We have our new season preview video up - you can watch it here or here

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Misnomer has collaborated with composer Evan Ziporyn, whose original music will be performed live by the Real Quiet ensemble during the first weekend of performances. Misnomer conducted a Q&A with pianist Andrew Russo, leader of Real Quiet, featuring his insights on working with the music for Being Together.

Q: What are some of your influences?

Andrew Russo: My artistic influences are really quite broad and numerous, so I’ll try to provide a sampling with hope that the pile of names might paint a portrait all by itself: John Adams, Eric Clapton, Steve Reich, Radiohead, Pierre Boulez, Miles Davis, David Bowie, George Saunders, Jaco Pastorius, George Crumb, Hieronymous Bosch, Frederic Chiu, Radu Lupu, The Beatles, The Bad Plus, Iva Bittova.

Q: How did you and Chris meet?

AR: I’ve actually never met Chris. We were put in touch about 18 months ago by Evan Ziporyn, and built a working relationship entirely over the telephone and computer. I’m actually afraid that our eventual meeting will damage what has been a wonderful ‘virtual’ working relationship! Just kidding

Q: What are some of the challenges of Evan’s score?

AR: Evan’s music presents interesting challenges. As a pianist, there are particular sounds that he draws from extended use of the instrument’s interior - harmonic glissandi on the strings, blocked notes, etc. Evan calls on the pianist to intersperse these techniques with traditional ‘on the keys’ playing in rapid succession. So one is constantly diving in and out of the piano in certain movements, yet needing to project an overall sense of rhythmic poise. A similar paradox exists in his lyrical writing. Music that sounds quite simple and in a square meter is actually notated in a series of complicated syncopations and cross-rhythms that must be executed seamlessly, so as to sound free and poetic. I believe that these dualities point towards the essence of his music.

Q: What are some of the differences between playing a concert and playing music for live dance?

AR: There are many differences between working with live with dancers and playing a solo or ensemble concert. First, dancers need a certain reliability from the musicians in terms of tempo and expression in order to flow through their lines. While this can eliminate some of the freedoms available to performers when they perform without choreography, it also illuminates other aspects of the score much in the same way that hearing the same music played in two different tempi does. I personally find it difficult to ignore the dancers while performing. Its tempting to watch them perform, which is an easy way to lose the musical focus so necessary to providing them what they need from you in that moment.

Listen to a past performance by Real Quiet: Loathing (A funky movement from Phil Kline’s Hunter S. Thompson tribute piece ‘Fear and Loathing’)

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THE choreographer Chris Elam makes strange, contorted dances in which people knot themselves into compact sculptural forms, tangling their limbs with another’s in what can look like a fervent attempt at human connection. His company, Misnomer, tends to perform in downtown sites with few frills, and his apartment in Park Slope, Brooklyn, is also his office headquarters.

These details would suggest that Mr. Elam is yet another talent pursuing his personal vision on the fringes of the contemporary dance scene. That definition would be far too limiting for Mr. Elam.

Over the last few years, in addition to garnering critical kudos for his choreography, Mr. Elam has become a pioneer in a challenging endeavor for an art form reliant on live performance: enabling dance to use the Internet as effectively as music and film have.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE.

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Back in January, The Sundance Channel featured Misnomer during our residency at the Baryshnikov Arts Center. Earlier this month, The Sundance Channel tapped Chris Elam once again to weigh in on the presidential election as part of their Voices on the Election Back Talk Blog. Chris was asked ten questions on subjects ranging from his favorite political movie to the role of art in politics. Read the full interview.

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Tonight Misnomer joins dancers from all over New York City at the DancenOw festival (Oct 27-Nov 1). Misnomer previews our upcoming season Being Together with the performance of an excerpt from Zipper. The festival features performances from veterans and emerging artists alike. It began yesterday and continues all week long at Dance Theater Workshop! 

We hope you’ll join us tonight at 8 PM for this special presentation. You’ll also have the opportunity to see a solo from Misnomer’s own Dorian Nuskind-Oder. Other performers tonight include:

Jen Abrams - “Quintessentially New York” - The Village Voice

ad hoc Ballet - “powerful atmosphere and images of madness” - The New York Times

Faye Driscoll Group

Cherlyn Lavagnino Dance

skybetter and associates

and

Young Dance Makers Company

Find out more at www.dancenownyc.org and purchase tickets to tonight’s show! Want to find out more about Misnomer’s upcoming season? Click here.

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We were delighted to have such a strong response to our dance performance and to have developed a lot of interest in the Audience Engagement Platform for the Performing Arts that we are developing, on which we gave a presentation to the full assembly. We’ve made an online animated version of parts of the presentation which you can see here: www.misnomer.org/aep.

Developing solutions to empower artists and audiences online requires input from a range of voices and perspectives; we are delighted to receive so much feedback from within the performing arts world on a regular basis, and this last week, it was encouraging to see strong interest from the business and technology sectors in helping to bring new technological offerings to the arts.

A big thanks goes out to the entire team at Fortune Magazine - and especially David Kirkpatrick, Jessi Hempel, Simone Ross, and Delwyn Gray - for their bold creativity by inviting a dance performance into the midst of the conference!

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Today, we’ll be performing Breakfast with You. We’ll also be speaking about how artists and audiences can use the web to engage each other in new ways.

You can read more about Breakfast with You on our Repertory Page

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This week, I have the honor of joining some of the brightest minds in the world at Fortune’s BrainStorm Conference. I will be performing Breakfast with You at Fortune’s BrainStorm Conference. The performance will take place on Tuesday, July 22nd at 4:10pm.

From the site:
“Chaired by technology editor David Kirkpatrick FORTUNE Brainstorm: TECH is an invitation-only event for business executives who recognize that their company’s future depends on understanding the trends at the core of technology.”

In addition to performing, I will also be on a panel entitled, Flexing the (Social) Network: Programming for the Web. Sitting on the panel with me will be:

Adam Elend
Executive Producer
CBS Interactive       

Dina Kaplan
Co-founder and COO
blip.tv

Steve Mitgang
Chief Executive Officer
Veoh Networks, Inc.

I will be blogging throughout the event, so make sure to check our flickr page for photos of the show and conference, or simply check back here for updates.

For a more in-depth look, you can also take a look at the other bloggers participating in live-blogging: 

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If you can’t watch the video above, here is a direct link to the video.

For other Bjork related videos, visit our Bjork Archives

edited by : Dorian Nuskind-Oder and Ben Kimitch
videography by : Jaki Levy

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via PS122

Thursday, June 5th - Sunday, June 8th

Come experience a dance-exploration into the art of becoming one’s self as interpreted by seven inspired and inspiring teen artists. The Young Dance Collective hurtles against and through expectations of where they are in the scheme of life. Alert, ardent, open and decisive, this sophisticated company offers a formative investigation that reveals the intelligence and intensity of our youth.

“I thought I would be mentoring these kids, and they ended up mentoring me.”
-Brian Brooks

PURCHASE TICKETS ONLINE

or call 212-352-3101

General Admission: $20
Students/seniors: $15
PS122 members: $10

Showtimes
Thursday, June 5th, 7:30pm
Friday, June 6th, 7:30pm (reception to follow)
Saturday, June 7th, 4:00pm & 7:30pm
Sunday, June 8th, 4:00pm

Young Dance Collective is: Hannah Cullen, Sophia Orlow, Lev Ratnofsky, Isa Reisner, Cosmo Scharf, Kassandra Thatcher, Kalei Tooman

Artistic Director: Kim Cullen

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