Study group part 2

Following up on the Dancemakers study group (original call for interest)

On some technical things: The consensus seems to be for something once a month – which seems right. Mostly likely a weekday evening.

On a broader level I’d like to get some ideas of what areas people might be interested in studying.

While dance will be the frame for the group, I would like it to be a interdisciplinary approach to that. Not only between disciplines of art practice, but also of fields outside of art-making (social sciences etc…)

Some things I’ve thought of - they are broad and somewhat theoretical, please feel free to comment on areas of focus too – and really – I want this to be lead by the curiosities of the group, so please add your own.

The nature of “performance” – including performance studies and gender theory background. The first chapter of Diana Taylor’s book for example.

Some things about words we (especially at Dancemakers use): Contemporary (what do we mean? what do others mean?) Collaborative (how, why)

Aesthetics (how people talk, think about aesthetics) – Dave Hickey’s Invisible Dragon, a book on beauty in art comes to mind.

Any the of these subjects could be a year in themselves, but I imagine a series of shorted readings, articles and chapters rather than books.

Ancillary field trips could also be planned…

thoughts?

also, please send this on to anyone else might be interested. Read Full Post...

"Do a show that is meaningful to you and share why it is meaningful"

From Culturebot- probably the first theatre/performance blog I started reading, and still going strong -

Do something passionate and engaged that you care about – something you would do if you weren’t worried about money. Pretend like money is not an issue, let go and do what you really care about. Do a show that is meaningful to you and share why it is meaningful. Don’t try and trick people with a line of hooey. We see through you. Don’t tell us what to think, don’t try and second-guess. Just do what you do with honesty and intention and share the process. If you care, we’ll care.
- read the whole thing

Some on the "best time to be alive" stuff worries me a little - worries me in that we still really (really) need to be able to critique and propose alternatives, and that there is huge amounts to learn from the other pasts and other, less digital, places.

But the attitude and and honesty parts I think are on the nose. Read Full Post...

Rhubard submissions

The good folks at Buddies asked us to pass this along - dance submissions very welcome.

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre seeks submissions for THE 31^st RHUBARB FESTIVAL

Feb 10 - 28, 2010
Festival Director Erika Hennebury

Call for Submissions for 2010
DEADLINE: 5PM, Friday July 31, 2009

For over 30 years The Rhubarb Festival has offered Toronto artists a critic-free environment to experiment with new theatrical explorations. First produced by Buddies in 1979, Rhubarb is more than a festival; it is a commentary on theatre - on how we create it, on how we present it, and on how we experience it. Here we allow the artist and the idea to be the centre of attention. The trappings of traditional theatre are purged in favour of a stripped-down approach, where inspiration and invention are genesis. Rhubarb encourages established artists to take new risks and emerging artists to explore the medium of performance creation in a safe, inspired space. Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is currently seeking submissions of new, original, contemporary theatre, performance and dance for our 31^st Rhubarb Festival.

The Rhubarb Festival has acted as a seeding ground for exciting new work from a host of groundbreaking Canadian artists, including Sky Gilbert, Daniel MacIvor, Daniel Brooks, Guillermo Verdecchia, Don McKellar, Diane Flacks, Gavin Crawford, Sonja Mills, Darren O’Donnell, Damien Atkins, Atom Egoyan, Jacob Wren, Ann-Marie MacDonald (and many more). The Toronto Star has called it an “annual tonic of fresh and exciting theatre that invigorates Toronto”.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Submissions delivered by or post-marked up to July 31, 2009 will be accepted
Proposed performances may be no longer than 25 minutes in length
Works submitted must be new, never previously produced and original

Submissions must submitted in hard copy only and must be accompanied by and 2009 Rhubarb Festival Application Form (available online at www.artsexy.ca )
Fax or email submissions will not be accepted
late submissions may not be considered

Please mail or drop off submissions to:

Erika Hennebury, Rhubarb Festival Director
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
12 Alexander Street, Toronto ON M4Y 1B4

For further information please contact :
Erika Hennebury, 416-975-9130 x40 erika@artsexy.ca

	Buddies in Bad Times Theatre 12 Alexander Street, Toronto, Canada M4Y 1B4 Box Office 416-975-8555 Admin 416-975-9130 info@artsexy.ca www.artsexy.ca

Read Full Post...

After Unconference

Crossposted with the Small Wooden Shoe blog


Misha Glouberman on the Canadian Stage. Photo by Amanda Lynne Ballard

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Unconference. It was a full and exciting day for me (and I think for others.)

Met some new people, had good conversations with people I knew but had never had a good conversation with.
The first goal was for those things to happen (and not just for me, despite Misha's jokes.)

My hope now is that there will be some momentum, interpersonally and organizationally, to continue those conversations and transforming them into more better performance in Toronto.

We're getting the notes compiled and already talking about next year.

Once there are notes and I get a bit of time I will post some more thoughts.

For people who came, what would be the next step and what would you like to see happen next year?

Also - if there was a second day of Open Space, would you come back? (say if it were Friday / Saturday?) Read Full Post...

Party Tonight!

A message from Caitlin:

So here we are on Friday, June 19th and in approximately 9 hours there is going to be one raucous party happening in the Dancemakers Studio. That’s right people…its party time…not any party but the Dancemakers Jump into Summer fundraiser and its TONIGHT!

Michael and the interns are off at Soma picking up the chocolate for the fountain, the Canon digital camera is sitting in front of my desk begging me to bid on it tonight and my dancing shoes are on my feet just itching to get moving….

but I needed to take the one, and probably only quiet minute I would get today to share a secret with you

We were holding a bunch of tickets to be sold at the door tonight but I’m feeling generous and I’m offering 5 pairs for free on a first come first served basis. Just call me before 3pm at 416.367.1800 and say “Willie Wonka likes to dance”.

If you’ve bought your tickets already see you tonight!

P.S. the door prize for a trip to Stratford with tickets to West Side Story will be drawn between 10:30 and 11pm

Caitlin

Read Full Post...

Dance party June 19

Dancemakers invites you to a dance party in support of our Youth Outreach Programs.

June 19, 2009
Doors open at 8

$20 in advance (6 for $100)
$25 at the door

Every ticket* has a chance to WIN A STRATFORD THEATRE FESTIVAL GETAWAY (including accommodation and tickets to West Side Story)

Join us for a rocking dance party hosted by STEPHEN GUY-MCGRATH (Soulpepper 2009) and featuring live music by CPR,Cawthra Park’s own rock ensemble.

SILENT AUCTION AND DELECTABLE TREATS

Dancemakers and the Centre for Creation
55 Mill Street, Building 58, Studio 313

For tickets call 416-367-1800

*ticket holdersmust be present at the time of the draw to be eligible to win

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=100992840944&ref=nf Read Full Post...

Unconference June 20

On Saturday June 20, from 10am - 6 pm, I think something can start.

For few years I've imagined a big meeting of people involved in performance in Toronto. I imagined this meeting because I don't really know many of you (no matter what Facebook says), and I especially don't know what problems you have that I might be able to help with and which problems of mine you solved years ago or at least might have some words of advice for me. Or what good times we might have if we spent some time together. I want to get out of the silos that I too frequently find myself in – I imagined a meeting because I suspected I wasn't alone in feeling this.

And I'm tired of panels and professional meetings that, while important and useful, don't feel nearly as lively as the people attending them.

So it is with great pleasure and hope that I'm writing to invite you to the first Un-Conference on the Future(s) of Toronto Performance

This is a chance for theatre, dance and performance-based artists, administrators and supporters to set the agenda and have the conversations that matter most to you. A chance to meet, in a meaningful way, new people and actually talk with the people you might see all the time but never actually sit down with.

It is a potential space for something special to happen – to get together and meet. And meeting helps.

Space is limited so please RSVP to festival@canstage.com.

Below the fold is some more writing on the event.

Also – if you forward this post to the people you also think should be there – that would be great. There are people I don't know, who you do, and I'd like to meet them and hear what they, and you, have to say about the future(s) of Toronto performance.

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments



Right Here, Right Now: an Un-Conference on The Future(s) of Toronto Performance

Saturday, June 20, 2009, 10 a.m.- 6 p.m., $10 including lunch - Reception to Follow

A one day meeting of Toronto's groundbreaking professional artists, arts workers and arts leaders to talk about the future(s) of performance practice and our city's stages. Facilitated by Trampoline Hall's Misha Glouberman using techniques drawing from open-space technology and world cafes (the "Un-" denotes a conference with no panels, guest-speakers or pre-determined outcomes), the agenda is crafted by participants and the issues on the table are the ones you want to talk about. All who have stake in the evolution of performance are encouraged to attend to strategize, explore and identify what we can do right now to address our most challenging and exciting opportunities.

To attend: download and fill out the registration form HERE and email it to festival@canstage.com. Space is limited. Sign up today.

Want to know more?
What is an Un-Conference anyway?

This is what it is:

A one day “un-conference” to talk about the future(s) (as many as we want).

On a first name basis, with an agenda proposed and finalized when we arrive, anything anyone cares enough about will be up for discussion in groups large and small, records will be kept and distributed, lunch and maybe a drink or two will be had. It will all be facilitated by the wonderful Misha Glouberman, using “un-Conference” methods and approaches that are changing the way people gather and make change in the technology sector and, now, far beyond.

On this day, we will gather to speak as individuals and artists who care and take responsibility for the forms we work in, without the pressure of representing the organizations we may work for or work with. To speak in order to help each other solve problems. Big problems (the ethics of contemporary performance) or smaller problems (best place to buy good cheap paint.)

To look at big problems by solving small ones. Not to complain about the things we spend so much time complaining about but taking a proactive approach to conversation that focuses on what we can do right here, right now.

Where and when?
Saturday June 20, 2009
10 am - 6 pm (with evening celebrations)
$10 (lunch included)
The Canadian Stage Company - Berkeley Street Theatre -26 Berkeley Street
Part of the Canadian Stage Company’s Festival of Ideas and Creation<
In association with Dancemakers and Small Wooden Shoe.

Who?
You.
Those who care about the future(s) of Toronto performance. Artists, Arts Workers, Arts Advocates.

We want this to be big and broad. To move past lip service to the diversity of Toronto’s performance scene. To be in a room and look around and be rocked by the meeting of difference.

The agenda is set by those who are present, by the people who care and take responsibility. So its really important that YOU are in the room.

As well – tell us who should we make sure is there, or invite them yourself by forwarding this email!

Why the future?
By focusing on the future we look to what we, in the room, can change. What is possible next, if we do something different now. Where might we want to go – as artists, as people who care about performance. What questions can we ask, and answer when we’re all in the same room. What problems can we solve by talking together.

It’s perhaps too easy to get caught in old separations or past perceived indiscretions. And they are important to acknowledge – to discuss so that they don’t happen again in the future. But it is the future we look to.

Why performance?
Performance is a broad term. And that’s important. It’s important to know that for all our needed and valuable differences, there are some things that could get better if we talked, some things we might have to learn from each other. Things that performance artists have to talk about with theatre folk and stuff they both want to chat about with dancers.

And because, with the economic crisis and etc etc, it’s rare that we get to meet and talk about performance itself, and the creative decisions, structures and opportunities we have to expand our practice and our methods. And that meeting and talking could be very important.

Why Toronto?
Toronto is a big city. This is so obvious as not to need to be said.
Except it does.
Because we think it’s a small world.

Especially for those of us who make performances of any kind.<
It is a very very small world. And yet it’s a big city.
And so, in a small world in a big city,
We don’t meet each other.

We find ourselves, despite ourselves, in silos.*
And it’s not malevolent or even intentional.
Toronto is a big city. And it’s a busy city.

But perhaps this is not the way to look forward.
Looking forward might need many people in one room talking about the things they care most about.
So it would be good to meet.
Good to take one day to come together.
And talk about the futures of performance, as a form, not an industry, in Toronto.
To try and help and be helped by sharing space and time.

Why a meeting?
Meeting each other and talking can be an end in and of itself. We need to meet those we don’t yet know, and talk again with those we think we know well. To break assumptions and find what we can offer each other. We meet to bring together communities that don’t often share space, despite sharing so many concerns. The potential for creative chemistry is vast when people come together in the same room to share curiosity, passion and responsibility. And by looking at problems we are striving to solve, we think we will find new perspectives and new solutions. And, at the very least – you’ll know more about what’s going on in the places you are sometimes to busy to go to, or perhaps have never really been to at all.

*”Since, for example, I work mostly through Buddies, Theatre Passe Muraille and the Theatre Centre, I don’t know what’s going on at Factory, fu-gen, Soulpepper, Obsidian and on and on. Since I work at Dancemakers, I don’t know Pro Arte Danza. And I don’t think I’m alone in this.” says Jacob Zimmer. And we think he is right.

To attend: download and fill out the registration form HERE and email it to festival@canstage.com
Space is limited. Sign up today

Misha Glouberman is a facilitator and designer of highly participatory events. He’s hosted panels, discussions, and events with health care workers, transit activists, professional dancers, homeless parents, Open Source software advocates, graffiti artists, Copyright experts, and Star Trek fans, to name just a few.

His approach to conference design draws especially on Open Space Technology, and the UnConference approach, both methods of conference design meant to get people talking to each other and sharing ideas quickly and effectively, in a highly decentralized model. His working style combines analytic rigour (he worked for many years as a database designer, and has a degree in philosophy from Harvard College) with a creative people-centered approach (he has taught classes in improvised music and theatre for many years).

Misha’s interest in how people connect with each other also extends into work he does as a performer and artist. He hosts “The Trampoline Hall Lectures”, an interactive show popular with the arts and literary set in Toronto and New York, as well as “Terrible Noises for Beautiful People”, a series of participatory sound events for non-musicians, among other projects. He believes himself to be Canada’s foremost charades instructor, a claim which has thus far gone unchallenged. Read Full Post...