Tag Archives: dance performance

Mar18

Dance Set Free Across the Globe with dance anywhere®

Posted on by
Dance Set Free Across the Globe with dance anywhere®

photo by weidong yang

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that my ballet career is behind me I find I want to dance without shoes, without direction and sometimes even without walls. I like the feel of a smooth wood floor under my bare feet, dancing to music that elicits a response… music that demands you get up off your butt and move. More importantly, I prefer to dance the way that I want to dance, when I want to dance and where I want to dance, to move purely for the joy of moving.

This coming Friday, March 22nd offers a really cool opportunity to do just that: dance anywhere®, a public celebration of dance… everywhere, around the world… simultaneously. Artist Beth Fein first created dance anywhere® in 2005, and for the past 9 years, people across the globe have made dances in parks, museums, street corners, schools, work places, community centers, offices, and just about anywhere you can imagine. Anyone can participate. Anywhere.

The idea is to not only blur the line between art practice and art, but to dissolve the line that often separates art and dance from our daily lives.

Over the years, the gallery of images from past events has grown. Should you feel inspired you can add your own. You can also click on the map to find events in your area.

The details:

Friday, March 22nd, 2013

noon SF, 3pm NYC, 8pm Rome

danceanywhere®
 spans 6 continents,

45 countries,

more than 316 cities

See you out there! Click here to participate on Friday, March 22, 2013 : (click here for your time).

Share on Facebook+1Pin it on Pinterest
Feb21

Just Because.

Posted on by
Just Because.

© Grier Cooper

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recently a performance that was meant to be a duet turned into a solo when a dance colleague was unable to perform. The performance was an important one – my friends Tom Franco and Julia Lazar were producing their first  Art Attack event at San Francisco’s prestigious YBCA – and it would be my first performance in San Francisco in decades. I choreographed an entirely new piece, working with a piece of music I loved and had wanted to dance to since forever.

As I worked alone, I found that I really enjoyed being in the little studio I rented for rehearsals. There was something blissfully simple about working on my time without trying to coordinate schedules with a bunch of other busy people. After each rehearsal I left feeling charged and renewed. I found myself looking forward to the next one.

In the quiet solitude of the studio I rediscovered my personal work ethic and creative expression. In the process everything I did there began to feel more sacred. It was just me, the music, the smooth wood floor and nothing else.

During the past few years I’d been dancing outside, in dance clubs and in my living room, pretty much everywhere except a dance studio and I realized how much I missed it. After all, I’d spent much of my life within this type of setting – four walls, a bunch of mirrors and a dance floor – than pretty much anywhere else. Returning felt like coming home.

After the performance was over I decided I wasn’t ready to give up something that gave me such joy. I did the math and realized that renting the studio for an hour each week cost the same or less than I’d pay to take a dance class anywhere else. Why not continue my experiment?

These weekly sessions in the studio have become a creative laboratory, a sanctuary, each moment the next piece of one of the only threads of continuity I have had in my life. More importantly, it feels good to do something just because. Because it brings me great pleasure, because it offers me a way to continue to create, because it’s something I do just for me.

Which brings me to this next thought: how often do we choose to do things purely because they bring us joy? And if not, then why?

Share on Facebook+1Pin it on Pinterest
Sep22

Terpsichore D’Amour at Trails and Vistas, Terpsichore Diaries, Part VII.

Posted on by
Terpsichore D’Amour at Trails and Vistas, Terpsichore Diaries, Part VII.

Trails and Vistas is now over and our debut performances as Terpsichore D’Amour were a success. Spooner Lake is an absolutely stunning place to spend time; it’s all groves of whispering aspen and wildflowers, the air sweetly scented with sage. We arrived the day before performances to allow ourselves time to scout out our site and see how the choreography worked.

 

The first run-through was a disaster. Granted, we were tired from the long (almost 4 hours) car ride up to Tahoe, but… we were basically trying to dance in a swamp. Or maybe it was just a bog. Either way, the ground was dangerously bumpy and uneven, the grass was knee high, itchy and riddled with sticky burs that clung to our clothing. The dog went exploring only to come back covered in so many burs that she looked brown instead of black. Things were looking tenuous at best.

 

 

Dancing in nature is not at all like dancing in a studio or on stage. We knew this already, and thought we had prepared with outdoor rehearsals. However, circumstances dictated that we had to make do with the site we were given, so we got creative. We moved everything up onto the hiking trail and danced a few feet on either side of it. It was a small space, but we realized this was probably a good thing because we would be performing so many times. We took out the jumps and simplified a few other steps that were dangerous to try on uneven ground. We pounded down the bumps with a giant log. We were ready.

 

The audience departed on their docent-lead hikes every 15 minutes, which meant they arrived at our site…. um… whenever they got there. Some groups were fast, some incredibly slow. Sometimes they arrived only moments apart. In between each performance we chugged water, kept a sharp eye out for the next group, laughed a lot, discussed what was and wasn’t working in the dance. Sometimes there was even enough time to cop a squat and go pee… but we had to be lightning fast- we could never really be sure when the next group would round the corner.

 

It all came together; choreography, teamwork, costumes, makeup. For the first time ever, dance and theater both came into play. It was such a different dynamic to interact with my dance partner and the audience, all of it framed by nature.

 

It was an accomplishment.

 

The stats:

 

• 27 performances over 2 days

 

• 26 installations, 18 performing groups

 

• ~ 750 people

 

• countless hours lost sleep (dreams are ridiculously vivid at altitude)

 


 

 

Our friends raved. But they are our friends, and therefore inherently biased. However, we did have a final moment of glory late in the day on Sunday, just as we were almost through. A father wandered down the path, trailed by two boys on bicycles, ages 4 and 6 (approximately). He stopped.

 

“We saw the show this morning,” he offered. “You guys were our favorite performers.”

 

 

 

 

Share on Facebook+1Pin it on Pinterest
Sep12

Guerilla Art in the Park: Terpsichore Diaries, Part VI.

Posted on by
Guerilla Art in the Park: Terpsichore Diaries, Part VI.

 

kids

Dance rehearsals for Terpsichore D’Amour are still happening in our friendly, neighborhood park, at least for the immediate future (weather permitting). We run through our piece once, twice, three times with a rotating cast of overenthusiastic ball-fetching dogs, vigilant moms and goggle-eyed toddlers who line up at the fence, watching every move. I can’t help feeling like there’s something important happening here; we are making dance public, more accessible, more tangible and meaningful, bringing it to people who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to be exposed.

 

Having direct contact with an audience is a completely foreign concept for me. During the many years I danced as a professional ballerina I never once had the opportunity to look at my audience. They always remained one step removed, a sea of heads in the darkness. It’s far more intimate to have eye contact, to witness the look on a person’s face. I can’t say I’m completely comfortable with it, but I’m getting more and more opportunities to settle into the new paradigm.

 

I’ve had a lot of moms ask what we are up to, and the feedback has all been positive. We’ve both enjoyed our park rehearsals enough to begin planning a performance circuit at other parks throughout the county.

 

I like to think that we are leading by example. When we are out there doing what we do, we are sending a message: this is what 40-something can look like… we are moms and we are also creative people… artistic expression has value. By creating this troupe we have given ourselves (and anyone who watches a rehearsal or show) free artistic license to be creative, no holds barred.

 

 

It’s a reminder that life is full of complexities and layers of being. It is energizing to be a part of something that brings joy to ourselves and others. This aspect of my being feeds my soul so I have more to offer the rest of the areas of my life. If dogs and toddlers are interested, all the better.

 

 

 

Share on Facebook+1Pin it on Pinterest