fun fun fun!

Revisiting some fast and fun collaborations I made with my sweetie a while back.

They are short little videos, or animations of quick successions of still shots, actually.

See one here http://vimeo.com/25167490 I call DRIP

and another here: http://vimeo.com/5858382 This one is vibration :-)

I love the ease and joy of presentness they represent.

Observe a phenomena. Play with it. Capture it. Share it. So simple!

Through My Eyes: Brown's 2011 Festival of Dance, Stuart Theater

For some reason i like to write about dance

Here's what I got down tonight:

Enter Comma Prepare is not a minimal dinner party but rather a social event, gone mechanized… Like any good film about drugs I found the dancer body/mind state to be contagious. "Is that what -yes sometimes thats what- I'm like" runs through my head. It is almost a simon says with audio instruction, video projection, tables and well dressed Brown students. Dancers follow prompts like robots, only they each interpret 'left arm back' a little differently, and when malfunction or overload occur, they shut out the input by masking face with hands. Although somewhat silly and alyrical, Enter Comma Prepare has an eery familiarity.

Another modern work by the Dance Extension starts with sound continues with action linked to sound like a code. But the tight correlation quickly disintegrates. Also humorous at moments and grey in mood, Ms. Sokolow and her dancers direct attention to subtlety with ease: the sound of fingernails tapping, and chin protrusions. Not your typical dancers-on-chairs-piece, associations with flopping fish gasping for air, and alien-amphibian frogs are as organic as it gets.

Watching first and reading later, I felt Overlay was certainly a collaborative exploration of related movement by pairs or groups of dancers. Apparently it was. It's irony was much appreciated.

INTERMISSION

Enter muse, chaos, goddess Kali and all her fullness. When a work credits three individuals and one theater troupe with "conception, choreography, text, music and direction" you can assume there will be a lot going on. Indeed. There were puppet makers, an aerial coach and a masquerade coach. Some viewers will need coaching too. This being my second experience of a Michelle Bach-Kubali premiere, I was as prepared as one little human could be.

Advice to viewers: Don't work too hard to follow a 'story' though it may be presented as such at first. Instead let the presence of the story simply lead you in. It will give way to the conviction of the performers and the emotional/elemental -dare I say alchemical shifts swarming around you.

If you try for the story you get something like this: boy in civil war corresponds with younger sister or sweetheart? dies of typhoid fever. girl and her doll morn. live in haystacks? turn witchy. Doll escapes or gets stolen. Then tells us her side- tortured servitude as comfort giver (slap cuddle slap). From there it is sexual, animal, dark chaotic and amorphous. Choreography is fast and emotional, a landscape of individuals, hearts beating wildly in all directions, a pack of beasts prowling.

What is certain is this: Luna Rise was a massive undertaking which clearly and generously embraced collaborative process as a method of investigation. The live music was awesome, and the entire cast and crew were dedicated with a willing-to-go-there-not-knowing-if-theres-even-a-there-there attitude. No doubt, inspiration and deep inquiry can be this messy, and this beautiful.

First Wheatpaste

Fun!

it's up in Northampton, (two) and here in Providence (three places).

There's a misspell. I don't give a damn. It's happy art. A triumph.

activity afoot

so much going on. so much to talk about!

I have started dancing. Well that's silly to say. I have been dancing all my life. In my living room, mostly. But I have started making dances, or focusing on movement other than yoga poses. So that's the new part. Making meaning through movement. Went to a couple of dance concerts too, and wrote about them. Soon to come. I might as well post them here. There's not enough dialogue or criticism or whatever you want to call it in these parts or ever as far as I am concerned.

Photo a Day for January

This was my Fun-a-Day project. Taking pictures everyday got me out of the hose when I'd otherwise hibernate, and for that I'm greatful. Plus now I'm bonded with my new camera, and have a little more insight on my default tendencies in term of framing or composing a photograph. I took almost 1000 pictures in January. To help me narrow down and decide what to display, I limited myself to only those I shot as squares. I've always wanted to play more with this format, so it was a good fast way to do that. I find myself wanting to break the rules. Cutting the square into almost four equal parts, etc. Weren't rules made to be broken?

If this work were to have a dedication, I would read something like this: Thank you, sun, source of all outer light, for helping remind me of the light that dwells within. When in doubt, mirror the good. Not a bad lesson for a dark month. And a great way to start my year.

Side note: The dinosoar is not my work. It's a super fun piece by another fun a day artist, name to come, I gotta look him up! -NMBS

Hello friends and collegues.

I wanted to invite you all to a very special event this weekend. Fun-A-Day began in Philly more than 5 years ago. But in Providence, it started because a new transplant to RI missed her hometown tradition. We had coffee, placed an ad on criag's list for helpers, and the rest is history. I never anticipated how wonderful it could be to organize an event with a group of strangers. I suppose an idea like this -have fun every day by being creative- is self selecting. Over 80 Rhode Islanders wrote to tell us they took on the challenge. About 40 artists will show their work this weekend. Join us, and please help spread the word. Find more info at http://funadayprov.blogspot.com/

The details:

Fun a Day at the WBNA, 1560 Westminster St.

two days only!

Opening Party, Fri Feb 11th, 7-11

Closing Party, Sat Feb 12th, 5-10

And, looking forward to NEXT weekend, New Urban Arts shows student works in progress.

I like to think of all of us as works in progress. Being a learning community aimed at fostering both creative practice and real relationships, the ultimate goal is to grow individuals who will in turn grow healthy communities. I have been asked to "curate" this show, which basically means facilitating thinking around art process and the display of work. We are considering questions like "What does progress mean?", "Is there an apt metephore for my process - such as growing or building?" and "How can I share the growth of my art, my self, and my community?" By witnessing this show, you will become a part of this dialogue.

Invite here: http://www.newurbanarts.org/NUA_MidyearMakings_front_2011.jpg

Yours in creation,

Natasha