Friday, November 5, 2010

Until next year, SnoCo...

Well, Chop Shop: Northside! is a wrap and what an exhausting experience. I will say this to any other dance artists considering presenting work in Snohomish County....bring your best smile and a ton of patients. Trying to stir up local interest was very challenging and taught me a thing or two about promotion. I was down to handing out fliers in my local grocery store...I kid you not.

I was very pleased with the overall turn out and feel confident the audience was well taken care of. The work was wonderful and the dancers gave their all. Feedback so far gave a strong thumbs up for the whole show, particularly to Whidbey Island Dance Theatre (as many could not believe the average age of the dancers was about 17) and SD/Prism. I am quite sure nothing of this caliber (on a local level) has ever been presented in this neck of the woods and I am honored to have been in such great company. Thank you to all who danced or came to see great dancing.

Full steam ahead for February!


Thursday, October 21, 2010

Chop Shop: Northside! is just a few days away and I am thrilled to be brining this event to my neck of the woods. I would be lying if I didn't say the Snohomish County is a slow breathing animal (as far as publicity and support is concerned) but I think we will have a strong turn out. I am confident the work being presented is some of the best that has ever happened in this area...so lets just hope the locals jump on board. (This has definitely tested my promotional skills...)

On to other news, Chop Shop: Bodies of Work (now in our fourth year!) has been curated and here is the line up:

Bellingham Repertory Dance
Spectrum Dance Theater
Tonya Lockyer
Wade Madsen
The Stone Dance Collective
Zoe Scofield
Catherine Cabeen
SD/Prism Dance Theatre
Quark Contemporary Dance Theatre

and check THIS out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwQuyFbAk7A


(more beautiful work by Gabe Bienczycki)


It's going to be an amazing event! Stay tuned!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Chop Shop: NORTHSIDE!

StoneDance Productions and The Black Box Theatre
Present
Chop Shop: NORTHSIDE

A Contemporary Dance Festival
At The The Black Box Theater
Edmonds Community College
Saturday, October 30th, 7:30 pm


2010

Edmonds, WA – August 5, 2010 - StoneDance Productions and The Black Box Theatre present 'Chop Shop: NORTHSIDE', A Contemporary Dance Festival. Now, for the first time, this amazing dance event comes to Snohomish County! Chop Shop: Northside will have its debut run at The Black Box Theatre at Edmonds Community College specifically for Northside residents. This unique festival is a rare opportunity to explore the truly original talents of world renown Seattle-based and Eastside-based artists in one special evening performance. This is the BEST of the Seattle/Eastside dance community in ONE festival. Each of these prolific choreographers has presented work to numerous critical successes throughout Europe, Asia, Latin America and the United States. Though each company/artist presented possesses their own individual voice, they are all unified in the contemporary language of dance and its power to stir the senses through the visceral moving image.

This is an event not to be missed! Past sold out performances have established Chop Shop as one of the most highly anticipated dance events in the greater Seattle/Eastside area.

"...already one of Seattle’s most talked about and important outlets for dance." - Dean Speer, Critical Dance

A RARE OPPORTUNITY:

“Reading Dance”: A FREE lecture on Saturday, October 30th, 2010, 6:00 pm (prior to the performance.) Experience a “behind the scenes” look at how contemporary dances are formed. Learn about meaning and imagery behind the choreographer’s unique movement language and how the creative process is developed and refined. Hosted by Eva Stone and presented at The Black Box Theatre, open to all ages.

Free "Introduction to Modern Dance" class with Eva Stone, Artistic Director of The Stone Dance Collective. This class is open to ages 10+ to adult who would like to experience modern dance. No experience necessary! Wednesday, Oct. 27th, 2010. Black Box Theatre, 6:30 to 8:00 pm. Please call 206-700-6004 to reserve a spot.

Master Classes (10/30) by the Artistic Directors of the performing companies will be held during daytime hours of the festival in the Theater (Saturday 12:00pm and 2:00pm) Please call (206) 799-6004 for schedule and reservations. Classes are $12.00 each (discounted prices are offered with purchase of show ticket.)

Visit www.chopshopdance.org for promo and more information.

Tickets are on sale now. Go to
www.theatreedmond.org. or call 1-800-838-3006.

For information please call 425-640-1448.

Adults: $20.00
Students and Seniors:
$14.00

The Black Box Theatre is located on campus of Edmond Community College: 20310 68th Ave. West, Lynnwood, WA 98036

Chop Shop: Northside is funded in part by the Arts, Culture, and Civic Engagement Programs
StoneDance Productions is an associated program of Shunpike.
Shunpike is a 501(c)(3) non-profit art service organization whose mission is to strengthen the Seattle arts community by partnering with small and mid-size arts groups to develop the business tools they need to succeed. Working in close partnership with these groups, Shunpike helps solve problems quickly and impart vital skills in finance, organizational management and arts administration.

The Performing Artists:

Spectrum Dance Theater: Led by Artistic Director Donald Byrd, Spectrum Dance Theater stands at the forefront of contemporary dance as one of the most daring and innovative cultural assets in the region. The Company has established a full season of performances presented at the Moore Theatre where Spectrum is the official Resident Dance Company and continues to expand its reach with national and international touring engagements. Mr. Byrd regularly teaches around the country and was a fellow at Harvard University’s Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue. He has been awarded the Bessie, and was a 2006 Tony nominee for his choreography of the Broadway musical, THE COLOR PURPLE. Spectrum will be presenting Duet from Drastic Cuts, a piece in which Byrd describes as "the lattices of the lines (in the body) acting as a restraint, imprisoning the volatile feelings in a structural containment."

The Stone Dance Collective is a modern dance company that originated in London, England in 1993 but has been part of the Seattle/Eastside dance scene for more than 12 years. Artistic Director and choreographer Eva Stone never fails to amuse and provoke audiences through her humor, detail and unexpected approach to contemporary dance. Having learned the art of dance backwards (choreography before technique), Stone has developed a movement language that is uniquely her own. Her choreography has been presented in New York, Geneva, London and St. Petersburg, Russia. Locally, she has been commissioned by numerous companies throughout Washington and most recently as part of a collaborative effort (alongside Olivier Wevers and Wade Madsen) on Project Orpheus with Seattle Dance Project. Stone will be presenting The End of A Year, a poignant and unaffected examination of beginnings and endings.

Mark Haim is a world-renowned performer/choreographer and former UW Senior Artist in Residence. He has created works for Nederlands Dans Theatre, Ballet Frankfurt and the Jose Limon Dance Company, to name only a few. Haim’s critically acclaimed 'The Goldberg Variations' has been presented at American Dance Festival, the John F. Kennedy Center and other venues in Europe, the US and Asia. Haim will present Buoyant Despite Slump, a piece about “the window of opportunity created in a quiet moment of profound sadness and abandonment,”
performed by the much-in-demand contemporary dancer Jim Kent.

Khambatta Dance Company fuses complex athletic partnering and daring lifts with a keen theatrical sensibility, revealing human nature through the lens of intimate relationships and the everyday experience. Artistic Director Cyrus Khambatta has presented work in twelve US states, throughout Europe as well as in Russia and Latin America. He has received awards and grants from numerous foundations to support the presentation of work both in the U.S. and abroad. He is also the curator of the long running dance Seattle festival Beyond the Threshold.

Whidbey Island Dance Theatre was founded in 1993 to provide pre-professional experience for promising young dancers and to promote dance as a significant cultural resource for Whidbey Island and surrounding communities. Under the artistic direction of Charlene Brown and Susan Campbell Sandri, WIDT has provided dancers with opportunities for both personal and artistic growth. WIDT will present press/release, choreographed by Eva Stone and which premiered at Regional Dance America/Pacific at the annual festival. This work looks at human relationships and the pressures of societal constructs.

Coriolis Dance Collective is an immersive and openly experimental contemporary dance company led by Natascha Greenwalt Murphy and Christin Call. Formed in 2008, as a venue to push themselves as artists and peers, the vision of Coriolis is to create new, highly collaborative works with artists of all disciplines while maintaining an atmosphere of camaraderie and open feedback. Coriolis will be presenting the work of Venezuelan choreographer Gillmer Duran in a piece that explores the reaction of vibration within the body and how that impulse can inform function and line within ones own body while affecting change upon a group. The result is an organic yet vibrant quartet for two women and two men set to a melodic yet minimal score by BoiledJar.

SD/Prism Dance Theatre is a contemporary dance company founded by Artistic Director Sonia Dawkins, who has been in the Seattle area for the past 10 years and is also a part of the faculty at Pacific Northwest Ballet. Dawkins’ focus as a choreographer is drawn from the artistry, athleticism and “poetry” from within each dancer. Critics have said her works possess “athletic edge and artistic depth.” Dawkins is presenting Linkage, a study on the demise of national and social constructs in a “monetary context.”

Quark Contemporary Dance Theatre is a fresh new company created in 2009 by David Lorence Schleiffers, recently completing a dance degree in the UW Dance Program. This company aims to create and perform unique and thought provoking work, which focuses on the individuality of each dancer. In The Kids' Table, Schleiffers takes us on a subtle journey subtle journey through the growing process and uses simple movement themes to highlight complex aspects of adulthood.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Chop Shop: A Call to Artists 2011

StoneDance Productions Announces:

A CALL TO ARTISTS!

For Participation In

CHOP SHOP: BODIES OF WORK

A Contemporary Dance Festival

to be presented

February 12 & 13, 2011 at Meydenbauer Theatre, Bellevue, WA

We are looking for choreographers/dance companies with contemporary work to be presented at Chop Shop: Bodies of Work, an annual dance festival highlighting the BEST of the greater Seattle contemporary dance scene.

Chosen work will perform in both performances (Sat evening and Sun matinee) and artists will also have an opportunity to offer Master Classes on stage during the daytime hours of the festival. Generous stipend for both!

This is our fourth year running this highly anticipated Eastside event with sold out performances and outstanding critical acclaim. This is a great way to build your visibility and exposure to enthusiastic Eastside audiences. Past participants have included Spectrum Dance Theater, Whim W'Him and Mark Haim, to name only a few.

For a sample view of the Festival, please visit www.chopshopdance.org

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: SEPTEMBER 30, 2010

Format: DVD or Online Work Sample

Please include a letter of introduction/explanation.

Send to:

StoneDance Productions

c/o Eva Stone

6816 157th Pl SW

Edmonds, WA 98026

Works presented will not exceed 12 minutes in length. Work samples permitted but should show at least 75% of the completed work. Works still in conceptual form will not be considered.

Send any inquires to stonedancecollective@hotmail.com

"...already one of Seattle's most talked about and important outlets for dance." - Dean Speer, Critical Dance

Please


"...alre

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

SAVE THE DATE!

Chop Shop: Bodies of Work, A Contemporary Dance Festival

February 12th and 13th, 2011

The Theatre at Meydenbauer, Bellevue, WA

"...already one of Seattle’s most talked about and important outlets for dance." - Dean Speer, Critical Dance


Monday, March 22, 2010

A Review....

Collector Classics
Chop Shop: Bodies of Work
14 February 2010
The Theatre at Meydenbauer, Bellevue, Washington

by Dean Speer

In the late ‘70s/early ‘80s, I produced and directed a monthly dance performance series that was intended to showcase all of the dance happening in the Seattle area at the time. Each program included one ballet, one modern dance, and one ethnic or “other” dance company or group. These ranged from the large and well-known such as Pacific Northwest Ballet to solo performers to a puppetry group that presented one of my all-time favorite pieces, “The Old People’s Dance.”

I have to applaud and admire Chop Shop’s artistic director Eva Stone for successfully trying to present all of the modern dance work happening in the Seattle area in 2010 through her annual series, Bodies of Work.

With the exception of historic modern dance (isn’t that a phrase to wrap one’s head around?) such as Martha Graham or Doris Humphrey – the kind of work researched and restaged by the University of Washington’s Chamber Dance Company – I’d have to say that she succeeded very neatly.

These ranged from traditional proscenium-style oriented works to those that were site-specific. I liked how we were greeted by dancers moving through the foyer spaces and a balcony overlooking the foyer. During intermission, I was particularly charmed by acornDance’s structured improvisation in one of the theatre’s stairwells that has a two-story glass wall that opens up to the east atrium of the building’s complex, thereby inviting a fairly large gaggle of spectators admiring their daring – varooming up and down a staircase, sharing weight, and creating shapes around each other in a variety of ways.

The dancers were also quite a collection – from the hands-down clearly best and impressive technical prowess of Vincent Lopez who appeared with both Spectrum Dance Theatre and in Olivier Wevers’ Whim W’him to those who perhaps didn’t have a whole lot of technical training but who moved well and appropriately within the context of their choreographic assignments.

My only choreographic fuss would be where works said what they had to say, but didn’t move on or conclude in a timely fashion. The choreographic and dance compositional great Doris Humphrey used to like to admonish dance makers, “All dances are too long!” In other words, state your choreographic idea and develop it or move on. One of her other points of wisdom that so good for everyone creating something is “Never leave the ending to the end!” How often has it been both in dance and music that we hear or see something really quite lovely but then it either really doesn’t go anywhere, have a reason to be, or just stops without any real conclusion.

One example of a work that started out well but left us feeling, well, okay but? was The Phffft! Dance Theatre Company’s “Interview with the American Dream” which asked the question of people across the U.S., “What do you think about the state of the American dream?” It’s a great idea that choreographer Cyrus Khambatta had but he needed to develop more and bring it to some kind of resolution.

I enjoyed the charm of “The Kids’ Table” danced by Quark Contemporary Dance Theatre with choreography by David Lorence Schleiffers, the sheer kinetic energy of Stone’s “Stick Figures,” the serious intensity of Thaddeus Davis’s “Tantric Voices – Excerpts” for Spectrum Dance Theatre – which also had some of the most accomplished dancers, and the invention of “Tethered Apparitions” given by Coriolis Dance Collective with choreography by Natascha Greenwalt Murphy. This piece was one that was solid and well-constructed for the most part but could have used a stronger conclusion.

Mozart has been a jumping off point for many choreographers and Olivier Wevers chose one of the most dramatic – the “Ach, Ich Fühl’s” from “The Magic Flute” for his duet that featured Lopez and the lithe Kelly Ann Barton who could keep up with Lopez both on the histrionics and technical demands of Wevers’ quick and athletic phrases. Wevers changed from quirky to liquid serious and lyric when Lopez doffed his costume for an extended solo adagio. Very elegant, beautiful and unexpected.

Presented in a medium-sized theatre in Bellevue, Washington that’s about the right size for this annual series, my only wish might be that we didn’t have to wait until 2011 for the next edition. That and to use live music for pieces that could (the Mozart for example could have been done with piano and a vocal soloist) which would only serve to strengthen what is already one of Seattle’s most talked about and important outlets for dance.

_________________
Dean Speer
ballet@u.washington.edu