Odd Encounters

By Alice Sheppard (of AXIS)

The performances are over, but somehow the collaboration between AXIS, inkBoat, Joan and Dohee has not left my life. I still have an acute muscle memory for some of the newer moves and positions. Some movements have become expressions in my daily life. ODD has changed my understanding of performance: I am accustomed to talking about process as the way in which we make pieces. Then, there’s the actual performance. Dancing before an audience starts a new process, of development and growth within the piece. I am not used to that growth infusing my off-stage out-of-studio life.

Then again, if any piece were to resonate deeply in my body, it would have been ODD. When I saw the pictures, the terrain of bodies and ground were familiar. They were provocative realizations of a landscape I had first encountered studying Old Norse-Icelandic language and literature. It is not surprising to me that I still find myself singing excerpts of Joan and Dohee’s music; their collaboration was not an accompaniment to the movement; it was as essential an element of our performative landscape as the movement. I would listen to them, waiting, accelerating, slowing, hovering, driving until somehow, silently, we mutually recognized that we were ready to take the next step together. I feel their music rising sometimes as I stretch out a hand; I smile at myself. The performance is over, but the piece has not yet gone.

I am glad there’s something left. Many of the creative processes I have been in have required improvisation; we have improvised movement and I have come to understand it as the movement takes root in my body. This time, we often had a known concept to work from -- realize bird, rock, find cloud in your movement. I would often feel that I would never succeed. I could create movement, but I was not always convinced that I could communicate. Shinichi would say that these were lifelong endeavours--processes--but I could feel the approaching date of performance. I did not know how I would actually do what I was supposed to.

As the performances drew near, I felt unready to move from “exploration” to “performance.” I had not been able to find the kind of surety that I call “rehearsal:” For a piece that started so much with the terrain of the paintings, I wanted more time to find personal ground. At the same time, though, I wanted to do this thing -- to discover what else I had to learn from this complicated piece. My own learning curve was steep, but I also felt that with each performance the work revealed a different aspect of itself. There were different questions; I learned to feel OK with not having any answers. Now, several weeks later, I wish more than anything I could have been in the audience.

Time has come for me to say goodbye to the AXIS office.
I have had an insightful and rewarding three months with the Company and I’m sad to be saying farewell (for now!). It has been a real joy to be a part of this passionate and creative team.
If I had to pinpoint a highlight per month they would be:


September- Dance Access Day introducing AXIS to 800 Children and Adults, watching the enjoyment spread through The Malonga Theater.

October- Engaging Community through tabling events at local festivals and fundraisers, calling new and old friends to promote AXIS’ home-season.

November- ‘ODD’, rehearsing and performing with Shinichi, Joan, AXIS and inkBoat at ODC Theater and The Malonga.

December- Christmas Songs being played in the office all day long, making the survey data entry just about bearable.

I now have a month to explore as much of the States as possible. Tomorrow I head south for the winter, visiting a friend in Nashville, TN then on to San Diego and finishing with meting a friend in Las Vegas, a few days of partying and hopefully a trip to the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. I’ll be back in the Bay for Christmas and hope to see LA and Lake Tahoe before heading back across the Pond the first week of January.

I want to take this opportunity to once again say Thank-You to everyone for a wonderful Fall and welcoming me into the AXIS community. I will be sure to take all the skills I have acquired back to the UK and show ‘em how it’s done!

Happy Holidays and wishing you all a great New Year!

Kat

Reflection

With one week left as a part of the dynamic AXIS team it’s time to reflect on all I have learnt and experienced!

One thing is for sure; my passion for dance has been renewed!

The creative versatility of AXIS is inspiring and I admire how much this company strives to strengthen and develop community relationships. It has also been a privilege to discover new dance styles and be a part of the Bay Area dance scene. I enjoyed a trip to the Smuin Holiday Ballet over the Thanksgiving weekend, have been continuing my practice of Indian dance styles, Irish social dancing, modern classes at Shawl Anderson and the occasional class in other world dance styles. I am considering starting my own integrated Dance Company on return to the UK working with a variety of world dance styles. My time at AXIS has given me the confidence and knowledge to make my first steps.

Apart from dance I have discovered an interest in Marketing and PR and I am looking to continue developing these skills in an arts organization, or perhaps in companies geared towards travel or health- two more of my passions!

My time at AXIS is coming to an end however I have another month to explore the US before returning home. I have trips planned to visit friends in Nashville, TN and Las Vegas. I’m hoping to see the Grand Canyon on my travels and also find time to visit Southern Cal, including Hollywood, and maybe Lake Tahoe in the snow! Any hints or tips on what not to miss before I leave- please let me know!

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving and hope all AXIS blog readers did too! I was lucky enough to experience two Thanksgiving dinners with friends and their families. I am truly thankful for the opportunity I have had to live and work in California, making new friends and be a part of a fantastic team. Thank you AXIS staff, dancers, board members and supporters for making me at home and I wish you all HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

ODD: source of inspiration

Odd Nerdrums paintings have been the inspiration for "ODD" ever since the beginning of the project. We feel that seeing Odd Nerdrums paintings prior to the show can be enriching for your experience as an audience member.

We therefore invite you to explore his paintings online at nerdruminstitute.com as well as looking at the photos taken during our performance at ODC last week : pakhan.com

"ODD": Nov 12, 13 @8pm, Nov 14 @2pm
Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, Oakland, CA
painting: Odd Nerdrum
photo: Michelle Clement

One Down, ODD to go...

What an incredible weekend at ODC!


The recently refurbished ODC Theater is a beautiful space that allowed the wonderfully articulated movement of the dancers to resonate alongside dynamic live composition by Jean Jeanrenaud and Dohee Lee. I have been given the great privilege to perform alongside the company as a guest dancer. Being both physically and strategically involved with this year’s home season has given me a new burst of passion for dance. ODD is beautiful, hypnotizing and pulls you into the paintings of Odd Nerdrum. David Molesky, a San Franciscan based artist who apprenticed with Odd, will be painting his own impression of the choreography this coming weekend at The Malonga, needless to say I am looking forward to seeing the final product!
I am also looking forward to celebrating at the after party, especially if it’s anywhere near as good as last week, plus I won’t have to wait for BART home!


I’ve been continuing my adventures of the Bay and beyond. Last night I took my first ever Brazilian dance class, have been enjoying weekend brunches at the great cafes around, San Francisco sightseeing up Coit Tower and I have a trip planned with friends to Monterey Bay next weekend. Yes I will go to the aquarium!


Being over half way through my internship I’ve begun thinking of what’s next? Maybe what’s next for you is taking my place in the AXIS office- the pink pilates ball I’ve been sitting on will be lonely otherwise! AXIS is looking for applications for the Winter internship beginning January 2011, so if you enjoy working in a fast-moving environment and a laugh a day then give us a call!

A quick thought on what makes us a dancer!

During my time in the US I’ve been asked many many times “are you a dancer?”
My answer: “We all move in our own unique way and exude a personal spirit through our movement. A job, a style or payment does not define us as a dancer and being a dancer does not define who we are. We are all dancers as everybody dances- don’t pretend you don’t move around your bedroom now and again!”

ODD Notes and provoked musings……

by AXIS board member Chuck McAvoy

I was able to attend the two opening performances (Friday and Saturday) of ODD at the ODC Theater in San Francisco. I was able to talk to a few folks after the performance Friday night. It was interesting that about 50% of the audience on Friday were SF State dance students. Only one person had ever heard of AXIS and most were at the performance as part of a class they were taking. All had high praise for the performance and were very interested in how ODD was developed.

On Saturday I spoke to a couple who attended because they were fans of Shinichi Iova-Koga. They said they always try to see work done by Shinichi because it was always a surprise. The couple were both dancers and they really liked ODD. They were especially impressed by the integration of inkBoat and AXIS. They had never seen AXIS before and were stirred by the performance.

I was stimulated by the performance of ODD. I had unexpected emotions and felt at some points sad and at other points uncomfortable. The piece is powerful… The integration of AXIS and inkBoat was done well and the dancers combined to paint a compelling picture.

I was particularly impressed by the musical accompaniment by cellist Joan Jeanrenaud and the multi instrumental Dohee Lee. They brought an almost magical sound and feeling to the overall mood of ODD.

I plan on seeing ODD at least two more times at the Malonga Center this weekend. And I hope to see this piece as AXIS performs it while touring. In my opinion this is one of the best works of AXIS Dance Company.

Chuck

SF Chronicle: ODC Theater gets jump on butoh with 'ODD'

By Allan Ulrich (photo by Pak Han)


Welcome to the wide, wonderful, wacky, sometimes wearying world of butoh. This school of expressionist dance theater spawned in Japan after the horrors of World War II will be much with us the next couple of weeks. The style's most peripatetic practitioners, the Sankai Juku company, will visit the Bay Area through Sunday, while films of Kazuo Ohno, butoh's peerless pioneer, will be screened at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

However, ODC Theater got the jump on the rest of the pack Friday evening with its premiere of an unusual, unprecedented collaboration. "ODD," inspired by the Norwegian figurative painter, Odd Nerdrum, united Shinichi Iova-Koga's inkBoat collaborative with Oakland's Axis Dance Company, which integrates able and disabled performers. In the past, the troupe has commissioned pieces from dance world heavy hitters like Bill T. Jones and Joe Goode, but rarely has it been tested as in this unbroken, 75-minute opus. And rarely has it emerged with such stunning results.

The lexicon of butoh inclines to graduated movement delivered by supple, contorted bodies and often articulated at a glacial pace, frequently approaching stasis, not surprising from a country that suffered nuclear attack. The apocalyptic mood yields the gaping mouths and confrontational gazes appropriated from Edvard Munch. Choreographer Iova-Koga has worked brilliantly with Axis, smoothly deploying wheelchair-bound Alice Shepherd and Rodney Bell, who, near the start, delivers an ominous monologue about guns. Long-time Axis fans who have come to expect Bell's duetting with diminutive Sansherée Giles will not be disappointed.

Iova-Koga strives to vary the pace and patterning. He fills the performance space with processions, unisons and solo outings. He smoothly blends his dancers and those from Axis, and, in the finale, he sets 19 barefoot dancers whirling, shuffling and hopping manically across the field of vision. The individual personalities of the inkBoat performers also come through, notably in a playful (everything is relative) duet for Yuko K and Peiling Kao.

Iova-Koga expertly mines the dark vein of absurdist humor that infiltrates butoh. His opening monologue describing Nerdrum's style (a projection of a painting might have helped) concludes with a physical feat that left this observer gasping. The recounting of a hilarious anecdote about John Lennon and Paul McCartney almost passes without notice.

The danger in butoh performance lies in treading a thin line between sustaining a vocabulary that depends on a high degree of physical rigor and permitting the stylization to slip into mannerism. Iova-Koga never crosses that frontier, though a bit of editing might improve the piece.

"ODD," which transfers to Oakland next weekend, arrives with an impressive team of collaborators. Cellist Joan Jeanrenaud, a frequent participant in Axis' ventures, contributed an effective score performed live and amplified. Seated on an elevated platform, Jeanrenaud alternates contemplative passages with discordant episodes. The versatile Dohee Lee supplies percussive interludes, some barely perceptible, others painfully resonant, and wordless chants which suggest rumblings in the soul. Heather Barsarab's lighting does the job magnificently.

ODD: Axis Dance Company and inkBoat. Through Sun. Malonga Casquelord Center for the Arts, 428 Alice St., Oakland. $10-$22. (800) 838-3006. www.brownpapertickets.com.

E-mail Allan Ulrich at datebookletters@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/08/DD951G899C.DTL

This article appeared on page E - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle