Music (23)

lithium.jpg.scaled1000.jpgLITHIUM FERRUM  (2011)

Experimental music, dance and technology collaboration.

The Holy Mountain, The other side of oneself, Lithium, Ferrum.


Music: Joshua Cottam

Choreography/Concept/Visesthetics: Kate Pāvula  collab. Ali Brady

University Falmouth / Dartington College of Arts / 2011


LIVE STREAMING  :  Tonight, 8.30PM and 9PM (+00:00 GTM) (United Kingdom)



LIVE CHAT  : Ongoing Tonight, 8.30PM and 9PM (+00:00 GTM) (United Kingdom)

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Seriously, when there is no music all I hear is the scuffing and dragging of feet and for the youth-fully challenged, some joints popping.  Unless I watch a video of you dancing and the music has been either disabled by youtube or there is simply no sound available.

I challenged you dancers to show me a dance sequence without any music.  Why?  Well, what else can a DJ blog about on a 'dance' blog?

 

What if you could have music made specifically to your talent, speed or routine?  How about a sound-alike music track? Matched precisely to your desire.

 

I use to customize a dozen songs for aerobic instructors.  Just a thought.

 

Thank You,

Roman-Gabriel

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"Do the Digital"

Follow link below to YouTube Video

UCR does "The Digital"-New Dance Moves

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6EFFdL75J0&feature=player_embedded


-Cool challenge to anybody: "do an original move"
-Funny to watch folks freestyle to their song:)

I wonder...
my own 'digital dance' = lots of finger movement isolations
...but what's a more full-bodied example of 'digital dance'?
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Zagrebi! Festival, September 10-11, 2010

MAIDA WITHERS DANCE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY performs the multimedia work, Fare Well - The End of the World As We Know It OR Dancing Your Way to Paradise! with Maida Withers, dancer/choreographer; Steve Hilmy, Electronic Music Composer/Musician; Ayo Okunseinde, New Media Artist at the ZAGREBI! FESTIVAL - ZAGREB, CROATIA September 10, 2010. http://zagrebi.com/hr/program/

Fare Well brings insight and vibrant critique to the contemporary issue of end time. Fare Well is as extreme in its moods and absurdities as we might think of “extreme weather.” We watch hypnotized, immobilized, arrogant, innocent, and powerful as the fires rage, volcanoes and oil erupt, the Arctic melts, the earth becomes parched, and the seas rise.

http://www.maidadance.com

KONTRAFILM/ZAGREBI! EKOFESTIVAL
Kneza Mislava 10/1
10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Phone: +38512455833Fax: +38514855548
Email: info@zagrebi.com

Festival Description

ZAGREBI! Ekofestival is a platform where all interested parties of the social, economic and political life in Croatia have the chance to show their projects and achivements in the enviromental protection and sustainable development sphere. Every year the Festival hosts different media authors who question the social engagement of art and eco matureness of our society with their work. The Festival attempts to promote the dialogue and co-operation between the individual and his society, with one goal – to make a healthier soacial and natural enviroment for the future generations. (http://zagrebi.com/en/)

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Check out Hot Stepz Magazine - Summer Issue 2010

Subscribe Now :
https://www.zinio.com/checkout/publisher/index.jsp?productId=500444657&offer=500239021&pss=1

Hot StepzMagazine brings together the arts of dance, fashion and music in one
magazine and also brings together the generations. Bringing you news,
interviews and information on today’s up and coming artists and those
already established also information on the pioneers and trend setters
of dance, fashion and music.

More info at www.hotstepzmagazine.com

Learn about the technology of STEP UP 3D !

Subscribe Now:
https://www.zinio.com/checkout/publisher/index.jsp?productId=500444657&offer=500239021&pss=1



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Kesha Concerts

If Lady Gaga is Chipotle, arguably the trendiest gourmet fast-food burrito on Earth, then there is no doubt that Kesha is a frozen gas-station burrito. The kind that you buy drunk though, you have gas on your hands and ends up burning your mouth also, you taste petrol funk for two days. Back to Kesha, although, who Monday night played a sold-out show at House of Blues in front of a sea of what could only explain as sweaty, hearty teens, wailing, howling and acting fake drunk. The rocking pop star Kesha has learned to impress men by etching homemade tattoos on their skin with sewing needles. The "TiK ToK" hit maker admits she shows off her creative skills to potential partners by offering to decorate them with her modified body art, which she creates with the ink of a pen.

There is no doubt that The rocking pop star Kesha is one of the hottest stars on the planet, made sure the party was not stop the second she walked into Vegas hottest adult pool Moorea Beach Club at Mandalay Bay. Sponsored by Grey Goose, the first stop for the singer/songwriter was the red carpet where the rocking Kesha, wearing a black bathing suit, jean shorts, a red feather hair accessory, Ray Ban sunglasses, Chanel heels, and a colorful paint-on tattoo on both arms, posed for photos and conducted interviews. Dozens of fans lined the carpet as they waited to catch a glance and get a photo of the “Your Love Is My Drug” singer.

The great artist Kesha is no unfamiliar person to pushing the boundaries of what's suitable .But even she definitely wouldn't ride a motorbike in these high heels. The pop star posed astride a bike in six inch platforms and super-short hot pants for her new video Take It Off. With her push-up bra and lack of leather jacket, she looked less than ready for a bike ride. The 23-year-old later went crawling during the dust for the music video. Currently the legendary icon Kesha is popular for her crazy outfits and has been nicknamed Baby Gaga. Her 'Tik Tok' and Katy Perry's 'California Gurls' have confirmed to be super famous songs. Funny thing is they are nearly the same song. Listen to a mashup of the two songs and see the weird similarities. These songs are fun, poor quality music that most teens and young adults can crank up and dance to. No need to in fact understand the lyrics. It's a formula, right.

Not much is off-limits to the rocking Kesha, one of the hottest breakthroughs pop stars of the past year whose debut album, Animal, debuted at number one and has sold nearly one million copies in the U.S. alone. The 23-year-old legendary icon has sung about all from throwing up in Paris Hilton's closet, to getting hit on by old men, to getting her heartbroken and being rejected by a guy. Fans are always excited to see their best rocking star Kesha on stage so buy cheap Kesha tickets online to enjoy her shows live.

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CALL FOR ENTRIES RESIDENCIES

CALL FOR ENTRIES RESIDENCIES 1/2011 FROM JANUARY TO JUNE 2011


From January to June 2011 PACT Zollverein is offering a residency programme for the development and realisation of projects and productions, which is open to professional artists from both Germany and abroad working in the fields of dance, performance, media art or music. Residencies are planned individually and include a working space and local accommodation as well as financial support in the form of a weekly grant allowance and travel costs. By arrangement and subject to requirement, PACT Zollverein also offers its residents technical support and advisory assistance with press and public relations and dramaturgy.


A residency CAN incorporate the following:

> Studio space (from 63 to 173 sq.m.)

> Local accommodation (maximum 6 people)

> Weekly grant allowance for all of the residency project participants (maximum group of 6 people)

> Travel costs covering one journey only per participant to and from PACT Zollverein (subject to prior agreement)

> Technical equipment (by arrangement and subject to availability)

> Stage rehearsals with professional technical supervision and support (by arrangement and subject to availability)

> Daily professional open class

> Professional advice in: Project funding, project management, press and public relations


Your applications should include:

> the completed application form (to be found at: www.pact-zollverein.de --> Working fields --> Residencies)

> a short letter of motivation

> a project description

> a 10 line summary of your project description

> curriculum vitae for everyone involved in the project

> only 1 DVD / CD-RoM of your own work



Closing date for applications: June 30th 2010 (post-marked) Please do not send the material by registered post or by email !

All complete applications received by this date will be considered and replied to in writing. Residents are selected by a panel. Please note that we can unfortunately not return your application material to you.



Please send the Application to us by post:

PACT Zollverein Residencies 1 / 2011 Katharina Charpey Bullmannaue 20 a D-45327 Essen


For further information contact:

Katharina Charpey Fon: +49 (0)201.2894712 Fax: +49 (0)201.2894701 katharina.charpey @ pact-zollverein.de www.pact-zollverein.de


PACT Zollverein / Choreographisches Zentrum NRW and its residency programme are supported by the Minister President of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the City of Essen. Tanzlandschaft Ruhr is supported by the Kultur Ruhr GmbH.

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“Internalizing Music” Using African & Indian rhythm, movement, and recitation

Jerry Leake, Director and Drummer; 
Lisa Leake, Dancer, Vocalist

Sunday, July 18 – Saturday, July 24, 2010
Schedule: Saturdays and Sundays 9am-3:30pm
Weeknights 6pm-9pm

NEC Jazz percussionist Jerry Leake and dancer/vocalist Lisa Leake, present their original 3-tiered method of reciting African and Indian drum compositions against a background of stick patterns and basic movement. Musicians and non-musicians will find this a challenging but accessible entry into African and Indian music & dance practices. In this intensive workshop, rhythm theory and practice merge through intensive practice and application that aurally and kinesthetically grounds one’s time.

Classes are demanding, but prior experience with drumming is not expected or required. Participants include college music faculty, K-12 teachers, committed amateurs, professional performers, students of all ages, jazz, world and rock musicians and composers. Sticks, CDs and detailed handouts provided at a minimal cost. On the final evening of the workshop, students will participate in an informal public performance.

Summer Session Registration Form: http://necmusic.edu/pdf/ce/CE_Summer_Session_2010_Registration_Form_b.pdf

Tuition:
2 SCE Credits: $1050
Early-bird discount SCE credit tuition: $960
(registered/paid in full by June 7; call office)
Non-credit: $685
Early-bird discount non-credit tuition: $595
(registered/paid in full by June 7; call office)
Weekend pass (Saturday & Sunday): $95
All the above require $35 registration fee.
Evening passes (Monday-Friday): $75 per day (maximum: 3) No registration fee.

http://necmusic.edu/continuing-education/summer-session/intercultural-institute

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Nits Salvatges (Wild Nights) is a research project that invites different artists to visit residual or tangential environments that open up new lines of investigation within their own personal evolution.

8 new performances by: Esther Ferrer, Oscar Abril Ascaso, Abraham Hurtado, Colectivo 96º, Elena Córdoba - Cristóbal Pera, Amalia Fernández, Gérald Kurdian and Davis Freeman.


Friday April 23th

- Esther Ferrer
- Colectivo 96º
- AmaliaFernández
- OscarAbril Ascaso


Saturday April 24th
- Abraham Hurtado
- Elena Córdoba - Cristóbal Pera
- GéraldKurdian
- DavisFreeman


Where: CCCB - C/ Montalegre, 5 - 08001 Barcelona
When: at 9pm
Price: 5 euros / Reduced: 3 euros - Friends of the CCCB, students, retired, unemployed persons, identification cards of professional associations of scenic arts, identification card libraries, Carnet Jove. Sale anticipated at the ticket offices of the CCCB from the 23/04. Sale of tickets with discounts at ATRAPALO

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DANCERS! online

The project DANCERS! is officially online at www.dancersproject.comvisit the site and browse among 130 2-minute solos of professional dancers all filmed in full HDWe have filmed in Brussels and Paris and are looking to come to other cities throughout the world during this five-year project. Register online for future shootings and as a potential dancer-partner-organizer-sponsor-installation presenter!Bud Blumenthaldirection@dancersproject.com
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In a perfect world we would give all our music away for free and survive on touring revenue, merchandising and licensing income. Alas this is not always possible. In order to eat we have to sell a few CD’s. The good news is that much of our catalog has been released under this creative commons license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 We have made many Antiqcool songs free to download for a reason, we want you to spread them around. We are an independent record label not a big bad corporation who wants to sue you for file sharing, quite the reverse, file sharing is exactly what we want you to do.If you like one of our songs tweet about it, blog about it, link to it on your Facebook page, your Myspace page, or any other page you can think of. Place one of our widgets on your blog.Put our music in your podcast, play it on your radio station, Stick it on your ipod, play it to your friends, your cat, your dog or your pet hamster (not too loud they have sensitive ears).We are here http://www.antiqcool.co.ukYou can also find us on the Podsafe Music Network where all tracks are creative commons and cleared for non commercial use. http://www.musicalley.com/music/artists/restricted.php
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Raimund Hoghe is certainly one of the most intriguing dancer and choreographer in contemporary dance these days. I had an opportunity to interview him in May, during Queer Zagreb Festival, where his company performed ‘Boléro Variations’.Raimund Hoghe always pushes the boundaries of dance perception through profound and minimalist way of analyzing thingz. The public and dance experts from Ballettanz Magazine obviously recognized this by giving him The Dancer of the Year Award in male competition for the season 2008.

Raimund Hoghe, photos by Rosa Frank (c)

I really have to mark here that in female competition the same award was given to ex-ballerina Sylvie Guillem. They are both completely different in bodily physics and kinetics, but the result is actually the same. The result is strong and authentic.I already blogged about ‘Boléro Variations’ I saw back at Queer Festival, so I’m letting you to Mr. Raimund Hoghe and his ways of seeing thingz on the stage and in life…

Raimund Hoghe, photo by Rosa Frank (c)

While I was watching your performance ‘Bolero Variations’, I constantly thought about the line: tinny little thingz… You like to ‘dig’ through those hidden moments in our lives… exploring society and its reflection on your own inner landscape… What was the initial trigger that has brought you to this?RH: It’s different from each piece, but I don’t make pieces with big effects, for example. I’m not interested in virtuosity or how people can jump or do incredible things. I’m interested in simplicity, so very simple and the personality of dance. To share with audience the quality of dancers, and there are these very little things; and sometimes maybe you are wondering why it’s interesting?For some people, of course, it’s not interesting, but for many it’s interesting. Like for me, last time when I was here in Zagreb, three years ago in 2006 with ‘Swan Lake, 4 Acts ‘, there was a 3-year old child in the performance. And this child didn’t want to leave the performance in the break, because it was so interested. The child wanted to see the whole story. The mother wrote to me a letter and this child had very interesting comments. It was also a long piece. So, for some adults it’s very boring, for a 3-year child is different. It’s different for each person.

Lorenzo De Brabandere and Raimund Hoghe

Photo from Tanzgeschichten by Rosa Frank (c)

You have spent many years working with Pina Bausch … her pieces have a specific dramaturgy… and the set of dancers in your piece reminded me on some performances you did with Pina… having a strong female character on the stage… Ornella Balestra’s character reminded me on Mechtild Grossman…RH: Yeah, but it’s very different from Pina’s work now, because it’s much more entertain and light, not too long; all dancers are more or less young. So, I’m interested just in strong personality. And now, my works could be compared with early works by Pina, not with her works from today. Because she is working a lot with video now, and older pieces were used in films, too. I don’t use this kind of technology.And, the roads are different, like in Pina’s dance pieces women are women, and man are man. So, women have long hairs, very beautiful colourful dresses moving like women. Man wear white shirts with trousers, like this classical image of man and woman. I’m not really interested in this.

Ornella Balestra, photo by Rosa Frank (c)

People tend to stuck when they try to use canons of classical dramaturgy in contemporary dance… As dramaturge how do you make this distinction, because your field is dance dramaturgy? You are directly connected with the scene that coined the term Tanz theater…RH: For me, in dramaturgy you have to come from one point to the other and you have to know why. That’s something everybody has to find out. There is no recipe or so. For me it has to be clear how you come from one point to the other, and that you can repeat it easily… this outthinking. The dramaturgy has to be so clear, that you can just jump into the piece.We don’t have long rehearsals before performances. It’s just one day, but people do different things… Maybe one piece is for one night play and then you have one rehearsal. And it is possible, because for me, and also for dancers, the dramaturgy is very clear. You don’t have to think about it. In many dance pieces you see today, they have to sing or think a lot what is coming next. In my work you have to know why you are here.

Photo by Patrick Mounoud (c) taken from fipa

How would you describe your work with Pina Baush?RH: It was very interesting to work with her. People talk about her and her work in terms of personality and strong person. This is very personal related, but it could be said also for her art form. It was not that sort of work where you present only the feelings.Could you be so kind to describe a little bit your working process… from the beginning till the end…RH: I’m very inspired by music. So, this is the point, when I’m listening the music! I made a piece on Maria Callas, and she sang about all that: If you really listen to the music, the music tells you how to move. And this is what I’m also trying. Then this dramaturgy is coming together, I feel it. I just have to do ‘this next – this next – this next’…In this piece about Callas ‘36, Avenue Georges Mandel’, she wasn’t visible in the first performance. But I had a feeling I missed something and had to think why is this happening and then I put this motif in it as a scene or an aria or something.

Emmanuel Eggermont and Raimund Hoghe, photo by R. Frank (c)

How do your dancers react to these processes because they are all very physical, but seems like there is always a layer of trust?RH: Yeah, the trust. So, that everyone can be exactly what they are. For me, it’s also important that there is no competition between dancers. Everyone is so different, you can’t compare them, each has its own quality. For example Lorenzo (De Brabandere), who was also in ‘Swan Lake, 4 Acts’; and Emmanuel (Eggermont) have really big part in this piece. They cannot be compared. They have very different backgrounds, from education and so. This is important, that there is no competition.It’s interesting how they are bringing different experiences…RH: Yeah, different experiences … like Lorenzo, who wanted to become a football player, and he was underway to football player; and Emmanuel not at all. And Yutaka (Takei), the Japanese dancer – he did also martial arts and he have this background. Nabil (Yahia-Aissa) is a medical doctor and dancer. They all have this different backgrounds.

Charlotte Engelkes and Raimund Hoghe, photo by R. Frank (c)

Yeah, they enriched the performance…RH: Yeah! This is something you might feel when you’re in the audience – different personalities. And it’s important that they respect one another. This is also not so often on the stage.I got the impression that their bodies are not talking differently, not in a sense of different languages, but it’s something in their way of presentation, some thin line that makes them different…RH: Yes. I’m interested in which way they are different, and also to keep this diversity. This is one main point, you have this diversity – not one body, the ideal body.

Raimund Hoghe, photo by Rosa Frank (c)

One of your main drive is music, too. When did you discover this, or was it the sound itself that attracted you, or rhythm, or classic music…RH: …also popular music. It’s very simple. I grew up surrounded mostly by popular music.Which artists inspired you?RH: Oh, there are so many of them. So many movies… For example, Maria Callas inspires me, because she was so aware of the movement. She talked a lot about it. And also Japanese dance, Butoh dancers like Kazuo Ohno, Sankai Juku… I know them well, and this is something I’m very interesting in… I was also very interested in this concept of Bauhaus. This combination of fine arts, dance, theatre…

Raimund Hoghe, photo by Luca Giacomo Schulte (c)

I can relate your work with Butoh, because seems like you have similar aesthetic ground and this ‘less is more’ approach….RH: Yeah, less is more. I’m really into this, thinking about this very often. I’m into artists like Joseph Beuys, Christian Boltanski, Wolfgang Laib and his installations…I know you like Pasolini…RH: …and Pasolini, of course. So, there are many, many artists… from music and literature… I like German and Russian authors. I like a lot Anton Chekhov. But there are also some pieces by Maxim Gorki. In German literature I like Johann Gottfried von Herder, Heinrich von Kleist… Many, many artists…Mr. Hoghe, Thank You Very Much!(Originally published on blog Personal Cyber Botanica: www.lomodeedee.com)
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…and what brought my curiosity to this young and ‘multi-tasking’ dancer?! It was the sound thing, see. This is how I first spotted Matija Ferlin. More precisely, his subtle taste for electronica, then the Montreal’s post-rock gang around Constellation Records and Public Recordings… and I was totally convinced that something pretty cool and creative lies in his mind…Matija Ferlin is an interdisciplinary artist from Pula (Croatia), finding his way at the intersections of dance, theatre, photography and video art… he is a graduate of The School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam… as a relatively young dancer he was accepted at the Sasha Waltz & Guest Company in 2005…

Photo: Paola Winkler (c)That fact gave him an extraordinary possibility to be a part of Waltz’s creative space in which the process of making and creating stands for totally mutual interactions between Creator 1 (choreographer) and Creator 2 (dancer / performer)…One may even ask himself, after working with a choreographer of such a calibre, what should I do now, after landing on the Moon?!Matija obviously doesn’t have such dilemmas because he is switching very often from choreography to photography (he was working with fashion photographer Heinz Peter Knes on the series ‘Lucky is the lion that the human will eat’)… from dancing to attentively listening the urban asphalt purr weaved by the beauty of post-rock (Ame Henderson’s /Dance/Songs/ with Public Recordings)… deconstructing the audience and himself (solo performance art piece SaD SaM)… exploring his obsessions with words and inner paths of every human being (video performance ‘Minor2 : Salut’ by writer, photographer and incredible illustrator Christophe Chemin)… showing us the importance of family roots within projects with his brother Maurizio ‘Unija’… or his own video art the very very Mediterranean stylish ‘Vuk-Vorbild Und Kampf’ (Part 1 and 2)

Video still from the performance SAD SAM, M. Ferlin (c)So, I’ve invited Matija Ferlin at my blog for a small chat about his art… influences… obsessions…Hello Matija, what’s up?! What are you doing at the moment?! Projectz… solo workz…M: Hey Deborah, I am in a hotel room #515 in a hotel Citadel in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The laundry mat is kind of not so close to the hotel and the drop in laundry is rather expensive here (at the hotel ) so I am washing some undies and shirts to have for my trip back to Europe tomorrow. (I think this is the longest sentence I wrote in a while)Public Recordings/Ame Henderson’s work brought me here. We have our little east coast tour. We had shows in St. John’s last week, this week Halifax. Actually tonight is the last show of Dance/Songs at the Bus Stop Theatre in Halifax and tomorrow I will be spending some hours in the air having the ocean under. (Halifax-Toronto-Frankfurt-Ljubljana). In Ljubljana I will be the latecomer to Maja’s Delak new creation process. Serata Artistica Giovanile. We open the show on the 7th of May in Cankarjev Dom, so if you happen to be around – come! At the same time I am busy with opening a concept store “ARTIKL” in my hometown together with my brother Mauricio and in the free time I try to do some writing/research for my new solo work. I believe I like to keep myself busy.(I answered that a month ago. I admit my laziness. I therefore apologize. Now I will keep on answering the rest. I am on my way to Sarajevo with my show, I am fighting a flu. I am dealing with heat in the capital - ZG)

Video still from the performance SAD SAM, M. Ferlin (c)Recently you’ve visited New York, as a part of residential programme, to work at Chez Buswick. How would you describe that experience… 2 videos you posted on MySpace are pretty much intriguing and conceptual…M: I have been invited through Jonah Boaker and John Jaspersee to perform on the opening of Centre for Performance Research in Brooklyn and together with that they offered me a residency at Chez Bushwick. They are incredible hosts, indeed they are. Brooklyn was an inspiring place to be for the first phase of my process. I started to work on my new performance some weeks before that so let’s say that the videos on Youtube are the result of the first phase of work. I am continuing the line of Sad Sam, and a concept of trilogy starts to appear the more I work on it. So the new solo work that I will continue to work on in Vienna during September; October will hopefully come out in January. Still negotiating the producers.

Photo: YouTube still by Matija Ferlin (c)What is the meaning of music and soundz in your art work?! Cause, seems like your essential / personal impulse comes not so from the basic rhythm but from a soundscape structure or the meaning of lyrics which are transformed into images in your mind… Classic or contemporary… Which are closer to your artistic habitué? … Or do you even find it important?!M:I don’t strictly have a need name things. (To declare the taste.) I treat music as space. I have a tendency to change the space. But since I am not a musician myself (yet) I invite other great music artists to help me. I have an emotional relationship to music. Reduced from any concept, therefore you will find lots of urban and classical music references in my work. Music is defiantly a very present body in my work. It’s a collaborator and a performer. I have been testing its role in my last work ‘Drugo za Jedno’. I found new results that triggered me to keep on testing it even more. Music its an amazing force and a good friend.

Photo: Liam Malooney, Dance/songs, Public recordings (c)How did you ‘stuck’ with post-rock in the first place? I mean, this is a perfect music for theatre>> enough abstract and enough narrative…M: To be honest, I do not know. I think these things come with growing up. I guess I grew up. My brother’s music taste was a big influence to me. As a youngest one I liked to copy them. Today I am glad I did. I believe I had a good music education. I was home thought.Post-rock (again whatever fits inside those two words) it’s a great channel to communicate. People threat or have already a relationship to that kind of music in their daily life. Bringing that to theatre, giving that another context only enriches the existing. Both in audience and myself.You do dance classes internationally… Do you find it challenging as a pedagogic experience only, or also as an art inspiration?M: Ame said once about my class “Joyfully exploring the relationship between core strength and a released body, Matija’s approach to dance pedagogy renews participant’s sense that dance training is also about performance, presence and self expression.” It is indeed a pedagogic experience, especially the last one. I have been teaching at the University in Pula, I had 128 students in two groups giving them an introduction to contemporary dance. They study to be teachers and it was great to see how they break up their prejudices about dance and what dance is. Especially today, when Luka Nizetic (Croatian pop star) is a symbol for dance in youth culture. I hedonistically enjoy to see them dropping Luka out of their heads and inhibiting something more complex, more honest and more instinctive for them.You probably know that I’m going to ask you about Sasha Waltz. Tell us… tell us… some little story that says almost everything… about the working process…M: It was a great experience. I met some extraordinary people. The reasons why I wanted to join Sasha Waltz Company had changed while I was there. Read the rest of the interview at Personal Cyber Botanica: www.lomodeedee.com
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Jasmina Prolic’s latest project ‘Julie(t)- duet in absentia’ deals with technology versus body interrelations… elusive moments and impulses between sexes…The performance she choreographed and performed was collaboration with multimedia artist Hubert Pichot, known for his project ‘Try Me’ Rolling Chair Jockey - RCJ which he had introduced at the iMAL’s OpenLAB Projects in Belgium three years ago. About what Pichot said back then: ‘RCJ (music and vidéo compatible) is an electric rolling chair with sensors measuring its move and acceleration, and also some of the moves of its user. A computer processes the sensors data and generates images and sounds. The person using the chair becomes a sort of conductor controlling an audiovisual creation through his/her moves in and with the chair.’

Photo: Compagnie Jasmina (c)

Along with this line Hubert Pichot designed an experimental wearable sound device for dancer in order to give her a tool for generating soundz connected with her movements via bending wires and pick ups through accelerometers to computer and mixer at the end.Jasmina Prolic dances 'tuned on' with minimal, transcendental movements at the beginning, which grows up as the dramaturgical structures are growing too, into rhythmically more completed textures…

Photo: Compagnie Jasmina (c)

The piece is fragmented into smaller parts which are developed through wordz / dialogues with a man ‘behind’ the ‘technological wall’ emanating himself through video installation and complex DIY electronic sound device letting different sounds to come out depending on dancer’s moves. It’s a kind of a sound mapping of their virtual communication based on practical physics (more precisely micro-kinetics) - her dancing.

Photo: Compagnie Jasmina (c)

Although, the use of such devices could be constraining for the performer, seems like Hubert did a great job with his real-time sound device, Jasmina Prolic accepted it superbly as part of her body, mainly because it’s a communication tool between human being and entity of electronic nature, if you understand it banally.Prolic deploys a sort of micro-inquiring within her body narration and technique creating an artwork of emotional depth… She is questioning the issues of being emotional and physical attached via technology to another person, and the possibilities of having the same relation as if this person would be made of flash and blood…

Because of choreographer’s intention to go further the whole story is not finishing with a pair of lovers running through the meadow into each others arms… But seems like this whole ‘wired’ love is functioning with some boundaries… which leads you to the point where, as a viewer, you can realize that lots of thingz in our lives turned out in some direction because of our previous expectations… Can we accept relations with ‘entities’ and being emotionally involved with… well, actually we already live this life without even perceiving it, or maybe we all like to live in certain oblivion…

Photo: Compagnie Jasmina (c)

Jasmina Prolic is a Sarajevo ex-ballet girl on her ‘movable’ life journey, heavily ‘spiced’ with contemporary dance, in France… At the beginning of 90’s Jasmina was already an award winning ballet dancer and member of Sarajevo’s National Ballet Ensemble … but due to terrible thingz which started to happen in Bosnia at that time, she first found refuge in Zagreb, and then she entered at The National Superior Conservatoire of Dance and Music of Paris in order to study Contemporary Dance.Her graduation dance piece was her first solo work ‘Sarajevo, 25th of April 10 o’clock in the morning or Why?’. Jasmina Prolic has received Award for French Young Choreographers in 1999; she was a member of the Junior Ballet of the CNSMDP from 1996-97, which followed the residency - danceweber at DanceWeb Project within ImpulsTanz in Vienna in 1998. Artists she had collaborated with are: Jean Claude Gallota, Maguy Marin, Joachim Schlomer, Palle Granhoj, Gildas Zepffel, Gildas Bourdet, Balazs Gera, Maja Pavlovska, Szilard Mezei, Albert Markos, Henrik Jaspersen et Ko de Regt (Duo Resonante), Jérome Poret etc.

Photo: Compagnie Jasmina (c)

Lucid choreographer Joseph Nadj invited her in 2002 to base her very own dance company in Orléans (France), which was initially a new trigger in her carrier, not just for her solo artworkz but for promoting younf dancers and companies from South Eastern Region… Jasmina Prolic is spending a lot of time on givin’ dance workshops and classes in this region…From 2007 she is an art consultant for Nomad Dance Academy regional network presenting the Bosnian organisation for contemporary dance Tanzelarija; and she have an active participating role in the Balkan Dance Network and IETM. She’s the organizer of ‘Choreographic Meetings of the Balkans’ dance event with the National Choreographic Centre of Orléans and National Scene of Orléans in France. Jasmina is artistic director of the First Bosnian Contemporary Dance Festival ZVRK in Sarajevo.

Photo: Compagnie Jasmina (c)

After such a technical complex dance piece ‘Julie(t)- duet in absentia’ with a dancer immersed deeply in the theme, I couldn’t resist not inviting Jasmina for a small talk on her solo work… technology… about her challenges…about ZVRK … and all that stuff…Hi, Jasmina! Could you please tell me something about that how did you first get involved with technology? Something that actually can’t be controlled in a way you can control your own body and expressiveness…J: Hubert Pichot and I met while working together on the theatre production in February 2006. Then he introduced me with his technological stuff and expressed a wish to work with a dancer in order to create a live instrument!!! He said he would like to work on Romeo and Juliet by Prokofjev, but I replied that Romeo and Juliet that I think off are written by Shakespeare. In that sense I was ready to enter the adventure of exploration for a live instrument, not being interested in the love story, but in the conflict and all that destroyed love.

Photo: Compagnie Jasmina (c)

Are you planning to work or develop the same working process within ‘Julie(t)- duet in absentia’ or some other future performance?J: The work with Juliet isn’t finished yet; we’re still developing and rethinking this piece. Maybe, if I will feel the urge, I’ll provoke something similar in some other project.In your opinion, what is the perspective of a human moveable body through dance in the context of technology?J: Well, there are so many things in that context that need to be discovered. It also depends a lot on what you want to express, in what direction you want to develop and what kind of message to send.Do you think that you can expand your possibilities as a dancer by using experimental performing devices, DIY tools, data sensors and so?J: These devices push you in some very different ways to use your body and to develop conscience about some still undiscovered parts and possibilities. But, they influence your style also.

Photo: Compagnie Jasmina (c)

Josef Nadj has inspirited you with invitation to work and base your dance company in Orleans…J: I can only thank him for everything.What do you give to dancers on one side and learn from them on other side in your international classes?J: When I teach, first of all I give respect and get human quality. Sometimes, I learn everything from the beginning…What could you tell me about the development of dance scene at the moment in South Eastern Europe, in the European context?J: Although I am not completely familiar with the whole South-East European scene; dancers and choreographers that I do know can with confidence stand side by side in the European context.

Photo: Compagnie Jasmina (c)

The first Bosnian Festival for Contemporary Dance took place in September in Sarajevo… That’s great news for young people willing to expand their experiences in the field of contemporary dance, but also for society and the city of Sarajevo in general… How do you see the future of the scene that will certainly emerge from it in ten, twenty years from now?J: Who could know how the scene will look like tomorrow, not to say in ten or twenty years! (laughs).I only hope that something has finally been moved. This first edition convinced us of the great need for this kind of events in the contemporary societies; so we can’t give up. Dance makes you free and gives you a chance for interaction. There are no limits and that is what we really need.In any case, it won’t be easy, but it never is in Bosnia and Herzegovina! ‘Nice and easy’ approach. And maybe the standing tomb-stones will revive through our bodies; they’ll become off petrified and therefore even nicer and stronger.Jasmina, thanks!p.s. Bosnia and Herzegovina is well known for archaeological sites of medieval tomb-stones.(This blog post was originally posted on Personal Cyber Botanica at www.lomodeedee.com)
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European Musicday Anniversary Party in Athens

Call for video entriesEUROPEAN MUSICDAY ANNIVERSARY invites international video-artists to show their work in a celebrating venue that will take place on the 21 of December in Athens, Greece. The video works category includes short videos, music videos, animation, dance videos and video art, that have been completed / released after 1-1-2005.Closing day for submissions is 17th December 2008Requirements for EntrySubmissions must be postmarked by the deadline in order to be considered.Indicate: “With no value/ for cultural purposes only” in your submitted DVD.Submitted materials will not be returned.Submission Material / Screening RequirementsEstimated video length up to 10minutesFormat: DV AVI format (broadcast high quality 720X576)Short biography of the author in word .doc format (100words max)Email address required by all applicantsAll credits/rights should be included at the end of the videoDeliver Submission Pack To:EUROPEAN MUSICDAYPO BOX 26006Athens10022GREECEContactanthony.pls@gmail.com
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Jackson and our time

I have been reading about the connection and relationship of contemporary dance and pop music development and style history and how they feed of each other. A main figure in it is Michael Jackson who was invited at the age of 13 to teach Fred Astaire the Moonwalk.Jackson is a very impressive mover which is distilled into this clip!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTfTcoXlVvQ
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Michael Una performing at SYNC Fest 08 from Michael Una on Vimeo. From his Vimeo account: Michael Una (http://www.una-love.com/muna) of Chicago investigates how vibrating waves of energy and human consciousness interact. He utilizes traditional musical instruments, handbuilt analog electronics, video processes, digital synthesis, and repurposed objects to build harmonic wave patterns. These patterns are projected into physical space, creating a unique and temporary audiophysical experience.
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