Some exciting news! Yesterday afternoon, I was interviewed by one of my tutoring students for a science fair project. Apparently they were instructed to choose a career path and then do a project about a chemical compound associated with that career. Their extra credit assignment was to conduct an interview with a professional in their chosen career, which they would then incorporate into their final poster project.
Rebekah, naturally, had chosen Choreographer, and it all just followed from there. She asked lots of good questions, and took lots of notes. I gave her one of my snazzy new business cards, and she mentioned the possibility of having a laptop open on her table showing this very website. There’s definitely the potential for some new exposure here, so don’t be surprised if you see a lot of clean-up work happening on the site in the next few days. Got to get it ready for the fair!
Big news! Moo cards, the site where I get my business cards, is doing a deal with Etsy sellers wherein if you allow them to place a small ad for both sites at the bottom of a pack of your custom-designed business cards, you get the cards for free! I paid exactly six dollars (shipping and handling) for these beauties. I’d been thinking it was about time for me to have some real business cards for myself as a person, and the crazy assortment of stuff I do. I received them in the mail a few days ago, and I’m super excited!
I just wanted to announce the unveiling of my new line of handmade sterling silver jewelry, “The Relic Shoppe.” I’ve created a line of jewelry based around the Relics from Final Fantasy VI, and I’m planning to sell them at ACen this coming May. But in the meantime, I’ve created a website and DeviantArt account for the collection, and I’m in the process of getting them professionally photographed for my Etsy site.
Just thought I’d post a short video from rehearsal last night. The guys are goofing off with Bokkens (wooden swords). This started out as a structured improv, but by this point they’ve abandoned most of their prompts and are just improvising freely.
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?
