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.

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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.

Click to Play

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.........

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!!!!