The Windows Project at Mobius

Here are 2 clips from the Windows Project at Mobius (http://mobius.org).

We constructed a semblance of a snowglobe for a make-believe store window. The first video features Liz Roncka as a Naught/Nice Santa. The second video features Ellen Godena. I think she looks like some strange Snow Queen, but.......

Another Excerpt from Musical Mondays at Mobius

Improvised Collaboration on December 7, 2009 at Mobius

Bass:
Jane Wang
Mike Bullock

Trombone:
Tom Plsek
Ryan Dragon

Movement:
Andrea Blesso Albuquerque
Liz Roncka

Musical Monday at Mobius 12/7/09

An excerpt from an improvisational collaboration between Jane Wang (bass), Mike Bullock (bass), Tom Plsek (trombone), Ryan Dragon (trombone), Andrea Blesso Albuquerque (movement) and Liz Roncka (movement).

Rehearsal.......A Return to "Solo-ing"

More rehearsal in prep for this weekend's ZEROPLAN performance. This clip will have nothing in common with what happens that night except me. Different music, a costume, different mood, etc. However, it has been a while since I soloed....so in that way this is prep for my solo on Saturday. I will be performing with Luke Moldof on guitar. We've never met. I am intrigued by this.

I posted 2 clips here because it was one long piece and I felt posting them separately compromised the integrity of both the music and the movement. Youtube only allows 10 minute clips. Music here by Balvanyos Ensemble, an improvisational group of musicians based in Budapest that I collaborated with somewhere around 2000-2002.

Trio with Haggai Cohen Milo, Amir Milstein and Liz Roncka from Spring 2009

As I edit down some old footage from Spring 2009, I have come upon some excellent clips to share. Here's a trio with Amir Milstein (flute), Haggai Cohen Milo (bass) and me.

Our First Time with Wings

Our first time putting on the wings...messing around in the Cyclo. There are some technical difficulties to solve in the next few days, but overall a satisfying first flight. Andrea Blesso Albuquerque does the first solo with voices of Adam Shea (the "wing-maker") and Liz Roncka. Second solo by Liz.

More Wings and Metal

Come see this full on in performance: 12/1 @ 6 pm at the Cyclorama!!!

Reh for Medicine Wheel with Andrea Blesso and Matt Samolis

Excerpt of Vocalization Experiment 1

Entering the world of vocalization experiments. I have worked with improvised text a bit in this blog. Now Ellen and I are on to something else. Something stranger, deeper....I don't know. It seems like something in itself....this vocalization and it seems like a portal. I am deeply curious. I am fascinated and I also find myself laughing out loud. It is serious and hilarious. Who knows what ur experience will be..........

Rehearsal Excerpt with Andrea Blesso for Medicine Wheel

A clip from reh for Medicine Wheel taking place at the Cyclorama on December 1. Andrea and I will be on @6pm. Our piece will feature costumes by Nicole Collela and Adam Shea....including wings. We get our wings tomorrow, so soon we will begin to understand the actual physicality of moving with the wings on.

Matt Samolis will be joining us on bowed metal for the performance.

The music in this clip is random. Some of it works and some of the techno beats make me wanna laugh.
All movement is improvised as it will be in the performance. Enjoy!

Exploring with Ellen Godena

Solo by Ellen Godena. Strong image under black fabric........giving me ideas for a future project TBA. Still we are exploring textures and states while quieting the mind and activating the body.

Excerpt of 1st Reh for Medicine Wheel 2009

Andrea Blesso and Liz Roncka improvise exploring flicking-fluttering-twitching-soaring. The first incarnation of this piece will be performed at Medicine Wheel at the Cyclorama on Dec. 1. The dance will feature winged costumes by artists Adam Shea and Nicole Colella.

Nunc 2

Round 2 of Movement at the Mills. Improvised trio entitled "Nunc" with Akili Jamal Haynes (music) and Olivier Besson and Liz Roncka (movement).

M-Zyg from the Outside

M-Zyg Performance at Movement at the Mills-Clip 1

Here is an excerpt from M-Zyg featuring improvisation by Ellen Godena and Liz Roncka. The music u hear was not our music. Our music was heard by the audience via headphones. Hopefully future clips will feature our audio.

Last Rehearsal for M-Zyg

Here is an excerpt from our last rehearsal for M-Zyg for Movement at the Mills. Movement: Ellen Godena and Liz Roncka. Sound: Max Lord (music) with Liz Roncka (text).

Last Nunc Rehearsal Medley

A medley...a mash-up...a little sampler from our last rehearsal before Movement at the Mills. Olivier Besson and Liz Roncka (movement) and Akili Jamal Haynes (music).

Preview of M-Zyg

This is a sample of the work I will be presenting with Ellen Godena at Movement at the Mills on October 29 from 6-9pm. The piece will be improvised and accompanied by original music by Eric Gunther, Max Lord, Bob Raymond, Jane Wang and Liz Roncka in collaboration with Max Lord played via headphones.......old skool style.

ness

An improvised solo by Liz Roncka. Music by 7 Orange ABC.

Boxeshornspeople Part II

boxeshornspeople

Liz Roncka: movement
Akili Jamal Haynes: sound

More Prep for M-Zyg

Rehearsal Excerpt with Ellen and Liz in Prep for M-Zyg /Movement at the Mills

Improvised Trumpet Solo Accompanied by Dance

This is an excerpt from an exercise we were doing experimenting with the notion of leading, following, and dance accompanying music. Akili Jamal Haynes on trumpet.

Twinning

Continued Research..........

Duet with Olivier and Liz with Akili on tenor sax

Reh Excerpt: Ellen and Liz

The first edit of my mySpace page is up: http:// myspace.com/realtimeperformance
Give it a glance!!!!

More Rehearsal for the Mills........Oct. 29 6-9pm

Clock Duet, Clock Trio, Mirror Dance Part I-II

I broke this improv down into 4 parts but really it ran as one piece. Enjoy!

CLOCK DUET



CLOCK TRIO



MIRROR DANCE PART I



MIRROR DANCE PART 2

RAINCOAT: A New Pairing of an Old Poem and An Old Dance

Well, the poem (RAINCOAT) was actually written in February 2008 when I had first conceived of the concept of the movement piece. The improvisation (Exhume) was not performed until May 2008. So it is not really a new pairing of the two, but neither have been shared with "the public" together. The poem is from A Poem A Day For a Year that I did with my friend Ben. Most of the poems have hardly been seen or read. Maybe I will exhume more of them.




RAINCOAT

I see the future
And it looks like a little red raincoat.
Semilucent rose.
Rock'n roll rose.

Strobelight pose.
Blast from the past
To illuminate the present.
Forgotten sketches of the
Skeleton within.
Exhume the grave.
Bring back Jane.

Exhume from liz roncka on Vimeo.

Reh2 Excerpt of Ellen and Liz

Reh Excerpt: Duet Akili and Liz

Reh Excerpt

As you may be able to tell, we are once again working on particular elements in this video. Although we are working on the overall concept, we are more experimenting with different qualities or movement situations. These explorations will increase our movement vocabulary and our familiarity with eachother's timing and dynamics increasing our ability to synthesize and move in close proximity and speed without crashing. Since we are a new duet, there is often still some of that. I think I kicked Ellen in the head about 3 times in this one rehearsal. Nice.

Rehearsal Excerpt 9/25/09

So I really must explain....

Right after we finished this section, Akili explained to us that at some point toward the end of this improv, as he sat on the ground, he remembered a story about Sonny Rollins......during one performance Sonny fell off stage and broke his ankle but continued to finish the concert lying on his back. Thus Akili was inspired to see what it felt like to play lying on the floor. It is endlessly fasicnating what goes on inside people's minds while improvising. Sometimes my mind is so empty but so so often images, memories, associations pop up that inspire my choices. Well, i thought the story was worth repeating and I do love the ending.

Rehearsal Excerpt for Movement at the Mills

9/26/09

Rehearsal Excerpt #4 with Ellen Godena (movement) and Max Lord (sound)

Rehearsal Excerpt #3 with Ellen Godena (movement) and Max Lord (sound)

As you can see from these clips, we are working with some very speific ideas and movement concepts: flexion, extension, inversion, generating sound with contact, integration of the wall.....among others.

People often say, " So you just make it up as you go along?" or "How do you rehearse improvisation?" Perhaps these rehearsal clips will help educate the people about the process of developing improvisational work.

Rehearsal Excerpt #2 for the Mills with Ellen Godena

ARRGGGHHH....did it again....posted without fades. I'm fired.

Cat solo by Cosmo.

Rehearsal Excerpt #1 for the Movement at the Mills

Rehearsal excerpt with Ellen Godena from our first rehearsal in preparation for Movement at the Mills (The Mills Gallery, October 29, 6-9pm....more details to follow). Music here by Max Lord, but a bit of a sound experiment will actually occur at the Mills. Oops...apologies for the abrupt ending......tomorrow's clip picks up where this one ended and I will remember my fades in and out!!!

The First Dance After the End

Here we are again. Can't go on the way I was, but can't stop either............

Dance 113: Last Dance

This is it: the end of my daily dance project.
I will keep dancing, will keep making videos, but not specifically for this project.
I feel it has found its natural end. Perhaps I will write more about it or not.
Thank you for participating in this experience with me.

Dance 112: 13 Feet

Dance 111: Left Abdominal Dance.........what?

Dance110: Sneakas in the Hallway

Dance 109: Tiny and Mamadou Return

Back to the past.......home videos with cats. Interessting to me though.......I was not intentionally focusing on having my movement informed by Charlotte/Tiny but I ended up chosing various poses and movement utilizing only 3 of my limbs.

Dance 108

Dance 107

Dance 106: Improvised Duet with Akili Jamal Haynes and Liz Roncka

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Dance 105

Dance 104a

(Go to http://blip.tv/search?q=dailydanceproject for full screen.)

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Improvised duet with Akili Jamal Haynes and Liz Roncka

Dance 104b Improvised Duet with Akili Jamal Haynes and Liz Roncka

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Dance 103a: Duet with Akili Jamal Haynes

Upon returning from La Bergerie, I felt the need to return to some basic practices of improvisation. During the session this excerpt was taken from, my focus was developing and exploring one thing thoroughly at a time...trying to figure out the specifics of a particular movement or impulse...working with slow development, movement quality and invention, challenging my usual patterns: in terms of physicality, timing, quality of movement, duration spent on a movement, dynamics, etc etc. My intent was to be very mindful of the details of what I was doing and to challenge and question my usual responses and impulses. It felt like good, deep work...and the results were satisfying. I had particular images at certain points in this improv of being a comic book character or better yet......a graphic novel...because it wasn't meant to be silly but very slightly caricature-ish.

( a larger screen version is available at blip tv under dailydanceproject)

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Dance 103b

This clip is an improvised musical solo by Akili. It was part of the section shown above. He has been experimenting with a looping station to create soundscapes. These stations allow for creating many layers but don't necessarily allow for much real time editing: fading tracks in/out, etc etc. Perhaps we'll have some words directly from Akili on this topic. As I described above, these sessions are very much about trying new things and doing the work and research to facilitate the evolution of our improvisational practices.

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Dance102: "Marika's Hands"

Another dance video from my residency with Emma Jupe at La Bergerie in Soffin, France. This one features Marika Rizzi. I felt compelled to enter the improvisation/performance space bearing my camera.

Dance101: Duet with Jean-Phi Costes Muscat at La Bergerie

Since I do not speak French (yet!), I required translation of nearly everything during the residency. This duet plays on that idea a little. I still have no idea what Jean-Phi was talking about!!!

DANCE 100: Still in Soffin, France

Well, yes, Dance 100 has arrived. There is some text in the video which expresses my feelings about 100. The volume may need to be turned up a bit to hear well. Here's to many more .......

Dance#99 At La Bergerie

Dance #98: Second Dance from La Bergerie

Dance #97: First Dance from La Bergerie/ Soffin France

The first dance of a series of dances made at or near La Bergerie in Soffin, France. A small town about 3 hours southeast of Paris. The surroundings were so potent and gorgeous, I felt inclined to keep my movement very very simple, often pedestrian. It felt pretentious to launch into some technical dancey-dance and more authentic to just be me there.

Gone Fishing.........

I am off to France to improvise with Emma Jupe, a Paris-based improv collective.
I will indeed be dancing and filming but who knows if I will be posting.
The project continues.....and I will begin posting again ASAP.

Dance #96 Charles River Creative Arts Program Performance

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95

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Dance#94

Improvised trio with Olivier Besson (movement) and Akili Jamal Haynes (music). A larger view is available at:
lizroncka.blip.tv

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Improvised trio

Dance #93

A first improvisation rehearsal with Emily Beattie and Andrea Blesso

Dance #92

Another excerpt from rehearsal with Olivier Besson (movement) and Akili Jamal Haynes (music). All sound and movement is improvised.

Dance #91

Improvised trio with Olivier Besson (movement) and Akili Jamal Haynes (music).

Dance #90

Improvised trio with ....Olivier Besson (movement) and Akili Jamal Haynes (music).

Dance #89

I was pleasantly surprised by the ripple effect transition ending. The way it happened to line up with my position in the field of view was unexpectedly perfect.

Dance #88

Trio with Emily Beattie, Haggai Cohen Milo and Liz Roncka at Zeroplan

A larger view is available at lizroncka.blip.tv

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Improvised trio

Duet with Haggai Cohen Milo and Liz Roncka

Duet performned at ZEROPLAN. The sound you hear at the very beginning is marbles being rolled...a few by Haggai, but mostly marbles falling out of my mouth and out of my costume. Yes,I've lost my marbles!
To see a larger screen version go to http://lizroncka.blip.tv

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Another view from another camera (thanks Max Lord)....but only the first 4 minutes. Gets a little more detail. Still...I'm undecided....I love/need/want mood lighting for live performance but always makes for a so-so video. C'est la vie.

Dance #85

Dance #84

Dance #83

Dance #82

Rehearsal with Emily Beattie and Haggai Cohen Milo for ZEROPLAN this Sunday.

Dance #81

Dance #80: Trumpet Duet

Improvised duet with Akili Jamal Haynes on trumpet.

Dance 79: Variations on a Bench

This was actually one entire improvisation which I chose to break down into sections. Akili Jamal Haynes is improvising on tenor sax, drums, and piano.

78: Fountain Dance #2...The Rogue Goes to the Park

Dance 77: Fountain Dance #1

Once again, thanks 2 Jane Wang for filming!

Dance 76: Elevator Dance #3

A quick and sincere thank you to all who view this blog!

I added a description below the title of this blog. I felt it necessary to clarify my intentions and hopes for this blog. I appreciate those who watch and add comments and those who don't. I will be writing more about my intentions again soon and some of my current philosophies about improvisation and "contemporary" art. It is important for me to get my art "out" but also to get my message "out". More on what that is soon.

No. Seventy -Five: Elevator Dance #2

Thanks to Jane Wang for videotaping.

Dance 74: Elevator Dance #1

This is the first video from a series I made with Jane Wang. I have decided to allow my process/project to shift........my current plan is to post one video a day. Some days provide opportunities to shoot many videos. It is overwhelming to edit/post/watch many videos per day. Therefore, I plan to post one a day. Thus several videos from one day may be posted over different days. And so the daily dance project continues with a slight modification. Thanks for tuning in!

Dance #73

In this video, I am dancing in a supportive role of Mojo. Once again, Charlotte steals the show towards the end.

Dance #72

Dance #71

My exploration of Butoh began approximately 6 weeks ago with Ellen Godena. I will be performing in her work on July 17, 2009. See below for more details.
I included this clip in my blog because it is indeed an improvisational form, although in this clip you can hear that it can be a guided form of improvisation. I will not say more since I am such a novice.
And, finally, if you are wondering what is up with the gold bikini top, I am testing out part of my costume. It is essential to test run your costume so it doesn't fall off when performing....unlesss, of course, that is your intention!!

Excerpts from rehearsal for:

Umi no Bodi premieres ‘Fakutori’ at 'Somerville of the Future' Friday July 17th!

Ellen Godena, Artistic Director of the butoh-based movement troupe, Umi no Bodi re-creates the noise, silence, color, and mechanistic environment of a large factory floor in the piece, ‘Fakutori’ (factory). Umi no Bodi dancers inhabit the shifting forms of large animatronic industrial robots paving a series of futuristic assembly lines that transform the bike trail, walkways and green space behind the Davis Square MBTA Station. Dancers transport gigantic rolls of multi-colored felt while transforming into industrial robots, robotic chickens, pterodactyls, and other fantastic creatures to a live, eerie soundscape composed by musician Max Lord.
Ellen Godena, Liz Roncka, Harrison Blum, Dorian Rose, Joleen Westerdale and featuring Shizu Homma of New York City’s famed Butoh Rockettes perform among the chaos and staging of the Somerville Artbeat Festival, 'Somerville of the Future,' on Friday, July 17th 2009, from 6:45 until 7:30pm.

Dance #70

Dance #69: Solos Emily Beattie and Liz Roncka

Miss Emily Beattie dances in her living room. Liz Roncka sits and slaps and gestures on the couch. Sirens blare and cats fight all on a summer night. It is quite difficult to decipher my movements given the way this was filmed. Perhaps better viewed on full screen. I wanted to create the distance and the feeling of being in one room and being vaguely half aware of what is happening in another room in the house. So you just get a snippet, not a full view or full understanding but you know something is happening. Emily thought it looked like 2 people might be fighting. The slapping reminded me of killing a mosquitoe that is biting you. Whatever. Happy Independence Day. Make sure u r free as can beeeee.

Dance #68a-f

Improvised duets with Akili Jamal Haynes on trumpet, tenor sax and drums.

Dance #67

Dance#66 Duet with Tiny

Well, this wasn't supposed to be a duet with Tiny (aka Charlotte), but in she walked, well hopped, and that was that. With cameo by Mamadou. Who says I don't have an improv company!?! It just happens to be me and 3 felines.

Dance #65

Another hooded dance.

Dance #64:Blindfold Dance #1

There is an intentional long fade in from black at the beginning. I had hoped to start a fade in and reach full light in the exact middle and then fade out for the second half, reaching darkness at the end, but was unable due to the limitations of iMovie. Maybe someday I'll get some more editing software!!!

I am curious to explore more blindfolded dance....in a large open space so I don't have to worry about banging into anything. Also interested in filming some blindfold contact improvisation.

Dance #63

A series of duets with Akili Jamal Haynes.
This was our first improvisational session together. Clip one is the first one in the session. I think they all ended up in chronological order, although that wasn't done intentionally. It is interesting to watch how things progressed over a 2 hour period. Enjoy.

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Dance #62

Dance #61

Mojo rocks the house again with his brilliant entrance near the end. That cat has got it going on.

This one is definitely a dance about sound, movement created by the attempt to produce a sound. Make sure your volume is up to fully appreciate.

Dance #60

Dance #59

A little bit of perspective weirdness...
Oh and a little neuro experiment......u probably know that when u visualize yourself doing movement, certain cells in your brain fire as if the movement is actually happening. I don't know the terminology for all this stuff, but.....I noticed that when I watch this video, my right hand does what it is doing in the video. Perhaps I am nuts, but it is still interesting. I am curious if u notice yourself holding any tension in your right hand fingers when you watch this video, particularly watching my hand. Maybe you need to do some acid first, not sure......

Dance #58

Dance #57

Performance of solo improvisation "Now and Never" at the Boston Center for the Arts' Summer Solstice Festival. Music "citydesertfrozenplains" by Daniel Wright, Mateo Lugo and Haggai Cohen Milo.

Dance #56

Rehearsal run of improvised solo "Now and Never" performed at the Boston Center for the Arts on June 20, 2009. Music "Citydesertfrozenplains" by Haggai Cohen Milo, Mateo Lugo and Daniel Wright.

Dance #55

Dance #54

The shortest one yet!

Dance #53

This is a somewhat silly dance. I did it because it is the kind of dance I felt like doing. I cannot call it artful. It is a dance that represents the kind of dance u do for the sheer pleasure of shaking your a$$. I find it interesting to note the sounds we make when we can't hear ourselves and the fact that I had no idea that I actually sang one line out loud. If u r bored with this, watch the last minute or so for a good laugh. And if u r curious as 2 what was playing in my iPod during this dance, it is a song called "Dance 4 Me" by Prince off his latest album mPLSoUND.

Dance#52

Music by John Voigt.

House Dance

This dance was filmed at the apartments at MassMoCA to house visiting artists. It features my dear friends and dancers from the Falling Flight Project.....the whole reason we were there in the first place. But u know dancers, they dance all day and when they get home after rehearsal....they dance some more. So after a day of learning choreography for the company, we let our improvisational minds and bodies run wild in the house. The dancers featured are Andrea Blesso, Maggie Husak, yours truly, Alison Fox and Betsi Akerstein (in order of appearance). There are a few cameos by some of the other company members as well. It is a long video....25 minutes, but well worth it. You may wish to look up dailydanceproject on blip tv to watch a larger version.

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50

At a waterfall near North Adams,MA. I would have loved it to be longer, especially the ending, but the water was just toooooo cold.

49

48

This is one of my recent favorites. Music improvised by Haggai Cohen Milo (bass) and Amir Milstein (flute). I did an improvised solo in March 2009 with this same mask in a performance for SWAN Day entitled "Rogue". The Rogue has returned. I have a feeling she will continue to reappear over time.

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A Brief Pause

The next few days, the dances will not be posted, although they will be made. I will be out of town at MassMOCA rehearsing with the Falling Flight Project. Til the next post.........

47

46

Still messing with the "night" setting and if/how it captures movement as something other than passing blurs.......

45 a-d

This series was done outdoors at my parents house. Voices of various family members can be heard as well as an appearance by my niece. I left all of this "in" because it is part of what actually occurred. Everything affecting and shaping everything.
When I was videotaping, it was not necessarily my intention to do 4 dances or to post all of them. However, when I was done, I appreciated the progression and felt it was indeed one piece with 4 parts. Each makes "sense" independently but I like the flow if you have the interest to watch all of them. Originally, I felt very critical of the first one but after watching and tuning in to the movement of the leaves and bushes, my appreciation grew for the whole scene. I was actually quite satisfied to have my family members interrupt the second one...oblivious to what I was doing. This is a feeling I know well and probably a theme in any work family-related. Yes, this is personal information, but art is a personal thing, eh?









I did this fourth one because I felt my body was still resisting the ground even after being out dancing and rollling around for a while. I still don't know if I reached the state of release and connection with the ground that I desire(d) but I felt compelled to keep trying. For some reason, I chose increasing the air as a way to increase the depth of my contact with the ground....I guess releasing into the air and asking gravity to take me down where I wanted to be.

44

There is an intensity and rawness of the sound in this video that makes me almost uncomfortable. I feel drawn to explore this further. It was a very satisfying video to make....the visceral experience of making the sound ....of the words...of the feeling. The external movement of my body was secondary. The movement of the air internally to make the words/sounds was primary. I am again exploring the mixed motivations and different senses and systems utilized to express something. When do we, as humans and artists, choose words/text versus sounds/vocalizations ......body language/gesture/pedestrian movement versus dance/movement technique. What do we give? What does the audience expect? Refinement versus rawness. Power and strength in freedom......power and strength in control?

43

A dance done at dawn. I spontaneously woke up very early and was into the sound and the light and decided to just get up and do it. I ended up in the window by default because it was the only place to get enough light to record...and voila....silouette. Another perfect suprise ending when my alarm went off.....that is the bells you hear at the very end.

42

Please view this dance as a duet between Charlotte and me. Charlotte is actually the lead for most of it. I especially appreciate how she stood up and made the most movement when I lowered my gaze and came to stillness. She walked away and then came back and faced the camera for her solo, then sat, rapped her tail loudly on the floor and joined me in my low position of near stillness. I write these details because I think we sometimes overlook details and create hierarchy in our senses and judgements. Here the cat instead of the human is dominant and makes extremely sound compositional choices. This supports my theory that we all have an innate sense of composition (of course, we could discuss the definition of composition.....). I'll expound on that another time.

I also appreciate the light and how it erases my features at times and turns Charlotte into a glowing alien cat. Neat-O.

41

A very satisfying trio with Amir Milstein (flute) and Haggai Cohen Milo (bass).

40

Another exploration of the night setting on the camera and dancing in the dark. Much less visibility than the last night video but I enjoy the cats streaming in and out, blurry and disappearing/reappearing from behind the furniture.

39

MAKE SURE YOUR VOLUME IS UP A LITTLE TO FULLY ENJOY THIS VIDEO.

This dance was clearly motivated by the sound of these shoes. It is almost unbelievable that all of that squooshly noise is the shoes themselves. There is also a significant contribution towards the end from the creak of the floorboards.

38

The music heard in these videos was live streaming from Deep Tones for Peace Now at Mobius. The first piece was Larry Roland on bass and the second and third pieces/sections were John Voigt on bass. Check out Mobius for more details about Deep Tones for Peace. I guess these were my dances for peace.....although every dance is for peace and freedom....inner and outer. Allpeopleallplacealltimeallspace.

Oh yeah, cats for peace too.

37

36

This video is my first experiment with using the "night" setting on the camera. There is something intriguing about dancing in the light of the night. I hope to explore this more!
And, oh yes, my big grin is in response to the conversation you can overhear from man standing nearby on the sidewalk talking on his cell. HILARIOUS!!!!

35

This is an excerpt of a piece by Jane Wang performed in the Politics of Shoes at Mobius. The section you see was preceded by approximately 10 minutes of slow, meditative movement by Jane (in white clothing) with the bells. I am the woman in red.

34

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Dance #33

This piece was performed as part of The Politics of Shoes at Mobius, Boston, MA. Improvised sound by Haggai Cohen Milo.

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Dance #32

Dance #31

Improvised Duet with Haggai Cohen Milo (live sound, except jackhammer and fire engines courtesy of Cambridge, MA) and Liz Roncka (movement).
I love that I am cut off from the frame at the end, but if you look in the mirror you can see me. Chance blows my mind.

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Dance #30

This piece was exploring use of eyes, focus and body language. I have been thinking about how and why movement can mean something to the viewer. What shapes, tension, rhythms create emotions...create "drama". Why is some movement easier to "relate" to. When you understand what I am doing....how and what does that mean? I am interested in body language (as opposed to gesture). I find in "music" certain tones or pitches immediately create a feeling in me. It is primal, reflexive. I am curious about the equivalent in dance. I was recently reading an article that suggested a woman do a gesture or "pose" with her palms up or open to show a man she is interested. Is this true? What are the signs we read without knowing?

Dance #29

Dance #28

Dance #27

Dance#26

In watching this, I realized how much I appreciated the sound of the objects being flung and landing. Rich.

Dance#25

It was hard to get motivated for this one. My"task" was to focus on being who I was, exactly where I was, feeling what I was at that moment.....honestly.

Dance #24

This piece is accompanied by my first attempt at making "music" with Garageband. The song features a track of my 3 cats being fed. Fun, but time consuming.

Dance #23

A mood-induced piece. When I watched the piece after doing it, I was at first annoyed that my head was cut off when I stood up. However, it ended up serving several other purposes. When I stood up I made a series of gestures, some inappropriate, that I felt somewhat self-conscious about. Due to the field cut, my hand was never seen. I also appreciated my final "gesture" much more coming from a shot in which my head was not visible. Who knew.

Dance #22

An experiment in brevity.

Dance #21

This is a long video, but it was essential for me to keep its entire length. Since it is over 10 minutes, it had to be posted as 2 videos. I hope you will view the entire video. It is an "ode" to my childhood. I am dancing in my parents' house, the one I grew up in. My sister did the filming. It is a very loaded piece for me.

Dance #20

Live duet with Haggai Cohen Milo on bass. During our session that day we were focusing heavily on simplicity and attempting to do only one thing. Inevitably, if something is happening along the continuum of time, there is some progression but the attempt was to stick to "the thing" as much as possible. In the first few improvisations (which are not posted) I felt a sense of resistance and tension in regards to the idea of one thing. However, after relaxing into it, by the run seen here, I felt a calm sense of clarity about what I was doing. The inner babble stopped and there was no hesitation or anticipation about what would happen next.

Dance #19

This was originally done to music by David Torn. Now it is in silence. It seemed too artificial to stick some other music on top of it. Fortunately this was the last video that had audio that needed to be altered.

Dance #18 5/7/09

A little ditty probably best viewed full screen in the dark.

Dance #17 5/6/09

This one almost drove me crazy. It was originally done to a different piece of music. However, due to my copyright caniption, I decided to get rid of the original audio. I cut and pasted some legal sounds to make a new soundscape. Then.....I was only allowed to post a max of 10 minutes, so I had to edit. Aargh. But here is what we have and it was worth it. It is super-slow and segmental, so allow your attention to adjust to the pace. Cheers.

Dance #16 5/4/09

Dance #15 got shelved for now cuz of music.

Some Videos Will Disappear and the Soundscape will Change!

So............I am not surprised to learn that I really can't b using copyrighted music for this project without going through a lot of red tape. After reciting all the curse words I know, I have decided to remove videos with music that is likely copyrighted. So now, we will have environmental sound and original music and text only. Lovely, but these are the laws. So, farewell to the videos that disappeared. I may consider reposting them without sound or who knows... laying new original sound over them?!? I guess this is how one's work evolves sometimes....Watch out, I may start singing. Also, all u musicians and sound-makers....send something my way with explicit permission for me to use your material.

And for those of u that know me well, it may b time for the Fender to come out from under the couch or Bubbles' horn to appear.

Dance #14 5/2/09

This was a day that it was hard to get it going on. Somehow I think I found something though.

Dance #13 5/1/09

The source of my inspiration for each dance is random. It could be the light in a certain room, my mood, a piece of music, an image or it could be something "negative"....not knowing what I want to do, but knowing what I don't want to do, where I don't want to dance, etc etc. Today's video sprung from a mood, that led to a piece of music, that led to a costume......

It can be challenging to dance to music with lyrics, something almost pop....how not to be too literal or dramatic....not too music video-ish. Most times I shy away from even attempting this kind of thing but I think there is a way to transcend, a way it can work..... not that I have necessarily found it, but I am curious........


Author removed video secondary to copyright.

Dance #12 4/30/09

Duet with bass player Haggai Cohen Milo. Performed at New England Conservatory.

Dance #11 4/29/09

I removed the video secondary to copyright issues with sound.

Dance #10 4/28/09

I am still very excited about this project. I love the good days and the bad, the successful pieces and the ones that have details that bother me aesthetically and/or compositionally. I am also deeply appreciative of you who have been viewing the blogs. Posting these pieces brings up many questions for me (and hopefully for you). One main concern is how to balance staying true to the practice, to uphold the focus of this being about the process. This is no way means "anything goes" but it means that I do not have to subject myself to a high level of perfectionism before deeming the piece worthy before sharing it. Because.....what is perfect? What is worthy? Is product more valuable than process? Is process not product? Is life a product or a process? Perhaps that is taking it too far, but it all these questions feel very relevant.

To me, everything is process. In process, there is movement and change. Everything is movement and change. There is no such thing as stillness. Enough. I hope you get my drift.

This work is about questions: generating questions, answering questions, questioning the answers to the questions. I hope this is true for me and for you, the participant. I do not wish to use the word "viewer" because I think viewers are all participating with their eyes and ears and brains.

SOOOooo....this whole blab-a-thon entry started when I was reading one of the comments I received (which I love receiving because it makes this all even more interactive). And before I begin, let me thank the person who wrote it because it inspired me to clarify my thoughts and motivations and generated more QUESTIONS!!! The sentences that intrigued me were, "I struggled to get more out of it,as an outsider. I feel as if this dance is for yourself." This comment was made about Piece #8. I think that all these dances are for me and all these dances are made for anyone who sees them. I give and take all of me in making them. But what it makes me wonder is....what makes someone watching feel an "outsider", how/when does a piece alienate a "viewer" ? Or is it about someone's ability to connect to the piece and is that my responsibility as the creator or the viewer's or both? If I think about this question specifically in terms of this piece, I wonder how certain aesthetics reel people in or shut them out? Does the lack of a human face create a feeling of being shut out? And what if that is the intention of the piece? Or is the performer hiding her face even though her feelings are exposed? Or is the small, measured movement more difficult to connect to on a physical level, but is the creator trying to share the experience of being in her body in this physical/emotional state? Anyway, these comments are rich. As an "artist" my ultimate goals are to communicate and be authentic and to try not to compromise either in the name of the other. I hope at least a fraction of this makes sense to anyone reading. If not, just watch the "dancing" and forget about it.

Dance#9 4/27/09

This is my second exploration of improvising both text and movement simultaneously. I am intrigued by this process, not only by what words and topics come up, but by how significantly it shifts my movement quality, timing/phrasing and emotional state. I feel I access another aspect of my personality that was formerly much less present in my improvisational work. It seems to have potency because of its authenticity whereas previously, I might have "resorted" to theatricality to "up the anti". To quote yet another cliche: less is more. Maybe.

Dance #8 4/26/09

Video moved to private collection secondary to copyright for music.

Dance #7 4/25/09

A late night improvisation. Music by some of my current favorite improvisors: Haggai Cohen Milo and Mateo Lugo. Pardon the distortion caused by playing the music a little too loud near the camera. However, I am slightly interested in the combination of the sound distortion and the video's grainy quality created by the low light.

This brings me to another point: most days I allow myself only one take of a piece. Ocassionally, if I feel remarkably unsatisfied, I allow myself another take. This particular day I did that, but found that in the end, the first run was the preferred one. How unsurprising.