Spring Dance

Photograph by Brad Elliot, Artistic Director Erlyne Whiteman
Lighting Design by Jonathan Hicks

I am starting a new project this month, which will be performed the third weekend in April. I will be designing lights for a small dance concert at Smith College. I took a video camera with me yesterday to record the dances in hopes that I will be able to watch them over the next month at my leisure. It is important for me to view the dances as many times as I can between now and opening, since the hardest part about designing for dance is the constant movement and change in speed. (As well as the similarity in any given gesture...repetition...repetition...repetition...oh so beautiful, but also hard to remember!)

I love designing for dance!!! Something so wonderful about watching a body move through space. The lines that the body creates and the boundaries that it breaks are so breath-taking. I haven't worked on a dance piece in a year, which is the longest dry spell I have had since I was a senior at Westmont College in 2004.

I will be creating lights for the following styles:
Modern Dance
Theatre Based Movement
Romantic Duet (Modern Dance)
The last is still yet to be determined as I will need to go to the class and observe the piece, but it is safe to assume that it will be along the lines of Modern Dance.

When I think of Modern Dance, I immediately think of Merce Cunningham... What an amazing choreographer, artist, and person! He is definitely a person on my top ten people to meet list!
What other great dance instructors do you constantly return to for enjoyment?

New Havens

I added a new link list to the right. These sites are a list of links I am starting with to help build my knowledge of the arts happening today. I am hoping to build the list and do a weekly reading of a new site each week. If you have suggestions on which sites I need to know about send them my way. I am specifically interested in sites that touch on an area of art (music, theatre, dance, sculpture, performance art, etc.), but would love any suggestions.

What have you got?

Portfolio Update

Howdy folks...I wanted to let you all know that my Portfolio is completed. Check in the list of links to the right and you will find a link that takes you to my Portfolio. I will also be working on a page where you will be able to read a brief description of the production.

While you are purusing the links to the right find something you are interested in and enjoy looking at the various sites I enjoy looking at...Also, you may find a number links within my posts...please take some time to check out these links as they are most often quite intriguing.

Thanks for stopping by...

J

Sites to check out

Look to the right and scroll down a little...I posted a new list of sites that I will be reading for this week...enjoy!

Weekly Reading List

I have just updated my list of Weekly Havens to the right. I will be reading these folks blogs this week as much as I can, or if they are websites, then I will be learning about their work as much as I can. Each site is a link from my New Haven list of links to the right. I hope to add a few more sections to these soon, as well as make each blog its own unique outpost. Keep checking back for more developments and take a look at my Weekly Havens list...you may just find something you like.

Momix

I was crusing the Joyce blog today, and I came across a brief blog about a dance company called Momix. I love the human body. I especially love the shape of the back. The muscles, the bones, the curves on either side, and the slop from top to bottom. Seeing it move in theatrical lighting brings such a tremendous joy to my spirit. I think Momix has something special like Pilobolus. Seeing a brief glimpse from the photos of these two groups makes me really want to work with them, or at least to work with some dance companies that cherish the movement of the human body. I miss that sacred expression of theatre.

Pilobolus

Check out this interview by Shoshanna Gross, Marketing and Audience Development Associate at The Joyce with Jonathan Wolken, Artistic Director of Pilobolus.

Pilobolus

I was perusing The Joyce website recently (they also have a blog...) and discovered a video (scroll down a little bit until you find the you-tube video feed) of a dance company called Pilobolus. This company has been around for a few years and appears to have done some fairly intriguing stuff. I think I am going to look into them a little more and see what I can find. If anybody happens to have seen a show of theirs I would be interested in hearing about the experience. I will let you know if I find anything interesting. Another awesome thing about this company is that they are based practically in my backyard in Connecticut. Anyway, check this stuff out if you like to see people move their bodies in amazing ways, like attractive looking people, or happen to enjoy seeing the human muscle work to its most profound potential in the most fantastic environments.