#Impermanence Dance Theatre

[deepthikhicha1015]

Title: Exploring the Cultural Significance of Dance in Different Societies

Introduction

Dance is a universal language that transcends borders, cultures, and generations. It serves as a powerful medium for conveying emotions, stories, and traditions. Across the globe, societies have developed their unique dance forms, each carrying deep cultural significance. In this article, we embark on a journey to explore the rich tapestry of dance's cultural importance in various societies, shedding light on the ways it reflects, preserves, and celebrates cultural heritage.

Dance as a Reflection of Identity

In many societies, dance serves as a reflection of cultural identity. Traditional dances often embody the history, values, and beliefs of a particular community. For instance, the Flamenco dance in Spain is a passionate and expressive form that captures the essence of Andalusian culture. Its rhythmic footwork, dramatic hand movements, and emotional intensity reflect the resilience and passion of the Spanish people.

Similarly, the graceful movements of the Japanese Noh theatre dance, or Noh Mai, are deeply rooted in Japanese aesthetics and spirituality. These dances, characterized by slow, deliberate gestures, represent the nation's reverence for nature, the supernatural, and the concept of impermanence.

Preservation of Cultural Heritage

Dance plays a crucial role in preserving cultural heritage. In societies where oral traditions are prevalent, dance becomes a medium for passing down stories, myths, and rituals from one generation to the next. Indigenous cultures, such as those of Native American tribes, use dance to connect with their ancestral past and maintain a sense of continuity.

In India, classical dance forms like Bharatanatyam, Kathak, and Odissi have endured for centuries, preserving the myths, legends, and religious stories of the subcontinent. These dances are not just artistic performances but are also seen as a form of spiritual devotion and a way of paying homage to deities.

Celebrating Festivals and Milestones

Dance often takes center stage during celebrations and milestones in various societies. Festivals, weddings, and rites of passage are marked by dances that express joy, unity, and community spirit. The Brazilian Carnival, with its samba and capoeira dances, is a vibrant celebration of life and culture, drawing millions of participants and spectators each year.

In African societies, dance is an integral part of rituals and ceremonies. The energetic and rhythmic dances of tribes like the Zulu in South Africa or the Yoruba in Nigeria are performed during weddings, funerals, and initiation rites. These dances reinforce a sense of belonging and mark significant life events.

Social Cohesion and Communication

Dance serves as a means of social cohesion and communication within societies. In many African and indigenous communities, circle dances and line dances are used to foster a sense of unity and cooperation. Participants move in harmony, reinforcing bonds and shared values.

Furthermore, dance can convey messages and emotions that words alone may fail to express. In Argentina, the tango is not just a dance but also a form of emotional communication between partners. The close embrace, intricate footwork, and intense eye contact allow dancers to convey desire, passion, and love without uttering a word.

Globalization and Fusion

In today's interconnected world, the boundaries between cultures are increasingly blurred. Dance has not been immune to this global exchange of ideas and styles. Fusion dances, like the contemporary blend of Indian classical and Western dance forms, highlight the evolving nature of cultural expression. These hybrid dances celebrate diversity and challenge traditional notions of cultural boundaries.

Check out the 5 most popular dance styles in the world: https://dancewithdeepthi.in/dance-styles-in-the-world/

Conclusion

Dance is a living, breathing embodiment of cultural identity, history, and expression. It has the power to unite communities, preserve traditions, and communicate across language barriers. Whether in the graceful movements of a classical ballet or the rhythmic beats of an African drum circle, dance continues to be a vital thread in the fabric of societies worldwide. Its significance is a testament to the enduring power of culture and the human spirit.

[averagenighttimeenjoyer]

The Nature of Pleasure and Pain.

"All the world's a stage-"

In the theatre of human life, two main leads take centre stage: (1) pleasure and (2) pain. These complementaries intertwine in a gentle dance that shapes perceptions, emotions, and even the understanding of life itself.

Pleasure: An arrangement of delight that awakens senses, pleasure serves as a beacon of joy in the vast and seemingly lonely expanse of existence. It could find you in the hug of a loved one, the taste of a favourite dish, or the thrill of an accomplishment. But the nature of pleasure is as elusive as it is captivating. It is often fleeting, leaving an afterglow that fades into memory. Like a firework, it bursts enthusiastically in moments of brilliance, leaving us yearning for more even as it dissolves into the night.

Pain: The shadowy counterpart to pleasure, pain could be a teacher of resilience and vulnerability. It arrives uninvited (to the average person), knocking at the door of our hearts, demanding to be acknowledged. Whether physical or emotional, its presence is always undeniable. It etches stories onto our souls and reminds us of our mortality and the complications of our humanity. Strangely, pain can also be a paradoxical source of connection—it unites us in the shared experience of suffering, binding us with threads of empathy and compassion.

Yet, the lines between pleasure and pain often blur, revealing a complexity that's beyond simple categorization. Within sorrow, we can find moments of bittersweet beauty. Amidst the euphoria of pleasure, a hint of melancholy can indeed linger—the awareness of its impermanence.

[attystark]

OK but, TMA entity inspired theme park divided into different sections based on the entities.

If you enter from the main guests, you’ll first see the Eye, which has a dark ride inspired by Jonah Magnus’s house, and a museum of oddities where visitors can give statements.

The Lonely has a forest garden, so big that you could walk for hours and see only your reflection on the lake.

On the opposite side of the lake, every night, the Desolation hosts a firework show that ends in an illusion of setting the lake on fire, and a coaster through the forest as you flee a blaze. 

Cutting through the middle of the park, split into two halves, is the Food Corridor. 

The front half is both a parent’s dream and their nightmare, themed to the corruption, it’s all unhealthy sweets, doughnuts and the kind of dubious cafe food that makes you wonder if it’s made of plastic, but there’s also loads of stuff about learning about bugs, like a butterfly garden, and a kids coaster called “Moths Flight.” 

The second is themed to the Flesh. It sells a lot of meat products (obviously) and is probably sponsored by KFC. There’s probably a few carnival games themed to the bone gardens and stuff, as well as a dark ride about the human body and a shop offering piercings, those plastic body halloween props and bone flower models. 

The Hunt and Slaughter share a section, and it definitely attracts a lot of thrill seekers. There’s loads of coasters including one of those duel ones so you’re trying to catch/escape the other track called “beasts” and a kid’s playground with mass games of laser tag, hide and seek and manhunt overseen by staff members. 

The Dark and End’s section tends to blend together, featuring a space mountain style ride for the dark, a graveyard dance 4D experience that sells fake death certificates from the End, and special shows on Eclipses. The Dark also has a shooter where you ‘turn off’ the stars. 

The Stranger’s section is split across the food corridor, with the small section being more adult. There’s a coaster where the idea is you’re running from a killer clown, and year round 16+ horror maze with a similar premise. The other section is for kids. There’s a two story carousel, a massive circus, a wax museum and a few kid’s coasters. It probably also has a bounce house. 

The Vast and Buried are next to each other. On the overlap between the two opposed entities is a dive coaster similar to Alton Towers’ Oblivion, where riders plunge from a vertical drop into an underground section, though both sections last longer than AT’s one. 

The Vast has a massive aquarium, one of those spinning swing rides, a log flume and a drop tower. 

The Buried has a mine train that really goes underground, a massive sandpit just called ‘DIG’ and a zoo exhibit with mongoose or meerkats where you can walk through the underground part of the exhibit and see the tunnels they did in a large, clear tunnel. 

The Web is one of the smaller sections, with only a puppet show that runs twice an hour for twenty minutes, hosted in a theatre that looks like a run down old house on the top of a hill. In the same building is ARACHNID ENCOUNTER, a shooter ride where you shoot spiders. 

The Spiral has a maze and hall of mirrors, as well as a downward corkscrew coaster just called ‘spiral’ and some other carnival rides designed to be just vomit inducing. 

The smallest section of the park is fenced off, but promises to ‘TORMENT YOU SOON’ and is rumoured to be extinction themed. No one knows much about planned attractions, just the titles: one called meteor people think will be a family coaster and an experience called ‘After Us’ sponsored by the Lukas Corporation. 

At the center of the park, flanked by a hotel, is Smirke Square. It hosts a market, impermanent carnival rides, and a large stage. On this stage, every morning at 6 hotel guests can watch the park be opened to a ritual, and every evening at 10 anyone can watch the closing ceremony of a counter ritual that shuts the park down for another day. 

[writefightandflightclub]

list five things that make you happy. Leave this in the inbox of anyone who has made you happy on this hellsite 🥰💐

1. Beach days: Hunting for sea glass and finding a whole bunch to pop in your pocket. The smell of saltwater. The grains of sand beneath your feet. Finding the most interesting pebbles or petrified wood or weird buried objects. Peering into rock pools and watching the life there. The colours. The openness; the frayed edge of land. The sea. The beautiful sea. The sound of it. How it is different every single time you visit it. When waves catch the pier and spray you. Walking to the lighthouse and spotting dolphins. Eating ice cream or fish and chips. The feel in your legs after the bracing walk to the top of a cliff as the breeze whips your hair. The feeling of finding a hidden cave or cove to explore and imagining you’re the first visitor. The sun dancing on the tips of the waves like music. The quiet. The rhythm of it. Bracing yourself to get in when it’s too cold. The feel of towel dried hair and freshness, salt on your lips. Putting starfish back in the water. The moon shining softly down. The timelessness of it. The impermanence of it. Taking so many pictures. (Huge bonus if it’s raining or storming 😂)

2. Forests: the green, the bird song, the air, the varied textures underfoot from springy moss to nobbled tree roots. The colours. The variety. The shade. The peace. Bark under my fingers. Climbing things. Touching things. Stopping to admire the majesty of flowers and plants. Spotting a bird or an animal. Crunching leaves in autumn. The blaze of orange trees. Feeling free. Hunting for mushrooms. Taking so many pictures. (Rain is nice here too…)

3. Getting lost in a creation (of mine or someone else’s): writing (lol, my true love), singing, drawing, photography, reading, theatre, films, music, watching, viewing, listening, feeling, thinking, making, exploring, learning. Always learning. Always fangirling about things.

4. Big city days: the bustle, the interest, the anonymity, the way you can slip into it and disappear, the quiet havens in the noise, the unpredictability, the novelty and excitement, smiles and laughs, the sights and lights and sensations, the sheer and infinite possibility of it, the aroma of coffee and a trip to a museum or gallery where you can be swallowed by history and creativity and the human experience. BOOKSHOPS! The way it makes your mind tick. Taking so many photos again, lol. (Don’t mind if it rains here either 😂)

5. Home: long hot baths, snuggling on the sofa, my favourite mug and favourite company, films we might hate or might love, talking about them afterwards, everything I need being within reach, the absence of demands or expectations, the feel of a book in my hands and love in my arms, the trees outside the window, a warm cosy bed and pyjamas all day. Listening to the rain outside with nowhere to be.

BONUS: CUTE PARROT VIDEOS 😂😂😂 I DIEEEEEEE!

Thanks so much for sending this ask, Anon! 🧡🧡🧡

[doubleattitude]

NUVO Dance Convention, Minneapolis, MN: RESULTs

High Scores by Age:

NUbie Solo

1st: Aria Telander-’Diamonds’

1st: Mila Simunic-’Never Enough’

2nd: Neala Murphy-’Go Gently’

3rd: Zoey Brooks-’Boyfriend’s Back’

3rd: Violet Cruz-Blanco-’Eyes of A Child’

4th: Savannah Jackson-’His Eye is on The Sparrow’

4th: Ruby Kramer-’Transcience’

5th: Brooke Krawska-’Fawn’

6th: Maylin Munos-’Twilight’

7th: Clara McArdle-’Music Box’

8th: Mollie Darling-’Miracles’

9th: Lexie Shelton-’Hallelujiah’

10th: Evie Umbreit-’Bop’

Mini Solo

1st: Lilly Anderson-’Faun’

1st: Kelsie Jacobson-’I Dreamed A Dream’

2nd: Skylar Wong-’Elephants’

2nd: Carrigan Paylor-’It Is Time’

2nd: Finley Ashfield-’My Girl’

3rd: Harper Anderson-’Things Left Behind’

4th: Leighton Curry-’La Petit Fleur’

4th: Ingrid Wirtz-’Shining’

5th: Olivia Chiu-’Acceptance’

5th: Brittany Johnson-’Bird Land’

5th: Daphnie Braun-’Solace’

5th: Isabella Charnstrom-’The Brink’

6th: Annabel Schoolmeesters-’Lost Orbit’

6th: Lucy Mae Dunn-’Time For Mercy’

7th: Kate Baldwin-’Zimmer’

8th: Eden Hardy-’Cool Waves’

8th: Stella Kate Ziemke-’Edge’

8th: Natalie Cerepak-’Smoldering’

9th: Ava McCraine-’Femme Fatale’

9th: Ana Santos-’Je Suis Vivant’

9th: Ava Otto-’Light Sorrounds Me’

9th: Lauren Chiu-’Only Hope’

9th: Lainey Christeson-’You Are The Reason’

10th: Tova Thompson-’Arctic’

10th: Brooklyn Mohs-’La Vie En Rose’

Junior Solo

1st: Gracyn French-’A Character of Quiet’

2nd: Aaliyah Dixon-’Vintage Laser’

3rd: Carley Jensen-’April In Paris’

4th: Angelina Elliot-’The Mind’

5th: Sophia Anderson-’Emerald Mist’

5th: Josie Lutz-’It Is Time’

5th: Phoenix Jonat-’The Last Rose’

6th: Brynn Kostka-’Answer’

6th: Amelia Cherepanov-’Burgundy’

6th: Preslie Lopez-’Listen’

7th: Kylie Carter-’A Conscious Dispute’

7th: Olivia Shelton-’Ahead’

7th: Audrey Proulx-’Exist for Love’

7th: Klaire Simek-’Spine’

8th: Kylie Freeman-’Encompassed’

8th: MaKenna Allison-’Hate Me’

8th: Kira Reissner-’Shadow Journal’

9th: Siena Paradeau-’Cradle’

9th: Teagan Murphy-’Devoted’

9th: Brooklyn Alstead-’He’s A Dream’

9th: Claire Monge-’Inertia

9th: Ava Munos-’The Final Goodbye’

10th: Skylar Okerlund-’Echo’

10th: Braylin Uselding-’Light Leak’

10th: Zoe Zielinski-’Z’

Teen Solo

1st: Ava Wagner-’Change Is Everything’

1st: Isabella Jarvis-’Moonlight Serenade’

2nd: Cami Redpath-’Confined’

2nd: Harlow Ganz-’End of Love’

2nd: Payton Riss-’Twisting and Untangling’

2nd: Sydney Ishaug-’Wave’

3rd: Lydia Werschay-’A Deal With Chaos’

3rd: Mini Preston-’Rosas’

3rd: Keira Redpath-’Send in the Clowns’

3rd: Lynlie Ferrin-’Visnaga’

4th: Ayla Pilrain-’Commit’

4th: Caleb Abea-’Slide’

4th: Livia Wambach-’Wild is the Wind’

5th: Faith Cichocki-’Analysis’

5th: Kylie Vandeest-’Recognition’

5th: Mercedes Lorentz-’Reminiscence’

6th: Peyton Anderson-’Anata’

6th: Ema Cable-’Come Back To Us’

6th: Ivan Beetoe-’Giving Up’

6th: Alexa Leonard-’Hit & Run’

6th: Madeline Raverty-’Reveal’

7th: Reese Noha-’Another Love’

7th: Bella Saferstein-’I Am The Earth’

7th: Noelle Bjork-’Underground’

7th: Audrey Healy-’Waves’

7th: Vanessa Barnes-’Yesterday’

7th: Grace Kimmel-’Your Day Will Come’

8th: Hannah Olstad-’Lonely’

8th: Grace Wolk-’Under Your Breath’

9th: Madden Zook-’After Rain’

9th: Caleigh Proulx-’Hold On’

9th: Julissa Ortiz-’Never Knock’

9th: Mallorie Byard-’The Chain’

9th: Lexi Cairney-’Voyage’

10th: Brooklyn Bengtson-’All I Want’

10th: Falyn Jones-’Darkness Before the Dawn’

10th: Peyton Kratochwill-’Lotus Bud’

10th: Katelyn Franta-’Turning Tables’

Senior Solo

1st: Bennet EspindaBanick-’In Vessel’

2nd: Elisabeth Pabich-’The Art of Dealing With Pain’

3rd: Sara Gutz-’2,3,4′

3rd: Kate Happe-’Ne Me Quitte Pas’

3rd: Adam Truesdell-’Vanishing Act’

4th: Haley Klemesrud-’10,000 Miles’

4th: Evelina Galimova-’Belly of the Beast’

4th: Halie Hauer-’Grieving’

5th: Minda Li-’Efforts to Reignite’

5th: Amanda Fitzgerald-’Millions of Eels’

5th: Miranda Shaugnessy-’Shift’

6th: Kelly Blahauvietz-’Blackbird’

6th: Lauren Sklar-’Night and Day’

7th: Olivia Johnson-’Days Gone Quiet’

7th: Lexi Heath-’Visions of Gideon’

8th: Sophie Cowgill-’Bird Gherl’

8th: Joshua Ukura-’Serendipity March’

9th: Joy Lyn Erlandson-’Quiver’

9th: Ally Nelson-’Snowing’

9th: Emma Sranske-’While We Are Young’

10th: Bella Cundiff-’I Will Love You’

Open Solo

1st: Thomas Nguyen-’Falling’

NUbie Duo/Trio

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Horizon’

2nd: Dance Vision-’Timber’

3rd: Ballaraena Dance Studio-’Dark Side’

Mini Duo/Trio

1st: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Something’s Gotta Change’

2nd: The Dance Complex-’Crumbling’

2nd: Larkin Dance Studio-’Peel’

3rd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Birthday’

Junior Duo/Trio

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Dark’

2nd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Soldier’

3rd: Madill Performing Arts Center-’Vanishing’

Teen Duo/Trio

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Touch’

2nd: The Dance Complex-’Desired Constellations’

3rd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’She Moves’

Senior Duo/Trio

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Impermanence’

2nd: Dance, etc!-’Particles’

3rd: Dance, etc!-’New Skin’

Open Duo/Trio

1st: Acting in Motion-’End of Love’

NUbie Group

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’These Boots’

2nd: Larkin Dance Studio-’The Waiting Room’

3rd: Larkin Dance Studio-’As Long As You Love Me’

3rd: Larkin Dance Studio-’I Will Wait’

3rd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Lullaby’

Mini Group

1st: Summit Dance Shoppe-’What Have You Done For Me Lately’

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’This Bitter Earth’

2nd: Larkin Dance Studio-’Jailhouse Rock’

3rd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Hallelujah’

3rd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Soon You’ll Get Better’

Junior Group

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Between These Hands’

2nd: Larkin Dance Studio-’Nails, Hair, Hips, Heels’

3rd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Wolves’

Teen Group

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Paranoia’

2nd: Larkin Dance Studio-’Case of You’

3rd: Larkin Dance Studio-’The Wolves’

Senior Group

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Fragment’

2nd: Larkin Dance Studio-’What Is The Noise’

3rd: Larkin Dance Studio-’Dreams’

Mini Line

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Short Skirt, Long Jacket’

2nd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’This Way’

3rd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Imagine’

Junior Line

1st: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Whole Lotta Woman’

2nd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’It Wasn’t Always Like This’

2nd: Larkin Dance Studio-’Naive to the Bone’

3rd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Bathers’

Teen Line

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’You’

2nd: Larkin Dance Studio-’Rewind’

3rd: Dance, etc!-’Thistle and Weeds’

Senior Line

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Rapid City’

2nd: Dance, etc!-’Begin the Beguine’

NUbie Extended Line

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Glamorous’

2nd: Larkin Dance Studio-’Barbie and Ken’

3rd: Larkin Dance Studio-’Broadway Banana’

Mini Extended Line

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Of What Is’

2nd: Larkin Dance Studio-’Feeling Gorgeous’

2nd: Larkin Dance Studio-’Yankee Doodle Dandee’

3rd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Trouble’

Teen Extended Line

1st: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Do You?’

2nd: Larkin Dance Studio-’Everybody Loves You’

2nd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Well Played’

3rd: Larkin Dance Studio-’So Much Betta’

Senior Extended Line

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Yes & No’

2nd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Adrenaline’

3rd: Larkin Dance Studio-’Affair of Honor’

Junior Production

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Tiger Rag’

Teen Production

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Red Handed’

2nd: Larkin Dance Studio-’Digital Motion’

High Scores by Performance Division:

NUbie Jazz

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’These Boots’ 2nd: Larkin Dance Studio-’Glamorous’ 3rd: Larkin Dance Studio-’Barbie and Ken’

NUbie Tap

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Broadway Banana’ 2nd: Larkin Dance Studio-’Funky Y2C’

NUbie Contemporary

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’The Waiting Room’ 2nd: Larkin Dance Studio-’I Will Wait’ 2nd: Larkin Dance Studio-’As Long As You Love Me’

NUbie Lyrical

1st: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Lullaby’ 2nd: Dance Vision-’Tightrope’ 3rd: Balleraena Dance Studio-’Battlefield’

NUbie Musical Theatre

Balleraena Dance Studio-’Unwritten Rules’

Mini Jazz

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Short Skirt, Long Jacket’ 2nd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’What Have You Done For Me Lately’ 3rd: Larkin Dance Studio-’Feeling Gorgeous’

Mini Ballet

1st: Summit Dance Shoppe-’This Way’ 2nd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Rosamunde’ 2nd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Cats’ 3rd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Whistle a Happy Tune’

Mini Hip-Hop

1st: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Don’t Slack’ 2nd: Dance, etc!-’The Girls’

Mini Tap

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Yankee Doodle Dandee’ 2nd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Choo Choo’ 3rd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Swing In The Mood’

Mini Contemporary

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Of What Is’ 2nd: Larkin Dance Studio-’This Bitter Earth’ 3rd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Imagine’

Mini Lyrical

1st: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Dream In Color’ 2nd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Soon You’ll Get Better’ 2nd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Hallelujah’ 3rd: Larkin Dance Studio-’The Lord’s Prayer’

Mini Musical Theatre

1st: Summit Dance Shoppe-’I’ve Got Rhythm’ 2nd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’All That Jazz’ 3rd: Balleraena Dance Studio-’Someone In The Crowd’

Junior Jazz

1st: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Whole Lotta Woman’ 1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Nails, Hair, Hips, Heels’ 2nd: Dance, etc!-’Bassline’ 3rd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Time’

Junior Ballet

1st: Woodbury Dance Center-’Combust’ 2nd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Bathers’

Junior Hip-Hop

Dance, etc!-’Comin In’

Junior Tap

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Tiger Rag’ 2nd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Valerie’

Junior Contemporary

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Between These Hands’ 2nd: Larkin Dance Studio-’Naive to the Bone’ 2nd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’It Wasn’t Always Like This’ 3rd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Wolves’

Junior Lyrical

1st: Dance, etc!-’Half Light’ 2nd: Misty’s Dance Unlimited-’Head and Heart’

Teen Jazz

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’So Much Betta’ 2nd: Dance Express-’Bassline’ 3rd: Madill Performing Arts Center-’Move’

Teen Hip-Hop

Dance, etc!-’When I Move’

Teen Tap

1st: Summit Dance Shoppe-’25 Miles’ 2nd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Things I Regret’ 3rd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Work Me Down’

Teen Contemporary

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Red Handed’ 2nd: Larkin Dance Studio-’You’ 3rd: Larkin Dance Studio-’Paranoia’

Teen Lyrical

1st: Dance, etc!-’People Help the People’ 2nd: Madill Performing Arts Center-’Found’

Teen Specialty

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Digital Motion’ 2nd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Do You?’ 3rd: Madill Performing Arts Center-’Nine Two Five’

Senior Jazz

1st: Northland School of Dance-’London Bridge’ 2nd: Dance, etc!-’Begin the Beguine’ 3rd: Misty’s Dance Unlimited-’Another One Bites The Dust’

Senior Hip-Hop

1st: Dance, etc!-’Ani’ 2nd: Dynamic Dance Company-’Welcome To The Party’

Senior Contemporary

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Rapid City’ 2nd: Larkin Dance Studio-’Fragment’ 3rd: Larkin Dance Studio-’Affair of Honor’

Senior Lyrical

1st: Summit Dance Shoppe-’A Beautiful Reminder’ 2nd: Dynamic Dance Company-’Leave A Light On’ 3rd: Misty’s Dance Unlimited-’Conformed’

Senior Specialty

1st: Larkin Dance Studio-’Yes & No’ 2nd: Summit Dance Shoppe-’Adrenaline’ 3rd: Larkin Dance Studio-’What Is The Noise’

Best NU Groups:

NUbie

Larkin Dance Studio-’These Boots’

Summit Dance Shoppe-’Lullaby’

Dance Vision-’Barbie Girl’

Mini

Larkin Dance Studio-’Short Skirt, Long Jacket’

Dance, etc!-’Le Freak’

Dance Vision-’Slip Away’

Summit Dance Shoppe-’What Have You Done For Me Lately’

Junior

Larkin Dance Studio-’Between These Hands’

Summit Dance Shoppe-’Whole Lotta Woman’

Woodbury Dance Center-’Combust’

Teen

Dance Vision-’Modern Loneliness’

Madill Performing Arts Center-’Nine Two Five’

Summit Dance Shoppe-’Do You?’

Larkin Dance Studio-’Red Handed’

Senior

Summit Dance Shoppe-’Adrenaline’

Larkin Dance Studio-’Rapid City’

Northland School of Dance-’London Bridge’

Studio Pick:

Summit Dance Shoppe-’Adrenaline’

Dance Vision-’Modern Loneliness’

Larkin Dance Studio-’Rapid City’

Dance, etc!-’Thistle and Weeds’

Balleraena Dance Studio-’Unworthy’

[theseadagiodays]

May 4, 2020

This is Not a Performance

Irving H Bolano’s incredible repurposed newspaper fashion for the Met Gala Challenge on Twitter #HFMetGala2020

May the Fourth be With You as you reach the next chapter of this current sci-fi drama we seem to be living through.   As the saying goes, reality can be stranger than fiction.   But it just happens to be a many red-eyed virus rather than an evil, black-masked father that we’re fighting as we all walk around like Storm Troopers.  

There are so many aspects of our lives, during Covid, which make it feel like we are actors in a make-believe story.   First of all, we’ve all become movie stars, with our faces, homes, and even pets showcased on our own silver screens.  As isolated as we are, our private lives now play out in the public sphere more than ever - no paparazzi required.    For some, this invasion of privacy is unwelcomed. But for many people, it satisfies a secret longing to share themselves with a wider audience.  After all, deep down, everyone wants to be seen and heard (I guess, me included, since I have this blog, after all).  It’s why TikTok and YouTube and Facebook have become multi-billion dollar companies so quickly.  And now, while this pandemic is a harsh daily reminder of the impermanence of all things, it makes sense that these digital missives are an attempt to seek immortality, in some strange way.

As someone whose work responds to human’s need to have a voice, I truly get why this is the case.  And I love that this time has turned housewives into opera stars, and health care workers into hip hop dancers, and housepets into circus performers. But, at the same time, I have become very aware of the masks that we wear, even inside our homes, to portray a certain self to the world that may stray quite far from our authentic selves.  The expression “dance like no one is watching” acknowledges the fact that we all tend to perform when we have an audience, and perhaps we’re only truly ourselves when we don’t.   I understand that the way we “perform” ourselves online gives each of us a chance to reinvent the fictions we want our stories to have.   So, while I surely take some guilty pleasure from intimate glimpses into strangers’ lives, I also do so with a certain skepticism about the veracity of what I’m seeing.  

This became particularly true for me when I received a recent link from my friend and amazing singer/songwriter, Dominique Fricot. Capitalizing on this current trend of oversharing, he cleverly asked his fans to film their morning routines for the music video of his new song, Wake Up, by his duo, Flora Falls.  Dom’s warm tenor voice blended with his partner’s breathy tones feel just like a lazy morning in bed.  But I’ll leave it up to you to decide just how accurate these portrayals of people’s idyllic daytime rituals actually are.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EbsqXou5FeY

May 5, 2020

Homeschool Heroes

About twenty years ago,  I was invited to adjudicate a youth music competition in the Yukon.  Travelling to one of the northernmost inhabited spots on earth, I imagined that my greatest surprise might have been a polar bear or Northern Lights sighting.  But it turned out to be something entirely different.  Among the 25,000 residents of the thriving metropolis of Whitehorse exists a treasure trove of talent.  I could not believe the incredibly honed skills and nuanced expression with which these 11-18 year-olds played.   Wondering why, I developed a theory that I now call SLoW: Sheltered Living Wonder.  When long, dark days, cold climates or pandemics force people indoors, they tend to spend inordinate amounts of time on creative endeavors and skill development.  In other words, they slow down and take time for wonder.

This theory has surely applied during these past few months of sheltering in place.   One of the most remarkable examples has been the inventiveness that many of my friends have brought to their first attempts with homeschooling.   So, I wanted to give a few shout outs to some of these Homeschool Heroes and the highly imaginative projects they’ve done with their kids.

Stunning Easter Eggs made from natural materials and dye, by my friend Jane Cox and her kids  (Botany lesson)

Candy Covid virus, made by Amelia, my friend Jen Sanke’s daughter, as she learned about the virus’ proteins (Biology lesson)

But perhaps the prize for most complex homeschool project has to go to my architect friend, Bryn Davidson, who upon returning from Australia, in late March, had to fully quarantine for 2-weeks.  So, with his 5-year old son Bei as helper, this Physics lesson allowed him to enjoy home delivery beer while in isolation.  Just brilliant!

https://youtu.be/FF9-2dWoUtc

May 6, 2020

Living in livestream

So today, 5 million British Columbian’s awaited our “sentence” with baited breath, as word spread that our provincial prime minister would deliver the Re-Open BC plan at 3 pm.   I have to admit, it felt a bit like when you were “grounded” as an adolescent and then your parents returned certain privileges to you.  Of course, I’m well aware that our province has already been far more licentious than many places around the globe.  We’ve been fortunate to maintain reasonably low numbers of infection (just over 2,000), with counts as low as 8 new cases per day, at this point. So, while our provincial parks closed, our beaches never did.  While we were encouraged, within a reasonable range of home, to be active outdoors, we were not restricted to walks only within the 100 metre radius of our house, as my Israeli friends were.  And while we could still shop at gardening and furniture stores, to make sheltering at home more enjoyable, New Zealanders had nothing but grocery stores and pharmacies open, for two months.  

I have sensed the gratitude my fellow Vancouverites have felt about these privileges.  But that does not mean that we aren’t still anxious to return to other aspects of living which we’ve missed.  When lockdown began, ominously on the Ides of March (the 15th), I’d harboured a secret hope that certain restrictions might be lifted on my birthday (exactly two months later).  And it turns out that Phase Two of the BC ReOpen plan will commence on May 19th, just 4 days later than I’d hoped.  What I most look forward to experiencing again are small gatherings with friends, (we’ll soon be allowed to socialize in public with up to 10 people); meals inside certain restaurants and pubs (those that are able to function within WorkPlace BC’s safety regulations); visits to registered massage therapists; and hugs with select people, (”using one’s own ‘risk assessment’.”)

But in the long-range plan, the harsh reality for artists has been laid out, as Phase Four (which includes resuming large-venue concerts, conventions, and international travel) can not occur until either a vaccine has been developed, an effective treatment plan is widely available, or herd immunity is achieved.  And this is not estimated to occur until mid-2021 or later.  So, the prospects are still bleak for symphony orchestras, opera and dance companies, artists who perform in crowded bars, or musicians who travel for arena shows and festivals.  This likely means that in order to satisfy audiences’ need to access live performance, and for artists to continue to share their creativity,  livestream formats will still have to persist for some time.  Therefore, I thought I’d share a few regular weekly livestream arts events here, both from Vancouver, LA & NY.

Canadian National Live Art Champion, Dmitri Sirenko, who we featured at our non-profit’s annual benefit on February 20th, 2020

Every Monday Night at 7 pm PST (Vancouver) Poetry Slam: https://www.facebook.com/Vancouverpoetryslam/

Every Thursday at 5 pm PST (LA): LIVE Art Battles - Watch painters do their magic in just 20 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWJoWGVwzGtk99nTOCib9vg

Every Thursday at 8 pm EST (NY): Spotlight on Plays - famous actors perform readings of theatre pieces, online: https://www.broadwaysbestshows.com/post/the-best-of-series/

May 7, 2020

Collateral Blessings

So many thoughtful writers are adding to the discourse, as we all strive to make meaning from what can feel like a senseliess time.  I have so appreciated the abundance with which people are sharing these missives, right now.  Every day, bursts of inspiration or flickers of insight come my way, thru texts, emails and Facebook.  Like adventurers, traveling together thru the dark of night, we shine light on guideposts, anywhere we can find them, as we collectively quench each other’s thirst for wisdom.  

One of the most profound writings I‘ve recently discovered came from a stranger’s blog.  In The Examined Family, Courtney Martin, without ever diminishing the gravity of the havoc that this virus has wreaked, writes about some of the assets that have also come out of this time.  New friendships with neighbors.  A long-neglected puzzle completed with her kids.   The time to draw and truly notice an artichoke in her back garden. My good friend Juan calls these collateral blessings.  This reference to the accidental gifts that this cruel virus has given us, is a beautiful twist on “collateral damage”, a term coined to explain accidental friendly-fire deaths during the Gulf War.  Commenting on the anticipatory nostalgia that she projects she will feel about certain things, once this time has passed, Courtney writes:

“I instantly feel overwhelmed at the prospect of schedules and stuff. I don’t want to go back to our former accumulation or frenetic pace. I don’t want to stop texting (my neighbor) my little triumphs. I don’t want to forget about the artichokes in the garden. I don’t ever want to forget this happened--the grief and the beauty of it. I’m not even sure that will be possible, but if it were, I wouldn’t want it. I don’t want to vote like it didn’t happen. I don’t want to eat like it didn’t happen. I don’t want to consume like it didn’t happen. I don’t want to schedule like it didn’t happen. I don’t want to mother or daughter or befriend or neighbor like it didn’t happen. I don’t want to sit inside this little life, noticing and appreciating and breathing, like it didn’t happen. There is unnecessary suffering all around me, and inside of me, too, but there is also necessary meaning. May we hold on to that.”      

You can read her full entry here: https://courtney.substack.com/p/unnecessary-suffering-and-necessary?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo3OTg0NDcyLCJwb3N0X2lkIjozNzU1NDMsIl8iOiJCTnk2VyIsImlhdCI6MTU4NzA1MjgyMCwiZXhwIjoxNTg3MDU2NDIwLCJpc3MiOiJwdWItMjA5MjIiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.puI9NMne-783ypInpvTkJ96T237WcrTo2ItDhqlkMiY

May 8, 2020

Nostalgia

I’m rarely one prone to nostalgia.  My childhood photo albums are in storage.  I have no family heirlooms displayed in my home.  My tendency is to revel in the present or dream about the future.  But this pandemic has strangely turned me into a sentimental fool.  Perhaps this return to simpler times, where we seldom shop, where we wander mostly by foot, or where we get to know our neighbors better, makes us long for the past in certain ways.  

For me, I’ve honored this by resurrecting my daily teenage Twizzler habit - a candy I’ve rarely eaten since then, but that now feels so satisfying during my Netflix & Chill evenings (while watching films almost as old like Groundhog Day & Anchorman).  

I’m also listening a lot to Old School Hip Hop, where the explative-free rhymes of the 90’s feel so strangely innocent.  It’s refreshing to listen to these musicians spit verses that merely celebrate the joys of dance and rap, rather than ranting about gun violence and other societal ills.  Run DMC It’s Tricky (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-O5IHVhWj0) and Beastie Boys Body Movin’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvRBUw_Ls2o) happen to be personal favorites.  

Last month, I was tickled by an old memory while planting a lilac bush in my backyard.  I suddenly remembered a story about my college boyfriend, whom I hadn’t thought of in 30 years.  Our relationship started a bit secretively, so as not to hurt his ex’s feelings.  So, one May afternoon, we snuck away to a distant park that was hosting a Lilac Festival.  Unfortunately, our ruse was quickly spoiled when a candid photo of our picnic under the purple blooms was plastered all over the front page of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle the next morning.  

Another sweet memory returned in culinary form. Every Tuesday, for 7 years, my mother selflessly drove me an hour from home and back, for my flute lesson.  And to break up the long drive, we regularly stopped at Bickford’s Pancake House for my favorite adolescent treat: breakfast for dinner. Their specialty was the Dutch Baby Apple.  And I finally made my first homemade attempt at this deceptively easy delicacy, last Tuesday.  

This has also been a time to return to bedtime stories (some I’ve read to friends’ kids, and others for adults to hear.)  The Great Realisation by British performance artist, Tom Foolery, has been making the social media rounds. But in case you missed this touching tale that looks back on this time as if the tale is being told in a not-so-distant future, it’s a wistful story about some aspects of modern life that we may never long for in the future:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw5KQMXDiM4

[emurgency-festival-digital--blog]

(Em)Urgency Performance Symposium Program for Day 2

(EM)URGENCY - DAY 2  

BA Performance Arts – A First year showcase  

1pm-5:30pm  

On Listening

All the works presented today are a response to Text as Performance, a first-year unit that this term explored the theme of On Listening. Performance Arts is a course which brings together a range disciplines – and all the artists have responded in their own way to what has been presented during the term. No piece is the same, no artist is the same, and we present to you an eclectic mix of short and early work that may influence our later practice – this is our first public sharing as a cohort, so please speak to the artists and enjoy.

With thanks to: Third Year students on BA Performance Arts, Platform Southwark and Diana Damian Martin.

Durational works – in the studio  

Untitled Billy Buttars  

An exhibition of paintings, sketches, and other works that are reinterpretations of texts into visual forms. Exploring text in the language of art objects, and concepts of inspiration and influence.

Billy’s work surrounds concepts of personal influence and representation, as well as what radical really means in a temporal context and the impermanence of it all.

Gaze Joy Kincaid

Whose body is this  

As she looks at her  

With your eyes at her

As she sees herself

She sees what you see  

And then doesn’t see

So, she looks at herself  

And doesn’t look at herself  

This is not meant for you to watch?  

If watching was the only way

Then I ask you not to watch

I ask you to engage more then  

Your eyes and your hands

And your mind  

I ask you to see more then  

Her. I ask you to see yourself

And in her yourself is buried  

And in myself your eyes are burned  

So, I ask you not to watch  

But be born  

As she is born

Joy Kincaid is a multidisciplinary artist whose work is centred on deconstructing monolithic narratives on black and queer bodies within the interrelations of white spaces through radical acts of embodied contradictions, witnessing and shape shifting.

Family Jukebox Tom Dodd  

In the foyer and someone will wait, pick a mixtape? Choose your favourite song?  that I will then play for them. Songs chosen by the performer’s family members – take your pick and hear the soundtrack of someone’s life?  

Tom is a performer who hopes to work with sound and how sound affects people. The company Darkfield are one of his biggest inspirations and he looks forward to creating similar work. For tonight’s performance Tom will be looking at how sounds in the forms of songs affect different members of his family.  

Performances – on the stage  

What is the C word? Alicia Bridges

‘What is the C word?’ explores ideas of Consent in an abrupt, disassociated, inhumane way. From my own experience, I feel I have always been trying to connect the pieces together.

Content warning: references to sexual assault.

Alicia enjoys and is interested by multimedia performance, verbatim and immersive theatre. Throughout her degree she expects this will change and develop. She is excited by the prospect the next three years will give her to challenge her own artistic practice. She has previously worked with physical theatre and directing. 

Instagram: @alixiabridge

Voicemail   Jody Davies and Chloe Knowles

‘Voicemail’ is a physical theatre piece that reflects upon real-life experiences both artists have endured. These two different stories surround listening and lack there-of, where both artists reflect on unsent voicemails they wish they had sent.

Content warning: references to sexual and domestic abuse, emotional manipulation, explicit language.

Jody Davies is a Welsh performance artist with a background across musical theatre, physical theatre and experience in vocal coaching. Her interests include live art and photography but her works mainly consists and explores physical theatre and immersive projects.

Chloe Knowles is a performance artist from England.

She has experience in acting, writing as well as directing theatre for younger children between the ages 7-16 at Sonnets Theatre Club Newbury, John Rankin Junior School, and Cheam Private School.

Her Interests mostly include writing and directing.

When I was 5? Jaydon Merrick

An exploration of celebrity idolisation, jealousy and discarded dreams through a casual, reflective and participatory dance experience. Suitable for all skill levels, the less talented the better.

Jaydon is an Australian actor, writer and director. He has been living in the UK for 2.5 years now; in Australia, Jaydon’s work was heavily musical, and stage based, since moving to the UK his practice has become more film and screen orientated.

Nostalgia for a Time Gone Nowhere Evie Stopforth

I feel like I am constantly leaving a home behind. I know you inside out and they have no idea who you are. I’m three different people, and a stranger.

Evie Stopforth is a young performance artist investigating the relationship between audio and visual entertainment. She focuses in this piece on loneliness, homesickness and the feeling of being stuck in limbo.

It’s Your Birthday! Miel Celeste Nadam

‘It’s Your Birthday!’ is derived from a personal hatred of my own birthday. I regress into a somewhat younger and pinker version of myself, as the cracks of the present seep through.  

Miel is interested in the idea of nostalgia and objects behaving badly. For her, art is the most potent when humour is sprinkled into pain. Laughing can slip into crying.

Candidate 14 Grace Oskiera-Vooght

An examination for a job role that requires you to not react, talk or feel. You must detach yourself from human instincts: feelings. Will you pass or fail?

Content warnings: references to death and suicide.

Grace has a background in straight acting and is interested in the arts sector.  She is interested in writing, creating, directing and performing. She has a cross-arts practice taking inspiration from across many art forms, particularly performance. She is currently interested in exploring intimacy and relationships and the way it is performed as part of her arts practice.

The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek (Cancelled) Reena Black

This adaptation of 'The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek' explores the underlying, darker themes of the play. This piece will delve into the character's mind and bring the audience with her on her journey of confession.

Content warnings: references to death and mental illness.

Reena Black is a British actress, dancer and writer; she has been trained in classical and contemporary acting techniques for many years. Experimenting with different techniques has always been a passion of hers and she is continuing to do this through her degree in Performance Arts.  

Dès l’aube Irène Pawin

Look around. What can you hear? Smile. This experience is only for you. Put on the headphones. Only you will hear this story. You are truly special. Enjoy.

Content Warnings: mentions of death, suicide, and explicit content in some pieces.  

Irène is exploring her potentiality as an artist, and has been exploring writing her own work. Irène is particularly interested in oddness and queerness, the feeling of being out of place, of being foreign. Irène is an impulsive creator that never knows what her next obsession will be.

Dinner Time Cerys Salkeld Green

A piece focussing on the idea of intrusive thoughts and dealing with grief in opposition to modern life.  

Content warning: references to sex and sexual content

Cerys is interested in the boundaries between fact and fantasy.

Alexa Owen Whiteside-Ward

Alexa: With technology always advancing, what happens when technology makes certain advances?

Owen is a writer, director and performer from Norwich. He has a long history of musical theatre work as a performer and in the last few years has written directed and produced his own musical: this is something he is currently still doing, working on numerous other musicals. In addition to this Owen has taken a strong interest in writing plays and films and likes to create pieces that often leave the audience questioning. This is Owen’s first work outside of Norwich, which he is looking forward to.  

Email: owenww08@hotmail.com

Can you hear it? Esme Mai Davies

Can you hear it? Is an immersive piece that combines film, sound and live elements. What happens when you lose safety in your spaces?

Content warnings: mental health and panic

Esme as an artist is primarily interested in performance; her background is in traditional theatre. She is now exploring a mixture of performance, visual art and drag as well as working to incorporate technology and new mediums into her work.  

A train running on a jointed track   Ben Church

When we listen schematically, do we listen for the relation between sounds? Or is it something more? This piece aims to answer none of these questions.  

Ben Church is a performance artist with a multitude of different interests and fields of study. These range from more traditional acting at Stratford upon Avon’s RSC, to writing and co directing pieces of immersive theatre and teaching drama. More recently he has been looking into composition and how sounds gain meaning.

Why Are You Wearing That Stupid Man Suit? Anja Hendrichova

Dates first dates no dates first sex holding hands broken hearts brave knights crushed buses Czech girl singing jumping in the rhythm of love or no love the end.

Rather than viewing this piece as a criticism of any kind, feel free to laugh at me and / or with me.  Anja has the superpower to watch the same film or series 50 times. The more people to embarrass in front of, the less shy.  

Find your Bite Jack Gallagher

Find your bite tonight. I know you have it in you. Please.

Content warnings: references to sexual violence.

Breathe Tsen Day-Beaver

During this piece I focus heavily on the subject of panic within the body, documenting its reactions and tendencies, situating this subject in the event of a panic attack.

Tsen is an artist/performer from Scotland interested in performance within film and text-based work. She is currently focusing on composition of the body within performance and its relation to the mind.

displacement Jasmine Wright

Ripped away. It’s not homesickness, it’s yearning for a place that doesn’t exist anymore. Is home a place or a feeling, and how can I find it again?  

Jasmine is currently exploring ideas of unfamiliarity, strangeness, the body, and Asian heritage. She is really enjoying writing as/for performance. She is also interested in creating multimedia experiences and experimenting with artificial, anthropogenic, and naturogenic sounds and visuals. 

See with Sound Juan Salazar

A quick informational guide on maternity, nuclear fallout and social conventions. The piece explores themes of listening through imagination, primal instinct and tribalism in a post-war, ever-growing technological society.

Juan is an audio-visual artist.  He is interested in space, time, dreams, memory, metaphysics, meta-metaphysics, regular physics, and irregular physics.

Can you hear my silence? Molly Denbigh

When silence becomes too loud.

Feelings of anxiety and fear are felt by many but speaking up honestly about them is done by few. It’s difficult. Emotional. I ask myself the questions that we need to answer for ourselves. Do I truly belong?  Am I me?

Molly Denbigh is a performance artist with interests in immersive and physical theatre. She is also interested in fine art and musical theatre and would love to combine these different styles in future work.

The School Pen   Mia Lulham

A short immersive/interactive piece commenting on the learning difficulties neurodiverse children face when first entering the education system. The piece shows the struggles involved with “basic” tasks such as learning to read and write.

Mia is heavily interested in and influenced by dance, choreography and physical theatre as well immersive theatre, and aims to continue to use these influences in her developing practice.

The Voice James Brewer

A man must overcome his anxiety about how he sounds and goes through many different types of voices in order to pick the right voice that suits him most.

James is an actor and performance artist from East London who has worked with London Bubble Theatre and National Youth Theatre.

Can I be loud? Beth Timson

Can I be loud? Who Can be loud in spaces and why? Where can we be loud? An exploration of loudness in institutional, normative space and where queer and non-normative identities fit in to this.  

Beth’s work centres on community, feminism and queerness. Beth is a writer, theatre maker, spoken word artist and facilitator from East London, and an early career artist who has presented solo work at Shoreditch Town Hall and Battersea Arts Centre. Alongside studying for her degree at RCSSD, Beth is working, freelance in various capacities, ushering at The Yard Theatre, and as a Young Creative for All Change Arts.  Beth started out in community arts and her work centres on using performance to bring people together and spark conversations. Her work is deeply political and seeks to challenge normativity.

www.bethtpeform.wordpress.com

twitter: @BethBRT

(Em)Urgency Festival Digital Feed Noa Taylor in collaboration with the EFDF Collective

The (Em)Urgency festival digital feed considers the performativity of multimedia performance documentation performatively. We document the work of the (Em)Urgency Performance Symposium and publish the material on social media platforms during the event.  

Follow us on twitter: @em_urgency

[newsandmediarepublic]

‘Many sided’ Dartington Outing: first major queer arts festival at Dartington Hall

‘Many sided’ Dartington Outing: first major queer arts festival at Dartington Hall

We’re a little behind the curve on this one – that’s what happens after a month-long beach party here at PRSD towers (there’s still some sand behind our spacebars) – so this is a delayed heads up about ‘a Dartington Outing – seven days of queer arts and bent events’, talking place from 21-29 September 2017, to mark 50 years since the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK1. Read on…

[roelof]

Club Guy & Roni, Navdhara India Dance Theatre and Slagwerk Den Haag perform 'Fortune'.

How do you find meaning when nothing lasts forever? Where do you seek happiness when being happy is “just the way you feel” at any given moment? How do you live in the here and now when the next challenge lies just around the corner?

The universal law of change is that nothing stays the same. Our neatly asphalted roads, beautiful houses, accumulated possessions, love, suffering, all are finite. Frightening though it might seem, perhaps it’s this impermanence that makes life so amazing.  The dance performance Fortune is the result of a fascination with this impermanence that is inherent of nature.  

Gezien, 12 oktober Stadsschouwburg Groningen

[madeyemads]

[ 😊 💙 & 🎸 ? ]

This is going to contain a lot of head canons…

What makes Deidara happy:

Explosions, arson, anarchy, when him and Sasori’s bird, Chip-Chip, cuddles up in his hair or gives him love-pecks, when his homicidal plans go just as plotted, when his partner shows him respect and/or recognition, flights, omelette rice, pop rockers and popping boba, as they’re an explosion…. that you can taste…

What makes the both of us happy:

Making art, looking at art, at museums, anything macabre, pyrotechnics, chaos, 70′s - early 2000′s alt/goth/punk music, hiding your left eye, all-black outfits, fishnets, black crop tops, gothic/post-punk fashion, wearing so much eyeliner that you end up looking like uncle fester addams, nighttime, cute birds, owls especially, spiders, bats, Sasori (cause he’s one of the coolest naruto villains

What makes me happy: 

Solitude/ being alone but not feeling lonely, listening to music and just loosing myself in it?, when my loved ones (Mutuals  and mi gatito included ofc ♥︎) are happy, Roleplaying, rainy weather, dousing myself in coffee and tea, staying up to draw or dance and be with myself, super good food that tastes like home, mayan hot chocolate, having enough money, just chilling in bed, spraying perfume on everything I own, nostalgia, spicy food, eating chili oil by the spoonful (it isn’t that weird - it tastes great), my cute dolls and figures, aesthetics, HALLOWEEN, anime expo, anime/cartoons, both horror movies and disney princess movies, chocolate, sweets, learning about macabre topics, cleaning, the list goes on.

 What calms Deidara down? 

When his bird, ChipChip, cuddles up to him, walks in the woods, flying on his sculptures, reminding himself that his life is impermanent and short, and that death is inevitable. Nothing is really forever. 

This is after loosing Sasori…( Angsty head canon, but my family does this with lost loved ones) He kept Sasori’s stuff to every now and again, look it over or take in it’s scent just to calm down and remember his partner when he’s feeling sad about his loss. He even kept a puppet that was left behind…

What calms us both down?

Making art. 

What calms me down?

Music (yes- even metallica and rammstein ) , solitude, roleplaying, anything ginger - ginger candies, ginger tea, ginger cookies, ginger lotion, dim lighting, nighttime (but it also winds me up… hm…), chilling in bed, showers, cleaning, my cat in my lap, museums, antique/thrift shops, reading, more monochromatic outfits (all black) because it makes life so simple, going into my own world also calms me.

Does Deidara/the mun play any instruments?

I don’t think Deidara plays any? (But I’m still deffo on board with Sasori teaching Deidara piano…. that’d be so cute!)

I really wish I did… Does singing count?

I’m not confident in my singing ability, but I was in musical theatre in High School so I sing sometimes. Dunno how good I am at it, but I can remember lyrics amazingly at least. 

Only auditioned for a musical once (The Little Mermaid) but didn’t get in lol

I also was in theatre dance… not a noise instrument, but ??? it’s something.

I played the triangle version of “Hot Cross Buns” in 3rd grade music class… talent….

All I can do on the piano is the beginning of Fur Elise. 

[performingdigital]

Nineties Productions - Memento Mori

2020 seems to be a global Memento Mori and theatres everywhere are shutting down for the rest of the season. Therefore theatre collective Nineties creates an immersive ritual, a digital memento mori, in which the passing of things will be celebrated. Come and get yourself detoxed emotionally and mourn for everything that is no longer there in this ode to impermanence.

Memento Mori is a cross-over between performance, dance, music, poetry and web-art. This play will be constructed and performed 100% live for an online audience using Zoom and is all in English. The performance can also be attended offline/physically by a limited amount of people. You’ll be witnessing how Memento Mori is constructed, while watching what is constructed on screens at the same time. A performance and a making off at the same time. To reach this local audience, the green screen broadcast studio tours along different places.

https://www.ninetiesproductions.nl/en/memento-mori/

[livemariannenoven]

Flyer + Program for “Forestillinger om Forgjengelighet“ 24. + 25. November 2018 - Two solo performances share a room, an evening and a the theme of impermanence.

“Rubicon” av Karen Høybakk Mikalsen

a dance performance about choises and consequenses.

“Odd“ av Live Marianne Noven

a theatre performance about loosing oneself.

[thegifreview]

Baal by Impermanence Dance Theatre dir by Roseanna Anderson & Josh Ben-Tovim at Bristol Old Vic

IA

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Western Canadian Interactive Art, Science, and Technology Cluster presentation at IAST 2018 Delight can always be found in the act of giving our attention to detail — allowing ourselves the time to appreciate the liveness of this moment with an impulse toward explorater rather than manipulation. This feeling of “just being with” is more often rehearsed in naked reality, without headsets, screens, phones, etc. We have had time in unmediated reality (or what I like to call the un-dampened propagation field) to discover depth and interest. We expect reality to keep giving the closer we look at any scale. This expectation is somehow lost in mixed reality because most experiences are egocentric and present us a world “made for us”. Can we design experiences in mixed reality that promote a sense of being and awareness of a bigger web of relations? How do we integrate details, pauses, the unexpected into experiences where spectacle has been promised so often and where time feels compressed? How do we re-introduce birth, ageing, and death into the virtual and why should this be important to full experience? To seed this conversation, I will present some of the work my lab has been involved with, and other work that point to some delightful exercises in immersive and performative media. It is my hope to prompt a discussion about time, space, impermanence, data, patience, liveness, and attention as it relates to our desire to be with the digital. IAST 2018 consisted of a three-day collaborative symposium at the University of Lethbridge from 25 to 27 October, 2018, and exploratory regional meetings. The Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at the University of British Columbia Okanagan Campus, the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta, and the Desautels Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba each hosted one meeting of regional participants. The University of Lethbridge hosted IAST 2018 in parallel with the Faculty of Fine Arts Crossing Boundaries Symposium. An interest in IAST, which includes establishing a foundation for an art and technology cluster in Western Canada, has been conveyed by individual scholars and artists, public research centres, universities, and associated institutional organisations. The digital media arts, music, visual arts, aboriginal research, theatre, film, computer and applied sciences, electrical engineering, creative writing, and dance are among the general disciplines represented by interested participants. Additional information: http://IAST.ca

[vileart]

Osama Bin Dramaturgy: Knaive Theatre @ Edfringe 2017

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Explosive Osama Bin Laden Show Returns To Edinburgh Fresh From US Tour

“Tonight, ladies and gentlemen,

I am going to show you how to change the world”

BIN LADEN: THE ONE MAN SHOW returns to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival from 2nd-28th August at C (Venue 34).

The world’s most notorious terrorist tells his story in BIN LADEN: THE ONE MAN SHOW a remarkable, provocative and multi-award-winning production from Knaïve Theatre. 

The twist? Bin Laden is 28 years old, White British and charming as cream teas in summer. After a critically acclaimed and highly successful American Tour, this ‘must-see’ production returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it originally premiered, from 2nd-28th August before beginning a UK tour that includes The Royal Exchange Theatre, The Sherman and The New Wolsey.

What was the inspiration for this performance?

We don’t want to give away too much of the show, but what we can say is that we believe that the best theatre tries to understand the world, and even the most terrible actions within it. A quest for understanding was the starting point for this show.

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas? 

We hope so! In our experience audiences are becoming more and more eager to see work that provokes them to discussion. Theatrical performance can – like very little else - combine the messy and personal with the universal and academic, the imaginative with the factual; and immerse you in a dialectic world of ideas, images and stories and confront you with things you might have never wanted to consider before. That, to us, provides very fertile ground for the public discussion of ideas – particularly ideas we might rather not discuss.

How did you become interested in making performance?

We were both engaged with performance making from a frighteningly young age. At age 3 Sam (the actor) spent whole days as his female alter-ego, Madam (complete with pearl necklaces and red leather handbags). He would also put on strange musical comedies with his two older brothers for their parents’ “benefit” which mostly involved Sam flinging himself about the living room trying to catch an imaginary cow and milk it. 

Tyrrell (the director) spent his early years refusing to wear anything but his Thunderbird Two costume and spent his university days (while apparently studying politics) refusing to do anything but theatre. We met in 2012 working for the Barbican Theatre in Plymouth and began making theatre together in 2013 with this show!

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

This show came about through heartbreak, particularly awful accommodation in London and a lot of rum – a long story we will happily tell when asked! It was made through 3 months of intensive research, reading and watching everything we could lay our hands on related to Bin Laden. 

Then we locked ourselves away in various parts of the world (to stave off insanity) and experimented with the source material, wrote, improvised, invited some people to impart some thoughts with us and eventually we had something looking like a show and opened it – terrified – at the Buxton Fringe. Since then we have rewritten, developed and taken further risks every time we have taken the show out. So not a particular approach, more a desire to provoke the most exciting debate we can with the extraordinary story of this man.

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

We haven’t yet tied ourselves to an approach as a theatre company. We try to let the form be governed by how best to communicate the content of the piece. We have, since Bin Laden made immersive games-based theatre (Power To The North), a Dance-Theatre adaptations of Baal with Impermanence Dance Theatre, Public Understanding of Science Theatre (Pain, The Brain & A Little Bit of Magic) and we are currently working on an adaptation of 1936 apocalyptic Sci-Fi novel, War With The Newts, with writer Tim Foley. 

Although in form our work is broad, we have a very focussed intention which unifies all of the work we have created so far: to create dangerous theatre which engages and empowers audiences into vibrant discussions around the political dialectics of our time. 

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

The audience will experience, not just watch, an incredible story and a world-changing journey. We hope they will experience, as we have done, something that will change the way they view the world, perhaps in some small but very real way. 

We hope they will experience something they never expected. But mostly, we hope they experience an unforgettable evening that lasts far longer than the Edinburgh hour; long into the night with fellow audience members, and long into their lives as they share their experience with others.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

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Let’s just say that we did a lot of research into American self-help culture…but what that means, you’ll have to come see to find out. The audience experience is still evolving, in front of our very eyes. The more we have performed the show (the 28th August is our 100th performance) the more we have realised that the audience experience is key to the success of the show. 

So we have crafted and honed that experience over 4 years, and it is still growing. Every time we tour the show we challenge our assumptions about the last time and challenge ourselves to see if we can go further.

With populist rhetoric playing an ever-increasing role in Western politics, Knaïve Theatre’s Tyrrell Jones and Sam Redway pry apart what it is that draws us to follow demagogues, asking if the world’s most wanted terrorist might have been more persuasive than we ever imagined. They ask audiences to re-examine their own information and prejudices from a naïve perspective, just as the company have.

The award-winning hit of the fringes in San Diego and Hollywood, Bin Laden returned home to perform a sell-out show at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. Knaïve Theatre are now Supported Artists at the Exchange and have redeveloped the show with the help of the theatre’s creative team ready for a return to Edinburgh before the company’s first national tour.

Having provoked important and timely debate surrounding Middle East conflict and the War On Terror internationally, they will now bring that discussion to a national audience. Though they expected this story would become less relevant, current global tensions and recent events have galvanised an ever-increasing appetite for the debate they inspire.

Bin Laden was made in 2013 on a shoestring by Tyrrell Jones and Sam Redway. After previews in Buxton and London, it opened at Edinburgh and the show was awarded the first Broadway Bobby of 2013. It was in The List’s Top 5 Theatre Shows To See and received a host of first-rate reviews. Quickly, the show started selling out, and before long it was a hit. With the success of Edinburgh 2013 behind them, Tyrrell and Sam undertook formal training (Birkbeck MFA in Directing and RADA MA Theatre Lab respectively). They then redeveloped and toured the show, this time around USA with Arts Council AIDF funding.

AWARDS

Encore! Producer’s Award – Hollywood Fringe Festival 2016

Critic’s Pick Of The Fringe Award – Hollywood Fringe Festival 2016

Outstanding Actor in a Drama – San Diego International Fringe Festival 2016

Gold Award – Tvolution Los Angeles 2016

Broadway Bobby (Sixth Star) – Broadway Baby, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2013

Top 5 Shows at the Fringe ­– The List, Edinburgh 2013

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Venue: C, Adam House, Chambers Street, EH1 1HR, venue 34, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Dates: 2-28 Aug (not 15)

Time: 18:30 (1h00)

Ticket prices: £9.50-£11.50 / concessions £7.50-£9.50 / under 18s £5.50-£7.50

C venues box office: http://ift.tt/2tQxW68017/bin-laden-the-one-man-show or 0845 260 1234 

Fringe box office: www.edfringe.com or 0131 226 0000 

Full Tour Dates:

2nd – 28th August – C Venues, Edinburgh Fringe Festival

5th- 7th September – Royal Exchange Theatre

21st September – Square Chapel, Halifax

28th September – New Wolsey, Ipswich

5th October – CAST, Doncaster

19th- 20th October – Sherman, Cardiff

24th- 28th October – Bike Shed, Exeter

3rd November – Litchfield Garrick

9th- 11th November – Mercury, Colchester

from the vileblog http://ift.tt/2veZJAt

[otc-dramaturgy]

Saturday Spotlight

I’m trying something a bit new for the Saturday Spotlights during THE MAGIC PLAY. Instead of little artist questionnaires, I’m going to post an interview with the playwright Andrew Hinderaker. He’s very eloquent and rather loquacious, so I’m going to post it in installments. Just the answer to one question for now!

What was your inspiration for writing THE MAGIC PLAY; what sparked the idea?

I was working on Colossal at the time; I first had the idea for this play in I think early 2013, so at that point we were still very much working on Colossal. It wouldn’t premiere here for another year and a half. I found one of the aspects of that process that made it so rewarding was collaborating with other kinds of theatre artists. Other forms of theatre, other forms of live performance, and doing in a way that is, rather than just being sort of supplemental, like dance or football movement that is just tacked on to a piece of theatre, really being intrinsically a part of the form. So in Colossal there’s football and there’s movement because we’re looking at football players and dancers, people who speak through movement, so it’s really a form of dialogue. And I found that’s really rewarding because it changes the type of collaboration.

And I have been a fan of magic for a very very long time. I had an uncle who was both a professional set designer and an amateur magician.  And he taught me my very first magic trick when I was a little kid—which is in the play. There’s literally lines of dialogue about, one character says their uncle taught them a magic trick, and it is the magic trick my uncle taught me, which is pulling a gallon of milk into a folded up newspaper. So that was some piece of it, this personal connection. 

On a larger level, I just like what magic can do as a form of theatre. You know, I think for me the essence of theatre is its impermanence. The idea that we are in this space together for a limited amount of time—and then it’s gone, it’s over, it’s done. And I think we try in some ways to make theatre more permanent, you know we may publish a play… but it’s no substitute for the actual form of theatre. And there’s something that I find a little sad and profoundly beautiful about that—that it’s there and it’s gone. It’s not unlike life, you know we live our lives and our parents will die, we will die, our children will die, and in time we all will be forgotten. I think magic in some ways captures the essence of that so beautifully, and it is really about the profound beauty in the theatricality of a moment. An extraordinary sort of exquisite effect in magic is so powerful that it eclipses literally everything else. It’s one of the things I’ve learned working on this play: you don’t try to fight an effect in magic—you try to in some way harness the power and the beauty of it and let it serve the narrative. Don’t let the narrative try to compete with the magic effects going on, because the effect will always win.

And that idea of a moment that either wakes us up or shifts our perception or teaches us, you know, we’ve been looking at exactly the right thing but somehow we still missed something; somehow we still were fooled—is such an extraordinary experience as an audience, to sort of supercharge us to be more present. To be more awake, and to appreciate what’s six inches in front of our face. And I think that is the essence of theatre at its best.  When I was talking about Colossal, I would sometimes talk about how why is the theatre not as visceral as football? Why is it not as physical as dance? Why does it so rarely feel that way? And I’ve been to magic shows where people are gasping out loud and screaming profanities inadvertently, viscerally just screaming profanities, or where they’ve just burst into tears. And I can’t help but ask: why doesn’t the theatre feel like that more often?

That was sort of the initial inspiration, and I pretty quickly thereafter started working with Brett Schneider—we came together in early 2013—and started talking about this piece. Initially I reached out to Brett because I knew he was both a magician and an actor, just to really talk about magic and why he does it, and why he loves doing it and by really the end of the first meeting if not the second meeting I thought ‘I’ve got to write the role for this person, I’ve got to try to write the role for and with this person.’ And that’s sort of how the project evolved. 

There are lots of sort of personal tentpoles—my uncle, my collaboration with Brett, the experience I had working with Mike Thornton and with Will here, and some of the larger ideas of what I find so moving about both theatre and magic, which I consider a form of theatre.