The following piece, scored and directed by Jake Wise, was featured as the "cooked" portion of April's show. The performers (Jake Wise, Alejandro Acierto, Tanya Kalmanovich, Emily Bielagus, and Maitreya Levanchild) ran through the piece shortly before the entire group met to discuss the evening's scores. Upon seeing it, I was moved and inspired by structure Jake had created. The piece was at once intricate and specific, and highly candid and improvisational. I asked them to perform the piece twice: Once at the beginning of the show, and once at the end. I had seen this trick used at a Philip Glass concert that my dad took me to when I was 12. The experience as an audience member was highly rewarding. Here is the first performance of Jake's piece:
Cooked/April 15th - 2009 from Tatyana Tenenbaum on Vimeo.
April 15th Raw: Lucy, Ethan, Chris, and Odeya from Tatyana Tenenbaum on Vimeo.
This improvisation, performed by Lucinda Segar, Ethan Cowan, Chris Kuklis, and Odeya Nini, was an experiment in pairing two sets of familiar artists with one another. Kuklis and Nini regularly improvise together in their band, Sing We Owls. Segar and Cowan were in the midst of making a dance, and brought some of their conceptual material to The Raw and the Cooked. The experiment shown here resulted in a collaboration that will be workshoped at Movement Research's Open Performance at Dance Theater Workshop on Wednesday, April 29 at 8pm.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Symmetry and Contrast
The April 15th edition of The Raw and the Cooked was co-curated by Jake Wise, longtime collaborating improviser (see Johnny Butler/Ensemble 46 days, two posts down). For this show, Jake created an improvisational work with two dancers, two clarinetists, and a violinist. All of the instrumentalists also contributed movement...
During the run-through before the show, I found myself deeply moved by the piece. Jake had created a tape piece to accompany the improvisation, which outlined a gradual shape. This shape was augmented by live music performed by several musicians whose movements were also choreographed. The composition of the space had a strong symmetrical layout. I was stunned by the strength of this choice, a choice I myself would never make. The entire piece had an innocence and a clarity that came from that innocence. Jake's movers were both pedestrian and traditional dancers whose various movements were often muddled or unclear. However, he choreographed them in space so clearly that this didn't detract from the cohesion of the piece. Conversely, it added to it.
My dad took me to a Philip Glass concert when I was about 14. It was a duet concert with an African instrumentalist (forgive me for not remembering the country or instrument and for lumping an entire continent together). I remember very little content of this concert, but what I do remember is that Glass opened and closed with the exact same composition. The experience of hearing something both at the beginning and end of a concert was very powerful. As a spur-of-the-moment curatorial decision, I decided to try this with Jake's piece and put it first and last on the program.
During the run-through before the show, I found myself deeply moved by the piece. Jake had created a tape piece to accompany the improvisation, which outlined a gradual shape. This shape was augmented by live music performed by several musicians whose movements were also choreographed. The composition of the space had a strong symmetrical layout. I was stunned by the strength of this choice, a choice I myself would never make. The entire piece had an innocence and a clarity that came from that innocence. Jake's movers were both pedestrian and traditional dancers whose various movements were often muddled or unclear. However, he choreographed them in space so clearly that this didn't detract from the cohesion of the piece. Conversely, it added to it.
My dad took me to a Philip Glass concert when I was about 14. It was a duet concert with an African instrumentalist (forgive me for not remembering the country or instrument and for lumping an entire continent together). I remember very little content of this concert, but what I do remember is that Glass opened and closed with the exact same composition. The experience of hearing something both at the beginning and end of a concert was very powerful. As a spur-of-the-moment curatorial decision, I decided to try this with Jake's piece and put it first and last on the program.
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