This summer at Misnomer has been an exciting one!  In addition to an influx of amazing interns, we have embraced a few new stellar staff members in the past month.  Sarah Benvenuti joined us as our General Manager, and Larry Henry as the Director of Partnerships and Development.  Larry and Sarah have been helping us prepare for an exciting fall (more on that soon- look for a notice in August!), and have quickly become a part of the Misnomer family.

Artistically we’ve been fast at work, having some great rehearsals and enjoying our Tenant Company Residency at The Joyce Theater’s Dance Art New York studios. We had a fun evening of performance and play at our Summer Soiree, hosted by one of our Board members, Betsy Poirier.  One of our superstar interns, Sebastian Kliment, created this time-lapse video of the event so that you could have a sneak peek!

We’ve got many more events coming up this fall for you to see our work in progress and to meet our growing family. We’re also excited to have you join us in a dialogue around AEP and to join us on our adventures here at Misnomer! We’ll see you soon!

Misnomer Unpacked Series: Too Late Tulip from Chris Elam on Vimeo.

Choreography: Chris Elam

Music:Greg Brown, Chet Baker, Giora Feidman, Pickpocket Ensemble

Commissioned Music: James Sizemore

Interviewed: Coco Karol, Brynne Billingsley

Appearing: Brynne Billingsley, Coco Karol, Jennifer Harmer, Luke Gutgsell, Dorian Nusikind-Oder

The video was choreographed by Misnomer’s Chris Elam and features 2 Misnomer dancers, Brynne Billingsley and Coco Karol.

You can also watch the NYTimes’ Melena Ryzik talk to Bjork and the directing team ‘Encyclopedia Pictura’ about the making of their new 3-D music video ‘Wanderlust.’

RELATED LINKS:

See all Misnomer Posts on the making of Bjork’s Wanderlust

Read Wired Magazine’s Blog Post

Wanderlust – Preview 2D edit

The full 2D version will be released on yahoo.com on March 31st. The 3D version is set to be released on DVD with 3D glasses sometime after March 31st.

Related Links:

Bjork’s Home Site

Bjork’s MySpace Page

Wanderlust Screening at Deitch Galleries

Choreographing Bjork’s Music Video

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This March 13th, Wanderlust (directed by Encyclopedia Pictura), will be screened in 3D at Deitch Studios!

Misnomer choreographed the video and two of our dancers (Coco and Brynne) perform in it alongside with Bjork!

We’re excited to officially announce the release date for Bjork’s music video Wanderlust. Attendance for the viewing is first-come, first-serve, so arrive early.

The choreographic and artistic process on this project was very rewarding, and we’re excited to be sharing this work with you. Once the video is released, check our flickr page for a behind the scenes look.

Nearest metro stops are Court Square. Take a look at the Map below for reference :

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Related Links:
Choreographing Bjork’s Music Video

Shooting in 3D

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As you may know, we’ve doing a lot of film and video work, recently collaborating in choreographing a video for Bjork, as well as working with Tronic Studios to create the motion-capture trailer for ResFest, a prominent film festival. We firmly believe that there are lots of interesting ways in which choreographers and film directors can create together, and we hope this Sundance Feature becomes part of this ongoing dialogue.

If you have thoughts or interests in an interdisciplinary project, please let us know.

She confidently stated that even though it wasn’t very practical, she wanted to come over because she considered it the highlight of her trip. She also had a curious and mysterious answer for Chris when he asked what she thought of her brief glimpse into rehearsal. She seemed to understand the dynamic in the room, almost as if she knew us personally. You can imagine how delightful and touching her visit could be, in the middle of an ordinary day, when all perspective can get lost and we’re just trying to stay focused and slog through rehearsal as best we can.

After she left, we were all a bit inquisitive, so Chris gave us some background. He had set ‘Land Flat’, our women’s quartet from the 2006 season, on some of the
students. When they came in for their first rehearsal, he informed them that for this process they would now be referred to as their character names (the names of the women in the piece) — “Coco” “Brynne” “Jen” and “Dorian”.

I imagined this would help him distill the essence and connectivity of the work, since so much of who we are, as individuals, informs the breadth and body of the piece. This gave me a fresh perspective on how to reinterpret the role if and when it needs to be brought back for touring purposes; that the character, the role of “Jen” with-in the quartet as a whole, is just as important as relearning the movement content. Being ‘myself’, or ‘Jen’ as I am now would not be the same as relearning the “Jen” who has a character and specific dimension with-in the context of the piece.

It dawned on me that it functioned much more like a play than like a traditional dance– and Chris as much of a playwright as a choreographer– writing and shaping human characters. Our building process allows the work to move far beyond just a series of interesting movements strung together, and it creates this emotional,
yet abstracted; and personal, yet universal work.

Chris talks a lot about giving the audience “handles” in the work– a map to read it by if you will. This capacity to ‘humanize’ the process makes the process of learning a work of Misnomer’s much more difficult, but also that much more rewarding. Dancing and learning this work not only hones and displays copious movement skills, it really does make one a better thinker as well.

People ask me, as a founding member, why I have chosen to dance with this company so long, why I haven’t chosen to move on to another company or to other projects. Well, this is why. Nothing beats the thinking around here…. and the movement ain’t so shabby either.

If you haven’t already, you can vote for this idea on IdeaBlob. If you have voted, Thank you! Your votes and support are fantastic and inspiring. Take a moment to email this post to friends, or digg this article.

For those of you who haven’t checked out Arin’s work, go now! Check out their great movie, Four Eyed Monsters

Dance Magazine’s December 2007 issue featured an article by Kina Poon called Whirled Wide Web. Kina interviewed Chris Elam, Misnomer’s artistic director, for the feature which focused on how dance companies like Misnomer and others are using the web.

Chris came up with the idea of recording the conversation with Kina so that you could hear some of the thoughts that could not make its way into the article. I took the video of Chris talking on the phone and placed past choreography and experiments on top of the conversation to give the conversation more context. I hope this supplemental material gives you additional insight into Dance Magazine’s great article.

Related Links:
Visit Dance Magazine
Read the Article

“Labyrinth” is a movable, moving art installation. It is not a traditional dance performance; it is a gigantic art installation created in close collaboration with artists within contemporary dance, music and video art. The piece will be performed on four stages located within a life-sized labyrinth through which the audience will actively walk during the performance.

The Danish Dance Theater is on a residency at the Joyce SoHo for October during which Chris will begin the choreography. You are invited to see the process during two free events: an open rehearsal and a work-in-progress showing, both described below.

Friday, October 19, 2007, 2:00-4:00 pm
Join us anytime between 2:00-4:00 pm as Chris Elam rehearses members of Danish Dance Theater in a section he is creating for DDT’s artistic director, Tim Rushton’s, larger work.

Thursday, October 25, 2007, 4:00-6:00 pm
Choreographers Tim Rushton, Chris Elam and members of Danish Dance Theater show their work in progress and take questions from the audience.

In addition, this Friday, Oct 12th, Chris Elam will be hosting After-Hours: a post-performance discussion with the Danish Dance Theater following a performance of their repertory at the Joyce Soho Theater in NYC.

Joyce SoHo, 155 Mercer Street. RSVP Required: (646) 792-8377

:: For a closer look into the Danish Dance Theater, you can visit their MySpace Page and watch this video ::
Mixed repertorie

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