Mastering class with Trisha Brown (or her company member)

This week I had the unbelievable fortune to take a master class from Trisha Brown while the company was in residence at the Dance Center.  Like every BFA-touting, Judson church-studying, release-based modern dancer on the planet, I revere this choreographer with as much respect as my boyfriend has for espn.com and DVR. Until this week I only experienced her artistic genius via VHS. So watching her move, let alone seeing her in person was thrilling. The standard Feldenkrais warm-up and vague plié exercise were forgettable (led by a company member) but learning about the nuance of Brown's highly gestural style FIRSTHAND was a highlight.  After learning a simple traveling phrase, we were encouraged to use the movement as a catalyst to build a longer, stretchier version upon itself.  

I do have to say, in a room filled with crunchy granola modern dancers, not unlike myself, I was surprised by the hesitation that seemed to pervade the group. This was a professional level class and very few individuals really seemed to rise to the challenges presented. I am very curious about this. This was not an audition, but somehow there was a palpable tension in the air. Maybe it was in the air left over from the Hubbard Street rehearsal prior to class. Come on, Chicago dancers. You're not in New York playing tug-a-war for dance jobs. It seems like it's okay to just have fun and make the most of the experience. Maybe I'm being too harsh on my community. Maybe she actually WAS looking for dancers...

The class came to a close with an exercise about improvisational repetition: trying to continuously repeat and layer groupings of movement into a strung together phrase. Choreographers and their mind-games... 

Overall, completely worth it seeing a woman in her sixties move just as she did 30 years ago.

My busy, busy day

After a long, pathetic hiatus from my official post as a blogger, I figured it's time to skulk my way back to web notoriety. My subsequent postings will just have to be a reflection of my glamorous, fast-paced dance life...

The real reason that I'm back to blogging is because I spent my day as a grant writer for The Space/Movement Project's latest funding endeavors. And when I say "my day" and "grant writer" I mean this:

10:00 am-Drag myself out of bed and turn on computer
10:30 am- Stare at the grant proposal application I'm working on
11:00 am- Put a load of laundry in the wash.
Noon- start writing/make lunch
1:00 pm More laundry
2:30 pm-G-mail chat
3:00 pm- Get to work. Wondering about peanut butter cookie in the kitchen.
3:10 pm- Go to kitchen to defrost food for dinner. Grab peanut butter cookie.

The pattern is apparent and inevitable. The joys of working from home.

Writing grants is a painstaking process that requires such severe attention to language that my head starts to spin more rapidly with every subsequent copy and paste or synonym look up. I'm completely excited to be involved in such a vital part of TSMP's development, but if I have to type "TSMP" or "development" one more time today I might just throw this rickety old Dell out the window.

Getting to the good part. After a day of meticulous writing I wanted nothing more than to return to my belovedly neglected blogspot. A place where run-ons are expected and I can make up words like belovedly. I don't have to support my comments with a detailed history and budget, and, obviously, there are no deadlines.

It's good to be back.

Videodance at HPAC: a primer and more

After two weeks of promising myself a visit to the Hyde Park Art Center's Videodanse exhibit, I finally trekked down to the south side to watch Saturday's program. For fellow northsiders, I know it's hike, but while I had to take three expressways to get to Hyde Park, I flew down each one and parked my car in their (free!) lot less than 15 minutes after leaving my Bucktown apartment. It takes longer to get to Links Hall! I love the layout and design of the space-open, modern and, of course, free to the public. I walked upstairs to find a raw, work-in-progress atmosphere-the kind of place that would be fun to experiment with dance in if not for the cement floors. Videodance runs continuously from 12 (ish)-5 or 8pm depending on the day. I was surprised to walk in just before noon to find the room empty and the video well under way, not too surprising for a beautiful July Saturday. The exhibit presented thanks to the Centre Pompidou, a Paris arts center that produces annual collaborations between pivotal film makers and choreographers.

Not realizing how long each piece was (luckily the program is VERY informative), I had planned to stay for all the works, but featuring several 30, 40 and 60 minute dances I knew three or four would be my limit. Like any decent contemporary dance festival, this gave me the opportunity to see a variety of works, good and bad. As most dances were made by European choreographers, this is an especially rare opportunity to examine what has shaped art and movement outside of the US. A compilation of works from the last three decades, this exhibit puts abstract works in direct comparison to one another in terms of not only choreographic style but how movement is captured on camera.

I was particularly drawn to The Moebius Strip by Gilles Jobin. A study of shape, form and patterning, movement took place on a dark grid of gaff-taped marley flooring. As dancers shifted positions, they became game pieces watching and reacting to each others' moves. Close-up shots came at all the right moments quickly breezing past or following a slow, languid path of dancers moving past each other. Clearly there are rules to this game. As a spatially-obsessed dancer, I was hooked. I had never heard of Jobin and compulsively did a google and youtube search on him when I got home. What I found was that his company uses this piece for their education work allowing students to create and experience their own "Moebius Strip". I love that this exhibit opened my eyes to such a forward-thinking artist.

Each week the work shown in the exhibit changes, and I intend to see as many dances as possible. Seriously, how often does Pina Bausch come to this city? Chicago dancers: take what you can get and do not skip this!!!

Fulfilling my civic responsibility: Jury duty, me and the on-call system

I’m into my third day of this waiting game our legal system calls jury duty and this silly little trick they’re playing on me is getting old. As part of the whole process, a call-in system allows me to avoid unnecessary trips to the courthouse. Fine. Speed dial number nine on my phone now houses the jury hotline, a number I obediently call twice each day anxiously awaiting news about whether or not I may or may need to call back tomorrow to find out if they may or may not have me call back at 11:15 on Thursday to go in on Friday. Borrowing the tactic from the retail world, it’s also a cruel joke. (Do I get to enjoy my Friday night? Can I sleep off my hangover on Sunday morning?) I feel like I’m playing cat and mouse with the Lake County government. These juror-in-waiting phone calls have left me wondering when I will once again meander around my Bucktown apartment, gaze at the hazy skyline from the Edens Expressway, or devour a raspberry sundae at Margie’s.

To be fair, I’m not sitting at the courthouse right now. Jury duty equals many good things too. So far it has taken me to lunch, family dinners and Sam’s Club and given me reading time, writing time, lounge time. Basically I’m taking a vacation from my month off in the city. I know. The life of a dancer is exhausting.