CALL FOR ARTISTS!
Dance in Dialogue is calling artist submissions for round 6! Looking for original collaborative or cross-disciplinary experiments in movement and dance. D.i.D. #6 will be at the Friends Meeting House in Eugene, Thursday, August 20th, 6 pm. Applications should include:
1. Title (proposal title or work title)
- Estimated time (must be under 10 minutes),
- Number of performers
- Description (concept and movement)
- Reason for being interested in presenting in D.i.D., articulating your interest/willingness to discuss your process with audience. (Artists also take note: DiD #6, in the Friends Meeting House, has a beautiful hard wood floor, an intimate stage space of 20 X 20, and will have audience surrounding the performers, theater in the round style. You may consider your work in the context of this venue.)
- Brief bio and video links that represent your work, in studio or in performance.
- Email applications to Shannon Mockli, smockli@uoregon.edu, and Margo Van Ummersen, vanumm@hotmail.com, by Monday, July 13th.
Memories from September:
A big, big, big thanks to all artists, volunteers and audience who made D.i.D. #3 a success in September at the Hult Center Studio! I am looking forward to November and seeing these works grow physically and conceptually. I will start off by saying that this is not a review of the show, however, it is a re-cap of memorable moments for me as a dancer and audience member to continue the dialogue, as that’s what Dance in Dialogue aims to foster.
The evening started off with a collaborative work, “One Lane Bridge” directed by Sarah Nemecek featuring video and music by Ian Coronado and dance performed by Courtney Snow. The piece integrated live performance and video that focused on a bridge in Lane County. The dancer, Snow, improvised in the bridge as we heard a recording of her voice talk about some of her experiences and thoughts as a young dancer in search for inspiration to dance. Nemecek expressed her interest in capturing a young dancer’s experience in this piece and the bridge serving as a metaphor of this experience of questioning, learning and crossing into new understanding. I so appreciated Sarah’s interest and approach in considering that vulnerable time of discovery in a dancer’s life.
I presented 10 minutes of a new work I am calling, “Molt” for the time being. It is danced by Kim Ames, Rhea Costantino, Taylor Theis, Cecily Wechter and myself to the sound of cicadas and music by Venetian Snares. It has been inspired by images and my own musings into the life patterns of cicadas. Generally the audience seemed to be moved by the movement itself. Questions arose about some text that enters the music in which a woman considers being happy at a certain time in her life. The questions were great, prompting me to continue exploring our intention and relationships within the piece and how we might consider the nuances of the text before it is revealed. After the show one audience spoke with me and revealed a possible metaphoric connection between the years that cicadas can be dormant and ‘emotional dormancy’ that can we can experience in our lives. I’m hanging on to this idea as I move forward.
Robin Stiehm’s “Slippery,” was beautifully danced by Veronica DeWitt and Brianna Rae Johnson. I remember one audience member stated that the two seemed to be indiscernible from each other at certain points in time. Stiehm so beautifully composes the space so that at points it seems to exist only around these two dancers entwined and at points seems to expand beyond the confines of the studio itself.
I commend Sara Zolbrod and her collaborators of a variety of disciplines and walks of life for their brave performances in “Precious.” This work included singing and text, clown characterization, harpist David Helfand, Sam Meyers on a pogo stick, a toy piano, Martita Santiago dancing in a Flamenco style, and a giant spool of balloons. Audiences commented on moments that caught them as potent or meaningful and encouraged Zolbrod to exaggerate some of the characterization to a higher degree. I look forward to seeing how this work evolves for D.i.D. #4.
Jana Meszaros presented “Deconstructed Trio” in such a way that evoked the exact “process-like” nature this program seeks to foster. I am still searching for words to describe what I experienced, but definitely some new considerations arose. What it means to be a listening performer? Stories, human stories, and how they can work their way into our art in “raw form”.
Taylor Theis and Sarah Ebert danced “Rumination on Birth and Decay” choreographed by Theis. This piece struck me in a variety of ways. It revealed time in a potent way with tremendous sensitivity to speed and sustainment–held breath and rejuvenating exhale. It reminded me of the satisfaction of unison, of understanding between two that is equal and reciprocal. Two intensely sensate dancers dancing side-by-side….Well, that’s all you need.
Artists, anyone involved/interested, I welcome your thoughts to add to my memories (particularly if I have mis-represented anyone). I am curious about others’ experiences.