Akram Khan

Video of the day... making of, talking about, dramatic performance, the people who make it, social contexts. It's also an artsy little advertisement that someone put some work into.

Tips from Eun Jung

Saving your knees: Imagine your knees are sponges.

You can plie all you like, but if you grip your knees as you bend them they won't last. Good, soft plies can be difficult to learn, and this sponge idea is just one of many useful images. Some others are... imagine yourself growing upwards as you plie down and visualize plies as circular

Balancing: Think of the fluid in your inner ear that tells you which way is up.

In my reading for Bio Psych I learned the three tools we use to tell ourselves where our bodies are in space: 1. information from the nerves in our muscles 2. sight 3. inner ear fluid. Often we are taught stationary balances through lengthening muscles and staring at one spot in front of us. Catching a balance immediately after a disorienting movement can be more difficult. It is hard to tell exactly how we relate to information from the inner ear, but the knowledge that this physical device is already at work can be surprisingly helpful.

Carlos Acosta

Finished reading Carlos Acosta's memoir No Way Home for my Dance and Migration class. It was an enjoyable read, but sad to hear about the competition, injuries and job insecurity even the most famous and respected ballet dancers face.

Carlos Acosta is known a world-class performer, born in Cuba and the son of a truck driver. At one point, he says...

"Sometimes obstacles can become the very things that motivate us. When food is accessible and abundant, when options are endless, then art becomes a hobby. I believed that if I had had everything, I would have lost interest in dance in a few years, abandoning it to pursue a university degree, or to open a business. But when art is the only way out, the only way of supporting loved ones, when the practice of your art is the only way to make yourself seen, heard, distinguished, then art is never just a hobby. Art is a means of survival; passion is more intense, the nails and the broken floorboards nothing more than an excuse to work harder and become even better...."

Doris Humphrey says

Symmetry is lifeless.

Two-dimensional design is lifeless.

The eye is faster than the ear.

Movement looks slower and weaker on the stage.

All dances dances are too long.

A good ending is forty percent of the dance.

Monotony is fatal; look for contrasts.

Don't be a slave to, or a mutilator of, the music.

Listen to qualified advice; don't be arrogant.

Don't intellectualize; motivate movement.

Don't leave the ending to the end.

... from the Art of Making Dances.

Tabloid danseur

Benjamin Millepied's getting a lot of attention...

Without diverging in to celebrity gossip, here is a clip of the man at work. There are some gorgeous partnering moves that I'd love to figure out.

Secretly dancing to impressive vocalizations

Last night Meredith Monk spoke about her work and sang. Some of the autobiographical stuff was review from the last time I saw her speak, on Wednesday. I was a bit bored and restless at the start, but Meredith's attention to fine-tuning movement inside the mouth and Eun Jung's suggestion to "move the small muscles" were on my mind. So I started some small slow movements while seated... breathe in expanding the rib cage, softly press the shoulder blades and elbows downward, lengthen and curving the lower spine. It was a challenge to make continuous movement that was so small and slow, but I felt connected relaxed as well. Basically an energizing meditation.

Then of course Meredith brought my attention more away from myself and on to her, particularly once she started singing. The whole presentation gained momentum and ended, climactically, with a duet that uses a technique I can't figure out how to spell the name of... hawking or hocking maybe. Meredith and her partner took turns singing one short note each, passing the sound back and forth. I had heard this type of singing in Meredith's work before, and it is a beautiful style to hear, but seeing the electric connection between the two singers added so much more to it. It looked like both play and competition between the two, who held an intense eye contact the entire time.

During the Q&A section Meredith spoke of her creative process, a topic that always fascinates me. She phrased a popular sentiment well when she said (something along the lines of) "Sometimes you have to get yourself out of the way of your art." She was talking about how sometimes the work "doesn't want" a part that she, the artist, wants to hold on to. She also said, several times, that while making a piece she tries to "hang out in the unknown" and that the unknown terrifies her. And then something like... "Then you get more curious than you are scared and then you know you're getting somewhere." I enjoyed that.

It does seem important to me to be able to "hang out in the unknown" in order to make original artwork. But shouldn't that be fun as well as a little scary? Artists shouldn't have to sacrifice themselves for their work. That fits way too easily into the "crazy but glorified

Artist" stereotype.

Street Art, Pop Art

Exit Through the Gift Shop is a pretty awesome documentary. It's cool, funny, sad, and it brings up some interesting questions about the art world and how art functions as consumer product. You get to glimpse lots of not-so-legal street art being made, and take a good look at the mysterious Banksy's hands.

There are a couple quotes that are really great, but I don't want to give it away....

Banksy has been very successful at creating his punk-celebrity aura. His website.... www.banksy.co.uk

Icy day in Haverford

Meredith Monk week begins

Meredith Monk and her ensemble are at Bryn Mawr all week doing workshops and giving talks and performances. Today Meredith led an open workshop, and got to go to it! I was particularly excited about the opportunity because I had actually heard Meredith's music and seen her videos before (unlike previous performers at Bryn Mawr). Come to think of it, back in my synchronized swimming days, I even swam a solo to Meredith's music. I was... how old? Twelve maybe? 'Traveller's 1, 2, 3' followed by 'Eva's Song,' both from the Book of Days.

Bryn Mawr advertising tends to publicize using pictures from artists' "prime," but today Meredith Monk is (I checked wikipedia) 68 years old. My knees were aching a bit in class today (presumably it's the Pennsylvania cold), and it was great, encouraging really, to see someone who has had an outstanding artistic career and still retains her bodily grace, presence and sense of awareness (they all go together), not to mention her amazing voice.

The group had a friendly open feeling. It seemed to be mostly dancers, some college students and some professionals from Philly, with a few singers, including members of Meredith's ensemble, mixed in. Luckily every vocalization had a movement to go along with it, so that we movers were able to catch on to the quick changes of timing... almost. Meredith told us when we were off, which seemed most of the time, but she was also encouraging and quick to smile.

A few concepts/techniques that were new to me...

- stretching the tongue to warm up vocal chords: stick out your tongue and press it down your chin with your forefinger (a strange sensation and much more of a stretch than I expected)

- moving your gaze along a horizon line: in a wide stance, shift weight right and left, arms outstretched, twisting the upper body as you go. The challenge I experienced was trying to quickly and smoothly shift my gaze across this horizon line - usually we look around by jumping our gaze from one place to the next.

- directing your voice through space: sing one note as "ma" while walking across the room, directing your steady sound to the one point that you fix your eyes on

- singing a phrase in a round while walking around amidst the moving group: just a cool experience

From the cover of Book of Days. Such an enchanting image.

This website seems to have a good bio as well as some good sound and video clips... http://www.digitalinberlin.de/meredith-monk-documentary/