INFORM
An annual publication of
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF DANCE
09/10 YEAR IN REVIEW
2 3 4 6 8 10 12 14 15 16 18 20 21 22
09/10 FACULTY & STAFF CHAIR
LECTURERS
Susan Van Pelt Petry
Marika Baxter Dale Beaver Noelle Chun Jenai Cutcher Ashley Doyle-Lucas Susan Dromisky Meghan Durham Ambre Emory-Maier Shawn Hove Alex Kovach Michelle Montgomery Amy “Beaker” Prince Marden Ramos Olivier Tarpaga Lise Worthen-Chaudari
FACULTY Esther Baker-Tarpaga Melanie Bales Michael Kelly Bruce David Covey Melanye White Dixon Karen Eliot Candace Feck Susan Hadley Sheila Marion Bebe Miller Valarie Williams Abigail Yager Ming-Lung Yang Norah Zuniga-Shaw
Melissa Bontempo Susan Heimburger Odemaris Irizarry Jane Ledford-Adkins
FACULTY EMERITI Helen P. Alkire Vera J. Blaine Odette Blum Angelika Gerbes John Giffin Louise Guthman Ann Lilly Vera Maletic Victoria Uris Lucy Venable
PROFESSIONAL STAFF Susan Chess Carrie Cox Mary McMullen Michael Wall
VISITING ARTISTS AND SCHOLARS Lacina Coulibaly Lindsay Clark Brenda Dixon-Gottschild Toshinori Hamada Heidi Henderson Gay Morris Crystal Pite Lisa Race Elizabeth Rodriguez Christopher Salter Marcia B. Siegel Robert Wechsler
WEXNER CENTER FOR THE ARTS GUESTS Compagnia T.P.O.
INFORM PUBLICATION Editor: Kristen Jeppsen Designer: Melissa Bontempo
DEPARTMENT DONORS: 7/1/2009 - 6/30/2010
Helen P. Alkire Keely Ayres Melanie Bales Carolyn Barton Pamela Beeler Karen Bell Vickie Blaine Thomas Brannon John Broadbent Michael Bruce Dale & Carla Bruggeman Joey Bryant Lucille Burkett Anne Burnidge
ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF
Erik Abbott-Main and Mair Culbreth in James Graham’s MFA project Separate Panes. Photo: Marcus Morris.
R & VA Performance Drums Downtown MFA Projects Senior Project Dance Downtown Research Dance Education Department News Visiting Artists & Scholars Faculty News Profiles Student News Alumni News Calendar
Kathy Carbone Marlene Casini Lucy Caswell Jeremy Cather Susan Chess Kay Cotter Balinda Craig-Quijada Nancy Deckard Kristin Draudt Senta Driver W. Sidney Druen Nancy Dugan M. Candace Feck Lesley Ferris
Steven Fink Jordan Fuchs Jill Gellerman Pandey Roy Gottlieb Clarence & Sally Greer Frances Guillemot Susan Hadley Sally Haltom Barbara Hartley David Hollingsworth Artie & Alisa Isaac Jill Jacobson-Bennett John & Zoe Johnstone Kathryn Kildow Diana Lanza
Albert & Suzanne Leyerle Ann Lilly Sheila Marion Shana McGrath Mary Middeler Bebe Miller Valarie Williams Joseph & Anna Monson Kathryn Olsen Kevin Olson Richard &Linda Orriss Richard & Susan Van Pelt Petry Jane Reeves Glenn & Anne Roush Lisa Rovner
Kathryn Rudloff Ronald Salyer & Marilyn Sweeney Amy Schmidt A. Jeanette Sexton Roberta Shaw Elliot Slotnick Patricia Strine Betsy Strome John Twist Victoria Uris Paul Walsh Friends of Ohio State Columbus Foundation: Johnstone Fund for New Music Twistin Shout Ltd
Life is its own journey, presupposes its own change and movement, and one tries to arrest them at one’s eternal peril.
–Laurens van der Post
Dear Department of Dance alumni and friends, Change and movement are afoot. We welcome it with arms, and eyes, wide open. Two years ago, we were one of eight departments in the College of Arts. Now we are one of thirty-nine in the College of Arts and Sciences. Nationally, there is a trend to re-structuring and merging, as academia looks to new models to capitalize resources and encourage more interdisciplinarity. While there may be some wistfulness having “lost” the intimate College of the Arts, we are confident in the new strength-in-numbers and creative alliances across our disciplines that this structure provides. We are also preparing for the conversion to semesters, to begin the summer of 2012. Faculty members have been assessing how the curriculum will convert, re-invent, merge, and purge. The macro and micro issues of converting entire systems and programs is almost unfathomable but somehow even this beast of an institution is doing it. We are hopeful that the two thirteen week semesters and the one three week May Semester will provide ample room for more depth and streamlining than our current quarters. The “Maymester” may be the perfect block for study abroad, internships, and creative research projects. And just to be sure we are not inviting our own “eternal peril,” our change and movement is quite literal as we prepare for a major renovation of Sullivant Hall. Starting summer of 2011 we “swing” out two years, and return to a renovated home. Working closely with the architects and university leadership, and armed with a dogged commitment to progressive design and forward thinking programming, we are seeing plans for a very exciting renovation of this gateway building. An anchor to the “Arts District” vision, it will house at a minimum, Dance, the Cartoon Museum, and Art Education – we envision a hub of arts practice and study, a building abuzz with exchange of intellectual, visual, and physical ideas. To ensure we can create a cutting edge flexible performance space on the top floor of Sullivant I invite you to join the “Raise the Roof” campaign, as the roof literally will be lifted to add appropriate height to the enormous space below, creating a new and dynamic laboratory for performances, installations, and events. The budget for the renovation is a marriage of public and private funds and we are counting on our friends and alums to help raise the roof. At the time of this writing, we are more than 25% to our goal of $500,000. Please go on line now and enjoy the feeling of dancing in our once and future Sullivant.
The Arts and Sciences have always been the academic core of Ohio State. Our faculty members are world-class scholars, teachers, and researchers. Our students are among the top of their graduating classes and come from around the world to learn from the best. As five separate colleges, however; it was impossible to gain the kind of strength and momentum necessary to build a national reputation reflective of our true worth. Now, with the approved merger of those colleges into one great College of Arts and Sciences, all the pieces are in place to move us to the forefront of pre-eminent Arts and Sciences’ Colleges. There is power in numbers; our numbers add up to a concentrated force of expertise, talent, creativity, and spirit that will make us a national voice for the renaissance of arts and sciences disciplines. Dance is a vibrant component of the arts and humanities disciplines, which have been brought together to foster partnerships and collaborations that will ensure their continued vitality. The Department of Dance is, indeed, one of the stars in our College crown, and a favored destination for aspiring dancers. Consistently ranked among the top dance programs in the nation, dance has a long, distinguished history of educating top students, attracting innovative and engaged faculty and visiting artists from around the country and around the world, and conducting inspiring, leading-edge research in the theory and practice of dance. I am very proud of the Department of Dance’s accomplishments and thrilled that they are part of this new, innovative and collaborative College of Arts and Sciences.
dance.osu.edu/raisetheroof Susan Van Pelt Petry Chairperson, Department of Dance
Photo: Brianna Dance, OSU Urban Arts Space.
THANK YOU! Dance Building Fund Department of Dance Fund Dance Preservation Fund Dance Special Projects/Vera Blaine Fund Helen Alkire Scholarship Fund Rosalind Pierson Scholarship Fund Catherine Elizabeth Woods Scholarship Fund Presutti-Madison Dance Fund Stella Becker Scholarship Fund 1
312772 306319 307021 305892 600066 665802 667854 605905 600406
Joseph E. Steinmetz, PhD Executive Dean and Vice Provost Arts and Sciences
R&VA
Meghan Durham promo for George Lassos the Moon. Photo: Stephanie Matthews.
FEATURED WORK
Resident & Visting Artists Performance NOVEMBER 19-20, 2009 • Sullivant Hall
Manimals & Other Human Creatures
“Long pulling movement with sudden flicks of action. Steady
stepping or swaying or swinging interrupted by sudden holds or quick gestures. Scurrying steps that seemed to take the pulse of the dance and amp it up for moments. Beautifully odd and grotesque postures. Reaching upward as if suspended by the reach, then falling, collapsing. Grounding, stable stances giving way to flings and jumps. A stunning interplay between ambiguous clumps and ordered lines.“ So runs PhD candidate Michael Morris’ blog entry for the 2009 Resident and Visiting Artist concert Manimals and Other Human Creatures, performed November 19–21 in Sullivant Theatre. His descriptive elegance refers specifically to Victoria Uris’ Littoral Zone, a swirling, spatially dynamic meditation on life at the edge of the waves. The piece was lauded by more than just those within the Department of Dance; it received recognition from the Columbus Dispatch as one of the city’s eight best dance performances in 2009. The concert as a whole was generative of language for writers other than Morris. In Candace Feck’s Aesthetics and Criticism class, students crafted titles for would-be reviews of the evening. “Kingdom: Dance, Genus: Modern, Species: Eclectic;” “An Eclectic Send-off, Menagerie Included;” and “The Turtle and the Hair” were just a few of the offerings.
by Lisa Ferrugia-Atkinson, MFA 2011
Many of those titles, as well as the title of the concert, allude to John Giffin’s Manimal House, a caricatured romp through musical selections from Camille Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals. The collection of vignettes drew laughter from the audience, showcasing the dance theater talents of several graduate performers and a cohort of undergraduates. The titles from Feck’s writing class also refer to the diverse nature of the program. Beyond Littoral Zone and Manimal House, the evening included works that ranged widely in geography, tone, and style. A line of dancers in head scarves knelt in contemplative attention to individual games of cat’s cradle in Susan Van Pelt Petry’s Patterns of Prayer. Melanie Bales showcased the long lines and clean movement styles of husband and wife team Abigail Yager and Ming-Lung Yang in an untitled duet. David Covey paid homage to Merce Cunningham and John Cage with a poignant and humorous embodiment of each in For Merce and John. And a cluster of floating lanterns lit the stage for Meghan Durham’s enchanting solo George Lassos the Moon. The evening closed with a tender and timely duet for John Giffin and Vicki Uris, choreographed by Susan Hadley, on the eve of their retirements. The couple sat side by side in chairs at the downstage edge of the stage, moving through a series of characteristic gestures, in perfect unison. And though the simplicity of the duet lent itself easily to a loving spoof by undergraduates later in the quarter, its original performance left few dry eyes among those in the audience who had learned under, worked with, and admired the dynamic pair who had shaped the OSU Department of Dance for so many years. 2
FEBRU A RY 19 - 2 0 , 2 010 • Riffe Center’s Capitol Theatre
Drums Downtown VII: Traditions
by Lisa Ferrugia-Atkinson, MFA 2011
“Actions speak louder than words: we talk a whole lot about interdisciplinarity, but this is it. I teach Music and Choreography [a dance composition course], but this is students being immersed in music and choreography. They are learning music from the inside out. It’s so important in terms of a pedagogical point of view.” Susan Hadley, professor in the Dance Department, choreographer and co-originator of Drums Downtown. 3
“It was nice to work with the musicians. It was a different energy, having them there. At the same time, it was scary because the first time we tried it with them, they were really, really fast. At the end, they were in a good rhythm.” Alé Jara, second-year MFA candidate in the Dance Department and Fulbright Scholar from Paraguay, participant.
“We were one with one another instead of two separate entities. I really appreciated that.” Kimberly Koerner, undergraduate senior in the Dance Department, first-time Drums participant, about the collaboration between musicians and dancers.
“I thought that Olivier [Tarpaga] did an amazing job hybridizing West African dance and modern dance, and he really brought the musicians and dancers together. I could really see the individuals. And Susan Hadley’s piece had a great use of stage space and crossings. You just don’t see that kind of dance anymore, fleeting and fun.” Maree ReMalia, secondyear MFA candidate in the Dance Department, audience member.
Drums Downtown photos: Jason Dale
On February 19th and 20th, 2010, thirty-three students from the Department of Dance joined the OSU Percussion Ensemble in the Capitol Theatre in downtown Columbus for Drums Downtown VII: Traditions. The concert featured choreography by Department of Dance faculty Meghan Durham, Susan Hadley and Olivier Tarpaga, along with a series of percussion works directed by Susan Powell and Joseph Krygier. The collaboration with the Music Department has become a mainstay of the Dance Department’s annual season, and offers dance students a unique opportunity to perform with live musicians. This year’s concert was once again popular enough to draw a sell-out crowd on Saturday night.
AU09 WI09 NOVEMBER 19–20, 2009 Sullivant Hall Theatre
FEBRUARY 11, 13–14, 2010 Sullivant Hall Theatre
The Anathema Project
La Cachucha, Dark Elegies, La Cracovienne, Artemis and Aphrodite in the Garden of Give and Take
Under the Artistic Direction of Eran Hanlon and Collaborative Direction of Shawn Hove, The Anathema Project is a multimedia dance theatre solo that explores Samuel Beckett’s short play Footfalls amidst the surreal landscape of Salvador Dali’s painting Girafe en Feu. This re-imagined piece follows the dark and seemingly non sequitur memories of a protagonist. Through the embodiment of rapid changing states of being, The Anathema Project delves into a non-linear narrative shadowed by family trauma, chronic illness, and loss. Layered with video streaming and an ambient sound score, this piece aims to heighten that which is sacred yet rejected in a world of otherness.
Boxes and Bags
In her project, Julie Fox used the tangible properties of boxes and bags as objects that enclose and protect personal artifacts and identities. With these objects, she created movement-based plays on spatial relationships, sequence, composition and context. The work featured on-stage musicians and customized moving staircases.
Karena Birk performed Fanny Elssler’s 1836 solo La Cachucha, a Spanish-dance inspired solo for which she was famous, and which was influential in the development of the Romantic Ballet; and the 4th song solo from Antony Tudor’s 1937 Dark Elegies, a ballet which portrays a community in mourning, and which is one of Tudor’s masterpieces.
Both La Cachucha and Dark Elegies Birk learned by Labanotation scores, in concert with extensive historical research. For La Cachucha, Birk received coaching from Valarie Williams, and Karen Eliot; for Dark Elegies she received coaching from John Giffin, as well as from Willy Shives, Ballet Master, Joffrey Ballet, and Karen Eliot.
F M FEBRUARY 25–27, 2010 Sullivant Hall Former Library Space
Jolene Bartley performed two solos from score and a new duet to investigate the role notation plays in further and differently preparing a performer. She staged and performed a reconstruction of La Cracovienne (1839), a Polish military dance after Fanny Elssler. She also performed Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes from Senta Driver’s Missing Persons (1981), staged by Susan Hadley and Jolene Bartley in part from the Labanotation score notated by Mary Corey, 1981-82, by arrangement with the Dance Notation Bureau. Both Jolene Bartley and Karena Birk also premiered a new work by Melanie Bales, Artemis and Aphrodite in the Garden of Give and Take.
Separate Panes
James Graham’s Separate Panes was a site-specific installation on the top floor of Sullivant Hall, traveling throughout the spaces of the former library and culminating in a final group section. Graham’s interest in shifting the role of audience members challenged the traditional presentation of dance in a proscenium arch theatre as a way to interest and attract new dance audiences. Graham collaborated with Nicole Bauguss on the installations, Anthony Vine on music (BM Music Composition 2011), Professor Dave Covey on lighting, and dancers Katy Gilmore (BFA 2010), Leigh Lotocki (BFA 2010), Mair Culbreth (PhD), Carson Moody (BM Percussion 2011), and Erik Abbott-Main (MFA 2012).
4
FEATURED WORK
A F SP10
APRIL 5, 2010 Sullivant Hall, Studio 5 White Box
MARCH 18–APRIL 2, 2010 Urban Arts Space
The Spring Perspective highlighted works by Lindsay Caddle LaPointe, Lily Skove, Rodney Veal, and Lise WorthenChaudhari, intersecting the crossroads of technology and the body while exploring memory, imagination, physiology, and scale.
OVERSIZED featured Lindsay
Caddle LaPointe’s four dances for the camera celebrating largescale art of the everyday objects found in the state of Ohio. CORN was shot in the spring using five blondes dancing with ninefoot ears of cement corn found in Dublin, Ohio. BASKET was shot in fall with four brunettes dancing in front and around the large Longaberger Basket in Frazeyburg, Ohio. STAMP, shot in the summer features a solo dancer with Claus Oldenburg’s Free Stamp found in Cleveland, Ohio. CHAIR was shot in the winter with a solo dancer hanging, dancing and sitting on a 20-foot tall rocking chair found in Austinburg, Ohio.
5
The Edge of Visibility,
created by Lily Skove, is a project that included a piece for the stage (Simple Shape), a dance film (Night Dance), a video installation (What Can A Body Do?), a sound piece, (Recipe), and an interaction, (Menu). Each piece was made in collaboration with the performers, and each piece shifts the site of dance making from the stage, to the screen, and to the gallery. Rodney Veal’s Persistence of Memory I & II is a concert piece and installation created by Rodney Veal (MFA 2010) that combines sculpture and video as way to explore memory and movement. His works delved into the impact of memory through the lenses of race, age and sexuality.
Lise Worthen-Chaudhari’s Embedded Arts utilized motion capture technology and a custom-coded interactive computer program to embed the arts in stroke and spinal cord injury rehabilitation. The purpose of this work is to bring artistic process to rehabilitative protocols while also capturing movement as data that can be biomechanically analyzed for purposes of clinical outcomes tracking and research. Significant individuals involved included the clinical staff and patients of the NeuroRecovery Clinic at OSUMC’s Dodd Rehabilitation Hospital.
The VICKi Project™ or The
VICKi Project is a program Julie Cruse created for use in teaching her new technique, “Interactive Performance technique 2.0™” to trans-disciplinary students. Visit thevickiproject.wordpress.com for more information.
TOP (L-R) Terrence Karn and Amanda Platt in Julie Fox’s Boxes and Bags. Jolene Bartley and Karena Birk in Melanie Bales’ Artemis and Aphrodite in the Garden of Give and Take. Lindsay Caddle LaPointe, rehearsal for CHAIR. Rodney Veal in Persistence of Memory. Photo: Brianna Dance, OSU Urban Arts Space. Photos by Melissa Bontempo unless otherwise indicated. Photos from James Graham’s Separate Panes can be found on the inside front cover and back cover.
festival a five day t, c je ro P State |Tela The Terra ok place at The Ohio April e c to n , a e c D n f a o d t of artmen p e lminating D u ’s c y a it s Univers week wa h conducted e h T . 0 1 14-18, 20 ous dance researc |Tela rra ari event of v nce majors. The Te rought b a d ”) r n e io v n o se w y b r “lands| fo as well as n ti s, a u (l b t c Proje in Colum 10 0 ts 2 D c , e A 8 C It created rs C -1 te s. A 4 gether in s and communitie April 1 A LAB @ to h M M E & trie all nt researc other coun ich the many differe cted. Sullivant H e h rs w a web in niors inte tive a n by the se paths take mate and transform ed ti nc Through in es at ACCAD (Adva esign), c D performan Center for Arts and library, the d g Computin eatre, and a deserte lic to travel b h u T p t n e a th v Sulli b for concerns. came a hu festival be se various research ortunity for p e through th also served as an op ort each l pp The festiva work together, su reads to th the seniors , and find common projects. lated work s re r’ n e u th ly o 0 g 1 20 eir seemin nder, BFA through th by Kelly O
a l e t | a r r te project
the
A F 6
Boundary House: this shifting ground. Photos: Melissa Bontempo.
FEATURED WORK
h eir researc ation of th dance in lm u c a s Serving a ticism of European tie Stehura a le . E .I. P on the ath toria DeRenzo and K ct of a y b s ic rmance le) ta V o b rs , rf fi g m e e in p se th n in w a E s o a tr g ation t Pre-sh ile studyin their work ith e Improvis ed Sullivan presented ullivant Theatre. Wh tie t Theatre w erformanc room of the desert ed with n (P a v lli u a S S K in and rm in a concert l began in Different a, Victoria were held e which was transfo mselves. pher The festiva pective: Dances in s. The e nna, Austri ngarian choreogra ac th ie V sp rs e in ie rs ry c e d n ra o P a B u ib g d L H d e n d th a rs e n , n a d s jo Sharin o n , a g ie a si it in re, ce m commis ommun cumentary fter perform color, textu prised of senior dan since da Cultures, C e opened with a do and Hargitay. A duet, they presente le s m b o o k m c Á is c se e . n n ri E a e th h .I. n u P is rc a G a s th a a se m d ss perform re o e ri s, fr a ir rk ting the excerpt re, by M r the past e opinion have wo la e A t v u th e a cism O ic d ti th W rt r. le se a a o a e h th c ry y W It show slating a umenta niors Vickers homore r. c n p a o e se ie ti d tr e so 0 a g 1 ir M K 0 e in d 2 o lle n th ext w rk in oncern es ash a Danie of the question c . Rauchverbot, the n ographed Rebecca C at traveled to venu igh and beliefs nce major. Through r, a s, e e y d u it tt th e a ore da rious h a tour to the stag as a group piece ch ed by their men year, g life as a organized mbus along with va Virginia, c concernin cussion about fresh d overall w e w u t lu nd infl n the sho is an around Co colleges throughou Teaching nd Katie a ry and props were a personal d nships, busy lives, t start a ri to s. d ic tt n V a a by t tio ene chuse schools movemen loving rela video provided a gre ards the Though sc nd Massa research. the strong physical ce that sylvania, a rming both formally e w n th to n t e s, h P m g a si re a in s o d e share the sp , it wa d perf k as it gav ibrant classes an lly, P.I.E. was able to with other used sweeping through piece. to the wee s and quirks of this v sented s ly a e a k e th ic rm f id u fo o q d re ie c in n p ti and erns a live esthe personalit . Cecilia Petursson ation conc Through video and g on Two fined the a is e y v d d ss ro tu tive piece p la S c im r ve senio a collabora , Sarah unities. e sharin s m omparati describing the th a C l, m w a o A t c iv c h a e st c rc d fe a dan ring the her rese al’s grams d The secon hed by Caitlin Ewing A rmance du Dance Pro d the festiv discovere d p University nd differences she , Australia. perfo ’s tour encompasse ections and choreogra d Kelly Onder entitle ilt through a ne rs u n b te a s in s, of P.I.E a f n o w o e b e c ib m similarities g abroad in Brisba cilia’s G . The pie search based hing the nities. in m u e rc y o C m ra d o , e u n R m v o st io o g c in ss ile ong e re wh eep A se tocki K rdisciplinary creativ tween place and nderful ections am with a Q& e d Leigh Lo te Complete onstration was a wo displayed. conn b n in a k , e lin l e a L e tu p dresser, m cts , Bernic conce s to The re e u o , wooden th p lecture de the range of proje uren le n m ilm b o a G c ta ty n ss a e K ro h c c d a a s it e to L k rt t e r, c n A rm A n e . edia udie ce majo testam memory ooden door transfo e was took the a l Movement and M eir piece fellow dan musical theatre d c n w n a d ie a e d g ili u ta th a c a a Ce the and Experimen Lab) in ACCAD for ifting performed oses. rs and into a room is sh Smith also t, His Toeses Are R MMA the stage . Dressed in rich colo complex th (E : e b s a u L o e H u ir ry d e to e a d th in d th e n d , g ir u e in re o c insp look wden explo entitled B n entering the spa rsed in h, Alex Bo e dancers ace and each other rc th a o s, e se c p ri m re U b . r im d e , fa h e the sp groun mories diately As part of solo, Exhale on On f Dance onships to d remembered me ents. was imme rough the use of ti e la c re a n o d ie t e d n e u n a th ed a ovem perform epartm h wood ironment as they reliv mate and complex m phed by D ll along wit a new env o projection, a hard es varying ti choreogra ghan Durham-Wa o Time in h e g u m id e thro N the seniors lighting, v lothesline of costu cs, Lecturer, M and physical duet, toria t bringing e layers u c o ri a b b a d fa s n a ic c a d ti V w c l ente floor, an energe with fellow Senior Adriana The festiva showing the audien ection hite ornam rm colored g y between w rns, and flowing wa ace conn er and d th n e a g to be Youn d choreographed b . Perhaps ry to e v sp e t times disco m an bright patt skirts. This intimate distinct tersecting ous projects. While a e in DeRenzo 08 MFA Dance alu ning was f o r d u n fo a 0 ve t of Th se vari ork of dresses Durant, a 2 ving piece of the e Alex and within the ferent, each elemen , curiosity, ther the w rnice, Leigh, and e g to t h o y g b if m th d , Be brou the most ce choreographed drastically roject displayed dep 2010 phers. Katy pped and layered eleven ra e g th o n r a P re e fo o th la rm h y f e o c e a o T a perf e ective ve Cov Terra| nsory urant overl of disabled rk. It is refl epartment and to th ember Da o w Adriana D to become a multi-se ounded rd a h d Faculty m ARC, a local group rtment D n a e d th rr n s a to su rk s n of pa atio ence ance their wo members take class in the de e We e perform ly brought the class’ dedic e field. These experi rs for their rience. Th o iec io nc n a d se t n e th se d adults, wh y performed their p ight with a expe dience and seamless as their work re p prepare r s e N e u d duation. tt d h a rl e ra n T o e b . g a w e r th ly y v e k a g wee ties ha ome aft flecting c changin ced All D and enthusiasm re n to to e a s c in e D a r e liv sp ve d w a vie ared Could H fidence careers an d in the sh nse of con intersecte is unique festival. unique se audience smiling. th e themes of that left th
A
7
Esther Baker-Tarpaga: DOWN by Fiona Lundie, MFA 2012
DANCE DOWNTOWN XII: REMIX CULTURE
May 7-8, 2010 • Riffe Center’s Capital Theatre
DDXII
Ming-Lung Yang: NO TRACE by Maungsai Somboon, MFA 2011 It was a cold, snowy January when MingLung Yang first shared his vision of his piece, No Trace, for Dance Downtown 2010. The wintry weather outside was juxtaposed with tranquil, lush photographs of Zen gardens that were his inspiration for this new work. The dancers lay on the studio floor, carefully observing every nook and cranny, every crevice and angle of the rocks and the elegant, subtle lines in the sand. There was a sense of complexity within the simplicity of the images, and the piece ultimately epitomized that sentiment. We started with working in partnering trios. We explored different shapes by supporting each other with our own physicalities. We created shifting architecture in space. The men worked on sliding across the floor, and the women practiced a stylized form of running inspired by the Chinese Opera. Ming asked us to attend to the intricate details in every moment and every movement phrase, as if each cell in our bodies were connected as we danced. “How much are you working?” was a constant question posed to us during the rehearsal process. In the department, Ming’s mantra for movement is unquestionably about efficiency and ease without compromising the intent of the choreography. “Yes, I can perform this phrase without exhausting myself. No, I don’t have to muscle through the lifts. Yes, I am connected to the ensemble and with them, I shall breathe.” In some warm-up exercises, we practiced qigong to enhance the circulation in our bodies. In others, we rehearsed the iconic runs that represented rakes carving through the sand.
As an aspiring professional dancer, it is inspirational to see how he conducts rehearsals. His work ethic is instilled in us as students, choreographers and performers. His way of sculpting our improvisations yields phrases that blend harmoniously with his vision of the piece. We were asked to listen to the music–to focus on the quality and tone of the string instruments and the wood-chimes. As we became more familiar with the musical score, we were able to discern landmarks for transitions and movement cues. Our strong focus on the music allowed us to perform as an ensemble rather than individuals dancing on stage. As a cast, we knew when we were early or late because of our aural and spatial awareness. We discovered musicality through silence and non-percussive music. Our bodies and our movement provided the underlying rhythms of the piece. Theresa Elwell (BFA 2012) comments, “It was such an incredible rehearsal process because Ming put his full trust in all of us as we did in him. We helped generate movement and had the opportunity to find our own creative outlet within the context of this piece and he took value in our interpretation of his ideas.” Ming’s trademark humor allowed us to enjoy and laugh throughout the process while focusing on honing this fine, stylized craft. Once in a while – at random times, it seems, he would surprise us by telling a joke or presenting a puzzle which we had to figure out. Ming’s dedication to meticulous detail, professional work ethic and sincerity has inspired us immensely.
THE ROAD
Esther Baker-Tarpaga used a collaborative process while creating Down the Road for the May 2010 Dance Downtown concert. Her basic form is to use a prompt to elicit material from a group, then to sequence and shape that material to illuminate a general theme. BakerTarpaga compiled a group of fifteen dancers in fall 2009, and immediately began generating material through each dancer’s responses. The first task was for dancers to state their name while simultaneously executing a chosen gesture. The dancers were Giovanna Andolina, Loganne Bond, Caroline Bramlage, Danté Brown, Quentin Burley, Stephanie Danyi, Alexis del Sol, Louise Eberle, Daniel Holt, Fiona Lundie, Jasmine Marlow, Courtney Michard, Amanda Platt, Arianna Williams, and Abby Zbikowski. Other directives the dancers received were “beautiful solo, ugly trios, silly duets, and angry dance.” Baker-Tarpaga gave the dancers freedom of interpretation and contemplation. The material generated included movement, text, and sound, which were refined by selecting, sequencing, shaping, and filling out the various sections into a coherent dance. Baker-Tarpaga successfully created a cohesive piece that reflected fourteen different dancers’ views and experiences about love and violence. Of her work, one dancer stated, “it is beautiful to see how all of the individuals are so present in the piece and the way in which Esther weaves them all together is amazing.” Through various writing assignments dancers were asked to share personal family experiences. One dancer wrote “I don’t often share what I find personal, so writing about my grandmother was hard; writing about love was hard.” Everything in Baker-Tarpaga’s work is so personal, yet from many individuals she coalesces a distinct culture. Because every dancer contributed, her work promotes a sense of community. Not all the material she collected appeared in the final piece, while some material was used repeatedly. One dancer stated, “I’m not always on stage, but I know my opinion is still on stage. I know that everyone from this cast contributed significantly.” Working with BakerTarpaga felt natural, yet she extracted a high level of physicality from the cast. The piece’s unusual and dynamic movement reflected the intense commitment to Baker-Tarpaga’s work that the dancers felt from having collaborated with her in her creative process. 8
DANCE DOWNTOWN
Michael Kelly Bruce: SINUOUS MOONLIGHT by Daniel Holt, BFA 2011
Sinuous Moonlight promo shot. (L-R) Chafin Seymour and Daniel Holt. Photo: Stephanie Matthews.
Bebe Miller: HOW
TO REMEMBER
Alva Noë’s Hands by Lisa Ferrugia-Atkinson, MFA 2011
And the two blinking tower lights outside the window of Miss Efstathiou’s fifth grade classroom. And the overlapping shadow designs on the floor under the church kneeler. And the Polaroid photos on the wall of the conference room. And the summer dress I’m designing in my head. And the stain on the back door opposite my writing table. And the way that Alva Noë’s hands showed up again in rehearsal this week of Bebe Miller’s work, How to Remember. “Rehearsal” as shorthand for the thing that dancers do in a studio. “Alva Noë’s hands” as shorthand for channeling a certain physical energy in the way he lectured with limp, dead hands. Other things show up in rehearsal, dragged in from somewhere — Donnie Hathaway ballads, and Richard Feynman lectures, and halfremembered fears from gym class: my inability to do a cartwheel, the pit in my stomach as I waited in line to bat. Keep your eye on the ball. And now, the choreographer standing in front of me and saying, find the dynamics of the movement phrase, pull out the extremes, like so many others have before her, and I still don’t know what it means. I am keeping my eye on the ball. What does that have to do with connecting it to a bat? It’s all shorthand for some more complex process. We muddle through as best we can in rehearsal, hunting words that let us climb inside someone else’s vision, try on someone else’s bodily understanding of a movement, a phrase, a nuance. It’s a Vulcan mind-meld without the mind-meld part. We watch, and talk, and match shapes with our bodies, and look for ways to lift and propel and pull each other through space. We judge weight and speed and distance as a body approaches. We develop a sixth sense that attends to what bodies are doing behind us, even when we cannot see. And we try to find language that matches all of it, often with analogies culled from the daydreaming we do when our bodies are penned in lecture halls or staff meetings or social rituals. Blinking lights and summer dresses. Because in the backwards economy of creating, useless things become useful. Like the squirrel I watched yesterday, which has nothing to do with any of it. He wanted a twig in his tree-hole nest, which becomes a complicated thing when the twig is twice as long as the hole is wide. He tried again and again, until I cried laughing. Probably it should teach me something about perseverance. Or the definition of insanity (doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results). But it seems more about humor to me. And about sitting still until something happens. And about paying attention to things that have nothing to do with anything else. Not so far from making a dance. 9
When one is given the task of describing the process of working with Michael Kelly Bruce (MKB), one must begin by imagining the setting –a creative playground: a place in which ideas are rarely constricted, comments and concerns are never in threat of being dismissed, and play is the norm. In fact, his favorite phrase to use throughout the rehearsal process was “It’s not you, it’s me” a phrase which only reinforced the malleability present at all times during rehearsals. Looking back post-performance, this approach seems fairly appropriate for what we ended up enacting on stage. While MKB used different concepts and prompts beyond the mere physical, in the end the dance was about dancing–by yourself and with others–and as a result for me the dance was about enjoying oneself: the rehearsal process as a playground quickly begins to make sense. This was especially true in the first and third sections in the dance. The dance began with a follow spot forming a silhouette that highlighted the sensuous movement of Loganne Bond. This set the pacing for the rest of this section: consisting of flowing, feel good movement that was highlighted by various pauses throughout the phrasing which served to capture snippets of movement for the audience. At one point there was even a duet between myself and Brittany Strine in which we were repeatedly directed to be constantly aware of each other, which always elicited large grins from both of us. All of this emphasized the goal of creating community and play on stage. The third section, though consisting of a much more somber set of phrases (especially considering that this section was the only time where music was absent) was still physically based in community and the enjoyment of movement. It was no secret within the rehearsal process that this was the most difficult section of the dance, and after running it several times in one rehearsal, you would often see all of us on the side wondering if our lungs were still working. Nonetheless, when one got past the presence of fatigue, the section became ripe for luxuriating through the many slow changes of level that were present. This was accented by the fact that the majority of the material, while initially inspired by a phrase MKB gave to us from his days working with Lar Lubovitch, was mostly created by prompted improvisation by the dancers. This meant that the movement consisted of what we as dancers were comfortable with, and in turn found enjoyment in doing. Even if we were often fairly tired by the end, that fatigue served to simply make one more aware of the joy in moving, and the ability of community to help you make it through the heavy breathing. By the end of the project (culminating in our final performance) by way of constant play and freedom to make choices, a dance had been created by a collaborative group. A truth that highlighted the personality of the dance. Not so much a dance that went to great lengths to change how the audience views their life, or questioned their opinions on recent world events. Instead, it was a dance that made an effort to facilitate the joy one finds in moving–either the doing or watching. This is an effort that has much validity in the world of dance; a field that is constantly searching to find its place, whether that may be as pure aesthetic entertainment, as a commentator on our everyday life experience, or somewhere in between. Looking back at all that transpired during the year, a playground seems like an appropriate place to foster dance that addresses those vital topics.
The Passion is Still Present:
Anna Sokolow Centennial
& OSUDance by Hannah Kosstrin, PhD 2010
“It comes from here.” Whoever makes this declaration—Anna Sokolow or dancers recalling her presence—heavily thumps their sternums. “It” is deep expression, unwavering commitment to movement, raw emotional truth, and the raison d’etre for existing in a dancing space, which Sokolow demanded. Many OSU dance faculty knew or danced with Sokolow at OSU, at The Juilliard School, in the New York dance scene, or at other universities. As they bring this influence into their teaching, this 20th-century heavyweight infuses the department. 2010 marks the centennial of Sokolow’s birth. Dance companies and libraries in New York, Mexico City, Boston, and Tel Aviv commemorate the occasion with performances and exhibits. This essay highlights OSUDance’s long standing association with Sokolow as a contribution during this tribute year. OSUDance’s relationship with Sokolow began with her 1966 artist residency, and continues through restaging her dances. Sokolow (1910-2000) is known for her arresting social comment, for her dances that epitomize mid-century alienation, and for her serious yet passionate classroom persona. She made choreographic homes for herself in the U.S., Mexico, and Israel. Her honors include Fulbright fellowships, a Dance Magazine Award, the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Tarbut Medal, a Scripps Award, honorary doctorates, and Ecomienda, the Mexican government’s Aztec Eagle Honor.1 Photographs of her time at OSU anchor hallway collages, and faculty and students continue to direct and perform her work. Department of Dance professor and chair emerita Helen Alkire first met Sokolow in 1937 at the Bennington Summer School of the Dance–in the infirmary. Sokolow, who danced in Martha Graham’s company and led a leftist dance group, was one of the first Bennington fellows; Alkire was a scholarship student, studying with Hanya Holm. Sokolow and Alkire both got sick midsummer, and ended up in adjacent cubicles. As they recovered, they stood up on their cots and talked to each other over the tops of the cubicle walls; they stayed in touch. Alkire invited Sokolow for an artist residency, and Sokolow spent nearly ten weeks with OSU students in 1966.2 It was an experience few forgot. In a film of the residency, Sokolow claps out the timing structure as she jumps around and gives vocal cues; she directs students across the floor with her full torso leaning into the direction of her sharply-pointed arm; and she, half as tall as the men, scampers into the clump to tell them where to go.3 Sokolow demands accuracy, specificity, speed, and credibility in the dancers’ movement. At one point, professor and chair emerita Vickie Blaine is front and center, flanked by Senta Driver (MA 1967) to her right; Sokolow scolds the class for their “academically bound” movement, explaining the difference between down and up and where their weight should be. Blaine, then new faculty, took Sokolow’s residency classes and performed in Odes (1964), the piece that Sokolow taught the University Dance Company (UDC). Blaine remembers, “Of all the guest artists we had, I’m left with a kinesthetic response to that
memory: go deeper, higher, longer length, keep working, you’re not there. Nothing was ever enough.”4 Driver, who gave up her apartment for Sokolow during the residency,5 wrote, “Her passion and the demands she made were obvious in their effect on us.”6 Although Sokolow’s stern personality in the studio yielded such comments as, “I don’t dislike you, that’s not why I’m hard on you... but I love dance more than I love you,”7 dancers recall how much they learned from Sokolow, and how much they grew as performers under her direction.8 Professor emerita Odette Blum remembers Sokolow’s love for OSU students, and her respect for the centrality of performance to OSU’s program.9 The Ohio State Lantern reported “an exciting evening” after UDC’s 1966 Odes performance.10 UDC performed Odes through the mid-1980s, and also presented Sokolow’s Moods (1975), directed from score by Julie Ede (MA 1978), in 1978. Also in 1978, Alkire nominated Sokolow for an honorary Doctorate of Humanities because she believed Sokolow’s artistic achievements warranted recognition.11 OSU conferred the degree on December 8.12 As part of the nomination process, Alkire garnered letters of support from people across arts disciplines, including William Bales, Uta Hagen, Martha Hill, Robert Joffrey, Sarah Levi-Tanai, Peter Mennin, Jerome Robbins, and Batsheva de Rothschild.13 Sokolow’s doctorate made national headlines on the front page of Dance News.14 OSUDance’s commitment to Sokolow’s choreography continues through 2010, including directing Sokolow’s dances from Labanotation score. Sokolow was a longtime Labanotation advocate: between 1976 and 1988 she wrote letters of support for the Dance Notation Bureau in which she expounded upon the importance of notation to the preservation of her choreography, and to the widespread dissemination of her work.15 It is largely through directing from score that Sokolow’s choreography remains in contemporary OSU dancers’ bodies. Professor emeritus John Giffin, who danced in Sokolow’s work at Juilliard in the mid-1960s and who counts Sokolow among his prominent artistic influences, directed Sokolow’s dances at OSU in the 1990s-2000s.16 These included Lyric Suite (1954), which he set for repertory class, Session for Six (1964), which he taught in Labanotation classes, and the “Escape” solo from Rooms (1955), which he directed from score for a senior project and brought in Lorry 10
Performing a dance with political depth presented a similarly new challenge in 1966 and in 2008. Blaine reflected that Sokolow’s embodiment of political themes infused her own dancing. “Working with her brought up new issues for me,” Blaine said. “Dance was expressive for me but it didn’t have much to do with politics... Anna brought this informally to the studio.”22 Steps’ intensity is similar to Sokolow’s other work; Rodney Veal (MFA 2010) found that to meet this concentrated power in performance he only “needed to be ‘human’ and present.”23 For Karena Birk (MFA 2010), this aspect of Steps relates to its landscape: “We don’t just dance a piece, but we go on a journey together and are united by common, deeply affective experience.”24 Sokolow wanted dancers to embody her choreography while working from their own experiences. As such, she notoriously changed her choreography from cast to cast; this choreographic personalization, however, retained the excitement of learning new work. Giffin remembers that Sokolow “taught a[n existing] piece as if it were new.”25 Similarly, when she came to coach Steps of Silence, May tailored aspects of the movement and spoken text to the dancers. Eran Hanlon (MFA 2010) recalls, “May’s challenge to develop an authentic character intention provided a platform that deepened the theatricality of my performance not only in relation to my own personal growth, but also within the greater context of a whole ensemble.”26 Sokolow’s influence remains in the ways OSU professors teach and direct their rehearsals, including Sokolow’s stress on credible commitment to movement. Associate Professor Michael Kelly Bruce, who first worked with Sokolow in Mary Anthony’s company in 1973 and again with Utah’s Repertory Dance Theatre, traces Sokolow’s influence to his not holding back. “Vulnerability, commitment, eyes wide open–it’s a shame to do anything less than that,” he said. “You have the whole power of your history to get there.” Sokolow’s influence extends beyond Sullivant Hall, as recent alums perform her work in various venues. OSUDance’s continuing relationship with Sokolow’s work exemplifies the longevity of her choreography, and OSU’s commitment to keeping it alive. “There is something extremely accessible about her movement, and it’s a great complement for what students do in contemporary classes,” Williams said. “It’s a great way to access history through their bodies.”2 11
Steps of Silence cast (1968). Photo: OSUDance archives.
This spring, Associate Curricular Dean for Arts and Humanities and Professor of Dance Valarie Williams presented an excerpt of Sokolow’s Steps of Silence (1968), which she directed from score, during her Inaugural Lecture. She directed the full work at OSU in 2008.18 Williams chose the anti-war Steps of Silence for its psychological meatiness.19 During the process of teaching the dance, Williams addressed performance intention in this piece with specific socio-political themes.20 Dancer Leigh Lotocki (BFA 2010) remembers that the “process was about creating a kind of history with Steps that we could be a part of.”21 When May came to OSU to coach the work, she stressed the importance of the dancers personally relating to the dance’s topical issues.
1. For a full list of Sokolow’s honors and awards, see http://sokolowtheatredance.org/awards.html. 2. Helen Alkire in discussion with the author, April 13, 2010, Orient, Ohio. 3. Anna Sokolow Directs Odes: Artist in Residence, Winter, 1966, directed by David L. Parker (The Ohio State University Department of Photography and Cinema, 1972). Collection of Department of Dance, The Ohio State University. 4. Vickie Blaine in discussion with the author, April 5, 2010, Columbus, Ohio. 5. Senta Driver, “Passion Is Also Important: Anna Sokolow at Ohio State,” Dance Scope 3, no. 1 (1966), 28; and Alkire, discussion. 6. Driver, 29. 7. Sokolow, quoted in Driver, 27. 8. Blaine, discussion; John Giffin in discussion with the author, April 20, 2010, Columbus, Ohio; Michael Kelly Bruce in discussion with the author, April 21, 2010, Columbus, Ohio; and Valarie Williams in discussion with the author, April 20, 2010, Columbus, Ohio. 9. Odette Blum in discussion with the author, April 5, 2010, Columbus, Ohio. 10. Helene E. Chalfin, “Ohio State Dancers Give Exciting Show,” The Ohio State Lantern, March 3, 1966, 1. The Lantern Online Archive 1881-1997, ActivePaper (accessed May 5, 2010). 11. Alkire, discussion. 12. OSU News Press Release, November 20, 1978, Box 1, Folder 16, Dance Faculty Records, The Juilliard School Archives. 13. William Bales to Helen P. Alkire, 16 February 1978, Sokolow Dance Foundation (SDF); Uta Hagen to Helen P. Alkire, 2 March 1978, SDF; Martha Hill to Helen P. Alkire, 9 February 1978, Box 1, Folder 16, Sokolow, Anna: Correspondence, newsclippings, programs, etc 1970-1979, The Juilliard School Archives; Robert Joffrey to Helen P. Alkire, 8 March 1978, SDF; Sara Levi-Tanai to Helen P. Alkire, 24 February 1978, SDF; Peter Mennin, 24 February 1978, SDF; Jerome Robbins to Helen P. Alkire, 16 February 1978, SDF; and Batsheva de Rothschild, 23 February 1978, SDF.
Steps of Silence cast (2008). Photo: Stephanie Matthews.
May (Sokolow Dance Foundation) to coach. “I think it’s important for dancers to encounter this raw choreography for an education as to what dynamics are,” Giffin said. “With Anna, you knew what quick was. You had to be able to turn swiftly with no preparation and no landing... It’s important training.”17
14. Helen V. Atlas, “Anna Sokolow’s Work with Israeli Dancers,” Dance News, January 1979, 1. 15. General letter from Anna Sokolow, 6 February 1976, Collection of Dance Notation Bureau (DNB); Anna Sokolow to Rhoda Grauer (National Endowment for the Arts), 14 May 1979, DNB; Anna Sokolow to Dance Notation Bureau, 24 September 1988, DNB; and Anna Sokolow to Kathleen Berman, 4 October 1988, DNB. 16. Giffin, discussion. 17. Giffin, discussion. 18. See Karena Hatfield-Grytting (Birk), “You Haven’t Done Steps of Silence Until You’ve Been Coached by Lorry May,” InForm 2007-2008, 7, and Valarie Williams, “Students Dance Sokolow’s Steps of Silence,” InForm 2007-2008, 8-9. 19. Williams, discussion. 20. Valarie Williams, “The Body, the Archive, or the Score: Where Does the Dance Live?” Inaugural Lecture transcript (April 19, 2010), 3, courtesy of Valarie Williams. 21. Leigh Lotocki in email communication with the author, May 12, 2010. 22. Blaine, discussion. 23. Rodney Veal in email communication with the author, May 13, 2010. 24. Karena Birk in email communication with the author, May 12, 2010. 25. Giffin, discussion. 26. Eran Hanlon in email communication with the author, May 11, 2010. 27. Bruce, discussion. 28. Williams, discussion.
Everyday Movement
Photo: Melissa Bontempo.
by Lise Worthen-Chaudhari, MFA 2010
Tap Lab
by Jenai Cutcher, MFA 2009 The elective program in the Department of Dance is not only a point of entry into the rich world of dance as an art form for many students from various academic disciplines, but also a chance to engage in different modes of experiential learning. Beginning last fall, the advanced tap class included a new performative element to the curriculum in order to foster a reciprocal relationship between performance and studio practice. Means of sharing the dance in communal, informal settings are built into the very traditions of tap, so the class and I worked together to create these opportunities. Performance is a wonderful chance for personal growth as a dancer at any level. My primary goal with the Tap Lab performances was to prepare students in the studio for presenting in public and, in turn, applying lessons learned in performance when back in the studio. Last fall, students were able to perform in a variety of venues. They participated in 60x60, a dance and music event produced by alum Amiti Perry, they provided the opening entertainment to the screening of my documentary, Thinking On Their Feet, at the OSU Urban Arts Space, and they made several appearances in the nearby South Campus Gateway as a part of the new Arts in the Alley. As a resident artist in the Gateway through a program developed by the Arts Initiative at Ohio State, I have been able to create a bridge between my students at OSU and the community at large. They, in turn, have all contributed to shaping a more substantial platform for the art of tap in Columbus. Besides the direct benefits of learning through experience, the students are able to meet others with similar interests, collaborate with professional artists, and serve as ambassadors to both the form and the university. After two successful quarters of this hybrid class, the results have been quite inspiring. Alyssa Tortorete, a freshman, says, “In these performance experiences I have learned about myself as a dancer and as a person. These events were nothing like I have ever participated in and I am so thankful to have such a unique, characterbuilding opportunity.” Angela Weixel, who performed four times throughout fall quarter, observed, “Those several small performances showed an evolution of dance for the individual and the group. It was fun for me to grow and bond as a group and learn to challenge myself through the whole process.” This past term, Tap 1 and 2 combined to produce a full informal concert for the public. Held in the Shoebox off campus, the students learned about performance from beginning to end by choreographing, promoting, producing, and performing ten different pieces. I strive to provide my students with a comprehensive tap education, from vocabulary and technique to choreography, improvisation, and history. The addition of performance events has become an integral part of that experience and an invaluable source of pride and confidence in these young adults.
Every quarter, approximately 1000 people study dance through the Department of Dance’s elective program. Classes span a range of movement and academic practices including: Ballet, Modern, Hip Hop, Jazz, Somatics, Tap, Yoga, West African, Dance History/Culture. Most students who participate are non-majors taking dance for fun and fitness; for many, the classes represent a first exposure to movement practice. Taught mostly by graduate students in Dance, these elective classes are a lot of fun, inspiring a rewarding level of academic and physical rigor. All classes require essay work as a platform for discussing the movement principles, history and culture of the art form. For instance, in my section of Hip Hop, essays due every two weeks cover topics such as movement in everyday life, imagery to facilitate hip hop coordination, and the politic origins of hip hop. We weave physical and academic practice in a way that is rigorous yet accessible. I’ll let the students offer their own evidence in the form of excerpts from their first essay: Pauline Darr poetically expressed: “Dance to the beat of your own drummer. As Americans, we are often encouraged to be ourselves. Today, the most important word is simply this: dance. Dance because the sun is shining or the rain is pouring. Dance because life is beautiful. For me, each and every person moves in a way unique to him or her [creating a daily, personal dance].” Jamie Marino found parallels between qualities of flow and weight in Hip Hop dance and the artwork Chihuly Over Venice: “The fading color effect presents the possibility of past movements that have left an impression on the air. The portions with extending color represent new movements, full of energy.” Jacqueline Lee submitted a fresh description of the proverbial bike ride: “The wheels were spinning so fast, as if they weren’t moving at all. It’s the same monotonous movement over and over again; however in the way that he moved, something exciting and beautiful happened.” Rayvion Sanford described a childhood memory: “One movement found in nature that really interests me is the movement of helicopters. Not the big noisy machines in the sky, but the seeds that gracefully fall from trees in the autumn... As they fell and spun around us, we would too, until we got too dizzy to stand straight anymore. Our world is full of little movements like that.” Carolyn Kwon found parallels between Hip Hop dance and audio waves: “As a speech and hearing science major… we learned about waves and I realized there are countless examples of wave motions in hip hop dance. I guess movement really does occur anywhere and can be observed in almost any situation.” Jessica Li inscribes the dynamics of a Paso Doble: “Opening their eyes in unison with each other and to the music, a position of the hand stiff and facing up for him and down for her, a quick turn of the head at the beat of the music...”Mary Ann Jiang captured the physical intensity of watching dance: “The first time that I watched Wade Robson’s Slow Dancing in a Burning Room my heart held its breath. As I replay it now, I stare with my mouth a pinky finger’s width-open and my breathing subtly subdued.” Finally, elective student Ally Marotti articulates the importance of the Department’s program for non-majors: “When we dance, we are able to express ourselves in a very unique way that cannot be communicated otherwise. Maybe by the end of this quarter, I’ll be able to pop, lock, and krump just like nine year old Miles Brown did [on Ellen]! If not, though, I know for a fact that I’ll have had fun trying.” 12
DANCE EDUCATION
Now & Next Dance Mentoring Project by Ashley Thorndike, PhD 2010
After finishing an undergraduate degree in dance, many dancers seek to create a life as a dancer by piecing together multiple teaching and performance opportunities. By combining a service opportunity with access to active dance artists N&N affords the college dancer access to the experiences she will need in the contemporary dance world. Developing leadership skills in these young dancers will encourage the next generation of arts leaders. Of course, not all dance majors become professional dancers. For dancers considering careers in the social service, health, or legal professions, N&N provides an opportunity to develop as a dancer and engage in the type of service activity that can demonstrate the leadership skills requisite for graduate school or employment. Adolescent girls need positive role models. In the critical period of adolescence, positive developmental experiences can contribute to overall well-being. Physical activity is key to the health of youth. Inactivity is a strong predictor of obesity, social isolation, and depression. Adolescents who are engaged in movement practices, whether dance, yoga, or soccer, learn to appreciate the capacities of their body–what the body can do rather than what the body looks like. Studying dance, a confluence of strength, flexibility, personal expression, creative decision-making, and cooperation is an ideal avenue for adolescent development. The third population served by the Now & Next Dance Mentoring Project is the professional dance artist. Dance artists need space and time. While a week is a short period, even such a period of concentrated time can be generative for a working artist. N&N will primarily support dance artists working in America outside of New York City. These artists will be artists active in their field, whether by performing, choreographing, making dance films, and teaching adult and youth programs. The project provides three experiences. For college dancers, the program will allow for a depth of physical experience and leadership development. After experimentation in morning physical technique and creative process courses, the afternoons will consist of facilitated mentoring and teaching of the local youth. In the evenings, the students will engage in discussions, attend writing and résumé workshops, view dance on film, and develop other reflective processes.
13
For the local middle school girls, N&N is an opportunity to grow as a leader and mover. Teens will attend half-days, working each afternoon on movement and life skills in partnership with a dance mentor. Students will learn the components of dance-making, discover ways that movement can contribute to a healthy lifestyle, and appreciate the many capacities of their body. These afternoon workshops will include both facilitated one-to-one mentoring and group movement activities. For dance artists, who will teach in the mornings and lead discussions in the evenings, the program offers an opportunity to teach and mentor, to engage in generative discussions about dance-making, and to work at their leisure each afternoon, whether experimenting with movement ideas, or refining developed projects. In future years, the program will support the performance of the work by associated artists. The first project took place from July 18-24, 2010 at Appalachian State University in North Carolina, featuring Annie Beserra (MFA 2007) the artistic director of Striding Lion Performance Group, a dance theatre company and arts education organization in Chicago, IL. Laurie Atkins (MFA 2009), a faculty member at Appalachian State served as the local host and somatics expert. In 2011, the project will expand to two additional university host sites. The project is working towards 501(c)3 status and is currently operating under a fiscal sponsorship agreement with Fractured Atlas in New York City. Like any not-for-profit, N&N is made possible by a community of donors who believe in the artistic and wellness benefits of dance.
Ashley Thorndike completed a PhD in Dance Studies at the Ohio State University in June 2010. Disinclined to limit her interests to one discipline, she decided to forge ahead with a life as a dancer, choreographer, scholar, educator, and citizen by founding the Now & Next Dance Mentoring Project. Combining her work in college student development and dance, her dissertation titled Articulating the Physical: Knowledge Practices in the College Dance Studio concerns the epistemological development of undergraduate dancers. In Spring 2009 she was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Oberlin College. Ashley has recently performed at Movement Research in New York and Green Street Studios in Boston, in Annie Kloppenberg’s (MFA 2009) Indelible Marks. Most recently, her work in collaboration with Peter V. Swendsen, coldness & lightness, was performed at Oberlin College and the Goose Route Dance Festival, in Shepherdstown WV by Laurie Atkins (MFA 2009), Annie Kloppenberg (MFA 2009), and Meghan Durham-Wall (OSU lecturer). Read more about Ashley in the December 2009 issue of Dance Studio Life. Alex Bowden (BFA 2010) and Ashley Thorndike. Photo: Leigh Lotocki.
DUCATIO
What does one do with a PhD in dance? Artist, scholar, and activist, Ashley Thorndike (PhD 2010) recently launched a new approach to summer dance study, the Now & Next Dance Mentoring Project (nownextdance.com). These weeklong workshops respond to three major concerns facing contemporary dance today: College dancers have few opportunities to engage in service-learning; dancers must learn how to teach and engage diverse populations in movement experiences. Adolescent girls lack physical competence; ranging from obesity, to disordered body images, to overly aggressive sports training, girls are not supported in mind and body. Dance artists are under-appreciated and underdeveloped; few programs exist to support emerging artists.
DEPARTMENT NEWS
Dance Wellness
by Marika Baxter, PAM Coordinator
Renovations
OSU Department of Dance and OSU Sports Medicine, Program for Performing Arts Medicine have expanded their collaborative relationship to provide on site care to collegiate dancers and faculty. As specialists in dance medicine and rehabilitation, the Program for Performing Arts Medicine is proud to be the primary medical provider for the OSU Department of Dance. Our team consists of sports medicine primary care physicians, orthopaedic surgeons, chiropractors, physical therapists and athletic trainers experienced in dealing with the special needs of the performing artist.
by Dave Covey, Professor Great changes are coming to the Department of Dance! We are very fortunate and excited to embark on a redesign and renovation of Sullivant Hall in partnership with the Cartoon Library, which will be renamed the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library. The much needed expansion and relocation of the Cartoon Library to Sullivant Hall, will result in the reconfiguration of a large portion of the second floor of the building to house new spaces for the Department of Dance which will vacate the basement level of the building and portions of the first floor. The renovation will include new offices, classrooms, studios and a black box mediated performance space, providing us with the opportunity to re-imagine our curricular and creative work. This is an unprecedented opportunity for the Department to create stateof-the-art interdisciplinary spaces that will support new course developments concurrent with the Department’s ever-evolving visions and the university’s conversion to semesters in 2012 and beyond. Part of the plan also includes long overdue upgrades to the physical and technical components of the Sullivant Hall Theatre.
EWS
The Performing Arts Medicine staff works with the OSU Department of Dance to promote health and wellness for the collegiate dancer. On a weekly basis, we provide on site care located within Sullivant Hall to allow easier access to the busy dancers of The Ohio State University. Our Dance Wellness clinic has hours four days a week and provides physical therapy, athletic training and chiropractic treatments. Along with help from the Department’s administrative staff, we have organized for online sign-ups for treatment so students can access our schedule anywhere. We also provide backstage care for the dancers. This year we were happy to be on site during Dance Downtown and the Spring Concert.
This renovation is the initial phase of a long term master plan to physically consolidate the Arts at OSU, which are currently spread across campus, and transform the entrance to OSU at 15th and High into an Arts District housing all the Arts disciplines and the Wexner Center into a comprehensive and exciting interdisciplinary community of teaching, research and public offerings. The Dance Department’s success in realizing the greatest potential of this renovation requires support above and beyond what is currently allocated in the modest project budget. Much of the capitol for the renovation is targeted to replace and reconfigure spaces, and make upgrades to the building to meet LEED-environmental standards certification and ADA accessibility. This is a very old building! The upgrades to the theatre, studios and classroom spaces that will help the Department to continue to be a leader in the field, require additional fund raising. Given the unique opportunity that this project is giving us, and how much it will allow us to improve the opportunities for our students and what we can give back to the community, we ask that you consider making a donation to the Department’s Raise the Roof Fund.
Beginning in the fall quarter of 2009-2010, we initiated freshman wellness screenings. These screens will be performed for all incoming freshman and assess musculoskeletal parameters to help uncover areas for improvement that may predispose the dancer to injury. These screenings also serve to be groundwork for research endeavors in collegiate dance.
For more information about the Dance Wellness clinic in Sullivant Hall please visit our webpage on the Department of Dance website: dance.osu.edu/dancewellness. For more information on the Program for Performing Arts Medicine please visit sportsmedicine.osu.edu/outreach/ performing_arts .
Sullivant Halll proposed building renovation sketch by George Acock.
A one credit Dance Wellness course was developed last year and is offered to juniors, seniors, and grad students at the department. This course takes students through the Dancer Wellness Project screening where students then have access to their results online and can develop an individualized program based on the screen findings. Dancers also learn about common injuries, nutrition, psychology of healing, and a host of exercises, stretches and cross training programs based on the needs of the collegiate dancer.
As project manager for the Department, I encourage you to make a donation, whatever you can, to help make this venture one that will prove to be as exciting ten years from now, as it seems today. This opportunity will never happen again. Space, time and money are always at a premium in dance. And yes, I know, they are also factors in our everyday lives. But this project is a gift to us all. Please consider making your gift, towards this amazing development in the future of the department and be a part of our continued legacy of excellence and innovation. The next three years are going to be a busy and intensive time, working with an amazingly talented group of Architects and other collaborators to make this building and program a comprehensive hub of exciting interdisciplinary activity. I invite you to be a part of this exciting new vision for the Department of Dance. Once completed, there will be a celebration like you have never seen. And you will all be invited!
14
by Chuck Helm, Director of Performing Arts, Wexner Center for the Arts On February 12th we were pleased to present the very first concert of the final two year international Legacy Tour of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company celebrating the enduring impact of this legendary choreographer who passed away in 2009. Cunningham, along with his partner in life and art John Cage, were recipients of the Wexner Prize in 1993 and the Legacy Tour concert here allowed us an opportunity to reconnect with his highly influential work and to also highlight Merce’s linkages with OSU’s Department of Dance. We regularly draw upon the expertise of dance department faculty for pre-concert talks to provide valuable context about performances. In this case, Department of Dance professors Karen Eliot, a former MCDC dancer, and David Covey, who received a Bessie Award for his lighting design work with the company, provided their personal remembrances and insights into Merce’s work for our audience that night. Their moving comments were greatly appreciated by the group of over 500 people that came early, the largest crowd we have ever had for a pre-concert talk. The company’s stellar program included a recent work Split Sides which was preceded by an onstage Cage-inspired “chance operation” that consisted of five members of the dance department that we invited to participate–including Eliot, Covey and OSU dance students Rodney Veal, Kathryn Vickers and Chafin Seymour–rolling dice to determine the order of the music, lighting, choreography, costumes, and set elements that would be seen during the two halves of this brilliant piece. This involvement of dance faculty who worked directly under this great dance master as well as their students seemed to perfectly demonstrate the ongoing legacy of Merce Cunningham on this campus and make for truly special moments on this most memorable evening.
15
2009-10 Guest Series compiled by Melissa Bontempo
Crystal Pite of Kidd Pivot kicked off our Visiting Artists and Scholars series in September. Pite led an improvisation class focused on discovering and revealing articulations and timings in the body, the play between analysis and instinct, and the use of improvisation both as a tool and an experience. Pite is Associate Choreographer of Netherlands Dance Theatre and Associate Dance Artist of Canada’s National Arts Centre. Heidi Henderson, artistic director of elephant JANE dance, contributing editor at Contact Quarterly, and author of Growing Place, (a book of interviews with artists from the Bates Dance Festival) led a contact improvisation class and jam in autumn. Robert Wechsler, director of Palindrome (a multimedia performance ensemble) shared some of Palindrome’s recent work and taught “motion tracking” during his autumn master class. Wechsler instructs people in a range of disciplines how to use sensors and computers to make movement control music, lights, text, sounds and video. Lacina Coulibaly, from Burkina Faso has trained and performed in both traditional African dance and contemporary modern dance. His master class demonstrated this intersection of his combined expertise. Coulibaly is teaching at Yale University and has performed in collaboration with the Baker & Tarpaga Dance Project. Lisa Race, Assistant Professor of Dance at Connecticut College, led master classes and an open rehearsal in contemporary dance technique and improvisation. Race has spent most of her career as a performer, teacher and choreographer in New York. Using visual images and her own dancing body to demonstrate, Dr. Brenda DixonGottschild examined the pervasive Africanist presence in American culture and the sociopolitical implications of its invisibilization in her presentation “Researching Performance–the (Black) Dancing Body as a Measure of Culture,” based on researched devised from her three published books. The lecture and book signing was hosted at the Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Cultural Center’s MLK Lounge with support from several departments in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Lindsay Clark spoke to students about life in New York, the Fantasy Generator workshop/ retreat, working with Shen Wei Dance Arts, and studying abroad at Rotterdam during her brown bag lecture. Elizabeth Rodriguez screened her dance on camera pieces, showed videos of her Latin American contemporary dance choreography, and discussed dance in Chile. Dancer, choreographer, film director and actor Toshinori Hamada taught a masterclass and lecture in Noh Theatre, in addition to a freshman technique class. Toshi is a well-regarded Noh artist and performs regularly in Japan. Currently he is working with the Baker & Tarpaga Dance Project. Marcia B. Siegel, resident faculty member at NYU and internationally known author, lecturer and workshop leader, presented her latest book: Mirrors and Scrims: The Life and Afterlife of Ballet (2010). Siegel spoke about how ballet repertory adapts, evolves, and reflects contemporary culture. A book signing immediately followed. Christopher Salter is a media artist, performance director and composer/sound designer. His current research interests include critical studies of media, technology and performativity. His intriguing lecture in Studio 5 was preceded by the signing of his new book, Entangled: Technology and the Transformation of Performance (2010). Gay Morris is a dance and art critic whose work has appeared in numerous publications, including Dance Research, Art in America, and Body and Society. Students gathered in a large, but intimate circle in Studio 5 to listen to her discuss her new book: A Game for Dancers: Performing Modernism in the Postwar Years, 1945-1960 (2006). Compangnia T.P.O. , from Italy, produces children’s theatre conceived as paintings in movement. Making use of artistic objects, mechanical devices, and plays of light, they combine traditional theatre with other artistic disciplines such as dance and video art. In town to present their work Farfalle at the Wexner Center, T.P.O. partnered with OSUDance for an exclusive Lecture/ Demonstration at Mershon Auditorium.
Background photo: Melissa Bontempo.
Merce Cunningham Legacy Tour
VISITING ARTISTS & SCHOLARS
FACULTY NEWS
EWS
Esther Baker-Tarpaga has had a busy year as OSU’s newest faculty member. Last fall, she performed and toured with David Rousseve/REALITY Saudade at Danspace in NYC. During winter and spring of this year her company Baker & Tarpaga Dance Project was invited to perform Sira Kan at Abok I Goma International Festival of Dance and Percussion in Yaounde, Cameroon; they also performed at OSU Lima and Kenyon College. She also performed her new solo Whiteness Revisited at the Ten Tiny Dances event at Gateway Theatre, Columbus. During Spring Break, Baker & Tarpaga Dance Project had a company residency at OSU for a new project Planet Karaoke with Olivier Tarpaga, Wilfried Souly, Toshi Hamada, Danté Brown (MFA), Michael Wall (composer), and visual artist Nicole Bauguss. She received a BETHA grant from Battelle titled “Shifting Centers: Creative Collaboration in and outside of Africa through Cyber learning and Ubiquitous Technologies.” Melanie Bales presented a paper at the Congress on Research in Dance (CORD) Special Conference: Global Perspectives on Dance Pedagogy: Research and Practice, at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK in June 2009. She wrote an article with Rebecca Nettl-Fiol (OSU Dance alum) for the Dance Magazine College Guide. During this past year, Bales has choreographed two works: an untitled duet set to music by Erik Satie for Abby Yager and Ming-Lung Yang for the R&VA concert Autumn 2009; and a duet for third year MFA students Karena Birk and Jolene Bartley. Currently, Bales is working with Karen Eliot on an anthology of essays in dance studies, including the work of several OSU faculty and PhD candidates, with other national and international scholars. And she is busy meeting with her hardworking committee towards conversion from Quarters to Semesters!
Michael Kelly Bruce spent the summer of 2009 in a 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training Certification Course with the amazing Laurel Hodory. It was exhilarating, informative and a great experience. He also took several Pilates and Franklin Method workshops. The highlight of his year was choreographing Sinuous Moonlight with 13 of OSU’s fabulous dancers. Music was Irving Berlin, David Bowie and Peggie Lee. Dave Covey did a masterful job as the lighting director. Michael set aside his 2010 summer for lots of physical activity and furthering his research on alternative/cross training for dancers. Preparing for his 21st year at OSU, he hopes to re-work his piece Hummingbird, a BB King piece for the next year’s spring performance! Dave Covey spoke at the ADF Writer’s Conference-workshop this past summer. Last fall, he created and performed a solo in the Resident and Visiting Artist concert entitled A Tribute to Merce and John. Dave designed the lighting for the 7th annual Drums Downtown at the Riffe Center as well as numerous works for faculty and students both at the Riffe Center and OSU’s Sullivant Hall. He also designed lighting for and performed in The Glue Factory Project, directed by Beth Corning in Pittsburgh, PA. He is continuing his work with ARC who recently performed as part of Senior Festival Week this past spring. Melanye White Dixon was invited to join the “Digital Archives of Literacy Narratives,” research team by Co-Principal Investigator, Dr. Cynthia Selfe, distinguished professor of Humanities. She was interviewed for their first project, literacy practices of African American women faculty leaders at The Ohio State University. Dixon served on the panel “Celebrating the Black Tradition in American Dance: The Works of Richard Long” at the Society of Dance History Scholars Conference at Skidmore College in June, In October she presented a paper “Joe Nash: 20th Century Archivist of the Black Tradition in American Dance,” for the Association of the Study of African American Life and History in Birmingham, Alabama. In December she published a biographical essay on ballet pedagogue Marion Cuyjet for the African American National Biography, Oxford University Press. She maintained her involvement in community engagement by facilitating performances in Columbus public
schools for the Black Dance Alliance and for Inherited Movement, Traditions Redefined, the undergraduate research honors project of Robyn Young and Erika Harris (BFA 2009). She continues her leadership in dance education and recently served on the Ohio Department of Education writing team for University K-12 Dance Licensure Program Standards and participates as a mentor for department of dance interns from the Graham School and Arts and College Preparatory Academy. In May 2009 Dixon was selected as an honoree for Who’s Who in Black Columbus. Candace Feck has continued her work on the manuscript for her book project, Elizabeth Streb: Real Moves, including several trips to New York to conduct interviews and other research. She was awarded an FPL during the coming academic year to devote to completion of this project. This past year she has chaired the faculty scholar search and served as Director of the PhD in Dance Studies and completed an oral history of Bebe Miller for the NYPL Oral History Archive, in May of 2009. At the national PCA/ACA (Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association) conference in St. Louis, MO, Feck presented a paper, “The Populist Moves of Elizabeth Streb.” She also presented a paper at CORD/CEPA (Centre for Excellence in Performance Arts) special topics conference in the UK June 25-27. The conference, Global Perspectives on Dance Pedagogy: Research and Practice, was held at De Montfort University in Leicester, UK. Her paper, “Teaching for ‘Buy-In’: A Mixed Methodological Approach to Dance Studies in the General Education Curriculum,” queried the role of general education courses in dance education efforts, and discussed teaching strategies for maximizing the potential of these courses. She also conducted two half-day in-service workshops exploring the intersections between dance and writing for teachers in the Columbus Public Schools. Currently, Feck is completing a chapter about dance writing for the Dance Studies Reader coedited by Karen Eliot and Melanie Bales. And she continues her work on Accelerated Motion: Towards a New Dance Literacy in America project. Wesleyan University Press is hosting a website, which includes her work on this project. Her team of researchers has recently been awarded an NEA grant to expand the project. 16
Susan Hadley choreographed a number of various pieces over the last year. For the R&VA Concert (see p.2), she set the duet Companions on John Giffin and Victoria Uris on the eve of their retirement from the department. This wistful, funny, sweet duet about memory and partnership closed the concert. Susan also choreographed Coffee Tunes for 12 dancers for Drums Downtown, played live by Susan Powell and Joe Krygier (co-directors of the OSU Percussion Ensemble,) with guest vibraphonist and composer of the work, Anders Astrand, from Sweden. For a show at Columbus Dance Theatre, she set four duets from her work Fin Amours on Todd Van Slambrouck (current MFA student and former dancer for Garth Fagan’s company) and Seth Wilson. She was the adjudicator for the Mid-Atlantic American College Dance Festival in March at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Background photo: Melissa Bontempo.
Hadley reconstructed Senta Driver’s solo in Mission Persons, Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes from videotape, her memory as the original soloist, and in collaboration with Mira Kim from the Dance Notation Bureau in NYC with performer, Jolene Bartley. In March, Jolene performed this solo at the Judson Church for the Movement Research event. The project was funded by OSUDance Preservation Fund, NYC Notation Bureau and supported by OSU faculty, Sheila Marion.
17
Bebe Miller was elected the honorific title of Arts & Humanities Distinguished Professor of Dance and joined the Inaugural Class of Distinguished Professors in October 2009. This last year she set her choreographic work Prey on students at the University of Montana this January. It went on to the gala in ACDF in their region and was chosen for the nationals at the Kennedy Center. Prey was originally created on students at OSU in 2000 and notated by Valarie Williams. Her work Blessed (1996) was set on students at University of North Texas. Former company member and TWU professor, Sarah Gamblin, remounted the choreography; it was performed this year in May 2010.
Academy and University of Florida at Gainesville. She recently returned from The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance where she will serve as an External Examiner for the MA in Contemporary Performance for the next four years. This summer she will create a new work for students at the American Dance Festival. Visiting Associate Professor, Ming-Lung Yang returned to the American Dance Festival for his tenth summer where he taught composition and collaborated with choreographer, Mark Haim on a new work for the students. In August, he returned to Taiwan where he worked with Dance Forum Taipei to revisit an older choreography. The new creation entitled, Eastern Wind, Too, premiered in Taipei in October, and was later presented in Belgium, Holland and Italy. In March, Ming traveled to the University of Florida at Gainesville where he created a new work with the students which was presented this spring. No Trace, which premiered this year at Dance Downtown, was the outgrowth of research begun the previous year with dancers Zhang Yi-Wen of Dance Forum Taipei and Liu Yi-Chun of Cloud Gate Dance Theater. This summer he heads to Moscow to teach at the Moscow Summer Dance School TsEKh.
The current Bebe Miller Company project is two-fold: developing a modular process archive based on our work Verge (2001), an opportunity to revisit and re-document the depth of conversation, exchange and creative activity that lies behind any complete work; the materials that are felt by an audience but never seen. In the process they will be developing a new duet for Angie Hauser and Darrell Jones that will be an interesting companion piece that moves forward ‘through’ the process of looking back. The Dance Downtown new repertory work, How to Remember, was another step along the way, as it incorporated text, set material and Both Abby and Ming wish to extend our imagery from past works, re-told through new sincere gratitude to everyone at OSU for their personalities and relationships, the dancers of continued support and for serving as models the repertory group. of inspiration. These four years are marked Norah Zuniga Shaw worked as a co-leader by tremendous growth that resulted from our working with and around those who pursue for the Synchronous Objects project with William Forsythe and Professor Maria Palazzi excellence on a daily basis. We thank you and bid a sad farewell. along with a team of amazing faculty, staff, and students from ACCAD, Dance and across Valarie Williams gave a lecture and OSU’s university. The Synchronous Objects performance for the Arts and Humanities project received the following accolades: Inaugural Lecture Series for promotion to full Columbus Society of Communicating Arts professor in Sullivant Hall Theatre with the - Creative Best 2009 awards from 350 cast from Anna Sokolow’s Steps of Silence. entries: The “Best in Category-Interactive” She completed interviews for a new oral and “Judges Choice” awards. The project history project examining the lives of three has also been chosen by a jury as a winner women and their impact on the Labanotation in the Communication Arts 2010 Interactive system, restaged La Cachucha with Karena Annual. Lastly, The Synchronous Objects Birk, and, along with a team of creative artists, project was selected as a finalist in the received funding from Steuben Glass Co. AdobeMAX 2009 Awards in the Education and the Schottenstein Family for the creative Category. Judging Criterion for this category project BIGG: Breakthrough Ideas in Global includes “innovative applications of Glass and presented on a panel at SOFA/ technology to improve teaching and learning, Chicago on the project. She also co-edited the communication and collaboration.” catalogue for BIGG. Valarie continues to serve as Associate Dean for Arts and Humanities Visiting Associate Professor, Abigail Yager and as the Director of OSU’s downtown continued her investigation of Trisha Brown’s 10,000 square foot gallery and performance choreography in a variety of contexts at the venue, Urban Arts Space. American Dance Festival, Helsinki Theater
At the June final Informance, the Department of Dance honored Shawn Hove (MFA 2005, Staff Lecturer 2005-10), who was “graduating” from his five year stint as a staff member and lecturer. Chair Susan Petry spoke, “Shawn is dedicated; generous beyond belief; kind and loyal. He is an artist, a geek, a soulful man. He’s given several generations of students a handle on how to build websites, make videos, create filters, compose dances, and he gave us the Studio 5 “White Box.” He’s given me practical ideas, astute observations (he calls them complaints), and through all the craziness of this department and his work, he has been consistently hard working and reliable. There’s a kind of no nonsense feeling about Shawn – with a good twist of a love of the absurd.” His inspired development of EMMA lab and our hybrid studio (the White Box), have become prototypes of dance interactive classroom/labs of the future. Our memento gift to him, a miniature replication of Duchamp’s first “readymade” Bicycle Wheel, was given to reflect Shawn’s own artistry, his quirkiness, his pleasure in simplicity and demand for quality... and as Duchamp himself said, he claimed to like the work’s appearance, “to feel that the wheel turning was very soothing.” We will miss Shawn and wish him a soothing way as he creates, collaborates, and critiques in new spaces.
On December 12, 2009, the Department hosted a retirement party for two valued members of the OSU Dance community. Professors John Giffin and Victoria Uris were fêted for their myriad achievements in the field and countless contributions to the department over a combined 50 years of service. Guests dined and then danced the night away to a live swing band (featuring our very own Susan Chess) on Thurber Theatre stage and enjoyed speeches and video tributes to Uris and Giffin.
Abby Yager & Ming-Lung Yang by Susan Petry
faculty
John Giffin & Victoria Uris
Photo: Melissa Bontempo.
Shawn Hove by Susan Petry
After four inspired years of Abby and Ming’s teaching, choreography, coaching, and contributions to our Department’s functions, we closed the year with a hearty good bye and thank you. We were so very fortunate to have these incredibly talented individuals with us, bringing their conscientious work ethic, deep physical practices, nuanced performance and of course the access to Trisha Brown’s choreography. They have left a meaningful mark on the department that will stay with us for many years.
Photos, bottom L: Cara Whiteside.
During the four years, Ming choreographed Lotto (2006), a section of I Am We Are: Vernon Reid Project (2007), Walks to Linko – Threadless Footprints (2007), Eastern Current (2008), an improvisation for Drums Downtown (2009), and No Trace (2010). Abby led the making and performance of Set/ Reset/Reset (2007), and Sololos (2008, 2010), and the two performed in a piece by Melanie Bales in 2009.
18
Photos: (bottom R & top L) Stephanie Matthews.
At the closing ceremony in June, the Department gave them a South African bowl, made of recycled telephone wires. Petry spoke: “As you each have been a vessel of truthfulness and poise, this basket’s simple elegance suggests the infinite possibilities of your lives… which we have been blessed to experience… the black and white swirl, suggestive of the yin yang symbol evokes the two-for-one strength of your union… two individuals, each unique, conjoining, but never blending. Thank you.”
alum
Katja Kolcio
by Lisa Ferrugia-Atkinson, MFA 2011
Welcome New Faculty!
Background painting by Nicole Baugass. Photo: Melissa Bontempo.
Harmony Bench
OSUDance’s newest Assistant Professor, Harmony Bench, received her PhD in Culture and Performance from UCLA. She also holds degrees in Performance Studies (MA) from NYU and in Ballet (BFA) and Women’s Studies (BA) from the University of Utah. She has organized and presented at conferences nationally and internationally, including Dance Under Construction, Society of Dance History Scholars, Congress on Research in Dance, and Performance Studies International. Her publications have appeared in Forum Modernes Theater, The International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, and Extensions: The Online Journal for Embodiment and Technology. She is currently on the editorial board of the newly created Screendance Journal, which aims to foster sustained intellectual discourse around issues of dance created for screen media. Harmony’s research interests include histories and theories of corporeality, digital media and its consequences for bodily experiences in general and dance practices in particular, and critical theories of dance and performance. Her current research projects include mobile and social media as sites for choreographic inquiry and analysis, including the impact of communications technologies on movement patterns and gestures, and the possibilities for site-specific performance in everyday technologized spaces. Welcome, Harmony!
Katja Kolcio received her MA in Dance from Ohio State in 1997, after completing a PhD in Cultural Studies and Somatics at OSU, and an MA in Political Science at the University of Georgia. Here, she offers a few thoughts on her newly-published book Movable Pillars: Organizing Dance, 1956–1978, and on how her experiences in the OSU Department of Dance helped prepare for and shape her current research. (For more information on the availability of Movable Pillars, please see wesleyan.edu/wespress > catalogs > Spring 2010
PROFILES that eventually became Movable Pillars. These various jobs, projects and book, together with my experience at OSU, helped prepare me for the position at Wesleyan. What connections do you find between the book research and the choreographic and studio work you do? I feel a tangible relationship between the choices I make as an artist and the development of dance in the United States. I hope that all dance students feel that sense of agency and accountability. What we do matters. How we do it matters. The other connection I make is between practice and theory, where knowing/ doing/creating are inseparable.
Can you tell about what you do now?
Can you talk about your experience at OSU?
I am an Associate Professor at Wesleyan University at Connecticut. I work here with three other OSU alumni: Pedro Alejandro (who chairs the department), Nicole Stanton and Rachel Boggia. Now that I’ve finished my book Movable Pillars, I’m excited to be working with the Yara Arts Group and performers from Ukraine and Kirghistan on a performance that will premiere at LaMama Theater in NYC in April. I’m also teaching a collaborative course in Molecular Biology with Manju Hingorani, Professor in Molecular Biology and also an OSU graduate (in molecular biology, not dance!) The course fulfills a general education requirement in the natural sciences. Students learn basic principles in choreography and movement exploration, and we use these to teach the science material. Students then use the scientific material as the basis of their movement studies. It’s an adventure!
My most vivid experience of OSU was this: I am in a universe that is dance. There was no need to explain myself or what I do or how I go about it. I had a generative group of peers, including Nicole Stanton, to work with and learn from. The faculty were spectacular, and the chairs (Vickie Blaine, then Karen Bell) were models of leadership that I felt immensely proud to be studying under. The culture of the dance department helped me to realize that dance does make a difference and that this work would matter more than anything I could do in politics. For me, there are many critical matters in our world—social, environmental—and I feel it is important to find a way make a difference. What was your research focus in the Department of Dance? In what ways did it lay a foundation for your current work?
My masters thesis in dance consisted of indepth interviews and workshops with a group of older adults living in the Westminster-Thurber What was your career trajectory between Retirement Community. I was interested in the graduate school at OSU and now? memories and stories housed in our bodied When I left OSU, I took a visiting teaching selves, so it made sense to work with an older position at Antioch College in Yellow demographic. My two previous degrees both Springs. I got married, moved to New York focused on research methods and politics of City and worked as a free-lance teacher knowledge. Everything came together in the and choreographer for three years. My thesis/performance project I did in the dance ultimate goal has always been to teach in a department, which is what paved the way university, so I chose jobs that would lead me for me to work on the ADG interview project. in that direction. I was an adjunct instructor My book, Movable Pillars, is a culmination at Hunter College where the chair, Jana of all these interests. And when I came to Feinman, was then president of the American Wesleyan, I found myself in a program that Dance Guild (ADG). The Guild invited me to combined a sense of political urgency, creativity, interview dancers who had been instrumental and epistemological studies with a global in founding some of our major dance perspective. I feel most fortunate to have found organizations. It was unpaid, but I asked for a life that I love and that feels purposeful. OSU permission to use the interviews in a book was extremely important in landing me here.
STUDENT NEWS
Karena Birk, Julie Fox, and Eran Hanlon received Alumni Grants for Graduate Research and Scholarship (AGGRS) for their MFA projects for the 2009-2010 school year. Julie Cruse was invited to present VICKi (Virtual Interactive Choreographic / Kinetic Instructor) at Union Arts (UA) in Athens, OH by the UA gallery owner who came to see her VICKi demo at BoMA. Afterwords, she was invited by Ohio University’s Aesthetic Technologies (@) Lab to give several workshops during a week-long residency in January in Max/MSP/Jitter. She was also invited to give workshops in VICKi to the Theater Department. Read more about the project at thevickiproject.wordpress.com. Julie was accepted to the Media Arts and Sciences PhD at Arizona State University’s Arts Media and Engineering program, starting Fall 2010. Robyn Young was selected as one of two undergraduates to be recognized and honored at the OSU Board of Trustees meeting on June 5, 2009 for her exemplary four years and stellar performance as a dance major, community citizen, and student teacher. Four undergraduate senior Dance Majors (Victoria DeRenzo, Katherine Gilmore, Katherine Stehura, and Kathryn Vickers) were invited to attend a workshop at the Performing Arts Research and Training Studios (PARTS) in Brussels, Belgium. There they took a week’s worth of technique classes, as well as auditioned to be accepted into its twoyear training program. Kathryn Vickers was accepted into the three year training cycle at PARTS. (See photo below)
Eran Hanlon’s Taking Light and Lily Skove’s Dot Dance video dance were selected for the 2010 San Diego/Tijuana DANCEonFILM Festival Gallery Installation. The installation was presented as an ongoing loop of short dance films at the CECUT Cube museum at the Tijuana Cultural Center in Mexico on Saturday, February 27 from 10am-6pm. Eran Hanlon’s video dance piece Stairwell was presented at the ADF’s 14th annual Dancing for Camera: International Festival of Film and Video Dance from July 10-12, 2009 at White Lecture Hall and the Nasher Museum of Art on the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Skoveworks dance company with Danté Brown, Lily Skove, Annie Hewett and TJ Hellmuth were guest artists at Oberlin College. Lily gave a lecture on her involvement with the Synchronous Objects for One Flat Thing, reproduced project, TJ gave a lecture on cinematography and the red camera, and skoveworks taught classes on dance for the camera and modern technique. Their dance and technology residency culminated in a concert of film and dance at the Warner Center in which Danté Brown and Annie Hewlett performed What can a body do? and Lily and TJ screened several of their dance films PhD Candidate Hannah Kosstrin received the P.E.O. Scholar Award from the International Chapter P.E.O. Sisterhood for travel to Mexico, Israel and Washington, D.C. in support of her doctoral research on Anna Sokolow, and for supplies associated with writing her dissertation. Lindsay Caddle LaPointe’s video dance STAMP was shown on March 6 at the Weber State University Student Film Festival and selected to be shown at the Foursite Film Festival in Ogden, UT. STAMP along with her other video dance CORN was presented at ACDFA and the Urban Arts Space.
Kristen Jeppsen was selected as one of Ohio State University’s ten Graduate Associate Teaching Awards winners. Vice Provost and Dean Patrick Osmer accompanied by graduate school representatives made a surprise visit to the dance department to present Kristen with the award on Thursday April 15, 2010. Many BFA undergraduates were recognized at the 15th Annual Denman Undergraduate Research Forum. Leigh Lotocki won a third place for Humanities; Rebecca Cash and Kathryn Vickers won a second place in Arts/ Architecture; Kelly Onder, Caitlin Ewing and Sarah Gibbons placed third in Arts/ Architecture. Kudos to Katie Stehura, Vicki DeRenzo, Alexandra Bowden, Cecilia Petturson and Bernice Lee who also did beautiful research projects, posters, videos, and presentations. They are all shining examples of the quality of undergraduate research in our department. Leigh Lotocki presented “Choreographing Intimacy: Creating, Understanding, and Commanding Space” for the Arts and Humanities Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Colloquium on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at OSU’s Faculty Club. Congratulations to Kelly Onder and Vickie DeRenzo in their recognition at an Arts and Sciences Reception honoring undergraduate research and academic excellence. Their accomplishments during their four years here were recognized by Dean Roberts and Dean Steinmetz. Many more BFA seniors were selected to present their senior and/or distinction projects at the Arts and Humanities Undergraduate Research Colloquium.
20
Lindsay Caddle LaPointe in CHAIR. Photo: Brianna Dance, OSU Urban Arts Space.
Lisa Ferrugia Atkinson and Veronica Stanich presented their work in the Hayes Graduate Research Forum on Saturday, May 1, 2010. Veronica received first place in the Arts for her presentation ”Reconsidering the Judson Influence.”
ALUMNI NEWS
Thom Fogarty (BFA 1977) choreographed and performed in the 2009 revival of Al Carmines’ musical Christmas Rappings at Judson Memorial Church. He is currently collaborating with Anja Hitzenberger on a series of photographs chronicling his changing body and the city (ahjahitzenberger.com). He just directed Moments + Lemons, a new play by Fred Giacinto that completed a three week run at the esteemed Off-Off. Journal Online said, “Fogarty has drawn upon all of his many gifts and talents and they all culminate here, where he has reached an artistic pinnacle…” He is directing Lulu Fogarty, his daughter (!), in her solo performance piece Being Heard: The Lillian Smith Story (based on the influential author of Strange Fruit, How Am I To Be Heard? and Killers of the Dream) at Dixon Place, NYC in April 2010. Catherine Turocy (BFA 1974) was invited to present a lecture on her choreography for Jordan Fuchs (MFA 1998) has been an Noverre’s ballets at the international conference Assistant Professor of Dance at Texas Woman’s on Noverre held at Oxford University this past University for the last three years. This past fall April. Following her visit to England she taught he initiated the Texas Dance Improvisation a two-part workshop for the University of Dance Festival, an annual event designed to celebrate and Circus in Stockholm, Sweden (April 19-23 improvisational dance in Texas, through coming and May 28-30) called Baroque Choreographic together as a community of dance artists to Landscapes. Work with her company, The share, inspire and challenge. This summer he New York Baroque Dance Company, continues will be teaching at the TsEKh Summer School as they prepare a new production of Jean in Moscow. He is currently at work on a new Philippe Rameau’s one act ballet, Zephyre, to be evening-length dance project, called Strange premiered in NYC in September. Planet, which is inspired by the experience of acculturation to a new home. Erika Randall, (MFA 2003), has released her film Leading Ladies featuring Teena Custer, Sharon Kinney (MFA 1961) received the (MFA 2004), who can be seen in the trailer! American Dance Festival 2009 Distinguished Teaching Honor and dedicated her award Ann Rodiger (MA 1975) continues her work to Helen P. Alkire. Last summer she directed as the founder and director of the Balance Arts Paul Taylor Summer Intensive and is currently Center in New York City. She recently finished teaching Dance for Camera at CSU, Long Beach. a conference on Dance and the Alexander Technique called Freedom to Move from Katja Kolcio, who received her MA in Dance May 21-23, 2010. (1997) and PhD in Cultural Studies/Somatics (1996) from The Ohio State University just Gina Jacobs Thomas (MFA 1999) currently published her first book: Movable Pillars: resides in Denver, CO after dancing for seven Organizing Dance, 1956-1978. (See p.19) years in NYC. Upon moving to Denver in 2006, she taught dance classes at Red Rocks Tiffany Mills (MFA 1995) is celebrating her 10th Community College, but left to focus on her year as Artistic Director of the NYC-based Tiffany performing career and family. She performs Mills Company. Highlights of 2010 include being regularly with Hannah Kahn Dance Company an artist in residency at the Baryshnikov Arts and 3rd Law Dance/Theatre, based in Boulder. Center (with an April 8th showing); and being She recently presented her work at the an artist in residence, plus having a new work University of Colorado/Boulder’s Nexus series, commissioned, at Dance New Amsterdam (June as well as with 2nd Law Dance/Theatre’s 17-20th NYC Season). The Company is also Entropy Increases concert. On a personal note, touring to PA, DC, SC, and MA this year. As well she has enjoying living in Colorado with her as celebrating a decade of dance making, Tiffany, husband, Jon, son, Brady (4), and their newest along with her husband Andrew, became proud addition, Piper (1). parents of their son, Wren Tilden Mills Sundstrom (born August 7, 2009). 21
Noelle Stiles BLANKET. Photos: Christine Taylor.
Visit our online alumni network at osudance.ning.com for the most current news about our graduates. View individual member profiles for more info, and submit your own! A selection of alumni news briefs is below.
Noelle Stiles (MFA 2007) was awarded a Caldera Artist Residency in 2009 for the development of her current work, BLANKET, created in collaboration with visual artist Danielle Kelly. She was invited by the National Dance Project and the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) to the Dublin Dance Festival this May as part of an international dance exchange. BLANKET was presented at the 2010 PICA Time-Based Art Festival alongside work by The Wooster Group, Jerome Bel and John Jasperse (pica.org). Stiles created the dance class series HEAVY ROTATION, currently in its second year. This past summer, she also went on a residency with Wally Cardona at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Visit noellestiles.com for more info. Micheal “Mikey” Thomas (MFA 2000) has been fortunate to maintain strong creative alliance with OSU Dance friends and graduates. Not unlike so many other alumni, Mikey has kept active filling roles as faculty and guest artist for several universities. Mikey is currently in Baltimore, Maryland with Goucher College as a visiting assistant professor. Sara Wookey (BFA 1996) continues her interest in ther relationship between human movement and the built environment. In autumn 2010 she, in collaboration with artist Sara Daleiden, will launch Being Pedestrian, an alternative cultural tourism campaign/ performance in downtown Los Angeles that includes a series of interactive walking tours and guidebooks. Yu Xiao (MFA 2008) had her baby girl, Zoe, on March 30. Zoe weighed 5 Ibs, 11 oz, and 19 inches long, tiny but healthy. Yu and her husband Bin Hu and Zoe are all doing well. Congratulations!
NON-PROFIT ORG. U S P O S TA G E P A I D COLUMBUS, OH PERMIT NO. 711
DEPARTMENT OF DANCE SULLIVANT HALL 1813 NORTH HIGH STREET COLUMBUS, OHIO 43210-1307
AUTUMN
SPRING
OCTOBER 13, 2010 Dance for Camera, Sullivant Theatre Award winning video works using dance and choreography in myriad ways.
APRIL 14-16, 2011 MFA Concert, Sullivant Theatre Teoma Naccarato: Personal narratives and memories, bodies and text explored in a group work on stage and in film. Maree ReMalia: Solo performance springing from many voices and shared authorship of movement and text.
NOVEMBER 4-6, 2010 MFA Concert, Sullivant Theatre Courtney Harris: Former dancer with the Houston Ballet presents a contemporary recontextualization of La Sylphide. Alejandra Jara: Fulbright student from Paraguay creates a work about “home” and the feeling of being in transit.
WINTER FEBRUARY 3-5 , 2011 MFA Concert, Sullivant Theatre Betsy Miller: Contemporary recontextualization of the 1917 Ballet Russes “Parade.” Maungsai Somboon: Physical theatre, theatrical dance, and dance as theatre. FEBRUARY 18-19, 2011 Drums Downtown, Riffe Center, Capitol Theatre The Department of Dance joins the Percussion Ensemble in a series of collaborative choreographies spanning a range of styles. MARCH 3-5, 2011 Winter Concert, Sullivant Theatre Undergraduate and Graduate Contemporary Dance Choreography
MAY 5-7, 2011 Spring Concert, Sullivant Theatre Senior Projects, and other Graduate and Undergraduate Contemporary Dance Choreography MAY 26 & 27, 2011 Dance Uptown, Mershon Auditorium Choreographers Michael Kelly Bruce with BB King music; Susan Hadley with 60s girl group music; Olivier Tarpaga with live Afro Blues; LA Artist Sabela Grimes with hip hop.
FOLLOW US: twitter/osudance facebook/osudance osudance.blogspot.com dance.osu.edu > calendar
Back: James Graham’s Separate Panes. Photo: Marcus Morris. Front: Tricia Brown’s Sololos at the Thompson Library. Photo: Melissa Bontempo.
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF DANCE • 2010/2011 CALENDAR