Today, the Bates Dance Festival participated in a live twitter chat with Camille A. Brown, which was hosted by Piper Anderson. Lincoln Center’s Bill Bragin and 651 Arts were a couple of the dialogue’s participants. The brilliant conversation surrounding arts, activism, dance, theater, and dialogue unfolded under the hashtag: #CABchat.

Keep the healthy dialogue going by visiting the thread here: #CABchat

Don’t forget to check out tonight’s Show & Tell!

(Click on photo to enlarge.)

IF YOU GO TO THIS EVENT

WHAT: Camille A. Brown & Dancers Show & Tell

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 15

WHERE: Schaeffer Theatre

TICKETS: Free

This post was written by Ashley Yergens. Ashley is the BDF Social Media Intern for the 2014 summer.

Camille A. Brown engages the students in an unforgettable workshop.

Viral videos bring the latest social dance trends into our homes. However, as the digital sphere explodes with dance, cultural and historical context is often neglected. As a result, we perpetuate unhealthy stereotypes and cultural insensitivity without even realizing it. Today, Camille A. Brown started to break that cycle for our BDF Young Dancers. They began to physically trace the evolution of social dance in the United States.

“Movement is progression, right?” Brown asked the dancers.

In the 1920s, culturally acceptable movements and gestures looked and felt a lot different than they do today. Yet those movements are still embedded in today’s latest dance crazes. While social dance continues to evolve, one thing remains the same: the social institution of dance provides an arena for people to safely communicate with one another.

Injecting social dance into the classroom is an effective way to hold a mirror up to society for our youth. It’s a task that Camille A. Brown excels at. In her artistic statement, Brown writes:

“Overall, I am striving to build a strong sense of storytelling from a black female perspective, stories that are based in current times and historic times, constantly connecting history with the contemporary; not a history lesson, but a journey and understanding of what is relevant to our present day lives. In this way we are able to provoke dialogue, to be technical and to be free of its constriction, moving between the tension of form and expression, story beyond technique. What we do is to bring those things together. Not just looking at the technique of the body but the language of the body and the history it carries. At the root, these stories are human stories.”

On Tuesday, Camille A. Brown & Dancers will share their artistry and social activism with excerpts of “Mr. Tol E. RAncE.” This Show & Tell is bound to leave you wanting more. If you’re in need of a social consciousness tune-up, which most of us are, then you won’t want to miss this.

IF YOU GO TO THIS EVENT

WHAT: Camille A. Brown & Dancers Show & Tell

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 15

WHERE: Schaeffer Theatre

TICKETS: Free

Name: Robert

Hometown: Virginia Beach, Virginia

Studies: I’ve done modern, ballet, and some improv.

What do you respect most about dancers? Their resilience. The “stick to it” attitude. They don’t give up.

What is your biggest movement indulgence? A really deep lunge or a random turn.

Advice to other dancers: Don’t give up even if you get really tired of what you’re doing. Also, find other people who enjoy dance as much as you enjoy it.

Major influences: I like drums. I have a little bit of a hip-hop influence. Just a little bit though.

How has BDF Young Dancers Workshop inspired you? It’s opened my eyes to a whole new world of dance. You can do other things that you’re not used to doing. Also, I’ve made a lot of good connections here.

This post was written by Ashley Yergens. Ashley is a Social Media Intern for the 2014 summer. 

Somehow and somewhere along the way, self-identity got cuffed to a person’s social media presence. Likes, follows, retweets, and favorites are the social currency of my generation and younger. For instance, a photo opportunity to show off that leg extension is bound to rack in some major “likes.” The temptation is, well, tempting.

I know abstaining from social media isn’t the answer. Unfortunately, we seemed to have missed the point. Isn’t it all about fostering and maintaining relationships until we can meet again in the flesh? On the other hand, with an ever-changing landscape of dance, choreographers and movers need to keep up with the pace of technology. However, the digital choices we make need to be artistically inclined. Choices take time. Insisting on a few hours or even an entire day to make a choice is not a sign of indecision and weakness. It’s a sign of artistry. For example, check out Meta-academy. They know how to use technology.

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

During the Young Dancers Workshop, our dancers experience what it actually means to capture a moment. They gather information, reflect upon it, and voilà: body awareness and social graces are born. Students are realizing that being digital 24/7 does change us. It sneaks into our movement patterns. It interrupts our creative processes.  So, become one of the programmers instead of the programmed. Use technology. Don’t let it use you. Continue to connect with us online until you can physically connect with us in the future. We can’t wait to move with you.

This post was written by Ashley Yergens. Ashley is a Social Media Intern for the 2014 summer. 

Name: Sophie

Hometown: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Studies: I’ve taken ballet, tap, jazz, modern, contemporary, improv, West African, and some capoeira classes.

What do you admire most about dancers? Dancers have a good sense of dedication, working hard, and respect.

What is your biggest movement indulgence? Honestly, it changes daily.

Advice to other dancers: Respect your own learning process and be patient with yourself.

Major influences: My sister just finished the four year training program at Joffrey Ballet. So, I have a very supportive family. Having a family that’s really supportive of dance is huge!

How has BDF Young Dancers Workshop inspired you? I look around after class, I look at my skin, and I just think that this is so great! I’m so grateful to be able to move. I’ve probably felt that here more than at any other place.

This post was written by Ashley Yergens. Ashley is a Social Media Intern for the 2014 summer. 

Shamou explains the importance of musical accompaniment in West African dance.

A prescribed movement quality, such as “fluid” can dictate our experience of a movement phrase. Also, familiar shapes may muddy our perception of how the body is actually moving through space. What is the pathway? How much energy is being used? Etc. And of course, sound has a persuasive effect on how we experience and perceive dance.

When BDF Young Dancers work with live accompanists, both are aware of each other’s artistic input. It is another chance for our dancers to practice respect and healthy group negotiations. As I’ve witnessed this collaboration, I continue to believe that the combined experience of live music and dance proves to be greater than the sum of the parts alone.

Arguably, pre-recorded music engages the senses differently. It’s not wrong, but it is very different! Pre-recorded music can be bossy. It’s dictatorial by nature. It’s unchangeable. However, these characteristics can be beneficial. It all depends upon the goals of the class. Furthermore, dancers don’t always have the privilege of working with live accompanists such as Adam Crawley, Glen Fittin, Peter Jones, Carl Landa, and Shamou on a daily basis.

RELATED: Bios of the 2014 Festival Accompanists

I’ve noticed that dancers can’t resist the conversation that occurs between the body and live music. The experience permits the eyes to take a break (a sense we depend on for most of our information). Instead, it awakens leadership in the ears. Most importantly, dancers build trust in their internal systems, which gives way to new emotional subtexts.

Live accompanists receive benefits as well. In a dance class, musicians have exposure to new audiences and freedom to explore styles. Here at BDF, the musicians are dedicated to not only accompanying students, but to teaching them. Our accompanists work with dance because they love dance as an art form. They seek a fuller understanding and appreciation of it through their own involvement. It is expected that our Young Dancers will do the same. And boy, are they doing it!

This post was written by Ashley Yergens. Ashley is a BDF Social Media Intern for the 2014 summer.

Yesterday, counselors led a juicy choreography workshop. BDF Young Dancers had an opportunity to free write with the prompt: “I remember ________”. Next, they imagined those words into movement. From there, the dancers divided up into groups of three, sequenced their phrase material, and conquered their first choreography task.

It is often said that there is great power in the word, but even greater power in silence. Unfortunately, dancers are often stereotyped as speechless creatures. We dance because “it expresses everything we cannot say in words.” Here at BDF, we’re deconstructing that stereotype.

Arguably, without clear intention, deliberate creative power is difficult to come by. In order to bring intention into being, dancers must have the ability to articulate ideas both physically and verbally. Luckily, writing and dance exemplifies a successful marriage.

Each step of the writing process correlates to a step choreographers use when creating dance:

(source: Public Schools of North Carolina)

As dancers, we might not always verbalize our ideas in performance. However, it’s important to remember that this is a choice. Dance is all about a series of choices. The power of dance is found in utilizing words and encouraging the development of multisensory human beings.

This post was written by Ashley Yergens. Ashley is a Social Media Intern for the 2014 summer. 

“Show up. Pay attention. Tell the truth. Be open to possible outcomes,” said Pamela Vail.

Vail has adopted the heart of Angeles Arrien’s The Four-Fold Way program. She uses it as a lens to experience her class. And no, she’s not teaching business students. She’s teaching an eye-opening improv class to serious dance students, ages 14 to 18.

So, what’s the catch? Well, some of these young dancers will be future CEOs, administrators, teachers, and even doctors. A dance education prepares you for a life within and beyond the arts. Don’t believe me? Unfortunately, many non-dancers don’t understand the lifelong benefits of movement-intensive experiences. Allow me to break it down for you: by navigating and constructing dance, students go above and beyond the development of problem-solving skills. They learn how to create problems.

We truly live in an era where being a problem-solver no longer suffices. Take Apple’s iPod for instance. Did society really need a device that transports thousands of music files? No, but Apple created that problem for us, and now they’re making billions of dollars off of an imagined problem.

Dance provides a safe space for our youth to take ideas from play to purpose. Also, it grounds kids with kinesthetic intelligence, design thinking capacities, curiosity about the environment around them, and provides a constant stream of new possibilities. In other words, our BDF Young Dancers are building resumes that future employers (no matter what field) will long for.

Here at BDF, students are constantly taking ideas from play to purpose. It’s called the creative process. Often times, the creative process looks like this:

1. This is awesome.

2. This is tricky.

3. This isn’t working.

4. I’m not good at this.

5. This might be okay.

6. This is awesome, and so am I.

This process builds confidence. Also, BDF Young Dancers learn to assess their limitations, and then safely push past them. Judgment never comes into play. BDF Young Dancers are hearing this over and over again from our stellar faculty. Our students are becoming resilient and observant. They’re realizing it’s not always about them, but it is all about what they do. They’re making group negotiations. They’re discovering that success means hard work, an exchange of ideas, experimentation, and building meaningful relationships with one another.

If that’s not building a well-rounded human being, then I don’t know what is. Support and encourage our youth. Tell them to keep on dancing. The world will be a phenomenal place.

This post was written by Ashley Yergens. Ashley is a Social Media Intern for the 2014 summer.

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Be prepared for the creative intersection between dance and media. As technology advances, our stories as dancers become more bountiful and complex. So, we excel at storytelling here at BDF. As Director Laura Faure put it:

“Dance is the vehicle to discover who you are in the world.”

In everything that we do, BDF will make sure that this vehicle becomes more clear, essential, and accessible for you. And of course, we will have fun doing it.

This post was written by Ashley Yergens. Ashley is a BDF Social Media Intern for the 2014 summer.