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 the 'The Yard' Category
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.
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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!
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
If you’re going to be anywhere near Martha’s Vineyard, make sure to drop us a line. We’ll be in the area through the month of July on a residency choreographing a new dance. Our performances at The Yard will take place on July 26, 27 & 28, and we will teach classes and work with the community throughout the month. The weblink is: http://www.dancetheyard.org/
From their site:
The Yard is known as a beacon of support for the art of choreography. In its 34 years of existence, more than 650 choreographers, dancers, composers, and designers have collaborated on more than 200 original works at The Yard.
Keep checking back on the blog – we’ll be posting pictures, videos, and words throughout the Summer!
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