they will all end up in a piece one day...
About Ann Carlson:
In 2004 Ann choreographed "Flesh" for AXIS. In this piece Choreographer Ann Carlson takes her inspiration from music by Meredith Monk and a 1909 futuristic story by E.M. Forster concerning humanity living underground in a mechanized complex, a young man longing to get free. "Flesh" was co-commissioned by the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, UC Riverside Presents and UC Santa Barbara Arts & Lectures. To see an excerpt click here.
Ann Carlson is a dancer, choreographer, and performance artist. She creates “dances that reflect and investigate the metaphor of the everyday” and are coauthored by the performers, who have included non-dancers, such as lawyers, doctors, and nuns. With a background in visual and performance art, Carlson often shows her work in unconventional dance sites, including museums, trains, and barnyards.
It's a gray Monday afternoon in May. Walking by our studio in Oakland you would think the local chorus or theater group is rehearsing, but it's the AXIS dancers standing in a circle, using their vocal cords. Ann Carlson get's sounds out of the dancers I haven't heard before.
A moment later she get's them to write postcards - dancing postcards that is, about the things they love. Crawling on the floor they share their passion for olives, tulle, squeakily blue deflated dinosaur balloons, quad-rugby, honeysuckle, food (especially carbs, protein & cheese!), laughing, and their love for bikram yoga even though "the room smells like a cat box".
After a short break Ann get's the dancers seated in a line (even though she hates lines)
and starts directing them: a base, intertwined with heavy breathing, than some mumbling & yelping interjected:
"I really want to try and make a piece one day with a vocal score Ann starts and before we know it, the workshop ends with a discussion about robots, mythbusters, aliens, and mermaids. Maybe they will all end up in a piece one day...
About Ann Carlson:In 2004 Ann choreographed "Flesh" for AXIS. In this piece Choreogra
Ann Carlson is a dancer, choreographer, and performance artist. She creates “dances that reflect and investigate the metaphor of the everyday” and are coauthored by the performers, who have included non-dancers, such as lawyers, doctors, and nuns. With a background in visual and performance art, Carlson often shows her work in unconventional dance sites, including museums, trains, and barnyards.
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