Here is the review of CONTEXT by Nancy Wozny in Arts + Culture Magazine. Give it a read.
Ashley Horn in CONTEXT, Photo by Sil Azevedo
Hi Lydia,
First of all, thank you for putting this show together. Being there today was very fulfilling for me–there’s something to be said for being a part of something instead of solely witnessing it. There were two concepts in particular that I pondered today. First, and perhaps close to the theme of the show, the concept of using art not only to serve as the focus of our attention but also as the context within which we focus our attention. I enjoyed studying the photographs before the dancers emerged, but there was something about having them in the room with us that made the photographs come alive for me. I think it was because I felt a more human connection to them; I found myself feeling much more sympathetic, much more excited for them while looking at the photos a second time. The reverse also happened–after studying the photos, I started paying closer attention to the dancers’ movements, watching for those same milliseconds of magic that your photographers had captured on the walls.
The second concept was that of making the art interactive, of allowing the audience to shape both their own experiences and the experiences of the other audience members. This freedom and encouragement left me feeling extremely connected to the show. So often do we sit in bleacher seats locked into whatever show is being performed for us; it was really empowering and engaging to think to myself, “How can I contribute to this moment?” Having the permission to think that thought almost prevents apathy, since you take on a bit of responsibility for the show yourself.
It was fascinating to me to watch the audience cope with the rules of the game. At first, everyone cleared out of the way, giving dancers space to move. Most people stayed in that formation, but a few moved around the space. And as I mentioned to you during the show, no one spoke. My hypothesis is that as soon as the dancers became the focus of attention, spoken word was no longer considered a viable means of communication. You couldn’t talk to the dancers, since (one assumed) they wouldn’t talk back, and distracting other audience members from the show seemed inappropriate. This second part seems funny to me, considering that talking with an audience member would shape their experience in a certain way, which is exactly what you had given us permission to do.
All of this makes me wonder what it would take to prepare an audience for an interactive experience like this such that the majority of people would participate. I was surprised to learn that this was the first show of the weekend in which people interacted with the dancers–there’s got to be a way! From my perspective, taking the opportunity to interact with the show is so much fun, it’s sad to think that so many people are letting themselves get away with not taking advantage of it. Of course, I don’t want to generalize my own feelings toward this, as I am sure there are many people who would find participating highly uncomfortable. But I know there are others who would love it once they tried it.
This also makes me wonder about how central the proscenium stage is to performance art, particularly dance. If you’re performing in-person, why not take advantage of all dimensions? Move around your audience, above them, through them, behind them, below them…you can move in front of them as well, but don’t restrict yourself to it. I saw Pina a few months ago and marveled at how well the 3-D technology captured the depth of her dancers’ movements. Now, I’m reconsidering my stance.
Anyhow, thanks again for a great Sunday afternoon. I hope you continue to challenge audiences in similar ways.
-AR
What a fabulous run of CONTEX we had. Great, supportive, engaged and enthusiastic audiences. As part of the exhibition, we encouraged the audience to take pictures of event– creating their own context, and participating in the exhibit. Here are some great ones. Photos 1-4 are by P. Wallis, 5-10 are by Tina Shariffskul, 11- 14 are by Brian Mills, 15-18 are by Bruce Aleksander. Enjoy!
A note from composer Charles Halka on his piece, Por La Fuerza las Tierras, the centerpiece of CONTEXT.
First, I’d like to say how excited I am that Frame Dance chose to feature my music at CONTEXT. It isn’t often that I get to be a part of such a collaborative and multimedia event, but I really learn a lot from artists in other fields, and future ideas or projects are usually inspired in the process.
In my music, I strive for experimentation whenever possible, but at the same time musical influences from my childhood and adolescence feature quite prominently. Por la Fuerza las Tierras, the featured work at CONTEXT, is probably one of the clearest examples. I don’t claim to be an expert on Mexican and Latin American music, but my early exposure to it in elementary school and my annual trips to Mexico during my so-called formative years certainly laid the groundwork for a continued interest this music.
As a composer, though, I was never involved with Mexico until 2009, when Alejandro Escuer, flutist and director of ONIX Ansamble (www.onixansemble.com), contacted me. I had submitted a work to the ensemble’s composition competition, and while the work was not the winner, Alejandro liked it enough to ask if I would consider writing a new work especially for ONIX. 2010 was to be the centennial of the Mexican Revolution and the bicentennial of the Mexican War of Independence, so it was the perfect opportunity to write a work inspired by the very music that helped shape me as a musician and composer.
Along with generous support from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, ONIX put together a concert-film performance titled Viva Zapata! with the aim of commemorating the Revolution and its ideals of human rights and liberal reforms. My work was included in the performance and premiered by ONIX in Puebla, the site of some of the earliest fighting during the Mexican Revolution.
Por la Fuerza las Tierras, which translates to “[take] the lands by force,” exhibits aggressive and relentless energy in passages of both struggle and celebration. After an extended moment of respite in the middle of the work, the music gradually gains momentum again and pushes energetically forward to the end. Given the occasion for which the work was written, both the rhythmic and melodic material are greatly indebted to various Mexican musical styles.
I’ve had the opportunity to see Frame Dance’s work in progress for CONTEXT and feel they’ve really captured the different characters of the piece. It’s a great feeling knowing the audience will be experiencing my music visually, aurally, and even almost physically.
We are going to keep it simple, folks. We are one week til the show, CONTEXT. That means there are only a few links you need this week.
Our website, recently designed, and awesome on iphones, ipads, etc. Play around, and watch the videos.
2. www.framedance.org/boxoffice
Tickets! I am encouraging you to get them because we sold out twice at our last ticketed event. This is going to be a phenomenal show. Everyone involved is just brilliant: the dancers, photographers, composer, tech crew, and I think the film is pretty great as well.
3. Links and Press
Here we go!! Press for CONTEXT. First up. 002 Magazine. Thanks Fresh Arts Coalition for including us!
ARTIST STATEMENT | CONTEXT
CONTEXT is a project that excited me from day one. For starters, photographing dancers is a fascinating undertaking for me. It is such a visual experience that combines light, movement and form. Besides that, the concept behind this show is rich in possibilities. The reality of the dancers in close physical proximity to the viewers, together with an exhibit of combined images by two different photographers and film by a third eye is bound to create a layered experience that will invite the audience to participate. They will create their own CONTEXT as their senses are engaged by motion, light, and stills — both live and recorded.
I photographed the dancers twice, first in an informal rehearsal setting in a typical dance studio, and the second time in a planned shoot at Spring St Studio, a location chosen because of its textures and lighting.
The dancers were a pleasure to watch and work with. Their movements were strong, sometimes rough and rhythmic, other times soft and incredibly tender. They were calm, secure and very focused on their work: using their bodies to explore and express universal human feelings, longings and thoughts.
As a stills photographer, I was interested in the forms created by the elegantly athletic contortions and wanted to capture the beauty of the body shapes as they are frozen in time through a photograph. I chose to use controlled natural lighting from two sources to create an extreme light-dark contrast that enhanced the perception of these forms. The images were produced in black and white to leave no room for distractions: these photographs are about the shapes.
Having photographed the still forms, as I watched the dancers repeat the motions over and over, the sense of movement captured my imagination. I decided to tackle the same dance piece from a different perspective: deliberately slow shutter speed images that, in contrast with the previous collection, capture traces of color and light as the dancers move through the floor and into the air. The result is a second set of color photographs offering a rather different perception of the choreographed piece.
The final collection is comprised of two sets. One high contrast black and white group of images that is solid, detailed and that focuses on the shapes. The second set, a light, colorful and often ethereal group of images that focuses on the movement. And the possibilities do not end here. As the choreography is performed live in front of the audience, fresh individual perspectives will be formed in each mind, making the viewer a co-creator with the dancers and the visual artists. The creation process never ends. It is a part of being alive.
When I was in Virginia, about two years ago as part of the Rockbridge Artist Exchange, I stumbled upon an artist named Cindi L’Abbe on twitter. Through her web presence I found out about her work and interest in both community, interaction and technology– sound familiar? She is the choreographer and artistic director of Dilettante Dance. She is also an excellent writer, and I’m always a sucker for smart dance artists. Her community-based work, EveryBody Dances is what inspired me to begin our Framing Bodies series. LOVE ME, was our first chapter. I’ve been following her ever since. She’s our guest curator for Links We Like. Enjoy!
Dilettante Dance (Cindi, seated, Sara Ann Simpkins, standing and the shadow of David Ross (guitarist)'s head at the Belvedere Hotel in Baltimore MD a few years ago.) Photo by Z.Z. Handler
http://pinterest.com/yokoono/
This one is fun. The images are quirky and cute, and the text is a score for the dances of daily life.
http://www.500miles500stories.
Dance Exchange’s interactive website is another way to see a piece, both in process or as an end in itself. I’m always curious about interactivity, process as product, and use of technology in conjunction with dance. I also love to ‘click around’.
http://synchronousobjects.osu.
Speaking of clicking around, this site for William Forsythe’s One Flat Thing Reproduced doesn’t really get old. Someone on my Twitter feed recently called Forsythe, “the Radiohead of the dance world”. He is pretty cool.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Artists from different mediums share their creative tools for finding inspiration.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Rumi- Those Who Don’t Feel This Love- This is one of my favorite things on the internet, ever.
http://pinterest.com/
I’m working (off and on!) on a new work, which is collaborative (with a visual artist), and eventually, interactive. Right now, I’m collecting images, and using those to generate movement ideas. I’m always interested in creating inroads for interactivity in my work, and would love to experiment with inviting some kind of interaction even at these very beginning stages. So, please check out my board, and think about what these images bring up for you. Feel free to comment on the images on Pinterest or on Twitter (@dilettantedance), and if you have images to suggest, I’d love to see them as well.
Cindi L’Abbe is currently an ESL teacher in South Korea, and soon to be drifter blowing in the wind. She has danced and choreographed with/as Dilettante Dance, and is interested in technology, interactivity and collaboration in the movement arts. You can keep track of her on Twitter @dilettantedance.
