Kevin Colton photographed a performance at Hobart & William Smith Colleges from above. I like the bird's eye perspective.

I recently participated in an "incubator workshop" through Ladies Who Launch, an organization that promotes female entrepreneurship. I met a terrific bunch of women who I miss already! I signed up for this experience because I’m striving to find a viable business model for a not-for-profit dance company. To be successful, it's not enough to be a great choreographer, you also have to become an entrepreneur. Over the four sessions, we had plenty of homework that included writing a vision statement, conceiving our “launch map,” practicing an elevator speech and a gentle reminder to do something nice for ourselves everyday.

Lately, I’ve been thinking “big.” At one level, my artistic vision is growing to require higher production values, more dancers, bigger arenas (literally—we’ll be performing in a stadium in India in December). There are also more opportunities and resources for larger companies. Growing may help us to become sustainable. I am thoroughly committed to expanding TLD, and this “incubator” has helped me articulate goals in this direction and clarify a strategy.

These are the amazing LADIES I met:

Bea Arthur is starting a members club for moms called “Me Time,” that is a fun solution to the isolation facing many new mothers.

Carrie Bell founded Madcapz (http://madcapz.net/), a company that manufactures and distributes colorful caps and visors. (They make great gifts!)

Stella Grizont envisions launching a space, tentatively called “Slide,” where grownups could have a fun experiential immersion in art and physical play.

Erica Jacobs is a jewelry designer and founder of Obsidian Jewels (www.obsidianjewels.com) One new interest is developing a line of “wellness” pieces.

Joanna Rodger is a dream baker working on recipes for a healthy cookie company. (Yum!)

Scosha Woolridge is a multi-talented artist who is a jewelry designer  (www.scoshanyc.com), sculptor, animator and co-manager a studio/event space.

Nadia Stieglitz founded Mice at Play (http://themiceplay.blogspot.com/), a members club for women that hosts adventurous--even outrageous--events aimed at nurturing personal growth.

Janera Soerel, the group’s leader, is the founder of Janera (www.janera.com) an on-line magazine and social networking site for Global Nomads (for which I wrote a piece back in February about social kissing in The Netherlands:  http://www.janera.com/janera_words.php?id=115)
An example of an attached audio file:

I asked Krissy Tate, who has been working as an Intern for Time Lapse Dance to share her experiences for our blog. In addition to her video response to "Ghosts . . . and More," she also created the video "trailer" which helped promote the season. -Jody Sperling, Artistic Director

Video editing and dancing are my favorite creative outlets.  As an intern for Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance, I am given the opportunity to fuse these two passions.  My latest project for TLD is a montage of "Ghosts" from Ghosts...and More, our two-week season at the Ailey Citigroup Theater that closed last weekend.  The combination of David Ferri's lighting and Roger Hanna's projected backdrop initially inspired me to work with this piece.  I enjoy the way each dancer (Emily Lutin, Andrea Skurr, and Jody Sperling) inscribed brilliant patterns into the performance space with Michelle Ferranti's silk costumes.  I also love Quentin Chiapetta's original score, which was performed by Erik Jacobson (on cello) and Jeffery Middleton (on piano).

The piece I created is extremely condensed, compared to its concert dance counterpart.  Working with the footage of documented choreography presents challenges.  For example, in only 1/20th of the dance's actual running time, this video needs to effectively speak to the viewer.  When cutting dance footage together, I strived to maintain the integrity of Jody's original choreography, while simultaneously incorporating my personal artistry.  An editor, like a choreographer, makes choices about the movement of the dancers and the transitions between sections of the dance.  After finalizing the dance clips, editing strategies, and special effects, the final product is revealed. The promotional video transforms the choreographer's artistic vision into a marketing tool. 
-Krissy Tate, Intern

People always ask me, “Why Time Lapse Dance?” A time-lapse is a trick of photography (and I do love tricks) that allows you to see the shape of change over time. An action that takes days or weeks to complete in real time, is compressed in a time-lapse film so that you can see, all in one moment, a flower unfurling or a skyscraper shooting into the air.

It’s this trajectory between past and present that preoccupies me. I believe that history is always acting through our bodies, often unconsciously. Our actions, our physical habits and our dance moves are influenced by tradition. Even when we are making movement up “from scratch” or just “free-styling” on the dance floor, we are really re-combining and assimilating movements that have been passed down to us through the ages.

I believe that in order to truly innovate we have to recognize the historical forces that are impelling us into motion. If you don’t know where you’ve been, how can you chart a path in a new direction?

Time Lapse Dance aims to forge an imaginative connection between past and present.

This film of the Franconetti Sisters tickled me. The dancers are so cheerful and guileless as they show off their moves: a can-can kick, a cartwheel, a split. The simplicity of the tricks only lends pleasure in exhibitionism.

Here’s a photo by Julie Lemberger of “A Leg Up” which is my choreographic response to this old film.

Video clip to come, shortly. (And more old-new comparisions).

I recently returned from Holland where I spent three weeks working with the Introdans youth ensemble. I set the “Night Winds” and “Fountains” excerpts from my trio Roman Sketches. It was amazing experience to work with a company of this caliber, one of the most-respected in The Netherlands. Here are some shots of the rehearsal process.

 

All the dancers have lovely classical technique. The ensemble’s repertory, though, is extremely eclectic (Hans Van Manen, Mats Ek, Nils Christie, Danny Ezralow, Alwin Nikolais, and Robert Battle are just a few of the choreographers with works in repertory). The dancers have become quite versatile and all are quick studies. The trio was double cast, so I had the pleasure of working with six dancers: one Brazilian, one Canadian, one Spaniard, one French and two Dutch women, each of whom gave a special quality to the movement.

Nicole Guarino (rehearsing above) who performs “Night Winds,” and her understudy Karine Lambrechtse (in video below), had the hardest task. The solo involves the manipulation of a long sticks under a huge costume, made from one hundred yards of extra-wide silk. The length of the wands and the size of the costume create a tremendous resistance for the movement. At first, Nicole’s hands would cramp up terribly after only a short time. The solo is two and half minutes long but it requires real stamina, as well as strong wrists and forearms.

Once Nicole and Karine learned the basic technique and vocabulary, they could then begin to flow the movements over and along with the musical swells. For instance, the “half-umbrella” move repeats rising as the melody line also ascends.

Teaching this solo to other dancers forced me to be more specific than I had been before. When I do it, I usually let myself improvise a little. Still, I tried to give Nicole and Karine a touch of freedom within the confines of the musical structure.

Sharing the Loie Fuller-influenced vocabulary for both works, tornado spins (re-named the “tulip” in Holland!), butterfly runs, nymph wafts, side flags, etc. has gotten me inspired for my next piece Ghosts. More to come on that later . . .