Block Party Peformance ISO Performers
Howdy,
Marieke van der Steenhoven is working on a piece for SPACE Gallery’s Block Party and is looking for 10-15 performers. Details from Marieke below:
The piece is ostensibly a chair dance: there will be a grid of 36 chairs, each with a written instruction on the seat, and for 30 minutes performers will move from chair to chair following the instructions… It’s a really fun, pedestrian, successful piece and the more people we can get involved the better (though we are looking for people who have performance experience and/or can commit to being fully engaged in the performance for 30 minutes… ultimately people who will take it seriously).
Time commitment is one half-hour rehearsal on Friday, 9/9/11 from 5:30-6pm at SPACE, then about an hour during block party the next day (performance runs approx. 30 mins and will take place early in the evening).
If interested contact Marieke.
Fall Contemporary Dance Class
Hello Sailors,
Bell and Buoy Physical Theater is kicking off our third session of our Portland Modern Dance Technique Class! This session will be taught by Jennifer Bourgeault, the artistic director of Collective Motion.
The Skinny:
- Class will be held Wednesday, September 14 -November 2 from 8-9:30pm
- At West End Yoga and Dance Studio 155 Brackett St. (third floor) Portland, ME
- $15 Drop-In’s
- $96 Class-Card ($12 dollars a class)
Class Description:
The class is an open-level, modern dance technique class, but requires some prior dance experience. Please contact Jennifer. This class aims to offer the dance community an opportunity to practice and develop technically in a fun and encouraging learning environment.
Jennifer’s class is grounded with of the classic modern techniques of Limon, Taylor, Cunningham and Horton while playing athleticism, alignment and the science behind the movement. The class format will start with a warm-up that stresses technique and freedom of movement then progressing to movement across the floor and ending with a large combination of choreography. The goal of this class is to promote personal growth and confidence through movement.
Jennifer Bourgeault holds a B.A. in Dance from DeSales University where she studied the classical modern techniques of Limon, Cunningham, Horton & Taylor. While in Philadelphia, Jennifer was a soloist with the Opera Company of Philadelphia’s The Pearl Fishers and Aida. Upon returning to her native state of Maine in 2006 Jennifer Bourgeault established Collective Motion (CM), a collaborative modern dance company. With CM she has had the opportunity to work with Maine’s best dancers and choreographers presenting work throughout Maine and New England. Jennifer has over ten years of teaching experience and is a favorite among the local dance studios. For more information on Jennifer and Collective Motion: www.collective-motion.com
Hey Sailors,
We’ve been following the waves here at BBPT with our regular classes and experimental performance. We’ve recently dropped anchor and set our sights on the following contemporary movement workshop! We went last year and it was amazing! If you are looking for something juicy to do this summer don’t hesitate to apply!
Movement Intensive in Compositional Improvisation
June 19-25, 2011
with the Architects:
Katherine Ferrier, Lisa Gonzales, Jennifer Kayle, Pamela Vail
and guest musician Vicki Brown
About the workshop
This week-long intensive balances in-depth individual exploration with rigorous practice in spontaneous ensemble dance-making. Fresh perceptions and new choices are set in motion daily through provoking, open-ended questions. Each kinesthetic-conceptual proposition acts as an entrance point for the mover and composer, a window into authenticity, connection, depth and range. Of particular interest here is THE EMERGING: compositional languages and modes of perceiving and engaging that are in-progress, unfolding, as-yet- unseen.
Throughout the week, the artistic integrity of one’s voice is sharpened in conversation with the whole and a dialogue emerges as individual aesthetics meet, interact and expand. As time allows, group discussions contribute to conscious integration of the experiential and the conceptual. Even here, moving into words is an invitation to discover, to uncover diverse perspectives, to spark the imagination and to notice the aesthetic and poetic effect of our compositional choices.
- Faculty-led morning and afternoon sessions with live music
- Open laboratory time for individual and collaborative projects
- Informal showings of faculty and participants work
- Collaborative sessions with live music and installation art
Links
Hey Sailors! This just in over the wires!
The Frame and the Empty Middle
A weekend intensive in
Contact Improvisation with
Martin Keogh
May 14 – 15
(Saturday & Sunday)
10 am – 5 pm
*There will be a one hour lunch break both days
Marcy Plavin Dance Studios
Merrill Gymnasium (2nd floor)
Bates College
Lewiston, Maine
One way to look at contact improvisation is as a framework of skills that encloses the place where we meet to dance: in the empty middle.
During this weekend intensive we will focus on technique, enlarging the frame, and ultimately creating more space to dance in together.
Rather than dance our skills, we will use them as a foundation of safety and possibility as we enter the raucous, intimate and unpredictable flow of contact improvisation.
We will explore:
o Moving from a base of sensation
o Dancing with a shared central axis
o Seeking ease in going off balance
o Finding the spontaneous acrobatics of the form
o Spending more time in nuance, disorientation, and extended follow-through
For those with a solid grasp of basic Contact fundamentals
Teacher Bio:
Martin Keogh has taught and performed contact improvisation for over thirty years. For his contribution to the development of Contact Improvisation he is a Fulbright Senior Specialist and listed in Who’s Who in the World. He has co-facilitated Teacher’s Conferences on four continents and was the first contact teacher on the faculty at Stanford University and at the National School of Fine Arts in San Miguel, Mexico. Keogh is the author of The Art of Waiting, As Much Time as it Takes, and the recently released, Hope Beneath Our Feet: Restoring Our Place in the Natural World. More info at: www.martinkeogh.com
*This workshop is not geared to bare beginners. That said, assuming you have some basic familiarity with contact improvisation, all levels are welcome and no one particular degree of skill, experience, or confidence is required. If you’re interested in participating and have any questions regarding whether the workshop material is appropriate for you, please contact Carl Rudman at (207) 399-3707 or contact@somtel.com to discuss.
Cost for the weekend:
Sliding fee scale of $100 – $170
Pay whatever amount you can afford, between the minimum and the maximum. We’ve made an effort to keep the cost as low as possible, and don’t want money to be an issue that keeps you from attending. If you can afford to pay the suggested regular rate or more (see below), know that it will be greatly appreciated. Please keep in mind that your generosity ensures that all expenses are covered and helps guarantee that more events like this will be offered in the future.
Suggestions:
Minimum Rate: (Serious financial challenges): $100
Regular Rate: (Getting by OK) $135
Professional Rate (Thriving – Support the Arts!): $170
To Register:
Please send a $40 deposit by April 30 to:
Carl Rudman, P.O. Box 6, North Anson, ME 04958
For questions, more info, or to RSVP: e-mail Carl at contact@somtel.com or call 207-399-3707
We encourage a commitment to the entire weekend. First preference regarding available slots will be given to those who plan to be with us for the entire event. We will consider requests for partial attendance. If space is available, we may accommodate such requests, at our discretion. If you have a concern with the schedule or wish to discuss possible alternatives, please contact Carl.
Housing:
This is not a residential workshop. However, in the past, we’ve managed to provide a limited number of hosts, who’ve offered sleeping space and carpooling to and from the workshop sessions for people traveling from afar. We will do our best to help out again in this way, if possible. We can also provide information on local commercial accommodations in the Lewiston-Auburn area. If you’re coming from a distance and would like to try to find a place to stay for Saturday night, please notify me when you register. We will need adequate lead time to try and make arrangements. If you live within reasonable traveling distance to Bates, please consider offering to serve as a host. Let me know as soon as possible if you are willing and able to provide sleeping space in your home for one or more guests.
Meals:
Saturday and Sunday Lunch Break: We will have pot-luck lunches on site. Bring something to contribute if you can.
Saturday Dinner is on your own. For those who wish to continue to hang out together after workshop hours, we may possibly arrange an optional community gathering and meal somewhere.
*Local restaurant suggestions can be provided upon request.
Location/Directions:
Workshop site is the beautiful Marcy Plavin Dance Studios, located on the second floor of Merrill Gymnasium on the Bates College campus in Lewiston. Parking entrance for the workshop site is on Russell St. between Central and East. Merrill is a large building, which is visible from Russell St.
For complete directions to Bates College and a campus map, please visit the following link: http://home.bates.edu/codex/directions/
Follow directions provided there to Russell St, where Merrill Gymnasium is located (Merrill houses the dance studios, along with the Tarbell Pool and Slovenski Indoor Track). Parking lot for Merrill is located off of Russell St. between Central and East. Merrill is the larger building straight ahead as you enter the parking lot and on your left as you walk toward the entrances. The Marcy Plavin Dance Studios are located on the second floor of Merrill.
Hi Sailors,
We are embarking on yet an other journey into uncharted territory: radio! Ren and BBPT are developing and experimental ‘mystery’ radio program and we need you! We are looking for a couple of actors, a couple of dancers and a few interesting musicians to collaborate on this project. Please contact Ren if you are interested or know anyone who might be interested!
Follow the Waves!
Ren & BBPT
Class Update
Greetings Fellow Followers,
We’ve been following the waves all around Portland to find the perfect space to hold our modern dance class and I think we’ve finally found it. We’ll have more news by the end of the week.
Stay Tuned!
BBPT
Call for Artists – Making, Meaning, and Context: A Radical Reconsideration of Art’s Work
Goddard College’s MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts Program invites a
Call for Participation!
October 14-16, 2011
Making, Meaning, and Context: A Radical Reconsideration of Art’s Work locates interdisciplinary art practice as a way to reexamine the function of art and artists. The emergence and growth of art in response to social and environmental urgency is shifting the work of art and artists; practitioners are challenged to find ways for art to contribute to communities and cultures in a local and global context.
We invite participation in this forum and festival of unexpected intersections: realized through inquiry-based discourse, performative interventions, and generative community dialogue that is intended to provoke and mobilize diversity of thought and practice.
We ask the following questions:
At this time in history, what does it mean to pursue an “art practice” or identify as an “artist?”
How has “art’s work” (creation, production, or manufacture) evolved aesthetically and situationally in support of or in resistance to a culture of commodification and consumption?
How have the roles of art, artist, and audience been resituated?
What is the potential for art to create civic sites for public discourse and expression?
What are the ways in which art might be complicit in upholding the narratives of modernism, capitalism, and other contested narratives?
What is the potential for interdisciplinary practice to contribute research and knowledge production that will support daily lives, diverse ecosystems, and the expansive realm of human imagination?
Click here to submit!
Contemporary Dance Happenings Here In Portland
Ahoy Followers of the Waves!
A couple of updates have just come over the wires:
Bell and Buoy Physical Theater is pleased to announce that it will be hosting a contemporary dance technique class starting in February. Stay tuned for details!
In other news. Carl Rudman’s class is back in action!
A new session of weekly Improvisational Dance classes with Carl Rudman begins this Monday evening, January 10 at Williston West, 32 Thomas Street in Portland’s West End. Class starts at 7 pm and runs until 8:45. Complete details below. For questions or more info: (207) 399-3707.
IMPROVISATION & THE CREATIVE PROCESS
Monday evenings 7:00 – 8:45 pm Williston West Church – Memorial Hall (2nd floor) 32 Thomas St. Portland Winter Session: 10 weeks – Jan 10 – March 14 (*Spring Session will follow: 10 weeks – March 28 – May 30)An eclectic post-modern dance class, with an emphasis on improvisation, both as an art form in its own right, and as a choreographic tool. The class features guided warm-ups, fundamental exercises and skills, improvisational scores and structures, solo/group/ensemble composition, and time for open dancing/jamming. Contact improvisation will be one of the elements in our palette, but we will weave many other threads into the fabric of our evenings as well. Together we will explore the body as a portal for discovery. Plenty of grins and giggles!
This is a mixed level class – Appropriate for experienced dancers, but also very beginner friendly.
While there is a cumulative developmental benefit to attending regularly, class material is presented each week in a stand-alone mini-workshop format, rather than placing heavy emphasis on a linear/sequential trajectory. Therefore, classes are always very open and accessible to drop-ins.
Fees: $15 Drop-in fee
Bulk Discounts: Five class blocks are available for $60 ($12 per class). Prepaid full 10 week sessions available for $100 ($10 per class).
*Alternative arrangements and payment plans may be possible with the consent of the teacher.
Got this from one of our avid followers of the waves, Arthur Fink!
Arthur Fink Photography
I’ve two exhibitions hanging right now, and want to invite you to two events. I’d appreciate your taking the time to rsvp (even if only tentatively) to both.
A Dance and Photo Event on Jan 13
My words to dancers everywhere:
The inspiration for my work is the dance
that you and others create, the presence
that comes when you even enter a space,
redefine that space by your very being,
touch it with movement and energy, and
guide us all towards new ways of seeing
and feeling. My own work is my tender
attempt to share that experience.
On Thursday January 13th, you can experience both — my dance images hanging on the walls of The Danforth, and Karen Montanaro’s improvisational dance, created in the moment, in this elegant and beautiful space.
When people ask me about my work, I don’t have all the words to explain the excitement I feel, the ways that my spirit is touched. I want to invite them into the dance spaces that I frequent, to share that experience very personally — being with dance, and not just with my images of it.
I’m thrilled that dancer Karen Montanaro has agreed to bring her art into this exhibition of my images. Karen Montanaro is an award-winning choreographer, who has danced with the Ohio Ballet and the Darmstadt Opera Ballet in Germany, and danced principal roles with the Portland Ballet Company. She is the recipient of an Individual Artist Fellowship Award and a Good Idea Grant from the Maine Arts Commission.
All exhibition prints, as well as copies of my book, Dance!, will be for sale. For those who cannot attend this event, the show will be available at The Danforth for viewing each day in January, 11 am – 7 pm.
In celebrating dance, I also want to celebrate the body, so it’s fitting that Food for this event will be provided by Aaiyn Foster of “Go Fresh ! Re Fresh ~ Foster Wellness”, and creator of the Terra Lucia line of baked goods that were featured at Browne Trading Company; along with Steve Quattrucci of Peaks Catering.
Dance, Destruction, and the Birth of a Theater — A benefit exhibit — First Friday Jan 7 at Lucid Stage
I’ve been photographing dance for a long time, and and well know for that work. But my visual interest goes far beyond dance. It was exciting to follow the demolition of office space at 29 Baxter Boulevard, Portland, Maine, and its re-construction into Lucid Stage. Some of my photographs are about light and form, texture and color. Others depict more clearly the incredible work done by many volunteers and a small team of professionals.
Along with these images, I’m showing many of my dance photographs, some images from my “Fire Fashion” series, and a variety of other work. 50% of the sales price of the Lucid Images, and 25% of the price of other images will go to support Lucid Stage. This is your chance to purchase some exciting and affordable images, support Lucid Stage, and support a local artist.
Best regards,
Arthur Fink
Hello Wave Riders,
Portland Ovations send me this and I thought I’d pass it on. Looks pretty amazing and affordable!
On January 19th Portland Ovations presents presents Balé Folclórico da Bahia, a 38-member troupe of Afro-Brazilian dancers, instrumentalists, and singers who perform a repertory based on Bahian folkloric dances of African origin including slave dances; capoeira, a form of martial arts; samba de roda and the lively traditions celebrating Carnival. The centerpiece of the evening, Sacred Heritage, is a work rooted in the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblé, created for the 20th anniversary of the company, and seen in the U.S. for the first time on this tour.
Balé Folclórico da Bahia brings thrilling choreography, joyous rhythms, and a feisty, sensual exuberance to every performance. We are pleased to make this unique cultural performance available to dance students at a deeply discounted rate of $15! Call PORTTIX at (207) 842-0800 tell them you are a dance student to receive your discounted ticket!
Interested in learning more about Balé Folclórico Da Bahia? Join us for the following events:
Balé Folclórico Da Bahia Masterclass, Tuesday, January 18th, 11:30am – 1 pm
Portland Arts and Technology High School (PATHS)
Dancers from the internationally acclaimed Balé Folclórico Da Bahia lead a capoeira workshop designed for dancers of all levels and experience. Capoeira, a unique Afro-Brazilian improvisational form, combines martial arts, music, and movement.
Capoeira: From Africa to Brazil to Maine, Wednesday, January 19th, 6-7 pm
Merrill Auditorium Rehearsal Hall
In his action packed lecture, Portland’s capoeira Mestre Joao Bordallo helps us understand the religious, historical, and contemporary vitality of capoeira, a martial art form created by African slaves in Brazil over 400 years ago.
Precedes the performance by Bale Folclorico Da Bahia in Merrill Auditorium at 7:30.
Posters for Bale Folclorico da Bahia (that include information about special dancer discount) are available; please let me know if you are interested in one or more for your studio!
Again, I hope you and your students will take advantage of this special offer and join us for this unique performance this January!
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best,
Marieke Van Der Steenhoven
mvandersteenhoven@portlandovations.org
