Archive for the ‘artists’ Category

Movement Media is proud to announce that on December 3rd, Kinetic Cinema will be curated by Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre, a New York-based contemporary dance theatre company that has developed a unique process using Skype to create new work during the temporary relocation of Artistic Director Samar Haddad King to Palestine.

On October 21 & 22 the company will premiere their latest performance project, Bound at the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, examining the lives of nine individuals living under occupation. For Kinetic Cinema, they will provide a demonstration of their unique working technique with Samar Haddad King live on Skype, along with a curated selection of videos related to Bound.

Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre has been hailed as “awesomely athletic” by Chicago Stage Style, and “Like a ray of light coming out of the arid desert…leaving the audience mesmerized in their seats” by Hussein Daaseh, Al Rai. You can more about their long distance creative process in this article by Jennifer Edwards for the Huffington Post.

Here is a video about the making of Bound.

BOUND

October 21-22, 2011 at 7:30pm

LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, Mainstage Theater
31-10 Thomson Ave, Long Island City
7 Train to 33 St/ Rawson St
Tickets: $15 Advance / $20 at the door / $10 Students
www.ysdt.org

Kinetic Cinema with Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre

Saturday December 3rd, 4:30pm

CRS (Center for Remembering & Sharing)
123 4th Ave, 2nd FL
New York, NY  10003
212.677.8621
info@crsny.org
$10 suggested donation

Contemporary dance lovers and dance film aficionados have been set afire by the latest music video by pop sensation Beyoncé Knowles. “Countdown” is a breezy number about all the ways to “keep your man,” however beyond the driving beat and batting eyelashes the video displays many blatant quotes from works by choreographer Anne Theresa de Keersmaeker, including her seminal dance film “Rosas danst Rosas” and “Achterland.”

To see the quotes clearly, some fans of de Keersmaeker put together this video showing Beyoncé’s video and the original material by de Keersmaeker side by side. Incredibly, it is the second video that comes up when you search for “Countdown beyoncé” in YouTube!

In a statement for the social network, Dance-tech.net, de Keersmaeker responded to the hubbub by saying that she is neither flattered nor upset by the heavy borrowing from Beyoncé, rather she is sad that it has taken so long for the world to recognize her dance experimentations from 30 years ago.

Personally, I think it is great that Beyoncé and her creative team have brought these dance works into mainstream consciousness. I’m also happy that the arts community has responded with a flurry of comments on YouTube because it is leading Beyoncé’s fans to see de Keersmaeker’s work for themselves.

This is not the first time Beyoncé has quoted great choreography. Her viral video hit “Single Ladies” was clearly inspired by Bob Fosse’s choreography for “Mexican Breakfast” (Beyoncé found as a video mash-up with the rap song “Walk it Out” and has since been removed from YouTube). What was wonderful about “Single Ladies” was all the subsequent copying that happened around the world with millions of fans reconstructing the choreography and posting it online. From fat men to 3 year old kids, everyone and their brother learned that piece of choreography to perfection. Can one wish for anything more as a choreographer? It was a stroke of marketing genius for Beyoncé to give that choreography away for millions to copy and share. I can only hope that “Countdown” does the same.

What do you think? Are you outraged or overjoyed? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Update 10-26-11: Here’s a news clip from Reuters announcing de Keersmaeker’s pending law suit against Beyoncé. Doesn’t look like she’s taking the imitation as flattery!

Sept 30- Oct 23 2011

MAASTRICHT, NETHERLANDS

BodyTalks is a study into how the disciplines of video art and short dance films influence each other, and how they can evoke new, unexpected interpretations of bodily expression or body language.

The street is where everyone is aware of their own bodily presence and where they are alert to the nonverbal signals from others. In this public space, the BodyTalks – Video Art & Cinedans in Public Space exhibition shows 23 videos that focus on the moving body. The selected works of art offer a diverse picture of the strength, wealth and scope of non-verbal communication and dance. The videos and short dance films have rarely been shown outside the walls of arts institutions or (movie) theatres, yet thanks to their specific content they can easily be shown in the urban landscape. In the public space, they enter into a direct one-on-one relationship with the onlooker or passerby in the street.

As a student in the Florida State University in NYC program, I was fortunate enough to be invited into Noémie LaFrance’s work studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to discuss her new project. Sitting in wooden chairs in the homey brick apartment, Noémie entered the room spewing information about her newest work, the White Box Project. In response to our questions, she explained that she is ever-interested in infusing dance with the everyday. The Black Box is known as a place to sit in an audience and to be spoonfed a presentation. Hence, the White Box.

Successfully, the White Box Project is the furthest thing from a proscenium, concert dance performance. As I entered the museum space, I was approached by what I thought to be a fellow observer, and naively pushed out the back door into the cement enclosed porch. The crowd chattered and looked around skeptically, until suddenly and miraculously the room fell totally silent (a brilliant tactic brought about by the performers, I realized on my second visit).  As the hour passed, it became clear that at least one of the men in the room was a performer. He, in my opinion, took on the role of the initiator; the leader. Otherwise, I was completely unsure as to who was a performer, and who was an observer. As a woman dressed in a trendy black coat and heels stood inches from my face and proceeded to lie down on the cement in front of me, I battled myself with whether I should do the same.

The feeling of uncertainty gradually melted away, as we were put into groups by a few men and women, and whispered instructions…“On the count of three, run!” By the end, I felt more like a child playing games in the schoolyard than an audience member.

Noémie invited everyone in attendance that Saturday back to another showing, free of charge, to witness the constant changes being applied to the project each day. I arrived the next week, eager to scrutinize the events I knew would happen and to identify the changes, of which there were several. This time, there was more dialogue between the dancers and the crowd; I was asked incognito to learn a succinct dance step, and teach it to another. Again, the realization that everyone was in clear groups/teams near the close of the work came with a playful sentiment. I was a participant, not a spectator. I cannot assume that this feeling fell upon every person in the ‘box’, but each individual surely brought something of their own to the experience, simply by entering the space.

The White Box is not a dance show. It is instead a mind game of sorts. Whether or not one chooses to run and turn the length of the walls at the demands of a scruffy man whose role is unknown is irrelevant. Choosing to act is participation. Choosing not to act, also, is participation. The audience ultimately, and blindly, has control of the show.

Carly Lozo is a dance major at Florida State University and an intern with Pentacle’s Movement Media this fall.

Maya Deren: 50 Years On

Fifty years after the death of filmmaker and choreographer Maya Deren, the art and influence of one of experimental cinema’s most inspiring and charismatic figures is celebrated and explored. The British Film Institute will present a dedicated program of Maya Deren screenings and events on October 4-12 2011, BFI Southbank, London.

For more information visit Maya Dean: 50 Years On