Summer of Wheels

This summer I'm training a little differently. Cycling and roller derby. It's all about the wheels!

Summer Time!

It's been a year since I drove into Columbus - July 4, 2009. It's been an incredibly intense year and now I must admit, I'm really happy that it's summer. While I still have school work and work at the Wexner Center, I'm pleased to have more time at home. David and I are getting to know each other again. We walked to Whetstone Park Sunday to watch fireworks. They were over fast, but they were beautiful. Fifteen-minute fireworks. Sixty minute round trip walk. Invaluable time with the hubbie.

We started clearing out the front yard. This is something I put off doing until I had weekend mornings to devote. Since it's hot out now, I only work in the morning and try my best to stay in the shade. David doesn't seem to mind working in the hot afternoon sun. Right now I'm trying to come up with some kind of analogy to give you a good idea of how much sweat David produces. Horses, pigs... Anyway, I digress. We're finding a lot of plants we didn't know existed underneath all the ornamental grass. This poor yard has been neglected for so many years. It's obvious that at one time the landscaping was quite stunning, however that was several owners ago. So sad. It's hard for David and I to continue living in this house without taking care of the front yard properly. I don't care if it is a rental. Now, if I can only convince our landlord to purchase some mulch....

The other, non-academic noteworthy development is my acceptance into the Ohio Roller Girls Derby team. I'll have more on that later. Tomorrow is my orientation. We're meeting at a bar in German Village. I'm looking forward to working out three times a week with these women. They're sooo going to kick my rear-end.

Media in Performance Overview

I'm in the process of looking over my Media in Performance class notes, videos and just generally reviewing. Blogging actually helps! You can click on the images if you really want to read my notes.

During the first couple of classes we talked about our experiences with media in performances - what we liked and what we didn't. I talked about working with Lifeforms in the mid-nineties and how for me it was more about coming up with choreographic ideas rather than projecting it during a performance. It was my first taste with integrating software into the choreographic process. My fascination with video editing and animation is ever-present, however Lifeforms is a distant blip on my choreographic EKG.

I enjoyed reading "Saturday." Above are some of my notes. I felt it useful to transcribe some entries that denoted time for me. I'd like to read it again this summer when I have to time to actually savor it! Another reading that was particularly useful and one I will revisit many times I'm sure is Ann Bogart's "A Director Prepares." I wrote about this earlier during the quarter. Here's a quick link to that entry: http://rashanaworks.blogspot.com/2010/05/quick-note-from-reading-1.html. An additional thing I will say about directing - I feel like I move slowly. I want to think it's me trying to be patient, but I'm not quite sure about that. I was a bit frustrated during this process. I couldn't always find the right words for Joda. Some metaphors worked and others did not. I need a directing class. Naturally, I would have loved more rehearsal time.

To the left are notes from our first study. Alexis Del Sol, Joda Lee and I had the task of creating work that utilized a computer monitor (or TV screen). This was particularly challenging. With a projector you have more choices about what to project the images on. With a monitor - that's it. That's your surface. Further, there were some discrepancies about whether we were supposed to use the large TV screen connected to a big tower, a laptop, or smaller computer monitor. I went ahead and used the large TV screen just to make things a little more difficult for myself. Once in place, I couldn't move (what I like to call) the Tower of Technology.

It was heavy and clunky and of course, full of wires. On the other hand, it made me think about the content of the video and the integration of movement by Joda Lee, my dancer for the study. The study was only two minutes. For something so short, I still think I could work more on this without going over two minutes. I wanted more time to direct Joda and investigate more movement options. Time continues to be problematic throughout the quarter. (How interesting that we would start the quarter reading about time!)

Something positive that continued to come up for me during the quarter - video examination. I have elements of Joda examining the video of himself in the first study, of him videotaping himself, of him responding to seeing himself, etc. I have also been examining videos, literally picking them apart - not only for this class, but also for the "Theories of the Body" class. For my final paper in that class, I took three videos and examined camera angles and framing, timing and pacing, and sound in order to determine the motives or intensions for the videos. I'm completely fascinated about how sound can completely alter our "gaze." I just scratched the surface on this idea, but I will be diving into it a lot more this summer during an independent study project.

I found it useful to draw out the space for our final project. I still wish I would have used the space differently, but I felt like, for the purpose of a 12 minute piece that needed to accommodate all three of our pieces, we did okay. At one point there were layers of projections through screens that I really liked, but the logistics of moving those screens for other sections of our final project seemed to overrule the necessity of the layers. I was and still am incredibly intrigued with projecting small images onto objects (or large images onto small objects), however, I would like to do it in an installation environment instead of a traditionally laid out stage space. If anything, this final project gave me more ideas about collaborating with other artists to actually create objects for which to project from and onto.

Below are technical notes for the final showing. I ran lights for Mair, Tiffeny and Kristen. On the left are the notes for those cues. I really enjoyed working with light. I want to do more! I especially think this is important when there's projection on stage. I appreciated Shawn Hove's lighting suggestions - it's amazing how much (light) bounce you can get from white scrims. Too bad I didn't use them.

On the right, are Isadora notes for my group's work. I would have enjoyed working more with Isadora and I definitely can see myself doing this. It's not even a question of "if" - it's "when". Luckily Isadora has great tutorials, so maybe I can work on my own. Shawn mentioned getting Isadora in the media lab. I really hope so! That could be a great class all on its own.

Finally, here are the feedback notes I took after our first showing of our last project. Bebe, as usual, brought up some great questions. I just can't help wondering what this process would have been like if all of us weren't so overcommitted this quarter. Nevertheless, this project was shown and the class is over. I'll see where all this video, projection, lighting, and Isadora-ing will take me next. Or rather, I'll see where I take video, projection, lighting and Isadora!

Pile Up - The Last Show of the School Year!

Pile Up is the last show this quarter, this school year. Don't miss it! Dante's Chalk Boundaries will be shown again, but augmented to fit the space of Studio One. (I'm performing in this one too. Fun stuff!) Maree ReMalia's and Abby Zbikowski's work will also be shown. I can't wait to see what they've been working on. This showing holds great promise! Make it out tonight for one last hurrah!

See you at 7pm, Sullivant Hall - Studio One - on the OSU campus (High and 15th Street).

Poster credit - Erik Abbott-Main

Three Shows in Two Weeks

Spring Dance 2010

Two Concerts, Four Nights

Program A:

May 26 & 28 - Wednesday & Friday @ 8:00pm

(I'll perform in Betsy Miller's El Otro Lado/The Other Side and Dante Brown's Chalk Boundaries.)

Program B:

May 27 & 29 - Thursday & Saturday @ 8:00pm

(I'll perform my latest solo, Bear Traps and Other Impressions.)

Both shows are at Sullivant Hall Theatre

1813 N. High Street at 15th Avenue and High Street

Tickets at the door

($10 General Admission, $5 with BuckID)

Poster credit: Bernice Lee

Media in Performance Showings

As part of the Media in Performance class final, we will present a collection of our work. Public is welcome! We would love your feedback. Admission is free!

Thursday, June 3, 2010, 5:30pm - 8:30pm

The Ohio State University, ACCAD Building, Emma Lab

Get a hold of me for directions.

Photo credit: Rashana Smith, Performer: Tsung-Hsin Lee

Pile Up

Come see an informal showing of new dance works presented by MFA candidates Dante Brown, Maree ReMalia, and Abigail Zbikowski. (I'll perform in Dante's Chalk Boundaries.)

Friday, June 4, 2010, 7:00pm - 9:00pm

The Ohio State University, Sullivant Hall, Studio 1

1813 N. High Street at 15th Avenue and High Street

Free Admission!

Poster credit: Erik Abbott-Main

Last Few Weeks

Almost done.

Hard Quarter.

Hard Year.

Too much.

Sleep deprived.

But

Growing.

Hopeful.

Finally! The last set of readings (#8)

From the Forward written by Richard Shaull in Paulo Freire's book Pedagogy of the Oppressed:

"I am encouraged when a man of the stature of Paulo Freire incarnates a rediscovery of the humanizing vocation of the intellectual, and demonstrates the power of thought to negate accepted limits and open the way to a new future. ...Freire is able to do this because he operates on one basic assumption: that man's ontological vocation (as he calls it) is to be a Subject who acts upon and transforms his world, and in so doing moves towards ever new possibilities of fuller and richer life individually and collectively. This world to which he relates in not a static and closed order, a given reality which man must accept and to which he must adjust; rather, it is a problem to be worked on and solved."

In addition to this book, I perused articles regarding Freire's work in preparation to helping lead a class next week regarding Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The articles were quite helpful in giving good examples of how to engage students in the classroom. Freire's work centered around adult education in Third World countries, but the same can be applied in many educational systems. I think this will assist me a lot in my teaching at Easthaven Elementary school (something I realize I haven't even mentioned on this blog until now). Most notable about Freire's book, well - the chapter I read most intently (chapter 2), was his idea of the "banking" concept opposed to problem-posing concept in education. This relates most directly to "teacher-centered" opposed to "student-centered" instruction that was discussed earlier in the quarter. Right now, I really just want more experience putting these ideas into action. Relevance, relevance.

Okay, with my readings done, it's time get something to eat and ready myself for four hours of rehearsal after which I will come home and start writing multiple papers. (Come on summer!)