Hey All!

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?

~Ellen

Hello All!

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!

~Ellen

Every so often, I strike upon an idea for a dance that is deliciously geeky and wonderful. I can’t always act immediately upon those ideas, so I keep a folder of potential dance ideas that I can refer back to when I need some inspiration. I thought I’d post some of my more interesting concept nuggets here for all of you to see. I’ll continue to post new ideas as they come to me, and I greatly welcome any feedback or comments on them. In the future you’ll be able to link directly to all the concept nugget posts from the “post topics” menu, under “future projects.”

Red Light, Green Light

This collection of site-specific dance vignettes would explore the curiosities of urban planning and pedestrian and motor traffic. The vignettes would be performed simultaneously at various locations all over a given area, with the intent that passing drivers and pedestrians would “bump into” several dances in the course of one trip.

Child’s Play

To create the movement vocabulary for Child’s Play, the cast would begin by playing several rounds of the popular game Twister. They would then rehearse and codify the resulting contortions to create a complex dance full of kaleidoscopic intricacies. The cast for this piece would be small and intimate, two or three at the most.

Osmose

Taking its inspiration from the world of molecular physics, Osmose would illustrate several concepts integral to that field through the medium of dance. In the course of the piece the dancers would become atomic particles, alternately forming epoxies, creating nuclear reactions, mingling with each other through osmosis, and falling victim to the chain reaction of polymerization.

Album Intact

This evening-length work or series of works would deal with the task of taking a pre-existing music mix and creating a cohesive concert around the album. All tracks must be included, in the order they appear on the album, with no more silence than already exists on the album. The task could be repeated several times with several different albums of different genres and compositions.

The Misfit Bike Dance

Walking home from modern yesterday afternoon, Kinsey and I passed a bike rack and soon got started on an idea for a dance based around the strange contortions of someone riding a bicycle with an ill-adjusted seat. Ideas tossed around during our five-minute walk included various collaborations with bike shop owners and a thoroughly goofy-looking flamingo-like walk. Who knows where this idea will go!