Submitted by Norm Roulet on Tue, 12/26/2006 - 17:12.
I just noticed that a few days ago Simon Fildes posted a link named "Video Dances" to his awesome UK site Left Luggage. It is very worth exploring and linking around from, he is doing some amazing wirk with the web. One of the links I found there was to a video dance piece called "Sense 8", which I'll offer as the video dance of the day - check this out!. It is by Katrina McPherson, and you can see more of here work and learn about her at Left Luggage. if you are into dance and video and the web, visit her site and explore.
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Tue, 12/26/2006 - 18:02.
To refresh my memoriy of past Video Dances of the Day, I did a search on REALNEO and saw Susan Miller had posted about Katrina McPherson before - on her posting is said that dance of the day was no longer available for free download, but there are dance videos by Katrina available at Left Luggage so check them out
Submitted by Susan Miller on Wed, 12/27/2006 - 12:44.
Thanks for finding this. I hadn't visited the site in a while, so had not yet seen this new installment. I must say, that I had thought of doing the very film she has now done, which is a lovely documentation of a contact jam session. The evidence of her interest in contact improvisation was apparent in her other films which held my attention (now gone from the site since she has released the film for sale). I have had the privilege of being longtime friends with one of the founders of the form "contact improvisation" -- Laura Chapman. She lives right here in Cleveland. She teaches from time to time, but more often than not, you can just learn by joining in the jams that take place on Sunday afternoons at Wade Oval in the spring through fall. (I'm not sure where they dance in the winter right now). The jams are free and open to anyone who wants to participate. There are rules! I'll find out when the jams are and post the times and location. There are two others who should be noted here, too. Colleen Clark and Larry Muha are Laura’s longtime dance partners. Back in the day when I taught at CSU Dance, we held classes in the form and contact jams at CSU and did performances in public spaces and old dusty warehouses (mostly in the now gentrified warehouse district). The form began at Bennington College in the early 1970s with Laura, Steve Paxton and Nita Little. It has revolutionized the concert dance stage over the last 30 years with its theories and movement style seeping even into the very upright and formal ballet stage. Here’s a link to someone writing about their visit to the 25th anniversary celebration of the form in Oberlin. That was a while ago, but here it is for your better understanding that the form has circled the globe and influenced most all new work you can see on the concert dance stage today. http://www.kimpro.dk/historie_eng.htm
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Wed, 12/27/2006 - 15:39.
Very interesting to learn more about contact dancing and the Cleveland roots and ongoing activity - I would love to experience one of these jam sessions on Wade Oval and can't imagine a more interesting experience to share with the world over the Internet... sounds amazing... do post on them... if you want to film them, I know people who would be interested to collaborate. I find the dance captured by McPherson amazing, but am especially stunned by her technique capturing that, and by the out of the box use of technology - on-site and on-web - by McPherson and Fildes - in capturing and sharing experimental interpretations of dance. Imagine a Move-me booth at Ingenuity, or in the middle of University Circle. I don't propose bringing that here, or copying that here, but rather that we think more out of the box - and look more globally - to bring together arts and technology. That happened with McPherson and Fildes because they - experimental artists - received grants. Here, promoters and organizations receive the grants, and try to extract some value from artists - we need to turn that model around, to where the artists receive the funding. We also need to expand our funders understanding of what is art and who are artists here. Some serious obstacles, but they can be surpassed. For now, we can enjoy innovation from afar, thanks to the web and eye-openers like you.
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Video Dance of the day
I just noticed that a few days ago Simon Fildes posted a link named "Video Dances" to his awesome UK site Left Luggage. It is very worth exploring and linking around from, he is doing some amazing wirk with the web. One of the links I found there was to a video dance piece called "Sense 8", which I'll offer as the video dance of the day - check this out!. It is by Katrina McPherson, and you can see more of here work and learn about her at Left Luggage. if you are into dance and video and the web, visit her site and explore.
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Of course Susan Miller had posted about this dance...
To refresh my memoriy of past Video Dances of the Day, I did a search on REALNEO and saw Susan Miller had posted about Katrina McPherson before - on her posting is said that dance of the day was no longer available for free download, but there are dance videos by Katrina available at Left Luggage so check them out
Disrupt IT
mcpherson and contact/bringing it all back to Cleveland
Thanks for finding this. I hadn't visited the site in a while, so had not yet seen this new installment. I must say, that I had thought of doing the very film she has now done, which is a lovely documentation of a contact jam session. The evidence of her interest in contact improvisation was apparent in her other films which held my attention (now gone from the site since she has released the film for sale).
I have had the privilege of being longtime friends with one of the founders of the form "contact improvisation" -- Laura Chapman. She lives right here in Cleveland. She teaches from time to time, but more often than not, you can just learn by joining in the jams that take place on Sunday afternoons at Wade Oval in the spring through fall. (I'm not sure where they dance in the winter right now). The jams are free and open to anyone who wants to participate. There are rules! I'll find out when the jams are and post the times and location. There are two others who should be noted here, too. Colleen Clark and Larry Muha are Laura’s longtime dance partners. Back in the day when I taught at CSU Dance, we held classes in the form and contact jams at CSU and did performances in public spaces and old dusty warehouses (mostly in the now gentrified warehouse district).
The form began at Bennington College in the early 1970s with Laura, Steve Paxton and Nita Little. It has revolutionized the concert dance stage over the last 30 years with its theories and movement style seeping even into the very upright and formal ballet stage. Here’s a link to someone writing about their visit to the 25th anniversary celebration of the form in Oberlin. That was a while ago, but here it is for your better understanding that the form has circled the globe and influenced most all new work you can see on the concert dance stage today. http://www.kimpro.dk/historie_eng.htm
Sounds like an Arts Prize candidate
Very interesting to learn more about contact dancing and the Cleveland roots and ongoing activity - I would love to experience one of these jam sessions on Wade Oval and can't imagine a more interesting experience to share with the world over the Internet... sounds amazing... do post on them... if you want to film them, I know people who would be interested to collaborate. I find the dance captured by McPherson amazing, but am especially stunned by her technique capturing that, and by the out of the box use of technology - on-site and on-web - by McPherson and Fildes - in capturing and sharing experimental interpretations of dance. Imagine a Move-me booth at Ingenuity, or in the middle of University Circle. I don't propose bringing that here, or copying that here, but rather that we think more out of the box - and look more globally - to bring together arts and technology. That happened with McPherson and Fildes because they - experimental artists - received grants. Here, promoters and organizations receive the grants, and try to extract some value from artists - we need to turn that model around, to where the artists receive the funding. We also need to expand our funders understanding of what is art and who are artists here. Some serious obstacles, but they can be surpassed. For now, we can enjoy innovation from afar, thanks to the web and eye-openers like you.
Disrupt IT