random thoughts

Reading Great Dance, DC blog. . . the issue of media and dance seems strange to me. I get all my information about dance from the internet, blogs,e-letters, etc. I have not bought a newspaper for several years and although I do read online dailies, reviews are not often seen anymore and instead these antiquated media outlets that I read; the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Washington Post, New York Times (the exception), print gossip and entertainment fodder, mostly from wire services. That system is so dead, existing in a kind of cultural necrophilia.

When I stopped making dance for theatres, stages and mounted works in old factories, parks and storefronts, I found a whole other audience, one that was not interested in sitting in a red velvet seat for two hours. There are many people who enjoy the comfort of an auditorium and that audience may have certain expectations. But I want to implicate the audience in a new way. I have tried to make the audience a part of the dance, not by asking for participation in a scary way, but just by giving the viewer more choices and vantage points.

I received the book on Anthony McCall's work and his amazing solid light installations, where he implicates the viewer in the sculptures of light using 16mm projectors.

Caroline and I are working with some ideas and fascination with phantasmagoria and other illusions of the 19th century. Going back to pre-digital technologies as a way to see beyond the present. Using light, mirrors and frankincense. . .

Flux excerpt 2

performance space

Thinking about the performance space. . .so often it is defined by hard right angles. The body moves in a curved three-dimensional environment. The performance space should reflect the way the body moves through space. The projection of light can help achieve this. If you project onto a flat rectangular screen then the effect is two-dimensional, but projecting onto a body or a rounded object can bend the light. If the audience in my performance can rotate around the moving body, I suppose the projection sources can vary from above and various side angles. I love the way artist Anthony McCall uses light to sculpt space.

Flux excerpt (1993) Dance film

Here is a slideshow of Old Men Dancing created by Harald Glass.

I have spent several months searching blogs and video sites related to dance and also art, music and architecture. After seeing what is out there, I have decided to weigh in with my voice. . .perhaps to add something unique. I have been a dancer/choreographer since the early 1970s. Experimentation is my dance form. Ballet and Modern was my training. I collaborate with other artists and also with the community, the audience. The work taken place inside and outside the theatre, in post-industrial buildings and outdoors. I have done a lot, in a lot of places. Now I live on a farm outside Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, about two hours from Toronto.

In the coming weeks, I will add archived videos and pictures to this page.

Also, I want use this space to describe the process in the creation of a new work or works. I have three works in mind at the moment. One is a group work in collaboration with visual artist Caroline Langill where we will devise a performance in a mediated environment, using motion tracking and graphic projections, but not on a screen. More a 3-d environment, where the audience can wander about.

The second idea is for an installation piece. This will be outside on a street, or in a small storefront. This is an interactive/interface piece for the participant and the dancer on screen.

The third idea is a solo for myself. I stopped performing fairly early in my career, in part because creating dance was more exciting for me, but also, at age 35, my knees were not enjoying performing and touring anymore. Now I am ready to create a solo.

I just last month presented a piece that was created for a group in Peterborough, Ontario called "Old Men Dancing". We are editing this video footage and I will add this to the blog soon.

Old Men Dancing inspired me over the past year. I had to take it easy after a shoulder surgery and I worked with this group of 15 men who love to dance, aged 46 to 83, for six months. Eight of the group performed the dance: John Anderson, Jim Angel, George Barron, Pete Hewett, Dave McConkey, Brian Nichols, Bob Romerein and Rob Steinman. Others created the music; Michael Hermiston,the visuals; Harald Glass. We had a great time rehearsing twice per week.Last fall, Allan Kaeja from Toronto gave them a contact improv workshop and they loved contact.

Now I am back on my farm. The sheep are grazing beyond my window. I was out in the canoe this afternoon on the creek that runs through the middle. One log was covered in maybe a dozen turtles and there are a lot of minnows in the shallows. The sounds of the frogs (we have about 10 species) are glorious.