Tonight, we had our dress rehearsal at The Yard. We have spent most of July developing this work using a combination of coached improv and free form improv. Jaki was there to shoot the video for the dress rehearsal - here’s a sneak preview of the work we have developed so far.
Archive for July, 2007
What you find below are pictures from our residency at The Yard in Martha’s Vineyard. We are currently developing new work, which we will show July 26th-28th. During the rehearsal process, we have focused much of our attention on developing work through group improv & coached improv.
I was exploring how I could take our online photos from flickr and put them in our blog in a beautiful way. I like being able to focus on individual pictures in posts, but I was hoping for a slideshow. Let us know if this works for you, or if you know of something better.
The above html was generated by PictoBrowser
On July 12, Misnomer performed Tin Man, Landflat, and Throw People to a very receptive audience. For a full review of the night, follow the link.
After the show, we invited the audience to record their impressions and feedback. To facilitate the process, we set up two macBooks with iSights. Here’s what they had to say:
As part of our Presenter Partnership with Summer Stages, we wanted to provide the audience an opportunity to develop a relationship with the work beyond the theater. We will be responding to these questions among others on the blog.
In addition to these posts, we also had a Question + Answer session after the show. Stay tuned for responses and video from the show!
Or check out flickr page for photos during our tech rehearsal.
Some places in Martha’s Vineyard simply don’t have addresses. Like in Japan, people tend to focus more on landmarks than on actual street addresses. It’s a friendly place and people tend to just walk into your house. Today, we had a dancer walk into our house asking about classes.
If you haven’t yet seen this, we’ve added the location of our next show to our Personal Google Map
Let us know if you’ll be able to make it. Otherwise, check back on the blog for our work in progress!
As part of the the Summer Stages Dance/Baryshnikov Arts Center Artist Residency Project, Misnomer has been teaching a class called “Improbable Partnering and Exceptional Physical Interactions.” Follow the link for a description of the class.
To encourage pariticipation and documentation for the participating students, we are set up a Mac with an iSight (a webcam) to record impressions, thoughts, and questions after the class.
We are very grateful for the energy our students put into the class. Here is a sample clip of questions from the students:
During rehearsals, we use our trusty Apple Computers to help mark our choreography. When the rehearsal is running, we hit record on the DV Cam and also use QuickTime Pro to record the video straight to the hard drive. This saves a whole lot of time because we don’t have to spend time capturing & digitizing mini DV tapes - the files are saved straight to the computer.
You can go straight to the Apple Website for a great tutorial on creating a video podcast, or simply using QuickTime Pro
Our current Video Tech List includes:
* Final Cut Pro * QuickTime Pro * 1 DV cam * Lots of mini DV tapes * 2 Mac Powerbooks * 1 Macbook (with iSight)
We currently use 3 external hard drives, for a total of 500 GB of video archives and current projects . When we are in full production mode, we also have a dedicated person to run the video camera, computers, and set up the system. To simplify, you could just setup the MacBook and iSight to record and document the rehearsals straight to your computer.
You can take a look at the setup in action below.
This video shows Jen Harmer, Coco Karol, and Luke Gutgsell reviewing rehearsal materials with Chris
In an improvisation the tendency to “go home”, to be safe, can overwhelm a moment of discovery.
But can you ever go home?
Can you ever go to a safe place in a situation that thrives and is defined by risk, impulse, and the unknown?
Questions from discussions at The Yard, the Misnomer think tank for July 07.
Chris uses a lot of really strange and wonderful imagery to describe the movement we create. Today he said that this section should be like skinning a tree to release the angel inside.
On July 2nd we rode the ferry to Martha’s Vineyard where we’ll be spending this month rehearsing a new piece. We saw a rainbow on our way over. I take it as an auspicious sign for things to come!
I will be regularly uploading pictures depicting our process and adventures. If you’d like to see them all, visit my “flickr” account







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