sandik

Alice Kaderlan reviews the new Teatro ZinZanni show, and has several things to say about Ariana Lallone's performance Crosscut on Teatro ZinZanni

So you could have a coffee and watch your book being printed -- perfect!

Not to mention the Mousetrap game! I loved it. When one of my uncles told me the end result was a real "Rube Goldberg contraption," I assumed he meant it as a compliment! Oh, I love Rube Goldberg, and Mousetrap! The machine at my local bookstore is a newer version than the one in the video, and it is indeed slightly less bulky. I first saw it in use not long after they received it, and so it wasn't in use all the time. It takes a while to warm up (like those old xerox machines!), and so they were kind enough to call me when they knew "my" book was coming up in the print queue. I rushed over so I could watch -- I am really a geek.

Gary Tucker sent me the text of Peter Boal's remarks in his curtain speech about the promotions -- here it is:

I haven't used this service through mail-order, but I did want to raise my hand for my local 'print to order' outlet. The University Book Store in Seattle has an Espresso book machine (no, not the coffee kind, though they do that too!) -- it prints softcover books from electronic media. The final product is close to a trade paperback in quality (not quite as nice, but better than the standard paperback). I haven't really investigated any dance offerings, but I was able to find a text through Googlebooks of a novel I read in high school, and have never been able to find again. They had several different versions of the file available, and you could look at sample pages to check things like font size and image clarity. I get the impression that these are digitized copies of existing books (rather than plain text files) -- you would have to watch out for bad copies, but honestly, it was astonishing to see the machine print and bind a book I thought I'd never have the chance to read again. You can watch one -- I know it sounds kind of geeky, but I'm a book girl.

I went to the lec-dem on Wednesday night, which was a very lovely introduction to the works. Boal did a short on-state interview with Wheeldon, who was quite gracious, and told the story of how he came to America for probably the gajillionth time and did it very cheerfully. The company did a big chunk of Carousel (Korbes and Orza in main roles) -- this piece and all the other excerpts looked very freshly coached. Cruz and Chapman demonstrated a key phrase from Polyphonia, which Wheeldon tinkers with in a fairly post-modern pattern-making way in the finished work, and then three other couples joined them on stage for an excerpt. Moore and Foster were the couple in After the Rain, and are very well-matched there. I don't really want to talk at length about any particular performance, except to say that it was a pleasure to see Kiyon Gaines back on stage in Carousel.

She is indeed, and tears up the floor. And considering that she's in a performance with Merrill Ashley, makes it even more impressive.

This video clip reminds me of a game we used to do when I made short films (about a million years ago) -- take a short without dialogue, and run it with a totally different soundtrack -- substitute pop music for classical, or nature sounds for industrial clanging. The percussion-heavy score here gives the whole thing a vibe that I don't remember at all from the original work. I'll be curious to see how on or off my memory is when I see this over the weekend.

This is my favorite line from the obituary: "Subsequently it was reported that her pet chihuahua, in a fit of jealousy, jumped to his death from her penthouse flat in Rome." I've always thought that any party from this period with the Duke of Windsor would have been both sophisticated and dissolute. And look at the Duke's expression here.

This is just charming -- thanks so much for posting it here. Miss Placement.

Verdy was here in Seattle at Pacific Northwest Ballet (with Mimi Paul) coaching Emeralds a couple years ago and it was indeed fascinating. The company held one of the sessions open to the public, and I believe it was videotaped, but I don't know that the tape is destined for general circulation. As a Seattle person, I wanted to speak up for Francia Russell, who has been a very influential stager of Balanchine's works, and is an authority on the versions that were performed when she was dancing with the company (mid-50s) It's been pure pleasure to see her stagings of his works here over the years. I haven't seen the book in question, and so cannot speak specifically about it, but it sounds like it might be an interesting addition to works like I Remember Balanchine, but not a substitute.

The article can be found here. Interesting -- if he was "allowed" to donate his videotapes to a non-profit organization for educational purposes, don't you think that other educational institutions should be able to purchase them (for cost, if that's the rub)? I can understand not selling them commercially, but it would be fabulous if dance departments could buy replacements for their ageing taped-off-air-but-we-only-use-it-for-classroom-showings-so-it's-ok-under-Fair-Use tapes. ps - the link is wonky right now

I thought I would go to the Friday evening and Saturday matinees, and see other stuff in town Saturday evening, but I don't want to miss Imler in VS.

It wasn't that she didn't want to talk about programming, but that she didn't want to be quoted about specific companies until she'd had the chance to do more of her homework with the organization. The sense I had from her is that she sees a university presenter as a specific and distinct kind of arts promoter. They have a mandate to explore the context of the work they show, to bring the power of their intellectual home to the audience, but that this is also an obligation, and perhaps makes the job more thick.

As you might imagine, there have been big changes in this area in the recent past -- the Graham case that TT refers to here was an incredible dividing line in the dance world when it comes to ownership. Between the legal wrangling surrounding Graham's work, the complex legacy of Joseph Pilates, and the significance of the Balanchine Foundation, the landscape has been almost totally transformed.

And indeed, it seems to be gone already.

Ownership is becoming increasingly complicated, as living choreographers (and the legal representatives of the dead) safeguard their rights to their artistic work through copyright and other service marks. I was clicking through the Pacific Northwest Ballet website looking for information on their upcoming Christopher Wheeldon program and noticed that, on the home page for the program, in the specially-designed logo, each of the ballets being performed had the little '@' mark next to the title.

It's certainly possible that they hadn't finalized some of their contracts yet, but not likely that all the dance events were hanging on a thread. I've noticed that fewer organizations are doing really extensive direct mail campaigns or other kinds of 'information on paper' marketing. If you were really curious, you could call them and ask -- I'll bet it's either a deliberate choice or a really awful mistake!

Oh thank you for going out and bringing back these quotes -- the roots of American modern dance are in these oddball performances. We look back today and think that they are simple and slight, but in their time some of these dances were bold and transgressive. The Tanagra references are not so much to Loie Fuller, who was mostly working in Europe by that time, but to Ruth St Denis, who began her performance life as a girl dancing in dime museum shows, but had an epiphanal experience while on tour with the David Belasco company -- she saw an ad for Egyptian Deity cigarettes with an illustration of Isis kneeling in front of a temple, and conceived of a vaudeville number where she portrayed Isis. This kind of "orientalism" became a foundation of her work, and influenced many other performers, including young amateurs like the woman described in this review. And yes, the dances were full of "gliding, arm-waving, and posing!"

Well, at UConn you're getting three dance events this year (Martha Clarke, Trey McIntyre and Moscow Festival Ballet), along side the Conn Ballet Nut. For a house that seats 2,300 that's not great but not terrible. I must say, though, that their descriptive language about the hall mentions ABT and other major ballet ensembles -- this year's season don't come very close to that. Oregon State University (large state school in relatively small and isolated city, school could be considered to be major contributor to cultural life in community) gets the Eugene Ballet (two programs besides Nut) but not much else. Both Washington State University and Central Washington State University (large schools in relatively small towns) are doing very little dance of any sort.

I see the distinction you're making here. If we're looking specifically at technical requirements, then the Paramount might edge out Meany (although Meany has a full fly loft -- I think they handled the scenic stuff for Eifman without trouble) but companies like ABT and the Bolshoi would really be better off at McCaw Hall (I remember worrying that people would fall off the stage into the orchestra pit during the Bolshoi's performance of the ballroom scene in R&J!) But McCaw isn't really available for that kind of touring rental, unless the timing works out absolutely perfectly, not to mention the implied competition with PNB. And that's when we get into the audience factor -- who goes where to see what. But getting back to the topic (college presenters) Since I'm supposed to be working, I did some nosing around about who has what kind of facilities, and what they've got scheduled this year. Just looking at three university affiliated schools (Ohio State/Wexner Center, Krannert Center/U of Illinois, Cal Performances/UC Berkeley) there are some interesting differences in the way the market themselves as well as the kind of performances they present. In no particular order... Krannert Center for the Performing Arts Champaign-Urbana, IL Tryon Festival Theatre seats 979 40 x 35 stage front curtain They’ve got several theaters in one complex, including a 2,000 seat concert hall, but the Tryon seems to be the touring dance venue. They list dance as “Movement - Bodies in Motion” on their website, but they don’t seem to sell a dance series, or a mixed-art series that includes dance (though they don’t do that for theater either -- music is the only performing art sold in a series). They’ve got nine touring dance events on their schedule, one of which is three nights of the Moscow Festival Ballet (2 Swans and 1Beauty) They run all the performing arts venues for the school, and so list their student ensembles alongside professional touring groups. Wexner Center for the Arts Columbus, OH Mershon Auditorium seats nearly 2,500 60x40 stage front curtain, orchestra pit, can convert to smaller, black box format Lincoln Theater (outside rental) seats 582 They’ve also got several theaters run through the Wexner Center aegis, as well as presenting in other venues. They only had two months worth of programming online today, so I can’t get a sense of the whole year. They self-identify as a contemporary arts organization. For Sept/Oct they had two contemporary/modern groups, one at the Mershon and one at the Lincoln. If they’re selling series tickets, I couldn’t find it mentioned on their website -- it seemed to be all about single tickets. (tangentially, the Lincoln Theater is gobsmackingly beautiful -- go look at this link Lincoln Theater) They seem to key some of their programming to larger, multi-event university projects -- this is an example: “Rachid Ouramdane, a superlative French choreographer and dancer of Algerian descent, has a special talent for giving voice to the lives of others while leaving audiences with a strong sense of his own particular artistic vision. This capacity is at the heart of World Fair. ..... This event is planned in conjunction with the opening of a year-long program titled “A Conversation on Immigration” that begins the Conversations on Morality, Politics, and Society (COMPAS) initiative launched by Ohio State’s Center for Ethics and Human Values.” Cal Performances Berkeley, CA Zellerbach Hall seats 2089 stage approx 42x44 Multiple venues, I couldn’t get a handle on how many they use for dance. Zellerbach is the place they’ve got big touring companies. They’ve got a huge schedule, compared to the other two presenters, and are a big player in the classical music community, which is reflected in their programming. They do seem to have a big commitment to presenting touring ballet -- they’ve had the Joffrey, Kirov, State Ballet of Georgia, Perm Ballet, Bolshoi, Farrell, and Danish companies in the last five years, along with Sylvie Guillem and Netherlands Dance Theater. They’ve also had regular performances by Ailey, Bausch, Cunningham and Morris. and, just to compare, the venues in my home town Meany Hall for the Performing Arts Seattle, WA Meany Theater seats 1200 stage approx 70x50 orchestra pit, front curtain, trapped stage Seattle Theater Group Paramount Theater seats 3,000 stage approx 85x47 orchestra pit, front curtain, trapped stage Moore Theater seats 1,400 stage approx 70x40 orchestra pit, front curtain Seattle Center McCaw Hall seats 2,900 couldn’t find stage dimensions orchestra pit, front curtain, trapped stage By now, I imagine most everyone has stopped reading, but I got interested in the topic and just kept compiling information...

And now I'm wondering how that got the name "fancy dancing?" I'm supposed to be getting some work done today!

I saw Mazurkas when it was staged on a grad student ensemble here in the 90s and it is indeed beautiful. It would make a great contribution to a program that had other, high-tension dramas on it. And if we're thinking about Hawkins, Classic Kite Tails is a wonderful piece! You will never hear me complain about Dark Elegies.

They've had some modern groups that haven't made it up to Seattle as well -- I don't know who's programming them right now, but they're an excellent example of a venue that books work for both the school and the community at large. As I understand it, Cal Performances is less tightly connected to the school than Meany Hall is. And they do work with multiple venues, including several that they don't own, but only rent. But they do have a good relationship with Meany, and have cooperated on some things in the past. The two presenters are often thought of as bookending the west coast. It's a little more complex than that, or Corella Ballet would have been at the Paramount last spring instead of at Meany. And it was Meany that presented the Eifman company in 2001 and 2003. But it's true that the vast majority of Meany's bookings have been modern and world dance oriented, and I think it's likely that if Miami were to come through town now STG would certainly be in the running. I'm still kicking myself for missing the last Dance Theater of Harlem shows at STG in 2004!

Oooh, big fun! The "Belle Epoque" image seems to be of a parlor entertainment, someone performing for a small audience in a social setting. The dancer could be a part of the ensemble, dancing for her peers in the same way that someone of the era would sing or play an instrument, or she may be a professional. Her dress is more sheer than the other women present, which sometimes implied a professional dancer, but that might be the style -- some women of the period wore muslin so thin as to almost be transparent, and then dampened their dress so that it would cling to their body, but that was considered fairly risque. The "fancy dancer" is an image by the photographer Eadweard Muybridge, and comes from an extensive collection of his called Animal Locomotion -- his use of multiple cameras to take closely spaced images was a precursor of motion pictures. Several years ago Dover Books reprinted his work in a very affordable set, and they are fascinating. He shot humans in all kinds of activities, as well as race horses and farm animals. If I remember correctly, the woman in the image is a precursor to Isadora Duncan. wikipedia on muybridge smithsonian on muybridge