National Conference
Pavilion Dance, Bournemouth (UK)
8-10 September, 2011

Digital Futures in Dance is an opportunity for artists, promoters, producers, venues, academics and creative and digital companies to come together to discuss future possibilities for dance and technology. With an increasing growth in interdisciplinary practice, Digital Futures in Dance investigates how new digital technologies create new conditions for choreographing and presenting dance. The conference is structured around three interrelated themes explored through presentations, workshops, performances and installations:

The Expanded Stage: Stage, screen and bodies – What will be the stages for dance in the future?

New Body Intelligence: Body data as raw material – How will new intelligence of the body influence choreography in the future?

Social Interaction: Mobile and interactive technology devices – How will increased interactivity influence the creation and reception of dance in the future?

The programme will feature international artists and researchers across the dance, technology and media spectrums including Jonah Bokaer, Billie Cowie, Marlon Barrios-Solano, Harriet Macauley | Pair Dance, Johannes Birringer, Renana Raz, Mark Coniglio, and Marina Tsartsara.

See the full programme here.

Today at 4am USA Eastern Standard Time, and 6pm in Brisbane Australia, the interactive Waterwheel platform will launch with a crew of collaborators and audience members from around the world converging online in real time. Waterwheel is an ongoing interactive, collaborative platform for performance, presentation and exchange exploring water, as a topic of politics, science and metaphor. The brain child of Brussel’s born Suzon Fuks, a media artist, choreographer and director, the project developed out of her growing interest in global water politics and the richness of the topic for artistic expression.

Last week as the site was in its final stages of tweaking, Fuks gave me a tour of the platform and showed me all the things it can do. Along with her team of technicians and artists Fuks has created a very sophisticated site, one that works as well or better than most social media sites or online conferencing platforms. With years of experience designing intermedia and live networked performances, Fuks knew what she wanted, and what was needed to achieve the intentions of the site. Each section of the site is modeled to emulate some function of water, with the net result that it “flows” together seamlessly, and feeds and regenerates the overall experience for everyone who uses it.

When you first encounter the site on the homepage there is a beautiful wheel with 40 concentric rings that ripple with the latest media content that has been uploaded to the site. From there you can explore the raw media, or you can enter one of the “Taps” which are highly sophisticated real-time spaces to hold networked performances, presentations, workshops, or exchanges. All of the media up-loaded to the Waterwheel by users is available for real-time mixing and integration on the Taps as well as live video, audio, and drawing tools.

Another component of the site is a map showing “Fountains” going on all around the world. A Fountain can be anything flowing from the Taps (ie current or up-coming Taps), or they can be events about water that users submit to the site. These could be a performance or presentation, an exhibition or conference, a book launch or a film premiere. The Fountains are the place for users to promote their projects or events, or find other similar projects of interest and upcoming events happening nearby or around the world.

While the Waterwheel is focused on water, the platform itself is incredibly facile and could be useful for any group that wants to converge around a specific area of interest. I asked Fuks about whether she would be making more platforms like this in the future. In her reply, she emphasized that exploring water topics remains her primary motivation, however she does see the marketability of the platform they have designed and they are considering commercializing the technology as a means of funding Waterwheel.

The success of the platform is in the hands of the people who use it, so dive on in and splash around in the beautiful liquid world of Waterwheel.

Details of the Launch Event:

On Monday 22 August 2011, the new Waterwheel project and website will be launched at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts in Brisbane from 6pm, and online on the Waterwheel website with a program of free performances.

Kinect Installation at Singapore Dance Fest

When Microsoft unleashed the Kinect last fall as an add-on for Xbox 360, hackers and geeks the world over were chomping at the bit to break in and figure out what it can do. That’s because the Kinect is a $150 piece of equipment that contains a super sophisticated camera that can detect depth (3D), color, speed and motion, as well as stereophonic microphones that can place sounds in space. As a result it’s basically a rudimentary brain that has both sight and sound senses and can capture and respond to the world like a sentient being (almost).

The list of Kinect hacks has been piling up since it was released last November, and it will keep growing thanks to Microsoft’s new Kinect Developers kit for Windows (apparently a Mac kit is in the works). Among the coolest developments is motion capture software like Jasper Brekelman’s Brekel that enables anyone to create their own mo-cap animations using the Kinect. Here is a preview of “Under the HUD” by Triangle Productions, an animated series using Brekel and Kinect’s motion capture capabilities. Although the choreography is not so impressive, they give great insight into how they are using the technology.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The sensors on the Kinect make it a powerful tool for intermedia performance. Amazing live interactive animations like those of Chunky Move’s “Mortal Engine” can be obtained using the Kinect for a tiny fraction of the cost and technological know how. Here is an example of an artful performance with live video projections using a Kinect developed by the media and design firm 1024 Architecture.

Click here to view the embedded video.

There have been many technological precedents to the Kinect, but for a much higher price tag. In the dance world this kind of technology was formerly only available to universities and world class dance companies with loads of funding. The prototype of Kinect’s camera and microphone alone cost $30,000! How can Microsoft charge only $150 for the same technology? Well the answer is in the popularity of the device, which has already sold 10 million units and counting.

The fact that this device is called Kinect and was designed to track the motion of the human body seems to be a dream come true for dance artists and movers. I can’t wait to see what artists and geeks will come up with next.

To learn more and see loads of videos about hacks for the Kinect go to: Kinecthacks.net

Doug Fox’s Picks for Dance and Movement Animations

One of the captivating elements of dance and animation is the diverse range of forms it can take. Among the animation techniques that can be employed to represent the body in motion, whether in a more concrete or abstract manner, include:

• 2D
• 3D
• Stop motion
• Live-action and animation hybrids
• Real-time animated graphics using motion tracking
• Visualization overlays
• Special effects
• ASCII-based animations
• Digital puppetry
• Cut-out animation
• Motion-capture based
• 2D/3D lasers
• Rotoscoped
• Virtual worlds
• Pre-cinema era animations

For Doug’s round-up of some of his favorite dance and movement animations he made selections of each of these different types of animations.  A few videos chosen by Doug couldn’t be embedded onto our blog for your viewing convenience, but we encourage you to take a minute to check out these great videos, to learn about the many types of dance and movement-based animated videos artists are creating. Enjoy!

Rotoscoped Tango dance scene from “Waking Life”:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Gabrielle Lamb’s “Quizas” mixes 2D animation and live-action footage:

Click here to view the embedded video.

“En Tus Brazos” is a narrative-based 3D animation about a tragic accident that besets a famous Argentinean Tango dancer:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Also enjoy an ASCII-based animation “TextField” by Chirstinn Whyte and Jake Messenger:

http://www.jakemessenger.plus.com/textfield-h264.mov

The Converse music video “My Drive-Thru” is based on the cut-out animation technique:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Oren Lavie’s “Her Morning Elegance” is a stop-motion music video compiled from thousands of photographs:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The “Prodigy Warrior’s Dance” combines stop-motion animation and puppetry:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Recoil Performance Group’s “Body Navigation” uses motion tracking and projectors to general real-time, interactive graphics in a performance environment:

Click here to view the embedded video.

“Trash Dance” features 3D animation and motion capture:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Lastly, Doug offers us “Anima Istanbul”, which re-creates the feeling of the pre-cinema era zoetrope effect:

http://motionographer.com/theater/if-2009-zoetrope/

Movement Media appreciates Doug sharing some of his favorite animated videodances with our readers.  As you can see, artists are making some extraordinary animations, and there will certainly be more exciting works in the future, as more artists are combine animation with dance and movement.

Doug Fox is the founder of Great Dance, one of the first dance blogs. His blog and speaking programs have primarily addressed how dance-makers can embrace the Internet and digital tools to enhance their marketing and promotional efforts. He is an active member of the dance community and serves on the Dance/NYC Advisory Board.

Doug began to study and research all forms of animation, especially as they relate to dance and movement. This research led to the creation of his dance animation educational program, which he was delighted to introduce at Movement Media’s Kinetic Cinema. Doug is continuing to expand this screening program and workshop and it will be shown on August 16th at the Hong Kong Science Museum presented by the City Contemporary Dance Company.

Doug can be reached at doug@greatdance.com and through his Great Dance website: http://greatdance.com. You can also follow his Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/dougfox.

The world is responding to dance more than ever, as individuals from across the globe share their love of dance publicly and through video arts.

We are finding more and more people documenting their celebrations of dance icons through dance and video, and their dances continue to resonate with Internet viewers looking to connect artistically, locally, and universally to create MORE dance.

This new social movement through dance is liberating and profound.  World records are being broken as more and more people come together to dance for a common goal–the celebration of dance.  The growing numbers speak volumes, and as we continue to learn from dance, we will continue to grow to our full potential as artists and communities.  At the end of this posting you can learn how to get involved in this new social movement and dance phenomenon and help Thrill The World by dancing with the WORLD to Michael Jackson!

Dance legends have impacted me greatly, as I see them teaching us how to connect with ourselves, others, and the world.   This week we pay tribute to Michael Jackson who continues to affect the world as seen through the arts.  Dancers and media artists have been making documented tributes to his legacy.

Michael Jackson-the King of Pop

Michael Jackson is remembered fondly for his impact on dance.  Out of the hundreds of videodances recently created to celebrate the beloved Michael Jackson, these are some of my favorites.

As a dancer, this next videodance speaks to Michael Jackson, the man who made me want to dance freestyle and hip hop every day.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Video artists have also done their part to pay tribute to Michael, as seen in this adorable video to the song ”Don’t stop til you get enough“…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Michael Jackson dance tributes continue to hit the street, as seen in this videodance tribute to Beat It done in Stockholm.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In addition to these popular songs and dance moves, there are continuous dance tributes to Michael Jackson’s Thriller.  Never before has there been more ZOMBIE walks and events, as demonstrated by the zombie networking website http://www.ThrillTheWorld.com.  ‘Thrill The World’ has organized 72 dance tribute events, breaking a world record last year with 4,179 dancers participating from 10 different nations.  They are hoping to reach their goal of 270,00 people to dance to Thriller in 2009 and pay tribute to Jackson’s life and dance. Thrill 2009 looks to be a big year for zombies doing the crawl of the dead!

This videodance tribute from 2008 showcases the individuals who came  together as dancing zombies to celebrate Michael Jackson’s influence on the world.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Anyone can learn the dance moves to Thriller, and participate in Thrill The World 2009.  There are various videos available online, such as this one.

Click here to view the embedded video.

In addition to thousands of people who are learning dance moves from online video, more and more people are learning Michael Jackson’s dance moves in dance studios around the world.  Leaders in the Hip Hop genre are doing their part to perform and teach Michael Jackson’s moves to current and future generations of dancers.  The following videodance tribute features Hip Hop Masters Lil’ Mama, Taeko, Feng, and The Beat Freaks.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The King of Pop was one inspirational gentleman, and will be remembered on a global scale…as evidenced by the videodances shared in this posting and the hundreds available on the Internet.  I look forward to continued celebrations of Michael Jackson through dance…so whenever you can, by yourself, with a partner, or with a group–get out there and dance!

Tune in next week for more posts in tribute to Pina Bausch and Merce Cunningham.

I’m back, and ready to dive in with you and bring you up to date on this new project/piece/film/thing that i’ve been working on.  To give you a little context about the piece as a greater whole:

I’ve been working with my company, the A.O. Movement Collective, since the beginning of September on a new piece.  Through Dance Theater Workshop’s Van Lier Fellowship, i was awarded 100 hours of free rehearsal space at Topaz Arts in Queens (an awesome studio, if i may say so) which we’re just finishing up this month. We’ve been through a lot already – cast additions and subtractions (and additions and subtractions), improvising, brainstorming, making, editing, throwing out, remaking, renewing – the works. The piece in itself (and i’m going to talk about it broadly here, but you can find more on my blog) is comprised of many small sections (“spots of time”) that will eventually all be connected by a non-linear narrative.  Rather than working on a section at a time (which, we see very clearly now, would have been much easier to schedule and more economically viable) we’re making all of them at once, inch by inch and layer by layer.  Working on them in this way means that they all continue to inform the others and continue to grow.  I’ll be talking more about that process, and other Epic Work at my program at Chez Bushwick this Wed. night at 7 (come!!!) but that’s clear enough for now. All of this is to say: there are many sections (“13 variations on a car crash”, “Muerte Chiquita“, “fat fingers”, “Rock Solo”, “Slow lift evolving”, “eyes closed”, “gun to face”, etc) and this one is called “Glass Tree in Harlem”.

At first, we weren’t sure whether we wanted to be making a piece for the stage, or for film.  I’ve done both, loved both, and at this point, really feel like (especially for this piece) i’m not ready to let go of either. So, we decided that we’d make the film version first (which i’m hoping will be feature-length when all’s said and done) and at the same time be thinking/making about how it would work on stage, and then present it on one (we’ve applied for the Joyce SoHo 2010 season – fingers crossed!).  There are three main reasons for this:

1. it’s EPIC. and that’s what i’m interested in right now.
2. (as i’ll talk about on wed) I believe making a work bigger and utilizing it more to be an extremely effective way of working in this economy.  By committing to two visions of this piece (film and then stage) we are giving ourselves more time (i plan on working on this piece through 2010) and focus.  By presenting it in two mediums, we are also able to afford that focus, as we’re exporting two different marketable and revenue-generating entities.  Additionally, because we are filming the film one “spot” at a time, we’re hoping to release each one (as an event, online, and perhaps to purchase) as we finish them, making serials leading up to the “big release”.  This not only generates more opportunities to market the piece, but also generates an audience that will become more and more intimately attached to the piece as it grows.
3. the dialogue that is going to happen between the film and the performance version of the piece will be interesting, and will push me as a choreographer.  How do i take something that is beautifully real on film (such as the ability to go into slow motion, or edit, or change locations) and make it come to life on the stage? For the film versions, i am adamantly refusing to “set myself up” for the stage version (quite the opposite – the films utilize slow motion, reverse motion, etc).  “How will she get out of this one?” the audience wonders.  The choreographer wonders too.

So. Now that we’ve established all of that. The film.

Sketches for "Glass Tree in Harlem"

The first film that we’re going to shoot is (for now) titled “Glass Tree in Harlem”.  If you’ve ever come into the city on the Metro North (as i did quite often in my 4 years at Sarah Lawrence) you see a tree just after you cross the bridge that’s COVERED with plastic bags.  They’ve accumulated quite a bit over the years, and I always thought it was a beautiful and fitting welcome to the city to see something composed of such trash and lack of care be so nonchalant and stunning. So that’s how the piece started.

I’ve always had a fascination with “the aesthetics of mess”, particularly with large amounts of simple white objects.  At Sarah Lawrence, i did two films, Eggshells and Flour, and then also made a piece featuring large amounts of white envelopes.  I’ve always wanted to make work for Julia (she was a year above me at SLC), and for some reason when she asked to work with me, the tree stuck out in my head.

Since then, it’s developed quite a bit.  After a few rehearsals playing with bags (what are the different ways to throw them? how can we dive under? what sounds do they make? etc) we came up with a structure for her solo.  The average throw of a plastic bag through the air last somewhere between two and four seconds – I was intrigued by the idea of making a solo that used the bags as a time-keeping device.  Going on this idea, we decided to make a bunch of short phrases (twenty to start) each no longer than a toss of the bag.  Some phrases interacted with the bags and they floated down, some just used the bags for timing. We’re now up to forty something phrases, and probably have a few more in us before we’re done.

Now, the concept. I have it all planned out in my head, and am in the process of story-boarding. Here’s the quick and dirty: every phrase will start from the moment the bag leaves julia’s hand, and end the second it touches the floor. So you never see the throw.  The first part of the film is a string of these phrases, one after the next after the next.  The shots are varied, but generally the camera is pretty stationary. About midway through the piece, Julia finally gets a full throw, in beautiful slow motion that decelerates as she throws it, finally showing it at the tips of her fingers, and then accelerates into space, then catches back into slow motion. We then get a few more phrases, and a lovely ending shot of her looking straight into the camera as bags (hundreds…okay…a lot) fall around her. That’s the really simple version anyway.  I hesitate to describe it too much, because there’s a side project i’m working on (which perhaps i’ll talk about next week) and no one’s supposed to know my version of the piece.  But i don’t think they read this blog, so it’s okay.  And if they do, and are reading this right now, then how do they know i’m not tricking them.  So there.

Anyway.
I’m being long about it (as always) but i wanted to give you the general overview of the project and the first film so that you can delight with me as it comes to life.  As always, questions and comments welcome.  I’ll keep you undated as i go. And come see my program at CB!

lovealways,

Sarah A.O.

Sarah A.O. Rosner with The A. O. Movement Collective

Hello there!

I’m Sarah A.O. – Anna has been kind enough to invite me to blog on Move the Frame on a regular basis. So, yes, i’m thrilled to be here!  I guess you could say i’m a dance blogger. You could also say that i’m a choreographer, and dancefilm-maker, as well as newmedia lover/developer.  You could also say that I am a lumberjack, but you, my friend, would be wrong on that last one.  My company, the A.O. Movement Collective, is a contemporary dance co. based in NY, in love with and dabbling in many things: the aesthetics of mess, epic work, new media programs, and dancefilm being some of them.  My blog, the Urgent Artist, is a digital space for some of those ideas and questions, as well as a space for anyone who “lives by their art” to throw down some good old fashioned knowledge, questions, or heartaches. I also work as a producer/editor for reels4artists, a video production company for the arts, and as an artist services intern at Dance Theater Workshop.   But enough about all that.

Since Anna approached me about writing for her blog, i’ve been thinking about how to structure my time and space here. Do i blog theory, or about performances and screenings, or maybe turn my attention to the economics of dancefilm versus performance? I find them all vast and interesting, but luckily there’s a fairly easy answer already in place.

I’m just about to start pre-production (or, technical pre-production – we’ve been working on the choreography for a while now) on a dancefilm that i’m making with the AOMC.  What i’ll do in the next few months is blog a mix of production journal, preview, and theory/subvisc that goes along with it.  However, before we get started on that, before i can even start talking about the dance, much less the dancefilm, i thought it might be helpful to offer up a few basic ideas and vocabularies that i seem to return to a lot in my work and in my blogging.  To throw them out like this (some more than others) is problematic, partially because some of them are controversial ideas, and i’m sure that i can’t really explain where i stand exactly in one short paragraph.  But i’ll try to be as clear as i can, and if you want more info about any of it, feel free to let me know, or search for it on the Urgent Artist.

1. Vocab: “Subviscera“  – Okay, so here’s a simple one. You have the text of a book, and then you have the subtext, right?  So while the viscera refers to the dance or the dancefilm’s movement on a purely formal level (anatomy, space, time, texture, relation, etc.) the subviscera, or “subvisc” is all the information that lies below that.  For most works (i would argue for all works, but that’s another post), this is a MASSIVE amount of information.  We’re talking everything from themes of the work to specific “meanings” of movements or relationships to details about how the work was first envisioned, or how it has changed over time.  I see it as falling into two main categories: information about how the dance was made (process, evolution, etc), and about the dance itself (themes, interpretations, scholarship, etc.)  I’ve always believed that the subvisc was every bit as important as the viscera, and a lot of the newmedia work that i do investigates ways to record or interact with a piece’s subvisc.  Yum!

2. Clarification: “Epic Work” – A biggie, so to speak.  For the last year or so, i’ve been consistently obsessed with epic work, both in terms of looking at other people’s and making my own.  In fact, i’m moderating the next Artist Salon at Chez Bushwick on the 25th and we’ll be screening and discussing the very topic.  It’s my professional opinion that you should come (which i’m sure Anna and I will both blog about more in the coming week) and if you’re interested in showing work, just send us an email.  Anyway – to clarify (and we’ll get into the juice of it later) by “epic work” i am usually referring both to the themes and to the length of the work.  The length or mass of the work meaning that it’s longer, denser, or somehow encompassing more than the average dance piece or film.  The themes of the work meaning “epic” in it’s literary or filmic sense – using the structures of a hero, a journey, a long span of time or subject, lists, epithets, and cultural parallels. Regardless, i’m interested in epic work, partly because it’s what i’m drawn to, as you’ll notice by the length of this, and most subsequent posts. I’m not interested in works that are clear or simple for the sake of clarity, ease, or entertainment.  I’m not even really that interested in works that are “clean” or “well made”, although they are certainly very lovely to watch.  I’m interested in works that encompass many many complex things very fully, convey the mess of human interaction, and aren’t self-limiting in their quest to be easily watched, or even watchable in one sitting.  I want works that evolve me as a watcher, maker, and human because i have to somehow grow or expand to experience them.  So there’s that.

3. Idea: “Anti-ephemeralism” – Oh what a can of worms.  To generalize grandly: it is of my opinion that most of the dance world’s problems right now stem from the fact that “dance is ephemeral”.  While, on one hand, this is what makes dance unique from other art forms, it’s also what makes dance nearly impossible to study without a physical experience of it.  This makes dance not only inaccessible, but puts it on it’s death bead economically, because no one is watching (contemporary) dance right now but dancers. So. I as a choreographer and as a newmedia artist am interested in the refutation of the ephemeral as a given for dance.  Which is not to say that i think all dance shouldn’t be ephemeral, i just think that it’s high time we stop using it as an excuse, or assuming that it has to be.  More on this later.

Those are the big three right now, or at least, that’s what’s hitting me as i sit trying to think about how to introduce myself to you.  What else can i say? I’m an artist. I’m deeply invested and in love with the making of things and cultivating of communities, and i’m really excited to have the chance to interact with all of you through this blog!

Next week i’ll give you some background on the piece we’re making and all that jazz, and then from there on out we’ll be following along with the production of the piece as it happens.  Always feel free to email me, always feel free to ask questions, and ALWAYS feel free to argue!

Love always,

Sarah A.O.

Button Happening by Naim June Paik

This Wednesday I will be co-hosting the first Artist Salon at Chez Bushwick with choreographer and media artist Jonah Bokaer about the influence of video art on live performance. Starting with Nam June Paik’s first known video, made in 1965 the day he bought the first Sony Portapak, from there we’ll focus on how performance artists have used video ever since. We’ll watch interview footage with the Wooster Group about their use of television and media content in their theatrical works, as well as interviews with Cathy Weis on her dance video processes.

Finally, we’d like to invite you, the audience to bring in work of your own that relates to video and live performance. What performance work is being done today that is in dialogue with new media? Can we distinguish the mediatized from the live anymore? What directions do you see inter-media performance heading in?

To share work, please email us a brief description of what you’d like to show, the total running time (no more than 10 min) and the format for screening. We can show DVD’s, minidv, or quicktime files.

ARTIST SALON

with Jonah Bokaer choreographer and media artist & Anna Brady Nuse choreographer and dance film-maker

Wednesday Jan 28th 7:00-9:00pm $5

Chez Bushwick
304 Boerum St., Buzzer #11
Brooklyn, NY 11206
Trains: L to Morgan Street, exit back of the train. Turn LEFT outside the station. Turn LEFT onto Boerum Street

Electric Haiku by Cathy Weis

Club Midnight: Spirit into Flesh

Amy Greenfield is an award-winning film-maker and cinedance pioneer. In her latest project, CLUB MIDNIGHT: FLESH INTO LIGHT she combines her films about erotic dancers with Leonard Nimoy’s  photography about the divine female presence and re-imagines it all for the stage with a cast of live dancers (featuring Andrea Beeman as the Enchantress of Bioluminosity, Bessie Award-winning dancer Tasha Taylor & Vittoria Maniglio). The result is a true multi-media feast for the senses.

If that isn’t enough to intrigue you, the music features John Zorn’s Masada, words are spoken by Emmy Award-winning actress, Maeve Kinkead, and Lyda Borelli is seen in a 1917 Italian Diva film.

I’m particularly excited to see how Amy, a master of the film image, is able to work with live dance and combine theatricality with the screen. The show has been specially designed for the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater at Symphony Space, which is intimate and cabaret-ish, but also allows her to project real 35mm film on a full screen. It’s rare to see a work of such  uncompromised vision. After my disappointment last year in Isaac Julien’s “Cast No Shadow” with Russell Maliphant at BAM, I’m hoping that Greenfield’s “Club Midnight: Flesh Into Light” will have a strong choreographic presence and the dancers will not be completely consumed by the seductive screens.

Still from Club Midnight

CLUB MIDNIGHT: FLESH INTO LIGHT
January 30 and 31, 7:30 and 9:30 Nightly
Symphony Space, Broadway at 95th Street, NYC

Reservations: 212-864-5400 or www.symphonyspace.org

More info: www.clubmidnight.net
www.cinemabody.wordpress.com

First, on Sunday December 14th at 8pm EST, Misnomer Dance Theater will have a live webcast of the final NYC performance of their premiere piece, Being Together choreographed by Chris Elam. Anyone with a computer and internet connection can tune in by going to their website: http://www.misnomer.org/live. In addition, online audiences can ask questions and interact during the show through a live moderated chat. According to their press, this is the first ever live webcast of a downtown dance show, and it could greatly expand the potential of the audience/choreographer relationship. I think it will be interesting to see if the webcam footage will be compelling enough to sit through a whole performance. As anyone who has watched a video of a dance show knows, the seeing the video is generally pretty inferior to sitting in the theater and viewing show live. The inclusion of live chat may make a big difference though, because you can “talk” during the performance and the interaction among the audience members may make the web-viewing experience more interesting. This is an experiment, and I look forward to seeing how it works out. Unfortunately I can only go to the Sunday show in person, so I won’t be able to observe the live online webcast. Hopefully there will be extensive follow-up on the Misnomer blog.

The second initiative worth noting is a new duet by Yanira Castro that is being choreographed, in part, on Twitter. The piece entitled Dark Horse/Black Forest is a private performance that can booked for a limited time through PS 122. According to the PS122 e-newletter, the piece is an “intensely performed love story in the most intimate of spaces: your bathroom.” This alone is pretty interesting, especially when ponders a dance piece taking place in your NYC apartment bathroom that is so small you can barely sit on the toilet… But the other interesting twist is how they are marketing the shows. Yanira Castro & Company has created two profiles on Twitter for the two characters in the show, written by Rozalia Jovanic, and their feeds are a blow by blow account of what each character is thinking with each move they make and word they say. The result is a disembodied conversation, part inner monologues, part dance duet, part reality. As those of you who Twitter know, you can only write comments of up to 140 characters on your feed, so the descriptions are short, pithy, and intense. Here is a sample of their two Twitter feeds

	doghebitedme She prevents my hand opening the door. Let me see your neck, I say and remove her scarf. I fill her mouth with my tongue muscle. 12:58 PM Dec 10th from web
	doghebitedme She comes into the bathroom where I am and shuts the door. I can see her in the mirror. I piss. She puts on lipstick. More, she says, More. 12:42 PM Dec 10th from web
	doghebitedme ‘Smolensk, Suzdal, Vitsebsk, Tver,’ I say. Those are words. A word is a container, empty or full, or half-full or clouded or spluttering 12:37 PM Dec 10th from web
	darkbloom8 His eyebrows lifted as in ‘knowing something.’ I follow him down the hall. His foot drags behind. ‘You don’t tell me anything,’ I say. 12:17 PM Dec 10th from web
	darkbloom8 What is popular is useful, a tool to jerk something with, ‘What do you mean?’ I say. ‘Your words?’ I realize how little know him. 12:13 PM Dec 10th from web

If you want to follow the piece on Twitter, here’s how:

1. Twitter is a free service and is easy to join. Go to Twitter.com and sign up.
2. Click on each of the following two links, and from their profile pages click the “follow” button:
   twitter.com/doghebitme
   twitter.com/darkbloom8
   You will now be able to follow their conversations from your home page on Twitter.

To be even more immersed: receive tweets on the go and instantaneously by connecting your cell phone to Twitter. (Twitter doesn’t charge anything for this, but be sure to know what your text plan looks like with your wireless carrier.)

1. Go to Settings. Go to Devices. Add your cell phone number.
2. You will be given a number to text to activate your phone.3. Then go to Profile. Click on “following” above Updates. Turn the device updates on for doghebitedme and darkbloom8.

For more information on how to book the show for your bathroom, email darkhorse@ps122.org for reservations and more information.

Post Script

Here is a follow-up post by Maria from A Time To Dance blog about her experience watching Misnomer’s show on UStream.

….and here is a link to Misnomer’s video archive of the stream: http://www.misnomer.org/live/archive.