The following message was posted to: dance-tech Sorry, Johannes, while I would enjoy sitting over a beer to discuss these high-minded theoretical questions with you one day, we do not have the privilege of writing about them with that depth in newspapers which consider their readers to be knuckledraggers. We must grab our readers' attention by using pretty turns of phrase like "flesh out" even though they may not signify for you in a way that you can relate to. Neither my nor anyone else's American newspaper reviews will ever be able to answer, much less allude to, the technology side of things. I make the effort. I merely proffered these pieces from the Inquirer to Scott because I thought the works (not necessarily my reporting of them) were strong; as a way of informing interested parties about work going on in different places; also for the artists to have some documentation. Scott is in fact thinking of putting up such a site in September and I offered to help disseminate the information about it as well as get a link to it up on our Dance Critics Association website when he is ready. To that end, yesterday at the annual membership meeting during our DCA conference at Barnard, I made the announcement about the possible site for people to send their D&T related-reviews (published or not.) A few people who live beyond ballet were very interested and we can see what comes of it. As for hashing over my own published reviews and their inadequacies, I'd rather you took that up with my editors. The Sunday editors (food, business, sports, travel) will especially engage you. I would love to be the fly on the wall when you ask those questions of people who habitually wonder why you ever even need to use a metaphor..."This is a newspaper. Why can't you just spell it out?" Good luck. If you want to use these to further your discourse, clearly I'm not your man. If you want to create an information exchange, and some of the writers are willing to debate and get deep into the fine points that would be fine too. You all would have to decide what you want it to be. Best as ever, Merilyn Jackson ----- Original Message ----- From: "Johannes Birringer (by way of dance-tech-admin@dancetechnology.org)" <orpheus@rice.edu> To: "Multiple recipients of dance-tech" <dance-tech@dancetechnology.org> Sent: Monday, June 23, 2003 12:58 PM Subject: [dance-tech] Re: Reviews on Dance concerts heavy on D&T > The following message was posted to: dance-tech > > I saw Merilyn's recent note on concerts in Philaddelphia, and thought > about the suggestion she made for "building an archive of reviews of D&T > based concerts...." > > It think this is an interesting idea, and such an archive would be > welcome. I wonder, though, to what extent we gather enough information > (from short columns in newspapers) or critical analysis or > contextualized debate to make this fruitful and rewarding, and above > making it understandable for those who did not see the work under > review: > > you write (about Bridge): > <<In Teletime[ital], one of two very strong dance and technology pieces, > Popil walks up to Price's psychedelic looking and rapidly changing > projected video images. In white satin gown and gloves, she interacts > like a live component of a video game. The electronically altered > voices are repeatedly saying "star struck" as the images obliterate her > and the set goes dark. > > Palate[ital] has Bridge dancing against her own black and white, > pre-shot video image.....> > > > In the other piece, you review Philadelphia Dance Projects, ...Terry > Fox collaborat[ing] with Gretjen Clausing, director of Film at the > Prince on "Moving Pictures," a series of dance films featuring live > performance.>> > > this seems to have been an interesting programming idea, but again I > think we would want a longer and more detailed critique of what is > accomplished, or specifically interesting or dance-technology related > about having dance companies perform in site specific locations or in > front of video/dance projections as backdrop?): > > .....>>> In *Reflex-ions,* Wood collaborates with local videographer, > Steve Broome, moving against Broome's footage of him with the Art Museum > as backdrop. Broome's double image of Wood framed in binocular-like > sights pointedly reflected Wood's intention to make the first section > about fighting against yourself. Wood displays superhuman discipline > and balance in the capoeira (a martial art-cum-dance) driven first > section. In another section, Broome shoots a black-clad Wood dancing > along the edges of the Art Museum's steps, ala the Nicholson Brothers. > On stage, Wood's white costuming conjures a black and white negative > that vividly highlighted the contrasting filmed and live dance. >> > > and > > <<Group Motion Dance Company fleshed out the celluloid and video images. > In *Ctrl: A Dance Video Game,* they perform a structured improvisation > with Peter Price's interactive video. Balancing, jogging, and flailing > their arms, the five dancers create an out-of-control traffic jam of > images on screen and stage. >. > > > Well, as you can imagine, Merilyn, I have questions about this. How was > this last piece interactive, what was the effect of the interactivity on > the dance, the movement, the content of the piece (was it about > "control" - the furious subject we discussed here recently?), the images > projected? why did they refer to it as a video game, what game was it, > what kind fo virtual spaces evoked? how and why did they "flesh" out the > celluloid images (is it possible), what kind of traffic jam was seen on > the screens, and where we do go from here? > > with regards > Johannes Birringer > Interaktions-labor Göttelborn > http://www.aliennationcompany.com/gallery/goet.htm > > ---------------------------------------- > The Dance-Tech mailing list has recently moved to a new address. To post a > message, send email to dance-tech@dancetechnology.org. To unsubscribe, send > email to lists@dancetechnology.org, with the words "unsubscribe dance-tech" in > the message body. > ---------------------------------------- > > > ---------------------------------------- The Dance-Tech mailing list has recently moved to a new address. To post a message, send email to dance-tech@dancetechnology.org. To unsubscribe, send email to lists@dancetechnology.org, with the words "unsubscribe dance-tech" in the message body. ----------------------------------------
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