Giving Notes

Arts Presenters Showcase

2010-12-13T11:32:00.000-05:00

The Arts Presenters Showcase is coming soon! A lot of our great companies will be performing throughout the weekend. Check below for dates, times and locations!

Gallim Dance

-When: Friday, January 7 (1:30-2:00pm)
-Where: 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Avenue

-When: Saturday, January 8 (8:00-9:00pm)
-Where: 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Avenue

-When: Monday, January 10 (4:00-4:40pm, 5:00-5:40pm)
-Where: City Center, studio 5, 130 W 56th St.

Evidence, A Dance Company

-When: Saturday, January 8 (10:00-11:00am)
-Where: City Center, studio 5, 130 W 56th St)

-When: Saturday, January 8 (5:00-6:00pm)
-Where: Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, 547 W 26th St)

Sean Curran Company

-When: Monday, January 10 (12:15-12:30pm)
-Where: City Center, studio 4, 130 W 56th Street

dre.dance

-When: Monday, January 10 (10:00-10:15am)
-Where: City Center, studio 4, 130 W 56th St.

If you wish to attend any of these showcases please RSVP to:

Liz Harler
lharler@imgartists.com

Art Spiegelman's point of view

2010-07-14T10:30:00.000-04:00

Check out Art Spiegelman's take on his recent collaboration with Pilobolus, Hapless Hooligan in "Still Moving" - particularly the spot-on renditions of the company's executive and artistic directors.

Click here to see a bigger version!

Video roundup!

2010-07-09T14:09:00.001-04:00

To help you while away your afternoon on this summer Friday, we are pleased to present video of some upcoming and recent works from artists on the IMGArtists roster. Enjoy!

A preview of Gallim Dance's Wonderland, set to premiere at the Joyce Theater in NYC on August 9:

The last in a series of work-in-progress videos of Another Evening: Venice/Arsenale, with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company:

And finally, a preview of Pilobolus' Hapless Hooligan in 'Still Moving', a collaboration with Pulitzer-Prize-winning graphic artist Art Spiegelman:

In Memoriam

2010-06-17T12:16:00.001-04:00

The world lost some of its vibrancy this week:

Jonathan Wolken: In Memoriam www.pilobolus.org

Proud new Auntie Abby

2010-06-10T11:49:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday, June 8, 2010 Abby became the proud new Auntie to these adorable little nuggets. Cody (left) and Cassy (right) Hoffman

Something for a sunny Friday afternoon...

2010-05-21T16:59:00.002-04:00

Courtesy of Ben Johnson at U of Minnesota and Martin Wechsler at the Joyce...we bring you some of the most balletic gymnastics we've ever seen.

Happy Friday!

Seán Curran can rap!

2010-05-07T11:25:00.001-04:00

Seán Curran recently held an open rehearsal of his newest work, Left Exit, which explores spirituality and faith.

The work will premiere in October, so Seán has time to experiment with movement and text, using the time-tested method of trial-and-error. One major theme that Seán is focusing on is the idea of how “dance of privilege” contrasts with “dance as spiritual practice”. Sean and his dancers have blended a variety of international social and ethnic dances, and set this to Sonata V from John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes, which is in a measure of 9 with a hip-hop sort of groove (you can hear it here). Then, just to shake things up, he reset the movement phrase to a recorded lecture by philosopher and civil rights activist Dr. Cornel West.

Toward the end of the rehearsal, Seán juxtaposed the same blended movement phrases with different text. There were some really great little happy accidents - for example, a section of four people supporting and manipulating a fifth dancer met up with a section about “the society of disability” and the need for assistance.

And true to our title, Seán let the creative moment grab hold of him and surprised us all by rapping (to John Cage, nonetheless!). Who knew that Sean Curran could rap?!? Sadly, it is unlikely that this will make it into the piece, and we weren’t able to catch the moment on film, but if we’re lucky, maybe he’ll put on a repeat performance next time we’re able to visit the studio.

Shen Wei @ the Met

2010-04-23T13:10:00.001-04:00

Tuesday afternoon Liz and I went to the Metropolitan Museum to join Shen Wei, along with his company's executive director, France Pepper and donors, trustees, friends and a few of the dancers. We walked through the exhibition of Chinese painter Xie Zhiliu, one of modern China’s preeminent traditional artists (you can see an online catalog of the exhibition here). Throughout the exhibition, France and Shen Wei performed a pas de deux of words. France discussed the art work from an art history perspective (she recently came to SWDA from the China Institute in America and has a background in art history), and then Shen Wei would discuss the parallels between his experiences as a painter and his work as a choreographer.

Shen Wei Dance Arts in Connect Transfer

What I found most interesting was listening to him speak about calligraphy and how the calligrapher uses energy to express emotion. Shen Wei described how every hand position and gesture carry a purpose and an energy in calligraphy, and the same is true of his choreography. Much like a calligrapher, in Connect Transfer the dancers dip themselves in paint and create fluid movements that draft beautiful strokes and images with their bodies. Even though the choreography is always the same, the finished canvas from Connect is always different because of the emotions and energies that the dancers project while moving. It was particularly fun when the dancers in attendance talked about how they use their energy flow and momentum to connect the movements in Shen Wei’s choreography. We even got a behind-the-scenes tidbit about how the company does a pre-show circle to connect each other's chi and concentration for the performance. So that’s their secret to such beautiful and fluid performances!

Neither snow nor rain nor cloud of ash...

2010-04-20T11:49:00.003-04:00

A week ago most of us were unaware of Eyjafjallajokull -- a big name for one of the smallest glaciers and volcanoes in Iceland -- which has caused thousands of flight cancellations worldwide. Thanks to the growing awareness of Eyjafjallajokull, we've now acquired a new Scrabble word as well as new skills in creative travel routing. Last weekend two members of our dance division team worked on alternative travel arrangements for Colin Dunne and Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo so neither company would have to cancel scheduled performances. Their stories are below:

Colin Dunne: Ireland to France

When flights are not running, creative travel arrangements step in place. Colin Dunne and crew were to fly from Dublin to Paris on Sunday 18th April 2010. Instead of two short flights, the journey turned into a combination of travelling in car, ferry, train, taxis and second train and a minibus.

My new best friend, Google Maps, proved to be a very valuable tool in finding alternative routes. Trains, busses and taxis are somehow easier to arrange but when it comes to crossing the sea it is challenging. After few days of having my mobile phone glued into my ear and my eyes fixed to the computer screen, we managed to find an alternative route. Obviously by then there were also lots of other people who had discovered the same route from Ireland to France and everything was fully booked. We went to plan b, then to plan c, then to plan d. Options also included getting the crew on a ferry from Ireland directly to France, but we discovered that it would take nearly 20 hours and no daily connection was available and it would have been too late to take that route anyway to arrive on time for the performances.

Liaising with the travel agency, waiting on the phone for hours to the ferry company, dealing with websites crashing, and managing frustration: finally we managed to book a ferry from Rossale to Fishguard and an overnight train to London. Important note: if want to book a ferry with a direct train connection you can only do this on the phone (not online) - good to know for next time. [editor's note: hopefully there won't be a next time!] From London the crew took train to Paris where the presenter had organised a pick up. After traveling for more than 16 hours via several transport methods it was time to start the tech set up in the venue and the rehearsals.

Colin's less-than-direct route to France

I have learned names of Irish cities, how long the ferry takes from Ireland to Wales (3h 30min), and that it takes nearly eight hours on a train from Wales to London. Flights make the distances feel so much shorter than what they are in reality.

Now the focus is on getting the crew back to Ireland and then off to new performances in Sweden and the UK. Creative travel planning continues…I am quite tempted to try the ferry myself, maybe this summer!

~ Johanna Rajamaki

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo: Spain to Hungary

When my new issue of National Geographic arrived last week with Mount St. Helens’ 1980 eruption on the cover, little did I know that another volcano was about to wreak havoc on one of our clients. Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (the Trocks) has weathered all sort of travel storms so Eyjafjallajokull wasn't about to ruin the company’s performances in Budapest. Scheduled to leave Bilbao, Spain on Monday, the Trocks sprung into action - they would find a way to get to Hungary.

FRIDAY: A bus was found, but it was decided that the company should wait to confirm because the Hungarian Meteorological Agency said airlines would resume flights by Monday.

SATURDAY: The chances of the Trocks flying from Bilbao to Madrid and then on to Budapest were dwindling as the ash cloud spread out across Europe. Saturday was spent trying to find another bus company to make the trip, but no luck was to be had.

SUNDAY: Plan b and plan c were devised as it looked like the Trocks wouldn’t be making it to Budapest by land or air. At the eleventh hour, the presenter in Budapest found a bus company willing to take the Trocks halfway - to Torino, Italy. Another bus would come from Budapest to meet them in Torino and take them the rest of the journey to Hungary.

MONDAY: The bus rolled up at 9am and the Trocks settled in for the 21-hour ride. Not long into the trip, someone realized that the bus had no bathroom! After numerous stops and slow moving traffic, the company arrived in Torino at 1am. The company went to bed, assured that Tuesday’s bus would get them to Budapest for their performances, and (perhaps more importantly) would be equipped with a bathroom.

TUESDAY: The Trocks left Torino at 8am this morning and are sharing the road with thousands of other people who have the same idea. They have already passed a number of broken-down busses and are counting themselves lucky, despite being stir crazy after so many hours on the road. They will likely arrive in Hungary around 11pm, just in time to go to bed and be up to rehearse for opening night on Wednesday.

2 days and 5 countries later...

The events of the last few days have coined a new phrase among the dancers and staff. When someone starts complaining, they are told to “take it like a Trock” and as the other saying goes, “keep on Trocking”!

~ Katy McDermott

Pilobolus auditions, day 3

2010-04-08T16:09:00.001-04:00

Last week several of us in the IMG office tore ourselves away from our computers and visited Pilobolus in the studio as they conducted auditions for new company members – lucky us!

Almost 300 people auditioned for two highly coveted positions with the main touring company. What I find really interesting about attending something like this – as opposed to a fully produced proscenium performance – is how it makes you think about the qualities of a company in a more specific light.

When we came into the audition, they were wrapping up the end of the third day of auditions, and they had condensed the pool down to about 25 auditionees. This segment was more of a “round robin” format, with random pairings of two auditionees as well as one auditionee and one company member. This makes sense, as Pilobolus works are never the vision of just one person; rather, they are a collaboration between the artistic directors and the dancers (if you read a Pilobolus program carefully, the choreography of any given piece is almost always credited to its original cast as well as to the artistic directors). Company members must be able to improvise, add their own voice to the creative process, and riff off ideas provided by directors.

Of course, there are other qualities I found myself looking at – a certain combination of strength and delicacy; puckish humor; and an almost gymnastic physical control. Towards the end of the day, participants moved away from improve and began learning specific lifts from the Pilobolus repertory, when you could really start to see what sets the company apart from its peers – the ability to collaborate and bring artistry to near-impossible physical feats.

Can’t wait to see how the company moves forward!