Final info on our presentation at the Maker Faire has been obtained, and I wanted to share with you some specific details:
Location
We will be performing in the central plaza at Buhl Community Park in Allegheny Square. For those who don’t know, it’s the big lawn area right out in front of the main entrance to the Children’s Museum. We’re at the plaza in the back, performing in front of the Cloud Arbor:
Show Schedule
We will be performing every 45 minutes throughout the day, with 7-minute improvisational dance performances followed by 20 minutes of interactive dancing. We have five different improv games for you, according to the following schedule:
10:30 am – The Machine
11:15 am – Freeze Tag
12:00 noon – No TV Until Chores Are Done!
1:00 pm – The Sculptor
1:45 pm – Freeze Tag
2:30 pm – The Name Game
3:15 pm – The Machine
Stop by multiple times and experience a bunch of different games!
Click here to purchase tickets ahead of time–or you can simply purchase them at the door.
As a lead-in to the Maker Faire, I thought it’d be nice to let you get to know our dancers. After all, dancers are people too, so I sat down with each one individually to see what inspires them. Today’s dancer is Jamie Campbell.
GD: How did you get into dancing?
JC: I liked to twirl around and walk on my toes when I was a little girl. My mother, who has 2 left feet, didn’t know what to do with me. She knew she needed to direct my energy in a positive way so she enrolled me in a little dance school close to home. From that, I only got more excited and serious about dancing. I went on to other schools and academies to gain more knowledge and training. I ended up at Hollins University for 2 years where I truly found my niche, art, expression, and craft. After that, I began the journey as a professional modern dancer. The journey continues today.
GD: What appeals to you the most about dance and dancing?
JC: I love that an entire story can be created through movement. I love that movement can grasp an audience to the point of laughter and/or tears. I also love that no story has to be created at all. That movement can be just that, movement. I think that dance is one of the deepest, most sincere ways of communicating, whether it be a gripping subject or light fluffy movement.
GD: What do you do in “real life”?
JC: I am a wife and proud mom of two in “real life”. I am also privileged to teach dance at a local dance school. I like to think that life is a beautiful dance. It’s a process and experience. No matter how life changes, for better or worse, dance is my constant. I feel like my “real life” experiences have shaped and continue to shape the artist I am and will continue to be.
GD: Other than dancing, what do you do for fun?
JC: I enjoy spending time with my family. I like to do creative activities with the kids and have meaningful conversations with my husband. I take pride in planning exciting birthday parties for my little ones and fun family gatherings. I also enjoy yard work and planting flowers in the garden.
GD: What excites you the most about working with Geeksdanz?
JC: I am thrilled to be working with Geeksdanz. I am excited that this new innovative company has been created. I am not technologically or scientifically inclined whatsoever, but I am a true geek dancer. As stated by the founder and artistic director, “…a geek is defined by a passionate and emotional interest in a topic, often to near obsessed levels.” I have channeled my inner geek and am able to express it with this new dance company. As a great friend and talented writer/poet says, “I’m geekin’ it out”.
Photo credit: John Beiber
Stay tuned over the next week to meet the rest of the geeks!
Big news everyone! We put in the order for the first run of official Geeksdanz T-Shirts yesterday! These T-shirts are intended for the dancers and administrative personnel, but the minimum order was 12, which leaves us with one extra shirt, so guess what? CONTEST!
Here’s how it works. To enter the contest, you must:
Go over to the Geeksdanz fan page and ‘like’ us, and
Post on our wall and tell us what brings out your inner geek!
We’ll run the contest up until the day of the Maker Faire (September 22nd–two weeks from yesterday!), at which time we will randomly choose one of the entries using random.org. Winner gets a first-run Geeksdanz T-shirt, just like ours!
We’ve just received word that Geeksdanz has been accepted to perform at the 2012 Pittsburgh Mini Maker Faire! We’ll be there Saturday, September 22nd from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, doing performances and showing YOU how to make your own dances! Every 45 minutes throughout the day, the dancers of Geeksdanz will present a 3 to 5 minute dance performance based on a different improvisation game, and we’ll follow each one up with 25 minutes of interactive dance-making, where audience members can try their hand (or feet) at creating a phrase based on the same improvisation game.
You can find out more info about the Maker Faire and purchase your tickets right here. I’ll have more info for you about where in the faire to find us as it gets closer to the date.
Choreographer Ellen Deutsch is looking for enthusiastic, friendly dancers proficient in both modern and ballet technique to audition for her new company.
Geeksdanz’s mission is to introduce dance to audiences that would not normally be drawn to it, and to illustrate the universality of dance as a means of emotional expression. Geeksdanz achieves this by systematically applying the context of dance to an enormous variety of topics and interests, and targeting performances towards the specific audiences who share those interests.
Previously a solo project, Ms. Deutsch is now seeking to establish Geeksdanz as a fully-fledged dance company rehearsing and performing in the Pittsburgh area. To that end, we are looking for as many dancers as we can get our hands on. Come one, come all!
INFORMATION
DATE: August 25, 2012
TIME: 5 – 7 pm
LOCATION: Pittsburgh Dance Center
4765 Liberty Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15224
(In Bloomfield above the Starbucks in the old theater)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The audition will last approximately two hours and will consist of a modern warm-up (with occasional ballet combos) as well as modern repertoire and an improvisation exercise.
You may wish to bring kneepads, long sleeves and long pants for the improv section, but it’s not required.
Please bring a full resume with you.
For more info about the audition or the company, please contact me.
Came across this quote yesterday from Simon Pegg. I couldn’t have said it better myself. THIS is what Geeksdanz is all about:
“Being a geek is all about being honest about what you enjoy and not being afraid to demonstrate that affection. It means never having to play it cool about how much you like something. It’s basically a license to proudly emote on a somewhat childish level rather than behave like a supposed adult. Being a geek is extremely liberating.” ~Simon Pegg
Today is National Dance Day, and to celebrate, I’m digging back up one of my old Thing-A-Weeks so that you all can participate! Spend a few minutes today being creative with The Name Game!
Over the past month or so, I’ve been collaborating with Ben Peoples of Trinculo’s Attic, who’s got something really cool: a wireless lighting controller. This is a little tiny doohickey that synchs up to a light board to run light cues, and is portable enough to attach to nearly anything, including a dancer. Check it out:
There’s also a nifty behind-the-scenes video right here, and a detailed blog post from Ben about how the technology works right here.
Forgoing the use of sight gags and blackouts that are so common to these sorts of dances, Progressive Assembly uses the lighting technology to highlight and emphasize the quality of the movements themselves. Spirals of light on the limbs and torso highlight the three-dimensionality of the dancer and draw attention to the full contours of the movements, while pinpoint-bright LED’s mark out pulse-points and emphasize the spatial arrangement and rearrangement of the individual parts.
This is just the beginning–we’ve got lots of ideas for very cool places this collaboration could go! Stay tuned for some more exciting developments!
Had our first costume fitting for Progressive Assembly this afternoon, wherein Ben Peoples wrapped me up in lights and took pictures. It’s going to be a spectacular piece once the whole thing’s put together; our resident seamstress is hard at work tacking down the lights so they’ll stay put. We were even able to hook into the light board and run a mark-through with all the lights going! Filming day is scheduled for this Friday, so stay tuned!
The newest exciting development from Geeksdanz is that we officially have rehearsal space! Holly Kirby of Pittsburgh Dance Center has graciously donated us the use of her gorgeous Bloomfield studio, in exchange for some teaching. The space is huge, beautiful wood floors, glass-block windows, and high ceilings. She’s even offered to let us hold auditions there! So keep an eye on this page for announcements of auditions later this summer!
GD: How did you get into dancing?
