VIX Sound+Light+Motion

Last year, in 2010, I made a resolution to free my inner dancer, so I joined the Roundhouse community dancers, under the direction of Karen Jamieson. After several session of dance instruction and rehearsal, we performed “Collisions” as a work-in-progress, with the professional dancers of the Karen Jamieson Dance Company. “Collisions” is a site-specific work choreographed to reveal layers of meaning about the Roundhouse site and the human population that has developed here.

This will be a major work, with three music composers, projections and dancers.

What I really love is the warm-up and dance instruction. Karen’s site calls her approach to dance “primal and contemporary” and this fits in with my own artistic theories. I am working hard on developing one of my own projects and I want to tap into primal energies. My project has the constraint that no text or language will be used, only Sound+Light+Motion. With Karen, I am exploring Motion and I believe that Karen is helping me to connect with my body in new and better ways.

The official site, KJDance, contains photos of the event and rehearsals taken by Chris Randle under the “Gallery” title. As this is a flash site, I cannot place a direct link. It is difficult to convey the spirit of dance in photos, but Chris does an excellent job, as can be seen in his portfolio.I will request some photos and perhaps, I will be permitted to take some myself. I do find it difficult to photograph events I am performing in, but it is difficult to write about dance without a photo.

This year, the finished work will be presented July, 14, 15, 16 and 17, 2011 at the Roundhouse Community Centre in Vancouver, Canada, and I will be dancing!

I will be singing with a improvising choir conducted by DB Boyco on Saturday, Feb. 19th at 6pm.

The event will be documented on video by an artist from Romainia who is commissioning it as part of a larger project. Everyone welcome to attend the event.

We are upstairs at the Western Front in the large hall.

303 East 8th Avenue
Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada V5T 1S1

I have not been updating much lately as I have been very busy planning an important event.

All will be revealed very soon.

To all of my family, friends, and those who might become friends,
I wish you the happiest of holidays and the brightest visions for the New Year!

My latest composition, It’s The Same . . . But Different, will be performed as a work-in-progress at the Western Front, Vancouver

This performance is for everyone who ever wanted to see me use a megaphone!

I will be initiating and facilitating a spoken-word conduction with an improvising ensemble consisting of approximately ten musicians.

The rest of the program will be interesting too with over 20 improvising musicians playing more than 10 original, never before heard anywhere compositions!

It’s all FREE of charge!
Doors at 7:30pm
Concert at 8:00pm

Facebook Event Listing click here

Program of Events:

The New Orchestra Workshop Society Presents
The 2010 Now Improvisation Workshops
Concert

Conduction –
Playing Sound in Space Dave Todd
Phone Home Ken Tabata
Five Elements Thomas Anfield
Free improvisation –
For a Moment Roisin Adams
Computer Christopher Church Mike Dowler

Intermission

X John Rogers
Landscapes Gary Wildeman
Kibitzing – A Muse in My Ear Ian Migicovsky
Seven Windows John Deely
Same/Different Victoria
Power of Three Brent Cross
Free/conduction/free –

The beauty of this natural setting cannot be described too effusively. After spending a week in San Francisco, the quiet and natural setting is very restful at the Headlands Arts Centre in Marin County. I have been trying to spend time outside as I know it will be colder when I return home to Vancouver. This is a retreat, so internet is only available in the main buildings, not in the studio or houses and there is no cell coverage.

The studio that Lisle Ellis is sharing with me is a basketball court that we are re-purposing. I will provide photos when I have my hard drives, the internet and computer all in one place. Until then, here is a photo of Lisle rehearsing with the Oakland Active Orchestra. He is conducting the orchestra and teaching them his music.

When we first came to San Francisco, Lisle worked with this large ensemble and I am processing the video, but I also have a technical problem there as the Voltaic mt2s file conversion software is not working well on the new macbook. This seems to be a time of technical difficulties, so I am drifting away to more natural spaces. Sampled natural textures are the starting point for electronic explorations, video of oceanscapes will be projections. Photos of bleaching whalebones, the framework for digital art explorations. The computer is my lens, my palette and my delivery mechanism.

This month in the Bay Area has opened my eyes to new horizons and I am very grateful to Lisle Ellis for inviting me to share this time with him. I return to Vancouver November 27th.

Here are some photos from the American Thanksgiving at Headlands. What great food and friendship!

[Show as slideshow]

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Thanks to Marlon of Dance-Tech.net, there is a video of the workshop at EMPAC that I was a part of in August 2010!

The video shows some of the work in progress and the techniques that we used to develop the pieces.

I have been a member of Dance-Tech for about a year and I enjoy the great dance and technology videos and interviews. I was quite surprised to meet Marlon at EMPAC, but I was happy to be able to thank him in person for providing lots of interesting content.

Marlon also provided a link to a video documentary about Mark Coniglio’s work with Troika Ranch on their latest production, “Loop Diver”. I was touched by the devotion of the company to perfecting the production and the message of breaking free from our familiar loop patterns resonates with me.

Watch the video here

It was great to see the documentary, but it makes me want to see the full production. I hope is is presented again so I can see it!

My first week in New York city has been so busy that I have not had much time to do a retrospective of my eventful week, from August 15th to 22nd at EMPAC in Troy, NY.

I am happy to report that I was successful in creating a “visual music” presentation on 3 screens with one of the aspects controlled in real time using gesture control.

Adafruit shipped my Arduino boards to EMPAC and I was able to research on the internet and receive help from others in the workshop to understand how to make the system work. I chose the infra-red distance sensor and used information from the Adafruit website to help me program the board. My trusty Ubuntu computer handled all of the Arduino code uploading while I ran the Isadora program on the Macbook.

My performance was thrilling for me, but I was inspired and informed by the work that everyone else in the class showed on Saturday, August 21, 2010.

The first work we saw was by Joff, a theatre instructor who has a company that puts on plays in Second Life. The work included a grassy field with images of human figures that were short videos. The figures would fade in, seem to be sleeping, then move in some way, then fade out. We were invited to interact with the figures, but I found it fascinating just to watch them.

It was eerie and engaging as an installation and Joff might develop it further as a performance or to be more interactive. (continue reading…)

The first day at the EMPAC Lab with a group of very creative individuals from all over the globe. Two dancers from Australia, a computer science student from Italy, a dancer from South Korea, a Second Life theatre company member from England, various American citizens and myself, the lone Canadian.

My arduino boards did arrive in the mail today, so I am looking forward to developing that direction. The facilities and staff here are magnificent, giving us a level of technical support and available equipment that exceeds my expectations in every way. More photos and posts to come. This will be an exciting exploration for all of us.

Music and Spoken Word – Improvised, Intense and Infused with fun!

A variety of spoken word artistry provided by:
Max Kala
France Perras
Alice Hamilton
Eric Wyness
T Crane
Music provided by Paul Plimley, piano+guitar; Tommy Babin, upright bass; Phil Emerson, guitar and Victoria Gibson, notebook+vocals.

This event is part of a new summer festival presented by Visions Ouest Productions:
Un nouveau Rendez-vous d’été / A new Summer Rendez-vous
L’ÉTHÉÂTRE 2010

Jeudi 12 Août / Thurs. August 12, 2010

à/at
Auditorium Jules-Verne, Vancouver
5445 Baillie Street, Vancouver (at 37th Avenue, between Oak & Cambie,
close to Van Dusen Botanical Gardens). Skytrain Station 41st. Free parking.

20h00

Tickets : $16 presale online until 6 pm/ Prévente jusqu’à 18h00 ce soir
www.rendez-vousvancouver.com
or $18 at the door

There are two more nights of the festival featuring:
Friday August 13, 8 pm:
Screening of (English subt.) – L’ENFANT PRODIGE / THE CHILD PRODIGY Luc Dionne
Admission: $10 Tickets sold online
Bande-annonce / trailer <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3a3UkDD5gs>

Saturday August 14 – THE CLOSING NIGHT
Screening of PICHÉ, ENTRE CIEL ET TERRE / PICHÉ: THE LANDING OF A MAN
(English subt.) – Sylvain Archambeault
Admission: $10 Tickets sold online
Bande-annonce/ <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAPUeWCaS38&feature=related>
trailer

Followed at 10 pm by L’ÉTHÉÂTROPICAL with DJ Marc Fournier
Une célébration de l’été et un au-revoir à tous les artistes et bénévoles
qui ont participé à L’ÉTHÉÂTRE.

I will miss the extremely fun after party because I will be in New York city.

So you have to come to my show if you want to see me before I go.