Archive for theatre
April 5, 2008 at 10:19 pm · Filed under dance, theatre, choreographer, interview, gender issues, DEBORAH, israel, Niv Sheinfeld, Oren Laor
The publicity for Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor’s Duets
Niv Sheinfeld and Sivan Gutholtz in “On a Matter of Life or Death” from Duets (photo by Gadi Dagon)
The publicity for Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor’s Jorona
Oren Laor and Noga Golan in Jorona (photo by Gadi Dagon)
I hadn’t been in Israel very long when I first saw Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor’s Duets, but even after many months and many, many more concerts, this piece remains one of my favorites. I was thrilled when Niv and Oren agreed to be my first interview subjects. Like true Tel Aviv-ians, we sat down at a cafe for an engaging chat in January. Since then, I’ve seen Jorona and a revised version of Duets, and I’ve also had the pleasure of running into Niv and Oren randomly around town. I wish you could be here to meet them in person and see their work, but I suppose the audio recording of our conversation and some YouTube videos will have to do for now. We talk about Niv’s training in dance and Oren’s background in theater, their collaborative creative process, their choreographic treatment of relationships and gender issues, and more . . .
Hear the interview, see more pictures, and link to videos at Israel Seen
(URL: http://israelseen.com/2008/02/24/deborah-interviews-niv-sheinfeld-and-oren-laor-dramatic-dance-makers/)
Read a post about Duets on my website at this link.
Recent Posts by deborah friedes
March 27, 2008 at 6:50 pm · Filed under dance, theatre, MIKI, martha graham
I need to wrtie about it… it will come soon…just bit busy…
“Gray Area”
“Appalachian Spring” (Martha Graham) by the Juilliard dancers.
This Juilliard’s concert was so inspiring. They danced very well. Appalachian Spring, Dark Elegies by Antony Tudor which I love, and There is a time by Jose Limon.
Yes I will write about it later…
Recent Posts by miki orihara
October 22, 2007 at 12:47 pm · Filed under studio, architecture, technology, TONY, science, theatre, space, dance technology, visible, stage, video cube, sarah lawrence college, you, politics, set design, performance, school, michel foucault, discipline, dance house, design, audience, intermission, ASHLEY, performance space, theory, art installation, THE ( INTER ) MISSION, social network
Over the past few weeks of my Dance and Technology class at Sarah Lawrence College, the students and I have been programing, dissecting and repurposing surveillance systems to develop mediated performance outlets/environments. To aid and inform our strategies in this project we have been thinking and reading about panopticism.
What is panopticism anyway? wiki wiki
Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, a theoretical architecture imagined in the 1780’s, is illustrated above. The name literally means the “all-seeing place.” He describes it as a multi-purpose architecture whose design principles are applicable to constructing factory, school, prison, hospital or asylum. A multi-story ring of individual cells surround a central watchtower; every cell is visible from the watchtower while the watcher remains invisible.
The viewer can see everything while remaining invisible.
This panoptic prison named Presidio Modelo, built under the dictatorship of Gerardo Machado in Cuba, once held the one and only Fidel Castro. It is now a national monument.
Foucault uses the Panopticon to analyze the new ways in which power is exercised in the modern world and the role surveillance technologies play in creating a disciplined/docile body. He describes Bentham’s architecture as a kind of multi-staged performance space.
The unverifiable possibility that a subject is being observed at any time is the essential mechanism by which the machine operates. Visibility, as Meghan noted in class, makes one take responsibility for their own subjection.
He who is subjected to the field of visibility, and who knows it, assumes responsibility for the constraints of power; he makes them play simultaneously upon himself; he inscribes in himself the power relation in which he simultaneously plays both roles; he becomes the principle of his own subjection. Discipline and Punish 202
What does this have to do with performance? Everything…
Foucault describes the stacks of cells; “They are like so many small cages, so many small theaters, in which each actor is alone, perfectly individualized and constantly visible.”
In one way the panopticon is like a super-theater, a nesting of many stages.
However Foucault stresses that surveillance architectures are exactly the reverse of those of theater. He writes, “We are much less Greeks than we believe. We are neither in the amphitheatre, nor on the stage, but in the panoptic machine.” Survellence allows one to see many while theater and spectacle is based on many seeing one
Compare the structure of the Panopticon to that of the Globe Theater.
Different yet the same. Definitely involved in a complex tangle.
This assembly can be used as a dance technology. On April 28th and 29th 2007 Martha Williams directed and performed in a dance installation entitled Stacked, converting an out of business clothing store into a surveillance menagerie. Each dancer took residence in one of nine changing rooms which they themed and designed the interiors of. Camera feeds from each cell were composed and projected in the central room so that all of the dances could be seen at once.
Turning the panopticon back into a performance space constitutes a double reversal.
With this in mind, take another look at the dance-cube I prototyped last fall. In this staging the cameras are on the perimeter of the studio so that the gaze is directed from the outside in (as in theater) rather than from the inside out.
Though still, looking at this dance I am reminded of the cells of the panopticon.
“They are like so many small cages, so many small theaters, in which each actor is alone, perfectly individualized and constantly visible.”
Could we characterize the structure of the internet as panoptic? Here is a great essay that explores that question.
This very space is haunted by panoptic geometries. Have a look at the contributor list in the sidebar, look at all those little faces, “perfectly individualized” subjects you can see all at once and may click on to reveal “so many small theaters.”
The design of social networking and internet dating sites, showing all your friends faces in an array, seduces us with a kind of panoptic fantasy, being able to see many at once. This is where things become slightly more complicated. Just like the panopticon embeds tiny theaters in an array, these social technologies embed so many small panopticons in a matrix of connectivity. Each cell is now its own theater and watchtower.
All these ideas should not creep us out. Rather, they should inform our thinking about performance and visibility and the way technology provides new venues for artistic expression. It is an open problem. In my estimation projects like Martha William’s Stacked, my dance-cube, or The(Inter)Mission are all part of a project to reverse-the-panopticon. While flirting with aspects of surveillance and making the subject hyper-visible, they enhance communication rather than simply separate us into little boxes.
So next time you feel like you are under surveillance consider it an opportunity to put on a show.
Recent Posts by tony schultz
September 15, 2007 at 7:57 pm · Filed under dance, theatre, matt murphy, teacher, broadway, MATTHEW, matthew murphy, broadway dance center
A fire has been lit inside Judy Rice, and I can warn you that it’s only getting started. When I sat down for lunch with Ms. Rice the other day, I saw a woman who was transformed. You see, Rice was one of my very first ballet teachers, so I’ve known her for quite some time. She used to come to Montana every summer when I was just a young boy who could barely plie and thought that a battement was a creature that lived in the mountains by my house. It goes without saying that Judy played a key role in my passion and development with ballet from the start.
In a strange turn of events, my best friend ended up at the University of Michigan where Judy has held a post on the dance faculty for the past 17 years. Suddenly I had more reason than ever to journey to Ann Arbor and even though my nights were spent with friends, my days were spent under the watchful eye of this incredible teacher. Now in an even more exciting turn of events, Judy Rice has arrived in New York City to take a job on the faculty at Broadway Dance Center.
Words cannot even begin to express what an exciting event this is for the dance and theater community. Rice has a passion that is unrivaled in her teaching and an eye like a hawk. She claims she’s been likened to Jaws, that famous shark who creeps around in the water to attack one minute and go under the next. Yet nothing about Rice’s teaching habits ever seem ferocious. From the moment you meet her, you can tell she cares personally for every student in class. Some teachers struggle giving individual attention without neglecting the rest of class but Rice excels in giving each and every dancer personal attention that seems like private coaching. Her years of teaching experience across the US, highly successful video and CD series “Behind Barres,” and training in National Ballet of Canada followed by a career with Joffrey are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to her immense talent.
Part of what sets Rice’s class apart, from my viewpoint, is the incredible mix of students that it encompasses. Not only will you find Broadway professionals (she’s responsible for training Tony Nominee Gavin Creel, among MANY other hotshots) but you will find professional dancers and others who haven’t danced in years. One thing that her class never lacks is a sense of invigorating energy and fun. Armed with a witty sense of humor and her ever watchful eyes, she has everyone laughing yet never doing anything but their hardest work. This is such an incredible attribute and part of what has always drawn me to Judy. Some teachers intimidate dancers to the point of submission but Judy only provokes a work ethic that you may not even know exists before you set foot into her room.
I, for one, couldn’t be happier that she is here. One thing that can be especially difficult with dancing professionally is the difference in personal attention from that which you receive during school. Just because you have a contract under your belt doesn’t mean that suddenly the work stops. In fact, personal attention should only multiply but due to the insane schedules of company life, it is nearly impossible to replicate that schooling you were once accustomed to. Every dancer has a certain teacher who they gravitate to and finding someone you feel comfortable with is a deeply personal and sometimes difficult task full of hits and misses. However, I feel 100% confident recommending that everyone go and try Judy Rice’s class at Broadway Dance Center. As soon as I’m healthy I will be there in a heartbeat. Rice’s class has a way of changing you, as my friends will attest to. After I returned home from my first Michigan trip in 2005, they all noticed that I had a newfound excitement for dancing. Perhaps I was mistaken when I said a fire had been lit within her, because Judy is simply on fire and she’s busy lighting the fire within everyone else. The city obviously agrees with her and I can’t wait to see what the next year holds in store.
Judy Teaches M/W/F @ 10:30am and T/Thu @ 9am.
Check out Broadway Dance Center for more info.
Recent Posts by matthew
August 17, 2007 at 2:59 am · Filed under dance, dance event, article, dance and technology, theatre, new york city, critics, festival, TAYLOR
Posted by Taylor Gordon
For the past week I have been assigned to review dance performances at the 11th Annual New York International Fringe Festival for this off-Broadway website called OffOffOnline.com. Not only do I get to attend any number of free shows at my will but I get to voice my opinion and get paid for it! This week has given me a glimpse into the arts critic’s life I aspire to have (I even received my first official “press pass”!) See my published reviews here and here.
(my 1st press pass with the many brochures I received with it)
Being a ballet fanatic, the only performances I’ve been to since coming to the city have been strictly ballet. Of course I’ve been to Broadway shows and even a couple of modern performances, but after seeing the avante-garde kind of performances at the Fringe Festival it is clear how limited my, and perhaps that of much of the ballet world, exposure to the broad realm of dance theater really is.
The shows I’ve seen have been extremely out of the ordinary. One major difference between these and traditional dance performances is the use of multi-media and technology. Of the 3 productions I reviewed, all of them made extensive use of video and 2 used computer generated images. I think this epitomizes what’s coming in dance in the 21st century.
Sometimes, unfortunately, the special effects and loud visuals distract from the actual dancing. No matter how talented they are the dancers can get lost in the flashiness, especially if they are positioned against or beside a film screen in a way that forces the audience to decide to watch only one or the other.
In a world where audiences for dance, especially ballet and modern, are already dwindling it makes sense to attract newer, younger crowds to performances with different media. But since our society is constantly drowning in media it seems a shame to overshadow something as precious as dance.
These kinds of audiences are exactly what the Fringe Festival invites, with $15 tickets and downtown location and atmosphere. The venues (including 19 off- and off-off-Broadway theaters) are small, and the number of attendees even smaller. It was interesting, though, to get a glimpse of the community that appreciates these kinds of performances.
After each of the shows I attended I was surprised to hear fellow viewers discussing the work in depth, as if they were close friends rather than complete strangers as they actually were. People were far more open to opinion than conversations I’ve overheard at other ballet performances. I suppose these pieces leave more to the imagination.
All in all my experiences with the Fringe Festival have been really amusing. I’ve really enjoyed my new exposure to various companies and types of dance (Japanese hiphop, anyone?) and what’s even better is that I’ve been given the opportunity to challenge myself and write about them in a critical format. Just another day in the life of an aspiring dance writer!
(FringeCENTRAL - headquarters of the Fringe Festival downtown)
If you’re located here in the city I strongly encourage you to attend one of these shows - any show! - as part of the NY Fringe Festival! You really haven’t seen anything ‘til you’ve been to the Fringe. It runs through August 26 at various theaters, with its home base at FringeCENTRAL, located in the Village on Carmine Street at Varick. See Fringe website for show times and descriptions. Also see NY Times coverage here.
Recent Posts by taylor gordon
July 15, 2007 at 6:44 am · Filed under backstage, travel, washington dc, friends, theatre, cities, SANDI, musical theater, performing, broadway
Posted by Sandi DeGeorge
We’re outside as well!
I can totally identify with the NYCB dancers’ experience at Saratoga as we are performing Camelot at Wolftrap center for the performing arts outside of Washington D.C. Here Rachel soundchecks.
This is my second time performing in an outdoor venue in a huge musical. We did Dr. Dolittle last summer at Kansas City Starlight. What do these two venues have in common? It’s HOT!
BUT, that said, it’s amazingly fun and cool to think your performance is just kinda going off into the universe. Today was the first time I did a matinee in daylight. That is so weird. It really made me appreciate lighting design! How the lights really help the audience focus- and how we are so used to blackouts to transition. So strange to just enter and exit new scenes in full light. The Audiences here have been so wonderful. We also got a tour of the capital building courtesy of Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas- whom one of our cast members met on the plane.
I had no idea that there were frescoes in the U.S. Capital building!And a handpainted italian marble floor worth about $50 Million!
Monica, Rachel and I (am I on Friends? ) took a walk to the Lincoln memorial after a show- so beautiful.
We also rented a canoe and went rowing on the Potomac.. FUN!
Next stop is Pittsburgh- and our closing!!! I won’t be re-joining the tour when it starts again in September. Back to the grind in NY for me! I will miss my tour friends so much. Unlike NYCB, I don’t know if I’ll ever get to work with these people again. And almost our entire cast is based out of LA, with me in NY.
Recent Posts by sandi degeorge
Recent Posts by sandi degeorge
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