5×4
Hello.
This post is for everyone who lives in San Francisco and the greater bay area. Not you? Discontinue reading BUT you cant because your eyes like the pretty pictures.
My company TAGsf is kicking off its fall season 5x4 at Kunst-Stoff Arts on September 23rd and 24th and I am very proud of the program of this program. The program is very intimate with an MTV unplugged type feel. Well…. that’s the feeling that i get but you can be the judge of that. This is the first time that I have invited fellow dancer Alex Jenkins to create a new work titled Town of Wood which from what I have seen thus far is SICK and Im very proud of her work because she is proving to be a truly uniquely talented dance maker which is hard to find often times. On my end Ive been working like a mad man on a new dance theater work titled NEMESIS which explores the random life encounters that can lead a person to good or evil and explores the concept of identity/the mask. How you see yourself vs how you are seen. Aside from myself and another dancer I’m using a couple actors with no dance training which is funny because whenever i show my friends rehearsal footage they think that they are dancers which is good. Another exciting feature about the evening is that we will be showing a new motion picture by the same title as my piece shot by the talented Quinn Wharton. The program is an hour, short and sweet because everyone growing up in this high paced society has a short attention span which is another discussion within itself. All of the info is posted below and I’ll see you at the show.
posted below is the NEMESIS teaser trailer that which you can see sooner than later.
and just cause here is rehearsal video.
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More Rehearsal Footage + Photos from Vail, Week 2
A huge aspect of the festival in Vail is collaboration. New partnerships that dive across company and country boundaries, that emerge between dancers, choreographers, musicians, and movement styles. Most of these new partnerships are tested for the first time in Vail, several weeks or even days in advance of their debuts. For this reason, mornings and afternoons at Vail are often just as thrilling as the spectacular evenings. Rehearsals are spread out among three venues in Vail: the Vail Mountain School, the Vilar Performing Arts Center, and the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater itself.
Over the long weekend I spent in Vail, I got to observe and film rehearsals at all three spaces. At the Amphitheater on Saturday morning, the classics shone: the music of Drigo, Tchaikovsky, Chopin (and occassionally, some mambo) reverberated throughout the mountains. Later in the afternoon, I watched Christopher Wheeldon rehearse Wendy Whelan, Tyler Angle, Craig Hall and Fang-Yi Sheu at the Vail Mountain School; a new work set primarily to the music of Max Richter. I really love getting to film dancers at the Mountain School. The rugged backdrop of the school gym, transformed into a sunlit ballet studio for the festival, actually creates this magical aura of workmanship and creation. It’s the idea that beauty and grace occurs in the most unpredictable of places; that it is intensified when viewed in the simplest of environments, stripped of performance glitz and seen only for what it is at its core.
I got goosebumps watching Wendy and Tyler rehearse Wheeldon’s new pas de deux. It is set to Max Richter and Dinah Washington’s moving “This Bitter Earth”- I heard that Chris had planned to use Shostakovich and changed his mind on the plane to Denver.
Watch Wendy and Tyler rehearse the piece at Vail Mountain School here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IotMSNYbrX0
Wendy Whelan and Tyler Angle perform Christopher Wheeldon's "3 Movements and 4 Repeats," as part of UpClose: Premieres, on August 8, 2011. Photo by Erin Baiano.
Here is some more footage of the Wheeldon rehearsal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSgpQ8iu8uk&feature=related. Featured is the unparalleled mondern-dance master Fang-Yi Sheu, who dances a pas de deux with Craig Hall (of New York City Ballet) [the clip also features some more of Wendy and Tyler]. I loved Craig and Fang-Yi together. She has this rare, exquisite quality that is at once feral and extraordinarily feminine, and it goes beautifully with Craig’s strong, powerful movement.
Here are Fang-Yi and Craig in performance at UpClose: Premieres, an evening which saw the debut of Wheeldon’s work, as well as the premiere of an ensemble piece by Emery LeCrone (set on dancers from Colorado Ballet), and new works by Richard Siegal, Trey McIntyre, and Charles “Lil’ Buck” Riley.
Fang-Yi Sheu and Craig Hall perform Christopher Wheeldon's "3 Movements and 4 Repeats", as part of UpClose: Premieres on August 8, 2011. Photo by Erin Baiano.
Clifton Brown performs "I Wanna Be Ready" from Alvin Ailey's "Revelations" as part of International Evenings II, which honored former First Lady Betty Ford. Photo by Erin Baiano.
Always memorable at VIDF is seeing Boston Ballet’s Misa Kuranaga and American Ballet Theatre’s Herman Cornejo dancing together.
Misa Kuranaga (Boston Ballet) and Herman Cornejo (American Ballet Theatre) rehearse Diana and Acteon pas de deux. Photo by Erin Baiano.
Here is a montage of best moments from their appearances at the past two festivals, including excerpts from Diana and Acteon Pas de Deux (2011), Pas de Deux from Le Corsaire (2011), Pas de Deux from Don Quixote (2010) and Pas de Deux from Giselle (2010): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRbIDOszddg&feature=channel_video_title
And I could devote an entire entry to VIDF Artist-in-Residence Charles “Lil’ Buck” Riley but in the interest of sharing while I have your attention, you MUST see this clip if you have not already. The clip features Lil’ Buck performing the “The Dying Swan” ala Memphis Jookin’ in an unforgettable partnership with the celebrated cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and it went viral when Spike Jonze published it online (Festival Director Damian Woetzel produced and directed the performance, and introduces the duet in the clip above). Lil’ Buck has arms that rival both Pavlova’s and Plisetskaya’s: they are virtually boneless and ripple ceaselessly and effortlessly they way that only waves should be able to. His feet are unbelievably flexible; he not only bourrees in his sneakers as though en pointe, but also balances on the side of his arch while collapsed in an ecstatic backbend toward the ground. His Dying Swan is whimsical and moving… simultaenously light-hearted and startlingly emotional as he curls up in one last breath and taps Saint-Saens’ last notes on the sole of his shoe. Lil’ Buck’s jookin style is almost entirely self-taught, and though he did study ballet with the New Ballet Ensemble in Memphis, he started relatively late, at age sixteen…which is astounding as he has the plasticity of a dancer who has been at the barre for years.
Here he is in performance:
Charles "Lil' Buck" Riley performs "The Dying Swan" as part of International Evenings of Dance. Photo by Erin Baiano.
The entire crew of the Trey McIntyre Project in "Old Man Mos", part of "The Sweeter End" piece in Dance for $20.11. Photo by Erin Baiano.
- Erica Sheftman
Art imitating life
Hey guys.
I hope everyone is well. I want to start off by saying thank to everyone who helped my friend Quinn Wharton of the San Francisco Ballet get his project funded through kickstarter. Im sure he has a lot of photos to send everyone:)
Currently Ive been working on producing a new season of works through my company TAGsf here in good ol ‘San Francisco called What it is? at Kunstoff-Arts on September 23rd and 24th. The evening consist of a new work by one of my dancers Alex Jenkins who is making a new 15minute work which I’m sure is going to be super high energy and out of control. There will be another special guest choreographer who will be showing another 15min work and I’m closing out the evening with a new dance theater piece titled Nemesis. My piece is rooted in my childhood growing up on comics and anime. Nemesis explores the random chance life encounters that shapes someone for either good or evil. The piece also looks into the theme of identity/mask and how we see ourselves/ how we are seen. One of the coolest things that has me excited about the show aside from the actual work process is the online campaign. Every week I will be showing new content through FB, Blog, Twitter and my website. I will be showing behind the scenes in depth looks into the process through pics, music, art and video. There will also be made for web dance films with numerous special guest artist (Im sure you might know some of there names) that tie directly into the show. There is also going to be new music which I’m getting asked all of the “Where can I get it?”.
Below I posted a quick clip of a section called 1minute warning danced as a solo(its not gonna be a solo though) at the San Francisco West Wave Dance Festival along with some rehearsal pics. I am go on record and say that I am the first person to execute an intentional plank onstage btw.
If you wish to stay up to date with all of the happening for the show you can go directly to my website at Btroubles.com where you can also help support us get the show funded so that we can pay the dancers, get costumes, sets, online support. We already have the space booked and right now we are hard at work rocking and rolling to give everyone an amazing evening.
pics by Natalia Salazar Turienzo
Me turning on the fan before rehearsal
Watching a run through
Planking
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Special Guest Blogger Quinn Wharton of San Francisco Ballet!
Hey folks.
I was recently approached by a very talented friend of mine name Quinn Wharton about doing a guest blog on this site. We have known each other for years now because he and I were in school together at the North Carolina School of the Arts along with fellow Winger Matthew Murphy. Quinn is now living and working in San Francisco at the San Francisco Ballet with fellow Winger Madison Keesler. (See how small this crazy mixed up dance world is?) Quinn is well known for his magnificent ability to capture great photos of dance with his work been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, Pointe Magazine, various galleries, Album covers and tons others but you catch my drift! He has some information that he would like to share with all of you so without further ado……………..QUINN WHARTON!
Hey everyone, my name is Quinn Wharton, I am a dancer with the San Francisco ballet. A few years ago I went through an injury that took me out of dance for about 9 months. While I was rehabbing and wallowing in my misery I tried to find things to take up my time creatively. One of the things I turned to, among many, was photography. I had bought a nice camera on a whim during a tour and never really touched it. During the injury I decided it was high time that I figured out how to use the thing and take advantage of my investment. The first shoot was me and a friend on the beach for a few hours at sunset. I posted the pictures online afterward s and got some really great feedback, so I did another one, and another. Opportunities just seemed to keep coming and I kept getting more and more interested in what was possible with a camera. I have always longed to make dance more accessible to a larger audience, and to take off the pretty little princess sheen, photography seemed a great way to broaden the audience. I prefer to show ballet as a very real, athletic, graceful art form. I try to get my work to reflect that, as well as whatever piece of inspiration I had found for the shoot. I was recently approached by one of the Principals in our company, Tiit Helimets, to see if I would be interested in photographing/filming a tour to his home country of Estonia. I jumped at the opportunity, free reign to film and photograph a really talented collection of dancers?Why would I not be interested, its a fantastic opportunity to build my portfolio, and an amazing experience. Unfortunately this is the first year of the tour and as an arts endeavor it is on a slim budget. The tour doesn’t have extra funds to bring along an accessory like a photographer, they need to focus their money on the dancers and procuring rights to the ballets they are performing. So I have set up a kickstarter donation site to see if we can raise the money for me to go. There is a video on the site that I put together of all the dancers, a preview of sorts for what they will be performing, and some of who is involved. There is also an interview with Tiit explaining what the tour is about and why its so important. Its really an amazing collection of artists and the work I could create will be stunning. I just need a little help in getting there. So take a second to visit the site and support if you are able. I really appreciate it.
Here are some pics of my work and you can click HERE to help raise funds for this great opportunity!
Below are some photographs of my work. ENJOY!
Live Interview Tonight!
Hi all! As usual - long time no blog!
So so so much has been happening here in NYC since recovering from my surgery back in September…and tonight I’m being interviewed live on The Kiner Hour - Let’s Talk Dance with Ashani Mfuko! Tune in for this broadcast tonight, 7-8 pm EST, on http://talkingalternative.com, or watch here on Ustream.tv! Call in live at 877-480-4120. (It won’t let me embed the video here…sorry 
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More updates to come soon 
3/30 UPDATED: Unfortunately the interview was canceled last minute To be rescheduled soon!
The King of Limbs
Hey everyone!
I hope that everyone on the interweb and beyond are having a great start to the new year.
I want to share with you all a new video that i made and share some insight into the making of the video. Remember that show on MTV, Making the Video? Remember back when MTV played music videos?!?! Any who………Recently my favorite band Radiohead released a new album called The King of Limbs with a new music video with Thom Yorke dancing titled Lotus Flower. Not only is he dancing in it but he employed the services of the Royal Ballets resident choreographer Wayne McGregor to set the movement which is a very fascinating yet a perfect collaboration. I have always enjoyed McGregors work and have had the pleasure of speaking with him after one of his shows with the San Francisco Ballet and he is a very smart down to earth man with some great insight. Me being a huge Radiohead fan and currently developing new material the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, my new artistic home(YESS!!!) and working on my own projects and other collaborations I have been listening to all kinds of different music most recently Flying Lotus which reminds me a lot of Radiohead’s new album The King of Limbs. Both having jazz, dubstep, hip-hop, world, scatter, and electronic music all mixed with a human element have led me expanding my own personal dance vocab over the past couple years because i naturally listen to all different sorts of music which of course influences my work.
Video below of Lotus Flower.
Now lets take a walk down memory lane to see how my work came to be…. Twas a dark stormy night. SCRATCH THAT!!!
Last Saturday i was leaving a teachers meeting at a local studio that i will be teaching Contemp partnering/rep and me being the last one to leave because i was working out new moves during the entire meeting on the floor, the director of the studio said that i could stay behind as long as i wanted to. Little does she know that I always travel with a some sort of hand-held recording device because you just never know when lighting is going to strike and decided to do some filming in the space. First I set up the composition for the shot and then loaded my ipod into the dock with surround sound and went to town. I just danced, Lady Ga Ga styles with no rhyme or reason except the fact that i knew that i owed someone a video for valentines day. After i did about 3 takes while reviewing each one i noticed that my entire upper body was cut out of frame and my legs and feet appear to be acting as a drum kit which sparked the idea for me to create this video below. Plus how self absorbed would i be if sent a valentines video just of me dancing? I thought to myself having my upper body cut off is not as bad(is it?). Once i got home and to the editing business i had no big plans or ideas for what i wanted aside the fact that it needs to be musical along with not having too many effects to muffle up the movement which is already muffled. Note that i did not make any specific choreography. It was all improv. The most important thing in the video is the movement which is the only constant with my legs turning into drum machines so i wanted to keep that element in tact as much as possible so i did a lot of splicing. I know that I’m not a film director or anything but i do have a high expectations for myself and editing a video was a good way for me to learn more about Final Cut Pro which i love but also freak out about because I’m not a director.
Thankfully my friend liked the video after i posted it on her wall. I still don’t know what to think about the video because i made it with no supervision whatsoever so i hope that you enjoy and will also appreciate any feedback.
take care everyone.
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Rehearsals for Dance On Canvas/8th Season
Hi Wingers!
We have been relishing in our rehearsals at The Art Students League in Manhattan during a very special part of our process: Dance on Canvas. We share the space with visual artists and they draw/paint/sketch while we work!, it’s such a special feeling. Here are a few shots of yesterday’s rehearsal..
It’s such a great feeling to be surrounded by such inspiration!
We are over halfway through setting “Toward Home”, almost finished setting “the last of the leaves” and “Dolce” will be up and running soon!! SO much to do, but it’s a fun rush!! It’s always refreshing to re-set work because I get to know it a little more every time, and make some changes and just finesse it. It’s a good feeling.
Any New York Wingers around tomorrow should stop by our fun event “Dance Your Pants Off”! It’s a silly fun event where there is a “dance contest” (ALL shapes, sizes, abilities welcome) It’s a time to show off your living room dance grooves! More info here: Dance Your Pants Off!
And tickets just went on sale for our New York Season here:
Brownpapertickets.com
enter code “winger” for a discount
xoxo
see you all soon!
Kate
www.syrendance.org
Getting ready for 8th NY Season performances!
We here at SYREN are excited to be in rehearsals for our upcoming New York Season!
Lots of work getting the pieces up and running! We are presenting “Toward Home” (music by Damon Ferrante), “Dolce” (Grieg) and “the last of the leaves” (Adams) in performances at Baryshnikov Arts Center March 29-April 3!
Toward Home photos: Christopher Duggan
We have some new company members so we are busy teaching LOADS of material to them and refining things as we go.
All the musicians are getting ready and we are getting that itch to hear it all live again!
super exciting all around!! Costumes being made, musicians rehearsing, press releases going out, postcards hot off the press…It’s almost showtime!! I will definitely start posting some rehearsal shots and keep everyone in the loop as we approach the shows!! And as always, we definitely create an online discount for fellow winger readers!!
Pacific Northwest Ballet, “Giselle Revisited” - Streaming Live Tonight
Works and Process at the Guggenheim Museum presents Pacific Northwest Ballet–Giselle Revisited.
Watch the sold out show live tonight, right here, at 7:30p and join our online discussion:
Online Discussion moderated by me, Candice Thompson on DIYdancer and The Winger.
