Archive for February, 2007
February 23, 2007 at 3:14 pm · Filed under modern, TONY, break dance, computer vision, dance technology, contemporary
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| Posted by Tony Schultz
Here is another dance using my interactive time-machine system.
There has been some talk over on Great Dance about intellectual property rights as it relates to dance. Creative Commons is a beautiful thing. The idea that someone can own the rights to a dance seems absurd to me. All dance is derivative because it is about communication. The idea of owning a dance seems as silly as owning a word. The dance below quotes Viola Farber, Merce Cunningham, Christopher Williams and B-Girl Angel. Like DJ Spooky says, it is in the remixing of culture that we find something original. Feel free to steal this dance. Perform it exactly as I did if you like. Play the video however you like, just give me a shout-out, keep it intact and don’t use it to sell anything. The music Emptyness by Gahnah was also distributed under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial License.
Enjoy 
Recent Posts by tony schultz
February 22, 2007 at 4:02 am · Filed under TONY, science, dance graph, dance technology, sarah lawrence college
| | Posted by Tony Schultz
This week I participated in a panel discussion at Sarah Lawrence College with Kathy Westwater and Rose Anne Thom on documenting and notating dance. To be honest I was terribly nervous though once I got started talking I really enjoyed it. Kathy Westwater moderated the discussion. Rose Anne Thom talked about Laban notation and software packages Labanwriter and Labanreader, developed at Ohio State University. I primarily talked about my thesis research and how it can be applied to the problems of notating and documenting dance. My research uses computer vision algorithms to represent the body as a set of chromatic particles. Once the body is reduced to numbers it becomes possible to automatically recognize different poses. Once these landmarks are identified the computer can generate a map of the movement space in the form of a dance graph.
It was interesting to talk about my work in this context. It is in this space between dance and writing that we can get a deeper understanding about what choreography is. The word “choreography” literally means body (choreo) writing (graphy). The closely related term was coined in Thoinot Arbeau’s 1589 Orchesographie, one of the most famous dance manuals of the Renaissance. Arbeau was dance master, Jesuit priest and mathematician. Its cool to think that the project of symbolically representing dance was of interest to mathematicians over 400 years ago.
Recent Posts by tony schultz
February 22, 2007 at 2:43 am · Filed under TONY, Laurel Dugan
| | Posted by Tony Schultz
Hello Wingers. This week our good friend Laurel Dugan is performing in the premiere of Vicky Shick’s Plum House (A Cartoon) at Dance Theater Workshop alongside Diane Madden, Juliette Mapp, Perrine Ploneis, and Derry Swan. A sound score by Elise Kermani with set and costume design by Barbara Kilpatrick help create a “world of claustrophobic busyness.”
I will be going tomorrow night. Laurel has been telling me about for some time so I am really excited to see it.
Plum House (A Cartoon) will be showing until February 24th. Hope you all get a chance to see it.
See a video preview here.Recent Posts by tony schultz
February 21, 2007 at 12:08 am · Filed under SLOAN, dancers, food, scottish ballet, jarkko lehmus, soon ja lee, donating, fundraising, auction, issues
Posted by Sloan
Eve Mutso and Erik Cavallari of the Scottish Ballet, in George Balanchine’s Agon. Photograph by Andrew Ross.
The Scottish Ballet recently auctioned off, via ebay, a “dinner for two” with one of their soloist dancers (Either Soon Ja Lee, or the hilarious Jarkko Lehmus… check out his blog at ballet.co.uk) at Glasgow’s swanky Hallion Club .
I think if the dancers are fine with it (and you’ll read in Jarkko’s blog that he is), and it is done in a classy way (which it seems like this was), it’s probably a fun way for the dancer to feel like they are helping raise significant money for the company they love, and also getting to share conversation with someone who also shares a passion for dance. Any people that I have met, either at a gala dinner, a sponsored cocktail party, a special donor event, or even just in the lobby of a theater, I have always enjoyed chatting and trying to understand that person’s love of dance and where they are coming from. It’s so interesting to me.
Others may not agree, and I can see how this scenario could rub people the wrong way, especially when many people feel dancers do not always get the respect they deserve. But there are many people out there who have huge respect for dancers and for dance as an artform, and would love to be able to interact with the artists they admire. Any fundraising scenario is very similar to this situation, even if a bit less personal (galas, studio talks, cocktail parties, etc.), trying to bring the audience closer to the artists in a sophisticated and meaningful way. Heck, that is what we are trying to do here. What do you think, is auctioning a dinner date too far? Maybe it is.
The Scottish Ballet does a great job getting the word out about their company, aside from creative fundraising ideas (a myspace page, a fantastic email newsletter, and a great website). I hope the auction was successful!
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
February 20, 2007 at 10:24 pm · Filed under SLOAN, first performance, you, writing contest, musician
Posted by Sloan
So I’ve just sent a complete pdf of all our Writing Contest entries to each of our contributors, from which we will choose two winners who will receive a winger t-shirt and have their current performances or projects promoted on the site.
However, if you forgot to write your piece, or thought you missed the deadline, there’s a chance you could slip in under the wire while our contributors are making their choices.
If you write fast, send your entry to wingers @ thewinger.com
Above is a photo of me during one of my “first performances”.
When I was little and I couldn’t get to sleep, my parents would turn on the music, I would put on my dad’s socks (not sure why?), and dance the night away.
Here’s one of our entries that’s in the running…
From Ryan of The Fatales
photo by Nerdalie
“I’ll tell the story about my first performance with the LemonHeads.
I got up on stage in front of thousands of people and performed my stupid human trick with a string up my nose and out of my mouth.
Thousands cheered, I won, I was awarded a new snowboard.
Crowd surfing followed.
True story. ”
Short and sweet.
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
February 20, 2007 at 3:01 pm · Filed under SLOAN, dance, article, politics, brooklyn academy of music, choreographer, william forsythe, kate borwell, new york times
Posted by Sloan
photo by Kate Bordwell
This past October, some of you may remember our London (now Glasgow) contributor, Kate, writing about her experience upon viewing William Forsythe’s “Three Atmospheric Studies” at its premier in London.
Building up the US premier of the piece, a recent article in the NY Times (by Diane Solway) explores the role of politics in dance, with quotes from Forsythe, Baryshnikov and others.
“This evening-length work has played to audiences in Europe, but on Thursday will have its American premiere at the University of California, Berkeley, before arriving at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Feb. 28. To those who question whether dance and politics make good partners, the ever provocative Mr. Forsythe is ready with a question of his own: ‘Since when aren’t artists citizens?’
“…’Artistic dissent is a beautiful lake with very thin ice,’ Mikhail Baryshnikov said recently, pointing out that a number of politically minded works have not risen to the level of enduring art. Still, he added, some have succeeded, and ‘if an artist has enough guts and enough talent to put their personal statement on the floor, I welcome all that.’
“…’There are exceptions,’ said Joseph V. Melillo, the longtime executive producer of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, a leading showcase for progressive art. ‘But the majority of contemporary choreographers in the U.S. today do not think about their place as citizen-artists in response to the political atmosphere. That’s not to say they don’t talk about the war when they’re having a cup of coffee at Dean & Deluca, but they’re not doing that in their art. There’s a disconnect.’
“…’Three Atmospheric Studies’ opened to admiring reviews at its London premiere last fall, though the critics seemed divided about whether to call it dance or theater. Those distinctions don’t interest Mr. Forsythe, who said art forms are too narrowly defined by audiences, critics and sometimes artists themselves. Calling the dance world ‘a bit hermetic,’ he said it is the possibilities of the human body that intrigue him.
“’If dance only does what we assume it can do, it will expire,’ he said. ‘I keep trying to test the limits of what the word choreography means.’ To him it as much about ‘motion organization’ as it is about moving the viewer’s brain around an idea.”
I’ll definitely try to see this when it comes to BAM. I’m intrigued by everything I’m hearing about the piece, and I’ve also never had the opportunity to see Forsythe’s Company in person. For a peak at some of his choreography, here’s a youtube clip of Sylvie Guillem rehearsing and talking about Forsythe’s “In the Middle Somewhere Elevated”.
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
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