Happy New Year with Free Art.
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Beginnings..
SYREN has begun work on our 18th piece.. We have a campaign running to help underwrite the (huge) costs of studio space here in the city. I hope you’ll check it out by clicking above! Feel free to re-post/tweet/facebook~share anywhere. It would be a big help to us.
We have had small pieces with 2 people and street clothes, we have had big pieces with eight dancers, fancy costumes and lots of “stuff” going on. Everything is different right now. We are starting from a different place altogether. A quintet. A fugue. An approach by me that is more about listening, watching, and crafting.
This approach has been a huge learning process and we’ve just begun. We are having a rich and powerful time in the studio right now. Improvisation. Studies. Assignments. Notes. Trial. Error. Retry. Regroup. Try it slower. Quicker. Upside down. Such a journey! What a gift to share space with these incredible dancers.
We are truly digging in to this new work, and into the music (Bach’s fugue). We look forward to sharing glimpses of our creative process with all of you Wingers! See you soon!
Oh by the way! We are hosting a 1 day Fall Workshop on November 12th at Mark Morris Dance Center. Drop me a line if you’re interested! Or just click here for details: www.syrendance.org
Thanks for listening, Wingers-
Kate
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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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
Still here
Hey Wingnuts!
Right now it is 5:12pm pst and we are still here so enjoy the video that I made for the Rapture.
A little challenge for anyone who lives in San Francisco and is able to guess the special guest artist that is not me and I will buy you dinner. Make your predictions in the comment box.
For all of you who enjoy my post you can follow my blog No Expectations
peace
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Stepping into show week…
Chanelle Lagace and Lynn Peterson rehearsing “Dolce”
I can hardly believe it’s here! We enter production week on Tuesday, technically, but it really started yesterday as we sat in one of the music rehearsals. All of the performances will be accompanied by live music (two different programs) so it’s a lot of logistics to get instrumentalists, composers, conductors, sheet music, tempo checks, etc etc etc all together for the big week. This year we are beyond thrilled to be working with Artemis Chamber Ensemble, conducted by Matthew Oberstein for Program “A” (”Dolce” and “the last of the leaves”) and for Program “B”, “Toward Home”, we are working with six incredibly talented musicians (The Paumanok Trio, and Simon Boyar, Oren Fader, and Mat Fieldes) who are brilliantly bringing Damon Ferrante’s score to life. It is all so breathtaking to see it coming together before my eyes and ears! This week is what it’s all about. All aspects coming together.. dancers, musicians, choreographer, visual artists, and perhaps most important, our AUDIENCE!!! It has been nearly two years since our last Season in New York, so we are so excited to share the work and welcome our audience in for such an exciting week.
We hope some Wingers will join us!! (as always, enter discount code “winger” for discount!). Tix here: brownpapertickets.com
Matthew taking notes in rehearsal
Jeremy Neal and Nico Li rehearsing “Toward Home”
Mat Fieldes and Simon Boyar rehearsing Damon Ferrante’s “Toward Home”
Chanelle and Lynn
This time always feel like a dream come true. I suppose that is exactly what it is. Dances in my head, dreamed of over and over again coming to life. This is a special time and a precious collaboration. I am very proud indeed of what is to come this week.
xoxo
Kate
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!!
It takes four or five to tango
The first time I fell in love with tango it was at City Center in New York, arguably a hyper-stylized somewhat lyricized version danced by Julio Bocca and his Ballet Argentino - a sexy and whirlwind two hours called BoccaTango in which Julio partnered women, ladders, men and tables, all with equal eroticism.
The second time I fell in love with tango it was at Cafe Tortoni in Buenos Aires, the legendary coffee house on Avenida de Mayo with an intimate theater space toward the back where waiters seduce you with Piazzolla and cocktails as you watch a tango show at all hours of the night.
The third time I fell in love with tango it was in Vail, Colorado when I walked in on Natalia Hills and Gabriel Misse rehearsing an intense pas at two in the morning during a late-night lighting rehearsal onstage at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater.
Natalia Hills and Gabriel Misse dance as Damian Woetzel watches on during UpClose: The Art of Tango, as part of Vail International Dance Festival 2010. Photo by Erin Baiano.
All were dressed in black - though sometimes you saw a snatch of black tulle or fuschia chiffon in the wings - and the strains of accordion, piano and bandoneon seemed haunted in the deserted theater, during that strange and lonely part of the night when it’s neither evening nor morning. The effect was heightened by the pitch-black sky, illuminated by thousands of stars the likes of which seemed, in that moment, unique to the mountain. It was magic.
Along with their band and their troupe of dancers, all rehearsing for the next day’s premiere of Romper el Piso, they went until three in the morning even though they had an 11am call the next morning. These Argentinians are absolutely restless! That day, they had participated in UpClose: The Art of Tango, which was moderated by Damian. Other participants included SAB faculty member Suki Schorer - who has been in love with ‘Mr. Tango’ for 15 years, as Damian duly noted - and even Carla Korbes, who was in the audience and did an impromptu promenade with both Damian and Gabriel.
Suki Schorer, Damian Woetzel, Natalia Hills and Gabriel Misse speak at UpClose: The Art of Tango as part of Vail International Dance Festival 2010. Photo by Erica Sheftman.
Both Suki and Damian spoke of the differences between ballet and tango lying largely in the control of musicality and in the dynamic between the female and the male; Suki talked about the many years it had taken her to be okay with allowing the man to steer her and Damian observed that it was a good skill for any man to actually learn how to lead a woman. Natalia spoke - through a translator - of the passion and freedom of expression that tango intensifies, as well as of the closeness and trust that must exist between partners.
Romper el Piso dancers during UpClose: The Art of the Tango, as part of Vail International Dance Festival 2010. Photo by Erin Baiano.
Click here to watch Damian, Suki, Natalia, Gabriel and Carla at UpClose.
Vail audiences were so lucky to get an early insider’s glimpse at the world premiere of Romper el Piso. Some of it was excerpted at last year’s Fall for Dance at City Center, but the two-hour show was largely created for this year’s festival and featured Hills and Misse, as well as other duets, quartets, and sextets, endless costume changes and interludes like the hypnotizing live performance of Piazzolla’s Invierno Porteno.
Alastair Macaulay boldly announced in the New York Times that as evidenced in Vail, the partnership between Gabriel and Natalia is the most spellbinding in dance today… it seems our leading critic himself has been seduced.
Watch some of the premiere of Romper el Piso here, as well as an excerpt of Natalia and Gabriel here.
Damian Woetzel and Natalia Hills during UpClose: The Art of the Tango, as part of Vail International Dance Festival 2010. Photo by Erin Baiano.
