"…I was feeling a bit nervous when I knocked on the door of his Upper West Side studio, and I nearly jumped out of my skin when he put a sheaf of rough pencil sketches on the music rack of his piano. Would I like the way they sounded? Would he be open to criticism? Would I be open to it?

I’m delighted to say that the answers to these questions turned out to be yes, yes, and yes. I was thrilled to hear my words set to Paul’s brilliantly apposite music, and no sooner did he finish playing through the sketches than the two of us rolled up our sleeves and started revising words and music on the spot."

Post from: Fame or Famine

Tags: eqlateral, improvisation, music, strings

Post from: Fame or Famine

In my quest to become more acquainted with the whole "Dancing with the Stars" phenomenon I happened across a very useful fansite: Reality News Online . Aside from catching me up to what I missed on the third, I really liked the way Jill Jones described Jerry Springer’s dance:

"We’re reminded that Jerry wants to learn how to do the waltz so that he can dance with his daughter Katie at her wedding. He’s taking this dance more seriously than he has taken some of the others. He gets emotional as he thinks about Katie."

I know the feeling–I learned Argentinian Tango with my wife so that we could dance it at our wedding, and it still makes me emotional to see it. I suspect that when Jerry learns this dance, he will want to dance it more just because it will remind him of the experience with his daughter.

Now, for my own critique:

• He has grace, and he has the dignity and style of a good male dancer
• He is light on his feet, but not confident in his gestures–when his arms extend, it’s a laborious lift rather than an energetic extension of the dance.
• I really dislike places where he stands there and simply lets her prance around or kick–it seems rather forced, like he couldn’t think of anything else to do (possibly a fault of the choreographer more than anything else)
• I was going to scream about him leaving his partner so quickly–until I saw that he went over to hug his daughter. Seems like he was more emotionally involved in the dance than I suspected, and frankly, investing that much feeling into it would have made me give him a 10 all the way. That’s what dancing should be about.

Tags: rave, techno, dj, quicktime, apple, dancing with the stars, jerry springer, reality tv, dance

Post from: Fame or Famine

Her article is mainly about people like me, who try to find a coherent language and framework to cover and critique a genre as ludicrously huge as "Performing Arts". It can range from the aforementioned right-wing but left-footed pundit through the Butoh Rockettes and on into using cars as musical instruments.

Critics don’t have to agree that every goal is fine–that’s usually what we’re wondering when we’re irked: "Is it or isn’t it?"–but we do need to understand the difference between the artist’s project and how she’s executing it. We need to know what we’re criticizing.

Absolutely! And even more, you should be able as an audience member to give what it is you’re watching a chance–a chance to actually thrill you even though it is not exactly what you’re used to.

The blog, Foot In Mouth, is very well written, and if you have an interest in the realm of dance (huge as it is) I’d highly recommend it. But it’s also reminded me that I personally need to let go of some of my own assumptions and presumptions.

See, I confess, I’m a snooty artiste. I have scorned the audience’s blank stares as I writhed on the floor in black leotard while digital slides of cockroaches were projected behind me. I have thrilled as viewers watch my videos, scratch their head, and say "Huh?" Admittedly, I don’t do that much anymore–in my elderly wisdom I have accepted that it’s kind of nice to actually commune with your audience, rather than bully them–but there remains in my psyche a residue of the Artist as Noble Savage, of pride in my place in the canon of poor, starving, undervalued performers.

So when it comes to things like Dancing with the Stars, I confess to having a bias against it. However, as Apollinaire says, "Submit to the show’s frame of reference."

Which is fun, because when I embrace the frame of reference, I can enjoy the fact that "Dancing with the Stars" ran this ad for the superbowl:

and then this happened:

It may or may not be art. It certainly is dance. But most of all, it’s funny!

Post from: Fame or Famine