Fame or Famine

If I owe my career choices to anyone, I owe it to authors Spider & Jeanne Robinson and their novel Stardance. In fact, one of the most life-changing events in my life was spending a weekend with them on Gambier Island in Vancouver. Jeanne, who is both a dancer, a choreographer, and a zen roshi, was a vibrant and dynamic woman. And the idea of blending dance with technology, put forth in their novel, is literally what caused me to decide to major, in college, in Dance/Interarts Technology.
Making the Dream Real
Much to my joy, I find that Jeanne is making …read more

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As we come back to following the progress of July 20th, the GREAT BLOG OFF around the globe, we come to Newfoundland, home of Artistic Fraud. Specializing in “chorus based work,” the group is directed by Jillian Keiley and Robert Chafe.
All About Numbers
As the video on their site will tell you, in the past 9 years Artistic Fraud has called for:

81 school desks
 32 flourescent semaphore flags
790 maps
36 vibraphone keys
2400 square feet of polyester wedding dress lining
Over 300 performers.

You can see a short film about the relatively small production Fear of Flight on YouTube now, and hear the ensemble as they …read more

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After working as a stage manager for independent theatre in Toronto for almost a decade, I was lucky enough, in the summer of 2006, to be working at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with a show from Volcano. We were performing at the Traverse theatre for the last two weeks of August – one of my favourite theatres to work in.
I’d been to Edinburgh with the same company back in 2002, when I had the chance to see a show from a Russian physical theatre company, Derevo. That show was called La Divina Commedia, took place in a circus …read more

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Guest blogger Karl here again…one of the more fascinating aspects of the Internet to me is the
ability to explore areas of my past to see how they’ve changed and grown over the years. I moved out to the state of Wisconsin when I was 12, but I’m originally from the twin cities of Lewiston/Auburn, Maine. Recently, I spent a fair amount of time on a lazy afternoon retracing my childhood haunts using the closest Satellite view in Google Maps I could get away with (I anticipate a lot of time wasted when they get around to implementing Street View in …read more

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Believe it or not, I do have a personal connection to this. You see, I’m not the only dancer in my family. My little sister Ti is a fantastic choreographer and dancer and, like me, a Star Wars geek (yes, our parents raised us well). So for one of her pieces she choreographed a ballet for storm troopers and Darth Vader (in black fishnets, of course). So I’m sure that she would love this bit. Watch it at least to the third dance. If you can do it without spitting out your coffee, I give you credit for immense self …read more

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Howdy, guest blogger Karl here. This post takes the Mountain Standard Time Zone literally, with a look at the Mountain Standard Time Performance Art Festival.
Now, I’ll admit that I found this by googling “Mountain Standard Time Arts”, but a causal browse on
their website revels a lot beneath the generic title. The first festival was in 1971 in Calgary, AB Canada. Since then, the festival has specialized in combining traditional art forms like film and dance with more modern ones like video and multimedia, as well as covering everything else under the “performance art”
umbrella. I know that this will be of …read more

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I’m actually out camping in the wilds of Wisconsin this weekend, so I’m afraid while I’m able to Blog Off I am going to miss America’s Best Dance Crew tonight. It’s interesting to see how this show has captured a lot of audience that seems perhaps burned out by the pomp and circumstance of So You Think You Can Dance? (note: that link goes to what I consider the snarkiest review ever. When you spend a page complaining about the fact that you have to review something in the first place, you’re pretty snarky. I’m just sayin’).
Still, there is something …read more

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Welcome to the first post of the Great Blog Off here at B5Media! It’s part of our charity drive to raise money for the Actor’s Fund.
Even though it’s technically still the 19th here at Fame or Famine Central, I’m starting the Blog Off now because in England the clock just ticked over to the 20th, the day we are going for one blog post per hour. We have a few different bloggers set to guest post here, including a wonderful in-depth article about the Screen Actors Guild.
But let’s start with something completely different: a backstage tour of the London production …read more

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Reading about the genesis of the Phoenix Performing Arts group in Tonga is incredible, and inspirational. Founded by Siosiua Tofua’ipangai and Shiara Astle, both were dancers (Siua an ethnic dancer, Shiara ballet) who had been injured and unable to continue in their chosen disciplines.
Adapt & Overcome
In spite of being bound to a wheelchair, Siua succeeded in his dream of creating a dance company. He drew from his University experience to apply the following precepts:

appreciate art on its own merit
study arts from a critical standpoint
articulate arts in practical and theory
separate emotion from the intellectual aspects of arts

Joined by his sister, …read more

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Out of New Zealand comes the performing arts group Soul Speed, a combination of artists from dance, live music (traditional and classical), costume design, and theatre all with a mutual concern for the environment. They draw inspiration from Awe Waiwai, or ancient essence.
A Collaborative Approach
“The power of theatre and dance as a catalyst for positive action and change is what drives Soul Speed’s performances. We work collaboratively, drawing inspiration from who we are and where we live,” says Ardre Foote, the director. ” Our performances are kaupapa (vision) driven with an indigenous contemporary approach.” …read more

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