Movement Research

This is a Movement Research Studies Project: The Role of Class in Current Dance Practices

Conceived in conversation with Movement Research Faculty

January 20, 2015 at Gibney Dance Center 890 Broadway organized by Movement Research in collaboration with Beth Gill, Lance Gries, Eva Karczag and Gwen Welliver

The Role of Class was a series of brief and intimate discussions with various teaching artists including Julian Barnett, Michelle Boulé, Wendell Cooper, Jeanine Durning, Barbara Forbes, Zvi Gotheiner, K.J. Holmes, John Jasperse, Joanna Kotze, Nia Love, Juliette Mapp, Cori Olinghouse, Janet Panetta, Shelley Senter, Vicky Shick, RoseAnne Spradlin, Karinne Keithley Syers and Jesse Zarrit. These discussions addressed questions and ideas about dance and movement-based class through their own practices and histories. After the discussions attendants were invited to actively participate in smaller group conversations with the opportunity to share insights and proposals.

Photo: Morning exercises on the roof of Itten College, 1931, from "Design and Form: The Basic Course at the Bauhaus and later" by Johannes Itten

This is Movement Research Studies Project: Dance and Music Now

With Panelists: Douglas Dunn & Steven Taylor, Melanie Maar & Kenta Nagai, Edisa Weeks & Katie Down

October 7, 2014 at Gibney Dance Center 890 Broadway proposed and moderated by Philip Ellis Foster

Musicians and dancers have a long and storied relationship with one another, from traditional forms that wed music and dance to narrative storytelling, to orchestral ballets, and on to Cage and Cunningham collaborations. This evening explored the multifaceted ways artists are addressing this relationship today, with a focus on musicians that perform live with dancers and movement-based performance work. Artists discussed and examined their various dynamic approaches to collaboration between and across these fields.

Photo: Kenta Nagai and Melanie Maar by Ian Douglas

This is a Movement Research Studies Project: Evolving Dance Pedagogies

With Panelists: Maura Donohue (Hunter College), Simon Dove (formerly of Arizona State University), Neil Greenberg (New School), Patricia Hoffbauer (Hunter College, Princeton University) and Mariah Maloney (SUNY Brockport)

March 4, 2014 at Gibney Dance Center hosted by Critical Correspondence

This conversation between professors from a variety of university dance departments addressed the changing relationship between their programs and the field of dance. Panelists discussed the emergence of dance studies and the model of the artist/scholar; issues of access, privilege, and the shifting economic structures of professional dance. Our panelists considered how these conditions affect their students and the way they structure their curricula.

Movement Research Studies Project: We Came To This City To Shit On A Stage

Adrienne Truscott With Panelists: Sara Beesley of Joe's Pub, Eric Dyer of Radiohole, Vallejo Gantner of PS122, performer/choreographer/curator Colin Self, and choreographer/performer Gillian Walsh.

Gibney Dance Center, December 3, 2013 as part of the Movement Research Festival Fall 2013 “Le Song, Ya?!” curated by Adrienne Truscott and Jibz Cameron aka Dynasty Handbag

The conversation revolved around the following question: "How do we make, define, and notice 'transgressive' art in a city whose identity, economy and landscape are increasingly manicured, welcoming, mainstream, highly visible and inaccessible?"

Movement Research Festival Fall 2013 Studies Project: Performing Vulnerability

Adrienne Truscott with panelists: niv Acosta, Ben Asriel, Hilary Clark, Miguel Gutierrez and Juliana May

Jimmy's 43, December 4, 2013 as part of Movement Research's Festival Fall 2013 "Le Song, Ya?!" curated by Adrienne Truscott and Jibz Cameron (Dynasty Handbag)

This Studies Project revolved around the questions: What does it mean to be vulnerable in performance? Is vulnerability a state or can it be "done?"

Note: At about 53 minutes into the conversation there is a short missing section due to technical difficulties.

2013 Movement Research Studies Project: Vulnerable Systems: Moving Beyond Sustainability

Jennifer Monson and Movement Research

Gibney Dance Center, November 5, 2013

This Studies Project discussed how the reality of climate change has brought an increased awareness around the fragility of our environment and a heightened interest in sustainable practices. How do we move beyond sustainability towards resiliency, a term currently in broad use in the social sciences? How do we address the current crisis from its roots, rather than perpetuating unworkable systems? Is change a value or an action? How can our practices within the dance community serve as models for adapting to change? Participants discussed different framings of sustainability from the perspectives of various fields, including social science, economics, and urban ecology in a roundtable conversation which invited the dance community and the larger public to explore concrete ways to create resilient systems in their own communities and beyond.

Part 2 of the 2013 Movement Research Studies Project: Dramaturgy as Practice/Dramaturgy in Practice,

Amanda Loulaki and Susan Mar Landau

Gibney Dance Center, October 1, 2013

with Panelists: Annie Dorsen, Katherine Profeta, David Thomson, Talvin Wilks, Susan Mar Landau, and Vanessa Anspaugh

This Studies Project Discusses the relatively new and evolving phenomenon of a dramaturg as an active participant in the conceiving and making of movement-based works. Conceived as a two-part event, Dramaturgy as Practice/Dramaturgy in Practice speakers explored both the ontology and the workings of dance dramaturgy today. This second event brought together dramaturgs, choreographers and dancers to engage in an in-depth conversation on the experience, effect and possible implications of the presence of the dramaturg in the choreographic process.

Part 1 of the Dramaturgy Studies Project took place on May 5th 2013 and is available as a podcast at:

http://movementresearch.libsyn.com/movement-research-studies-project-dramaturgy-as-practice-dramaturgy-in-practice-may-5-2013

Town Hall Meeting

With Speakers Walter Dundervill, Marjani Forte, Ishmael Houston-Jones, and Melinda Ring

Gibney Dance Center, November 25, 2013.

This meeting looked into Movement Research’s existence as a theoretical model of openness and experimentation, and the fact that Movement Research doesn’t dictate but rather creates a space in which to follow one’s own intention or aesthetic. Speakers and guests questioned what shifts have occurred in the role MR plays for us as dance artists and in the culture at large, whether there is a tension between the individuality and the collectivity that exists in the MR community of practice, thought and doing, and the making/marketing of our identities. As well as the role that the dancer/dance-maker play in an age that valorizes and fetishizes making.

Town Hall Follow-Up: Alternative Economies

Moderated by Kathy Westwater

With panelists Tamara Greenfield, Ilona Bito and more.

Josie's, June 25, 2013.

This is a Movement Research Studies Project: “Town Hall Follow-Up: Alternative Economies,” moderated by Kathy Westwater and including panelists, Ilona Bito, Liliana Dirks-Goodman, and Tamara Greenfield. This event took place June 25, 2013 at Josie’s.

In a follow-up discussion to the 2012 Movement Research Town Hall, this conversation looked deeper into structures and alternatives that have manifested within the recent and current dance economy. Moderator Kathy Westwater, panelists and attendees reflected upon different ongoing conversations to glean further insights and understandings on the topics of value, money, time and dance-making.

Peter Sellars and Faustin Linyekula Dialogue

September 17, 2012

French Institute Alliance Française

Dialogue moderated by Barbara Bryan and Simon Dove

In partnership with Crossing the Line Festival, and copresented by the Museum for African Art

Friends and artistic collaborators, director and choreographer Faustin Linyekula and stage director Peter Sellars come together on the first anniversary of Occupy Wall Street to speak about each other’s work and the power of the arts as an agent for social and political change.