out with the old… in with the new

As a new year comes into focus, it amazes me how things change in beautiful yet unexpected ways. With the Patricia Rincon Dance Collective and Collaboration of Teachers and Artists, I get many opportunities to grow artistically and to pass down the legacy to the younger generations in meaningful ways. What more could I ask for?

My relationships with UCSD, Southwestern College and now SD City College continue to develop. Kudos to my UCSD students who created dance on film. You can check out their blogs and videos at http://dancetechucsd.wordpress.com/project. There is something deeply gratifying about seeing this wonderful city through its children.

At the top of my list of the most awesome recent events was my son’s art exhibit. What else can a mother ask for? A preschool that encourages children to be inspired by artists such as Andy Goldsworthy is truly remarkable.

Now I’m diving into Winter/Spring, preparing for PRDC’s first company audition in a long time, and preparing a work about home and motherhood with dance artist Tonnie Samaritano (save the date, April 12-14). Many changes happening this 2012 indeed. So in order to welcome the new, I am checking to make sure I’ve let go of enough old stuff to make room for the amazing-ness.

My motto for the year is an Apache blessing a good friend sent me recently:

may the sun bring you new energy by day,
may the moon softly restore you by night,
may the rain wash away your worries,
may the breeze blow new strength into your being.
may you walk gently through the world and know
its beauty all the days of your life.

My son's art in his preschool's Art Show 2011 featured on the door.

Fall for the Arts :: Latino Now

Fall for the Arts
October 1, 2011 :: 11-4 PM :: FREE
Port Pavilion :: Broadway Pier :: downtown San Diego

Patricia Rincon and I will be presenting a film I helped translate and produce called “Latino Now: Landscapes of Desire,” conceived and directed by Patricia Rincon and Paula Zacharias. The documentary film explores people’s ideas about the American Dream and integrates dance as an extension of the stories being told. The film will be screened at 3:PM with a Q/A session afterwards.

Dozens of vibrant arts and cultural organizations will be there presenting performances, workshops, demonstrations, food and exhibits to kick off National Arts and Humanities Month.

Join us for the fun, FREE event on the Big Bay and get a preview of an exciting fall season of Arts and Culture in San Diego.

To find out more, visit http://www.thebigbay.com/fall-for-the-arts.html.

looking back at BODYPARTS

“Blurred Borders has become a cultural San Diego dance tradition. Come see why.” – signonsandiego.com

“I’m interested in artists who are exploring something new, with a research-based integrity to the work that is fascinating and exciting and powerful…” -Patricia Rincon quoted in Janice Steinberg’s article Blurring the borders of sound, text, movement

The time to reflect on BODYPARTS has come. As part of the Blurred Borders Dance Festival no. 13, Patricia Rincon and I collaborated to bring together dance, visual imagery, set and music at the Saville Theater last May. The Patricia Rincon Dance Collective dancers put their best foot forth to reveal their explorations. Thanks to Rob Norberg and David Atchkinson, the projections orchestrated beautifully with the shifting set, lighting and choreography. Having created some distance between me and the event, I am able to look back at the process and bring out some of the relevant moments that built this work into the profound exploratory piece that it became.

Back in March, Patricia invited me to talk about a piece she had been thinking about that centered around the body as a somatic experience. She showed me an image of Miche Fabre Lewin’s “Mother of Bone” installation, made with newsprint role and body movement. There was something fascinating about the texture in that installation that reminded me of white clay dust and wood, and throug this image we began to explore which direction to proceed in. We looked at other bone images and x-rays while discussing the somatic process of revealing layers of memory in the body, and concealing/revealing in general. We asked ourselves how we could honor the body and the work it has done for us, and for people in general, in a ritualistic and celebratory way. It seemed that the work was laid out in front of us and I began my research.

The piece evolved from being called “Skin” to becoming “Bodyparts.” For me, the piece became a way of exploring how we see bone, within the skin container and without it, and how bone is a living, breathing entity that ages and we must care for. For Patricia, it seemed to evolve into an exploration of relationships and the constant human process of discovering who we are as we change, largely due to  her experience of having knee surgery. Our visions intersected, but didn’t start coming together for me until we worked in the studio one day taking photographs of Patricia manipulating the skeleton. There was something about the way she held the skeleton that was serious, yet playful, that kinesthetically communicated her vision to me.

During this time, I must have gone through a couple dozen medical databases searching for images that conveyed the moods and textures we were looking for. I also spent a considerable amount of time looking for a way to project these images using MaxMSP/Jitter and VolTRON. That is, until I found HC Gilje’s Video Projection Tool (VPT), a stand-alone software tool he created in MaxMSP. This tool made it very easy to combine projected images with live video feed and allowed me to mask the video to match the exact contour of the box sculptures I was projecting on. After many hours of masking and programming, the piece was a success and I was very happy to have found VPT. I used the Korg NanoKontrol slider during rehearsals to pull up the images and figure out the exact order of the projections, much easier than using a mouse in the dark. The final timing of the projections was programmed into VPT.

I want to thank the “The Cardiac Atlas” by the Auckland MRI Research Group at http://atlas.scmr.org for  providing the video of the right aorta, which brought the piece into the live video feed of dancer Keely Campbell with skeleton so beautifully. A thanks to Deepz at http://deepakrishna.wordpress.com for providing amazing images of bone tissue. There are many more that ought to be mentioned but have gotten lost in the databases of internet imagery.

Last but not least, a big thanks to Patricia Rincon for inviting me to go on this fabulous journey of re-discovering the body through the merger of dance and digital technology. I look forward to the future development of BODYPARTS and exploring the juxtaposition of body and projected image.

Blurred Borders

There is much to say about this year’s Blurred Borders International Dance Festival XIII. But where to begin? From witnessing Company Drift to collaborating with Patricia Rincon in BODYPARTS, I have felt enveloped and carried through at the same time.

I must acknowledge Patricia Rincon and Stephen Keys for their support and encouragement, which has been instrumental in my development as an artist and collaborator with the Patricia Rincon Dance Collective. Have a look at the site and let me know what you think at ionprojekt7 [at] gmail [dot] com. Building the website as well as the visuals for Patricia’s choreography BODYPARTS has allowed me to see the website as a natural extension of the work. There is more development to be done in the social media aspects of the company website, which I hope will be forthcoming.

I also want to thank John Crawford, Lisa Naugle and Martin Gotfrit for allowing me the continued use of the Active Space system, which assisted in the development of the visuals for BODYPARTS, and to thank HC Gilje for making the Video Projection Tool available. It has allowed me to work with the BODYPARTS images with detail and precision while still integrating live media and personal timing. I have yet to acknowledge the various media sources which I was able to access to obtain many of the medical imagery I selected for BODYPARTS.

Other than that, if you have attended Blurred Borders, thank you for supporting my work. Drop me a line and let me know what you saw. I’m interested. If you missed it, I hope you can come see what I’ve been doing with digital media. It seems that dance has been a vehicle for me to arrive at video and live interactive media and I truly enjoy it. You will see my “projections” on stage now, instead of my body.

Coming soon: collaborations with Tonnie Samaritano, Yolande Snaith and further developments with the Patricia Rincon Dance Collective. See you online.

P.S. If you are a UCSD Theater & Dance student, make sure to sign up for my Fall 2011 class Dance and Technology. We will review a variety of developments in the realm of dance and digital technolgy and work in the dance studio to develop projects. Relevant theoretical trends and discussions will be included.

March Maddness at Archive Fever

March was a busy month during the UCSD’s Art Gallery’s (UAG) Archive Fever series, curated by Jenn Moreno. Visual art, dance and theater professors at UCSD paid tribute to one of UAG’s archive exhibits.  I focused on the video design for two dance works being presented as part of this series. Re-Remembering Fronteras choreographed by Patricia Rincon, and 100 Feet choreographed and performed by Yolande Snaith.

On Thursday, March 3rd, the Patricia Rincon Dance Collective paid tribute to Fronteras, a festival of Chicano art, politics and theatre that took place at the UCSD Art Gallery happening and around the campus in 1976.

Choreographer Patricia Rincon found a strong connection between that 1976 festival and her recent dance theatre performance Peeled and her dance documentary Latino Now: Landscapes of Desire. They are all about immigration and the Mexican-American experience in the border region. The result was Re-Remembering Fronteras — in collaboration with video artists Paula Zacharias and myself, along with dancers Keely Campbell, Kenna Crouch, Sarah Larson, Sammy Mitchell and Justin Viernes. Both Peeled and Latino Now: Landscape of Desire are based on research and interviews conducted by Rincon and Zacharias in central Mexico, Los Angeles, and San Diego about immigration to America and different people’s ideas of the American Dream

The evening began with a performance set by Chicano theater artist Robert Castro. It set a pensive, expressive tone with costumes created by the theater artists. As the dancers entered the space, the projections of interviews, text and images for Peeled were displayed on three of the gallery walls. The large, white space was a wonderful canvas for me to work with and design the projection layout. At the end of Peeled only one projector was left on showing the film Latino Now: Landscapes of Desire, which I produced and subtitled.

The happening was well-attended and I hope we get to do Peeled  and Latino Now in the same performance again, as one complements the other.

On Thursday, March 17 Yolande Snaith performed her dance theater solo 100 Feet. With live music by Kristopher Apple and video installation by yours truly, Snaith explored questions of identity of the performer in relation to a lineage of historic women, from Elizabeth I to Gertrude Stein to Marilyn Monroe.

“50 pairs of shoes in a snow white space evoke the mysterious presence of past lives, through words and images of 50 notable women who left their distinctive footprints, re-inhabited and re-animated through the constantly shifting presence of the solo performer.”

Snaith, inspired by these women, made references to her British roots in the European style of improvisational dance theater to form an elaborate solo with powerful imagery and text. She used quotes from the 50 most influential women in her life (two feet per woman, thus 100 feet) and recited them throughout her dance. Between her words, her wig, the 100 shoes, Apple’s music and the video of Snaith’s face amongst snowy trees and rivers, the piece became a powerful statement about life, death, being a woman and moving through the many stages of reflection and existence.

When Snaith first approached me about this project, she brought a video of snowy landscapes she had recorded in Utah and some specific ideas about what she wanted. She explained that is when she started thinking about this piece. I overlaid the forest and recordings of her face, some of her text and sometimes just white to create the abstract environment of self-reflection she was looking for. I made the video installation expand along the width of the longest wall with two mirrored projections side-to-side creating a seam that went into itself in the middle.

I look forward to the next development of this project which we plan will be presented in the Fall in San Diego, and abroad soon thereafter. This time, however, a live interactive system will be more appropriate to the improvisational nature of her work.

Coming up soon: mayhem in May with an upcoming video for Alicia Rincon’s choreography At Play at City College May 6 & 7 at Random Acts of Dance, and creating an interactive live performance system for Patricia Rincon’s piece Body Parts at the Blurred Borders International Dance Festival on May 20 & 21.

Update your holiday

Once, a man told me that every new year he puts his money on the table and states a reminder that, between the two of them, he is in charge. Likewise, with the objects I own and with Facebook updates, I have also taken a moment to re-establish who is in charge. Once that is covered, I take the time to reflect on the year that has passed and on the year to come.

In that spirit, I have taken the majority of the 2010 year to take a step away from being a “dancer” and reflect upon my relationship with my body, my relationship with this thing called “dance” and to think about how I have placed myself within the San Diego dance community. I have taken refuge in yoga, strengthening my health and my mind-body-spiritual connection. I have also witnessed many of my colleagues grow and succeed despite the economic challenges the nation has endured.

During the coming year I will take the time to establish my role in the artistic and dance community as a dance instructor, researcher and collaborator. I will take the time to give form to a dance technique that has been gradually emerging, founded on somatic work and release techniques, integrating improvisation and thriving on momentum. It will integrate more yoga and healing work into dance, not a hurtful act to endure. I will create opportunities to teach and share this path with others in the San Diego community and beyond. My creative work will continue to evolve, and will include more types of performance spaces, including an increased use of public spaces, galleries and the internet. I will commit to more writing and research time, with opportunities to present the work that evolves from such ventures. I will invite more collaborations and partnerships that serve the community and that involve metadata, address issues surrounding the borderland and promote the expansion of conscious awareness.

However, the most important aspect of my reflection is to acknowledge all of you, my readership and my supporters. Thank you for your presence at my events, for your email responses, for your firm honesty when I asked for it, and for being open recipients for my creative endeavors. What is life without creative questions? Or without creative interpretations?

My thoughts for you today are to wish you a joyful holiday season and cherished time with family and friends. My wish is that you live healthy and prosper. And who knows, maybe you too will take a moment to sit in front of the Facebook screen and say whose the boss. At least until it’s time for the next status update.

 

onSIGHT

On halloween I participated in the University House film project as a part of UCSD’s 50th anniversary celebration. Under the direction of Allyson Green, with Peter Tzerezakis’ magical light installations and long with other UCSD alumni, we had the privilege of creating site-specific dances in this historic landmark.  Overlooking the beach, this University House is now empty because it was found to be built on an ancient Kumeyay burial ground.  Between Allyson’s direction, Peter’s magic, good friends, and with the support of a wonderful administration and a hard-working crew, I witnessed a magical collaboration in which everyone participated with the utmost respect.

I look forward to the screening of this onSIGHT film, a way for UCSD Theater and Dance Department to celebrate UCSD’s 50th anniversary.  Thanks everyone.  It was wonderful to see alumni from several generations come together for this filming.  See you on the screen!

Performance Art @ Autumn Lights LA

I’m performing in a collaboration with visual artist Anna Stump and composer Chris Komashko at Autumn Lights LA tonight. So if you happen to be around town tonight, stop by. This event features art that uses light.

Where: Pershing Square, Downtown LA

When: Saturday, September 25 7:pm to 1:am.

For more information visit autumnlightsla.com.

Autumn Lights LA

Trolley Dances 2010

12th Annual Trolley Dances
Saturday, September 25 and Sunday, September 26, 2010
Saturday, October 2 and Sunday, October 3, 2010
County Administration Building, 1600 Pacific Highway, SD CA 92101

A one- of- kind ride to see site- specific dance. This year, the annual site-specific dance project travels from the historic County Administration Building to The New Chidlren’s Museum to the Hilton Bayfront Hotel with stops in between for site-specific dance created by Jean Isaacs and Trolley favorite Monica Bill Barnes (New York). Other participating choreographers include  Isabel Beteta de Cou (Mexico City), Bradley Lundberg, and Patricia Sanback. Each year “Trolley Dances” employs more than 50 San Diego dancers. Led by volunteer guides, audience members get on and off the trolley at specific stations to view the pieces, which are set in unexpected locations.  Each of the participating choreographers will select a site along the route and create a new piece that responds to the physical environment or interprets the culture, history, or intended use of the specific site.

$25-$10 / includes a FREE all day Trolley Pass with advance purchase.
6 Tours Daily from 10 am-3 pm / starting every hour from the County Administration Building

www.sandiegodancetheater.org

Video for Choreography

This spring I finished two video collaborations for the Rincon sisters.

For Alicia Rincon’s choreography P.S. What I Forgot To Say I made a text-heavy video for the background of the first and last sections. The piece dealt with the romantic letter as a lost art. The first section uses elegant script in which the actual message of the letter is never conveyed. There are two solos in the middle and then the last section illustrates text and digital messages that are direct and cryptic at best. I used more vibrant moving graphics for that. I had a lot of fun with LiveType and FinalCut with this project.

I don’t have a full recording of Alicia’s piece, so here’s part 1 of the video for P.S. What I Forgot To Say

Here is a clip of part 4 (last section) of P.S. What I Forgot To Say

For Patricia Rincon’s choreography PEELED, part of her annual Blurred Borders Dance Festival, I combined some of her previous documentary footage with some text and gave it snow… grainy textures.  That was a more intense project, even though there was less material to work with. The documentary is something Pat and I will be working more with in the near future.  PEELED is about people’s stories, people trying to cross the border from Mexico to the United States, people seeking the American Dream, people in the United States defining their version of the American Dream.  The documentary, “Latino Now: Landscapes of Desires” will be screened at a future date. I’ll post that as soon as I know.

I won’t post the video for PEELED here because it is very black without the choreography. I’ll post as soon as I have it with the dance happening in front.

I’ll be shifting out of video mode and into Trolley Dances mode for the next two months. See you all at the trolley!