2014 Director’s Notes – Bates Dance Festival

ICEhot Nordic Dance Platform

laura — Sat, 13 Dec 2014 22:21:52 +0000

The dance going began in earnest Wednesday night with the opening performance of ICEhot by Heine Avdal & Yukiko Shinozaki in the Dansens Hus conveniently located behind our hotel. Artists and presenter from 28 countries are here to experience works from Iceland, Finland, Denmark. Norway and Sweden. The bar was bustling before the show with a confab of international festival goers. This first work was elaborate with miles of silver fabric curtains suspended from giant helium physio ball type balloons. The curtains did much of the dancing throughout the 60+ minutes while creating a beautiful shimmering effect. There was much technical wizardry on display with self propelled balloons and curtains floating over our heads.

Dansens Hus

Each morning began with a info session, More More More, in which five choreographers talk about their work and showed video excerpts. This was a valuable component of the festival for those of us looking to learn more about emerging artists. Along with several U.S. colleagues, I have invited here to identify a Nordic artist to bring to BDF for a creative residency.

Among our group are seven U.S. artists including Zoe Scofield who I got to catch up with over a splendid breakfast (included with our room at the hotel). Foodie that I am, I was in heaven with the delicious and plentiful spread of lox, smoked fish, cheeses, breads, fruit and on and on. This is our real meal of the day since everything here is so wildly expensive — $40 for a hamburger and beer, $5 for coffee and so forth — and we are running from one performance to the next all day long.

Over the course of four days I have seen 16 shows. Its been a rapid fire education on the state of Nordic dance or at least those selected to present at this platform. Several elements seemed to recur… smoke is very popular, the use of a hip hop vocabulary either woven through a contemporary sensibility or straight up, durational work quite often too long, electronic scores (everyone is using them–what ever happened to natural sound?), a fascination with awkward, clumsy movement, and terrific dancers.

Oslo Opera House

Among the many performances there were four that stood out for me (all art being subjective). Zero Visibility Corp from Norway presented “Terra O Motel” a 90- minute extravaganza complete with a mini 40’s type motel and neon sign as well as a variety set pieces, from a makeshift kitchen to bowls of potatoes and sleeping pads and pillows. This piece created a world of distinct characters living out their peculiar lives and quite grew on me as it progressed.

Tentacle Tribe of Sweden & Canada offered “Nobody Likes A Pixelated Squid” a beautifully executed, but too long duet a la Victor Quijada of Rubberbandance with whom they both danced. Gorgeous, sinewy partner work in a smoothed out hip hop style.

Ima Iduozee from Finland presented “This is the Title” a stunning solo incorporating hip hop with really skillful floor work, fine precision and luscious flow that reminded me of Omar Carrum’s Mobile Floor class.

Aloun Marchal from Sweden performed “Gerro, Minos and Him” a trio I dubbed, The Three Stooges Without Pants. A comic journey into the absurd–these three nutcases had a boatload of physical comedy skills and a go for broke daring. One dancer, in particular, had that rare gift of comic timing that kept many in the audience laughing throughout the 47 minute work. Whether this was one’s cup of tea or not, no one fell asleep during this show!

National Academy of the Arts

It has been a pleasure to be in attendance at ICEhot as it was so finely organized and we have been well taken care of. Buses carried us around to the distant venues but several were close enough to walk to. Many are in renovated industrial buildings like to National Academy of the Arts, a spectacular re-purposing. The neighborhood surrounding this building is charming and I enjoyed several lunches with colleagues from around the globe. Now its time to go home and ponder the experience!

Holiday Time in Oslo

laura — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 15:37:40 +0000

I continue my adventures as a dance producer this winter in Olso, Norway where I have been invited to attend the Nordic Dance Platform, ICEhot along with other U.S. based presenters and artists. The opening event tonight features Heine Avdal & Yukiko Shinozaki at the Dansens Hus, the hub for festival activities which is

Dansens Hus

conveniently located behind our very hip hotel the Scandic Vulkan and next to the fabulous Mathallen Market.

Mathallen Market

We are located in the once industrial Grunerlakke neighborhood which has been marvelously reworked as the home of arts design and all things hip and green. Amazing what can be done in a wealthy country with a great sense of design. Glossy steel and glass buildings weave in and out of restored warehouses, some decorated with fabulous wall art and graffiti.

Oslo wall art

The city feels small — like a series of connect neighborhoods. So far no skyscrapers have been sighted allowing the scale to feel friendly. Downtown is all lit up for the holidays with building facades sparkling and the Christmas Market is in full swing–a modest affair featuring typical Nordic items.

Oslo Christmas Market

Its kind of fun to see the winter gear everyone is sporting although the temperature is a mild 39 degrees today. In the market every kind of knitted, fleece and leather garment is for sale.

So far the Akerselva River is my favorite place for strolling. It winds north to south through our neighborhood and seems a well worn pathway for the many parents with strollers. Lots of babies here all bundles up in their fancy carriages!

Akerselva River

With only 6+ hours of daylight at this time of year one has plenty of chance to enjoy the night lights but the boats trips to the fjords are sadly not running. This is a place i would revisit in the summer. There are so much natural beauty to explore. Flying in I was amazed by the integrity of the landscape–just miles and miles of thickly forested, mountainous terrain with tall Nordic conifers and roads winding through but no houses at all.

Tomorrow begins the dance watching marathon and thus I will be introduced to a whole new dance aesthetic and community. The festival has set up a variety of venues where we can munch, meet and greet. They are very organized which we all appreciate.

Guardians of Craft

laura — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 12:54:25 +0000

This week I was honored to be invited for an interview by my Bates colleague, Michael Sargent, for his blog Guardians of Craft. You can listen to the 35-minute interview at: http://guardiansofcraft.wordpress.com/2014/07/10/shall-we-dance/

I was drawn to the name of this blog as I have always had great respect for the notion of craft or mastery and the dedication and time required to cultivate it. In my lifetime I have watched the reverence and practice of craft decline as our global, technology laden world drives us to immediate gratification and more, more, more.

Thank you Michael for focusing a lens on those who still cultivate craft!

BDF begins its 32nd summer

laura — Sat, 28 Jun 2014 12:20:00 +0000

Yesterday we welcomed 74 excited teen artists to our 2014 Young Dancers Workshop. For the next three weeks they will be immersed in a cooperative creative community with a stellar faculty including long term BDFers like co-director Karl Rogers and ballet marvels Shonach Mirk-Robles and Martha Tornay. We are thrilled to also welcome new faculty Shani Collin-Achille, Charlotte Griffin, Courtney Jones, Tommy Neblett and Pam Vail. These amazing teachers exemplify our values to promote high quality holistic training while building community and modeling cooperative work. They represent our passion for creating a web of sustaining relationships. Most have had previous relationships with BDF–both Charlotte and Shani have been part of our Emerging Choreographers Program; Courtney was here as a young dancer and counselor; and Pam attended as a student in 1993. I am thrilled to have Tommy Neblett teaching repertory, and he and Diane Arvanites-Noya’s company Prometheus Dance opening our season.

Organizing a festival on this scale is a huge endeavor that keeps us running all year long to plan the program, identify the faculty and artists, attract the participants, raise the money, publicize the events, and get a zillion details confirmed. Its fun, challenging and exhausting but….. all completely worth it when excited, new spirits show up on campus to share the essential human expression of movement with each other. Let the dancing begin!

Join Meta-academy, a global online community

laura — Sat, 28 Jun 2014 11:52:40 +0000

This summer BDF continues its support and engagement with Meta-academy to foster a vibrant creative community online.

Meta-academy invites you to engage online with three international dance festivals this summer- Taking Place (July 1-13 in Columbus, OH, USA), Impulstanz (July 21 -August 18 in Vienna, Austria), and Bates Dance Festival (July 21-August 11 in Lewiston, ME, USA). We will also be participating in IDOCDE international symposium on contemporary dance education (August 1-3 in Vienna Austria)

Dance festivals create intimate, hyper-local communities where dancers exchange creative processes, pedagogies, finished work, and ideas. Now Meta-academy connects these communities to each other, and opens them to YOU at HOME or on the road.

Join us to focus on choreographic knowledge, creative process, methodologies, ideas, influences, relevance, trends and stories.

It’s free and open. All you need is an internet connection and a few hours per week. You determine your level of involvement.

Here’s what we’ll do:

Share creative and critical perspectives. Top choreographers, improvisors, theorists, and pedagogues from the festivals will upload videos of their process, engage in interviews, and participate in google+ hangouts with other artists and members of the Meta-academy community (the first 5 to join the hangout).
Move together online. Join a google+ hangout and experiment with dance professionals as they try translating their creative practices to the online space.
Create internet-specific work. You’ll be instructed on using some of the best online (free) creative tools to create your own internet-based videos, word clouds, mashups, and more.
Join a global community of dancers. When you’re making, talking and learning together, chances are you’ll make friends.

Here’s how you join.Create a user profile on www.dance-tech.net and join the meta-academy group: http://www.dance-tech.net/group/meta-academy

You’ll get an email with further instructions on how to join our google+ circle so that you can participate in hangouts. You will need to have a Google Plus account.