Another video for your enjoyment! This past weekend we were working with concepts of shape, line, and negative space. After several improvised experiments on these themes, I led the performers in an instinctive writing exercise. Their prompt for a 5-minute stream-of-consciousness write was “Discuss how shape, line, and negative space relate to Iaido.” Afterwards, we had a lengthy discussion where we shared what we had written and any thoughts that came to us during or after the exercise. In response to that discussion, I initiated this experiment.
We are all improvising freely, the martial artists using movement vocabulary from Iaido–minus the sword–as inspiration, and myself improvising with them. One by one, we take it in turns to leave the space and return to our writing, reading it aloud for the group to hear and move to. Each piece was read through twice (Mine and the first half of Josh’s went by before I remembered to turn on the camera.)
The martial artists are, in speaking order: Joshua Stafford, Luke Chiang, and Dan Keding. Enjoy!
Again with the videos! I’m working with my old college roommate, an actress and playwright, on creating some text to play around with for part 1 of Odorido. Part 1 centers around Okinawan Kobudo, a weapon style comprising five primary weapons and several secondary weapons. Each of the primary weapons is associated with a different element, and has a distinct personality and physical style. My roommate asked for some video of the various physical styles of the primary weapons, to help her create personas for them. I just sent her the link to the footage, and I figured I’d post it here as well.
The video features Josh Stafford, performing several kata as well as some improvisations. Part 1 of Odorido is most likely going to take the form of a suite of shorter dances, one for each weapon, with some sort of through line tying it all together.
Just wanted to give an official plug here for my new wirework jewelry store! I’m up on Etsy, selling Exquisite Shawl Pins and the World’s Best Stitch Markers for very reasonable prices. And what’s more, from now on you can get up-to-date info on what I’m selling by checking out my Etsy Mini, located in the sidebar just beneath the Links section. So hurry on over and buy something! Your purchases may contribute to the success of my next work!
It’s been a while since my last post, I know, but this one’s a biggie. Rehearsals for Odorido (aka the Martial Arts Dance), part 2, are well under way! We’ve been meeting once a week for several months now, and I finally remembered to bring my computer and record some footage of our experiments this morning. So below you’ll find a video of selections from rehearsal on 5/24/09.
The first half of the video features Josh Stafford, experimenting with Laban’s theories of geometric space. He is joined in the second half by Luke Chiang as they play around with improvisations, reacting to prompts thrown out by me. Oh, and I added some music over top of it to replace the loud buzzing of the raw video and give it that little extra something. Check it out!
Rehearsals have begun for my new dance and martial arts collaboration, tentatively titled Odorido. Myself and three martial artists from my fiance’s Iaido class have met several times to experiment with applying dance concepts, specifically those found in dance improvisation, to the world of martial arts. Recent explorations have involved such things as expanding awareness and curiosity while moving, creating mental environments and images to deepen the movement quality of various phrases, and working with negative space. The swordsmen are very excited about the work we’ve been doing, as am I, and we’re greatly looking forward to watching this collaboration develop into something really interesting and unique, and ultimately beneficial to our work in both fields.
So I met with Dan Keding this afternoon to discuss ideas for our storytelling/dance collaboration. We talked about lots of things, and a bunch of good ideas got thrown around. My favorite of which is the idea of taking some of the classic story ballets (Giselle, Coppelia, Swan Lake and whatnot), and retelling them in the storyteller’s medium. What would it be like to hear Giselle told as a story? Now take that newly-created story, and make a dance to THAT. Nifty, huh?
So there have been a few changes in my thoughts relating to my first professional Geeksdanz endeavor. I’ve decided that it might be a good idea to change gears and make Odorido the first Geeksdanz concert, primarily because rehearsing a duet with my fiancee is proving much simpler to organize than finding six dancers and a bunch of RP geeks. I’ve been scheming and planning lots of ideas based around both Kobudo and Iaido (Okinawan weapons and Japanese swordsmanship, respectively), and the current plan is to create two one-act pieces, each dealing with one of these ancient arts. The cast could simply be Josh and I, or could potentially include some of his fellow martial artists and one or two additional willing dancers. We rehearsed earlier this week, and we’re both very excited to see what develops.
On another front, I recently received a very exciting offer. Through my fiance’s martial arts classes I’ve met and become friends with Dan Keding, a world-renowned storyteller. A few days ago he expressed his interest in working with me on creating a performance combining storytelling and dance. We tossed several ideas around, including the possibility of performing at the Spurlock Museum in Urbana. I instantly became excited, not only at the honor of working with such an amazing and talented man, but at the fact that the finished product would most likely turn out to be a Geeksdanz! He said he’d plan to lend me some recordings of his performances so that I could listen and choose some favorite stories to work with. This collaboration has the potential to go somewhere REALLY exciting REALLY fast!
Dan has his own professional website, www.dankeding.com. Be sure to check it out!
Just thought I’d take this time to go into a little more detail on this whole “Gaming Past and Present” thing. My concept for this first act of the concert is to create a solo for each dancer in the group work. Each solo takes as its inspiration a piece of music from a different video game. The music inspires me to research the game itself, and therefore to define several aspects of the game that make it unique. How does Mario differ, for example, from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or the Castlevania series? All three are essentially the same game mechanic, yet all are thoroughly unique. I then take those aspects and translate them into the world of movement. Games that are currently on my list to be solo’d, all of which may or may not make it into this concert:
The Castlevania Series
Sonic the Hedgehog
Tetris
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy VII
Portal (yes, I’m sure you know what song I’m talking about
Lost Odyssey
World of Warcraft
TMNT
The Mario Series
If anyone can think of a game they love that I haven’t mentioned here and that might be good for the Geeksdanz treatment, post it in the comments!
So it’s been rather quiet on the Geeksdanz front, but that doesn’t mean it’s been quiet on the geek front, oh no. My friends and I went to Anime Central, a large anime and videogame convention in Chicago, towards the middle of May. We cosplayed (translated: dressed up) as the entire cast of one of our favorite videogames, Chrono Trigger, and paraded around the hotel and convention center all weekend. We were a big hit at the convention, so much so that a small geek website interviewed us each individually for a web video. Well, that video has finally been posted, and I’ll present it to you now, courtesy of YouTube and Henshin Justice Unlimited:
On a (somewhat) more serious note, plans ARE in the works for the first ever Geeksdanz concert! The project is still in the scheming stages, but thanks to a generous graduation gift from my grandparents, it will most definitely be happening at some point. The current frontrunner idea is as follows:
ACT 1: Gaming Past and Present
A series of solos, one for each dancer in the concert, that deal with the gameplay and/or character-related aspects of several popular videogames throughout the years, from Castlevania in 1988 to last year’s wonder child, Portal.
ACT 2: The D&D Dance
The second half of the evening would contain a longer group work for six dancers based around the world of tabletop Role-Playing, specifically Dungeons & Dragons. Current ideas for this dance center around the use of dice rolls to determine the outcome of various situations and the juxtaposition of literal movement versus metaphorical action.
More updates will be forthcoming as this project begins in earnest.
So thanks to my darling older sister getting me a pro flickr account, I was able to upload photos from P.447 sooner than I’d anticipated. Check them out from either the main gallery page or the main entry page for P.447.
Videos are still coming, as soon as I can figure out how to use this thing called technology…
