We at SINecdoche Dance have been having some down time since our show at the beginning of July. We've all had a little time to explore other projects and get some other performing in!
Mandy and Ilona were in Philadelphia for a weekend of art and performance. They showed some of what they're working on with The Tree Project. Mandy is staying on in Pennsylvania for the rest of the month, continuing to pursue dance opportunities.
I have been collecting "data" for a collaboration piece with Jeremy Pheiffer for Draftworks this December. He and I are putting all our thoughts and inspirations into a blog for you to see how we're approaching the project! I will also be performing with Kirstan Clifford on Saturday, August 27th at 5Pointz in Queens from 5-8PM.
This Saturday, August 13th Erica Frankel will be performing with VaBang! Dance as part of the Waterside Plaza Dance Festival at 5PM (free!).
BUT DO NOT FEAR
We are all going to start rehearsals for our new project in September. We are going to be going away to Silo to begin work on our own version of the famed ballet Giselle. We will keep you on the up and up about all our adventures and the very involved process Belinda has developed to get this ballet made.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Life Beyond SINecdoche
As if it were fathomable.
But I just started working on
a new project.
You can get some insight on
it by following the blog
Thursday, July 7, 2011
What Really Goes on in Belinda's Mind?
I have no idea.
But you can get a little sneak peek on the thought process behind
Work : Dance : Display thanks to Sarah AO Rosner, The Urgent Artist.
But you can get a little sneak peek on the thought process behind
Work : Dance : Display thanks to Sarah AO Rosner, The Urgent Artist.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
The Final Countdown
It's finally arrived - it's show week! The dancers have all started to feel it the last few nights as we've tried on costume pieces, warmed up and cooled down, refined our synchronous movements, and stood under lights. It's been a real treat to watch Greenwich House, a true Village institution, transform this week into a gorgeous performance space under the skillful supervision of our rockin' lighting designer and tech friends. And with some help from some talented photographers. As we've been in residence over the past many many months, we've experience GHMS in all of its extremes. In the coldest parts of Winter we layered our clothes, wore thick socks, warmed up for ages, and stood by the heaters to keep ourselves from shivering. Now that it's Summer we're sweating as much as ever.
Here are some photos from tonight's tech rehearsal - our last before our videographer comes tomorrow to capture footage of our dress rehearsal. I was able to duck out and take several candids on my Blackberry. Enjoy!
Monday, June 27, 2011
Brain Games
It's been said before -- dancing for Sinecdoche is just as challenging for the brains of the dancers as it is for their bodies.
I thought I'd give you a taste of what we mean by that.
In Work:Dance:Display, the piece we are working on for July, many of us play a particular and individual "game."
It all starts with a basic phrase, that each dancer knows. You can see us doing the basic phrase from the piece, on the very first day we learned it, here.
From there, we each made a variation of the phrase by changing the order of the steps, without changing the rhythm.
For example: If it started out hop. step. kick. turn, you could make it kick. hop. turn. step.
Then, our fellow dancers gave us arms to go with our newly re-ordered phrase.
For example: kick & shimmy. hop & swipe. Turn with jazz hands. Step & clap.
This variation, with a new order for the feet and arms to go with it, became our new phrase. We had to make sure that when each of us does our new phrase, we stay on time with whoever is doing the "basic" phrase -- no small task!
When we mastered that, we got something else to do with the new phrase. In my case, I had to take the phrase I made and put one arm on a one-count lag behind the other arm.
Using the example phrase, it looks like this: Kick & shimmy one side. Hop & swipe one side while shimmying the other. Turn with one jazz hand and one swiping hand. Step & clap one hand, jazz hand the other.
I then had to do the feet twice as fast as I did the arms.
For example: Kick-hop while you shimmy one side. Turn-step while you swipe & shimmy the other side. Kick-hop while you jazz hand and swipe. Turn-step while you clap and jazz hand.
Whew! That's a lot of rules. That's how we get from our beginning phrases to the variations you'll see in part one of July's show. You'll also see the basic dance phrase -- and if you look closely -- you can see that phrase in everything we do for the first half.
This is only one of many brain games we do. All our pieces involve a similar sort of splicing-movement logic.
Want to try it out?
Here's a relatively simple to follow game that uses many of the principles of the games we play in performance. Give it a try! Each time you master one step, add on the next. See how far you can go!
Step 1: Start out with jumping jacks.
Step 2: On every third jumping jack, turn to face behind you.
Step 3: While jumping, say your abc's backwards. Don't forget to turn around every third jump!
Step 4: Continue doing steps 1-3, but now do a full turn every time you say a vowel. Continue counting your jumping jacks and abc's from where you left off.
Bonus Round:
Step 5: With a partner, do steps 1-4. Place a cookie (or any treat) somewhere in the room. While continuing 1-4, race to the cookie. You can only move when you twirl (that is, when you hit a vowel). Remember not to lose count of those jumping jacks! Don't let the other person know you want the cookie as much as they do -- but get it first!
Does your brain feel like jelly? Did you have tons of fun? How far did you make it? Leave us a comment and tell us all about it! Bonus points for video footage :)
I thought I'd give you a taste of what we mean by that.
In Work:Dance:Display, the piece we are working on for July, many of us play a particular and individual "game."
It all starts with a basic phrase, that each dancer knows. You can see us doing the basic phrase from the piece, on the very first day we learned it, here.
From there, we each made a variation of the phrase by changing the order of the steps, without changing the rhythm.
For example: If it started out hop. step. kick. turn, you could make it kick. hop. turn. step.
Then, our fellow dancers gave us arms to go with our newly re-ordered phrase.
For example: kick & shimmy. hop & swipe. Turn with jazz hands. Step & clap.
This variation, with a new order for the feet and arms to go with it, became our new phrase. We had to make sure that when each of us does our new phrase, we stay on time with whoever is doing the "basic" phrase -- no small task!
When we mastered that, we got something else to do with the new phrase. In my case, I had to take the phrase I made and put one arm on a one-count lag behind the other arm.
Using the example phrase, it looks like this: Kick & shimmy one side. Hop & swipe one side while shimmying the other. Turn with one jazz hand and one swiping hand. Step & clap one hand, jazz hand the other.
I then had to do the feet twice as fast as I did the arms.
For example: Kick-hop while you shimmy one side. Turn-step while you swipe & shimmy the other side. Kick-hop while you jazz hand and swipe. Turn-step while you clap and jazz hand.
Whew! That's a lot of rules. That's how we get from our beginning phrases to the variations you'll see in part one of July's show. You'll also see the basic dance phrase -- and if you look closely -- you can see that phrase in everything we do for the first half.
This is only one of many brain games we do. All our pieces involve a similar sort of splicing-movement logic.
Want to try it out?
Here's a relatively simple to follow game that uses many of the principles of the games we play in performance. Give it a try! Each time you master one step, add on the next. See how far you can go!
Step 1: Start out with jumping jacks.
Step 2: On every third jumping jack, turn to face behind you.
Step 3: While jumping, say your abc's backwards. Don't forget to turn around every third jump!
Step 4: Continue doing steps 1-3, but now do a full turn every time you say a vowel. Continue counting your jumping jacks and abc's from where you left off.
Bonus Round:
Step 5: With a partner, do steps 1-4. Place a cookie (or any treat) somewhere in the room. While continuing 1-4, race to the cookie. You can only move when you twirl (that is, when you hit a vowel). Remember not to lose count of those jumping jacks! Don't let the other person know you want the cookie as much as they do -- but get it first!
Does your brain feel like jelly? Did you have tons of fun? How far did you make it? Leave us a comment and tell us all about it! Bonus points for video footage :)
Second Open Rehearsal Down, 5 More Shows to Go!
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| Photo by Jason Kip Thomas |
One of the goals of the dance is to have the audience surrounding the dance and moving within the performance. Having foreign bodies in the space with us was, for me, such a shock. That presence really changes how I dance the piece. A new level of awareness comes out because there are people that don't know what's going to happen next moving through the space you're dancing in.
It's this sort of challenge that keeps you on your toes when dancing for Belinda. She not only is giving you incredibly challenging movement and tasks to complete, but she is also throwing an audience worth of bodies in your trajectory and making you decide in the moment what, exactly, is to be done. There is nothing mindless about presenting her work for the dancers or the audience.
If you didn't have a chance to check out the rehearsals, DON'T WORRY! You can come to the finished product and see what we're doing for yourself. But you had better get your tickets now; only 30 people are permitted per performance so they're going fast.
You, the audience, has a huge role in this piece and it just won't be the same without you! I hope to see you there.
Friday, July 8 7:30PM
Saturday, July 9 5PM & 8:30PM
Sunday, July 10 3PM & 7:30PM
doors open 30 min prior to the show.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Loose Ends
Rehearsal on Wednesday morning clarified certain things for us, and Alex was gungho about learning the entire piece. She did pretty good. She and Aya spend some time working on getting into the Sphinx - a challenging maneuver if I may say so myself.
I'm still deciding on the ending of the piece, and this is what we are going with so far...
I'm still deciding on the ending of the piece, and this is what we are going with so far...
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