Monday, December 7, 2009

GW student premieres new dance video

10-4 is the first dance flick from Unevenlane. Concieved and created by company director and current GW student, Mary Lane (class of '09). The video features three GW dance alum, Jennifer Caulk (class of '06), Megan Wittemore (class of '08) and Nicole Hollander (class of '05). The story follows three women as they move through their daily routine of corporate existence and negotiate the conflict between being a boardroom power player while honoring their authentic selves.


About Unevenlane
Unevenlane is a new dance company based in Washington, DC. Under the artistic direction of the company's founder Mary Lane, the group is compiling a unique body of work with a distinctive style. While exploring various mediums for the context of her work, Lane's choreography demonstrates a respect for structure as she connects stories with emotions to create richly layered dances full of curious intersections, angles, and meaning.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Excited for Alumni Connection Weekend

Nicole Hollander, class of 2005, is counting down the days for the Dance Alumni Organization's Alumni Connection Weekend on December 5th...

"I am so excited to reconnect with old classmates and hear about their real-life experiences in the dance world since graduating. The schedule of lectures and classes look really exciting and I am surprised to say that my love for Building J has apparently never died. I cannot wait for all of the attendees to see Mary Lane's newest performance and film pieces. Working with Mary over the past few months was just the start to my reconnection to GWU Alumni and I am really excited to continue working with everyone in the future."

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

APIA Youth

Professors Dana Tai Soon Burgess and Kelly Southall worked with the DC Mayor's Office on Asian Pacific Islander Affairs to design the first Asian American contemporary Asian American Youth Dance and Arts Program. The students from School Without Walls took weekly dance classes, visited museums and discussed the history of Asia, the Asian American Diaspora and how youth identity today in the APIA community is evolving.

Burgess says, "Dance is a wonderful form of communication which allows young people the opportunity to work together in order to define and find acceptance of their cultural identities in our ever changing American landscape."

Pictured center is Julie Koo the director of the Mayor's Office of Asian Pacific Islander Affairs. Burgess and Southall are in the back row.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Vice President acknowledges the arts













It was wonderful to have Vice President and Doctor Biden acknowledge the arts so graciously. We are in a wonderful moment in America's history regarding the arts.

-Dana
(Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Pirates, Punks and Performers

In the weeks since posting "Who owns a dance?" on this blog, ideas about choreography, copyrights and creative thinking have been the focus of conversations with colleagues and students. I decided to post a more in depth report about the Dance & Technology panel in Chicago.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Dean's Seminar Class

This semester in my Dean's Seminar Class -"Great Performances in Dance", freshman students have had the opportunity to see many live choreographic works. The student's responses have been wonderful! I have been so impressed with their growth and their ability to write about dance that I am sharing a few excerpts with you. Enjoy, Dana

Friday, November 6, 2009

GW Hatchet video features department Chair

The Hatchet has launched a new video series. Amanda Lindner, a student in TRDA 046, created this video for The Hatchet about the work of TRDA Chair Dana Tai Soon Burgess:
"Dana Tai Soon Burgess: Meet the head of the theater and dance department"
http://media.gwhatchet.com/video/1138/

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

GWU students engage in artistic and critical dialogue

Students in the section I teach of “Understanding the Dance” are required to attend and write about dance performances. I have often heard students tell me they dread the assignment when they first read the syllabus, or they object to the idea that I expect them to attend a cultural event in the city when their lives are so busy.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Maida Withers Receives John Muir Award

TUK I / Maida Withers , GW Professor, Department of Theatre and Dance

Received the John Muir Award - Environment Film Competition

In Recognition of Excellence in Filmmaking

At the 2009 Yosemite International Film Festival

Monday, October 26, 2009

Who owns it?

Who owns a dance: the choreographer? the dancers? the viewers? Kate Mattingly reports from Chicago...

What’s the difference between being influenced by and stealing from another artist? Did you know Loie Fuller sued a woman who imitated her Serpentine Dance in the 1890s?

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Kate Mattingly goes to Serbia

Faculty member Kate Mattingly goes to Serbia to meet contemporary artists

The invitation to attend the Balkan Dance Platform from October 1 to 3, 2009 in Novi Sad, Serbia came from Dance Theater Workshop (DTW) in NYC, an organization that has an established reputation for supporting and promoting contemporary artists from around the world. In 2002, I worked with DTW on an Eastern European Criticism Initiative which recognized the essential role criticism plays in offering context and amplifying the work of new choreographers.

Friday, October 9, 2009

GW TRDA SOLO DANCE FESTIVAL

GW TRDA SOLO DANCE FESTIVAL
Inaugural Season

Dancers to present an evening of original dance works for the GW SOLO DANCE FESTIVAL. This inaugural festival, the first such festival at GW, is open for all dancers interested in presenting original solo dance works and performance art.

WHEN: Thursday, October 15, 2009 at 7:30 PM

WHERE: The George Washington University,
Department of Theatre and Dance – Dance Studio, Building J2131 G Street NW (rear)
Washington, DC

COST: The FESTIVAL is open to students, faculty, and general public FREE OF CHARGE

2009 SOLO DANCE FESTIVAL promises to be a highly charged event featuring such diverse forms as post modern dance, performance art, hip hop, and other world cultural dances. The FESTIVAL is under the direction of GW dancers, Ashley Nitzen, Daniel Bandong.Elizabeth Barnett, Jessica Mann, Kathryn Boland, Melanie Gutmann, Molly Berger, Sarah Wilson, and Tal Schapira, students in TrDa 182 Dance Composition taught by Professor Maida Withers. Festival participation is open to all GW dancers without adjudication or audition. The dances must be original dances, only. Derek Jones, Theatre major, will be the light designer for the program. Individual student choreographers will post dances performed on individual blogs following the performance. Students should sign up for performing in Building J on the bulletin board.

Please contact Sarah Wilson for more information: 412-848-1485

Monday, October 5, 2009

Premiere of Island

On Oct 9-11 at the Dance Place, 3225 8th Street, NE, I am premiering a new work entitled Island. I hope you will attend. It is the outcome of my research on historic Angel Island, the immigration outpost on the West Coast, built to uphold the Chinese Exclusionary Acts of the late 1800's, early 1900's. It was a site of many dreams to become an American, but ultimately a site of great sadness and exclusion. The work is sublime, subtle and emotionally moving. I have been collaborating with the Theatrical Design team of MIT on the multi-media component. I look forward to speaking with all of you about the connection between scholarly research and the creative process. For tickets call 202 269 1600, see you at the show!
All the best,
Dana

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Velocity DC- Bodies in Urban Spaces


Students from TrDa 185 Trends in Performance class are working with an Austrian choreographer on site specific work for performance this weekend. Here is one of the reports:

For this entire week, we are rehearsing every day (4-6 hours per day) for Urban Bodies Velocity DC. It is a group of around 15 dancers/climbers led by an Austrian choreographer, Villy and his American assistant, Mike. Villy's ideas are about creating art by filling spaces involving the architecture of the city to form a structure or a pose. We are in the process of creating 30-40 structures with our bodies using the architecture around us. Some involve all 15 of us and some are solos.

All of us have a background in dance, some are professional, others not, but all of us are passionate enough to take the risk to injure ourselves, for the beauty behind the artform. We hold each structure for 2-6 minutes and then move on to the next. Because we are often climbing builds, squeezing into spaces and doing headstands on the ground, we have been getting very dirty and accumulating plenty of scrapes, bruises and ripped clothing. Our transitions from sculpture to sculpture consist is us running from one location to the next. However, these are not included in rehearsals, so we will be pushed even harder the day of the show.

Every rehearsal up until the day before the performance is trial and error. Villy and Mike have scoped out spaces in a 4 block radius downtown. We go up and down blocks and try to form the images he had in mind when he first saw the space. However, there is almost never a space that fits exactly to what he had in mind. The positions of our bodies and limbs are constantly being tweaked. The structures we produce also range in level of simplicity. We can spend up to an hour creating one structure or we can spend 2 minutes testing a space out. Villy and Mike have also warned us that the poses we spend an hour constructing are not necessarily the ones we are going to use for the final performance (October 5 and 6 at 5:30 pm).

Although the actual performance with Velocity DC is next weekend, every time we form a structure we receive a great deal of attention. The pedestrian reaction however is different to the one we received at the Arts on Foot festival. Tourists do stop and take pictures, but many come up to us and politely ask what we are doing and what it is for. Some homeless people, seated by our sculptures would even use our sculptures as a deal for attention, one man called individuals and guided them to see us. There are also pedestrians that are concerned and wondering if someone actually got "stuck" up there. Jeff from The Washington DC Performing Arts Society attends and travels with us during each rehearsal to hand out Velocity DC flyers to those who are interested.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Prof. Valerie St. Pierre Smith's Design Work On Stage at the Kennedy Center

Prof. Valerie St. Pierre Smith's costume designs will be seen this September on stage at the Kennedy Center. Working in collaboration with renowned director Paul Douglas ("PD") Michnewicz, Prof. St. Pierre Smith's costumes are a part of the VSA arts presentation of 'For the Love of Goldfish.' "In For the Love of Goldfish, co-workers Julia and Evan attempt to hide their romantic feelings for each other, along with their respective disabilities. Reminiscent of The Office, this hilarious comedy is about love, self-esteem, and the importance of being honest. VSA arts is an international nonprofit organization founded 35 years ago by Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith to create a society where people with disabilities learn through, participate in, and enjoy the arts." -http://www.vsarts.org This is the second year that Prof. St. Pierre Smith has had the honor of working with PD and VSA Arts. "For the Love of Goldfish" premieres Tuesday, September 29th at 7:30 in the Kennedy Cent
er's Family Theater.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Alan Wade Appears in Washington Stage Guild Show

The Stage Guild returns to the boards this October, featuring our favorite playwright - George Bernard Shaw

Shaw is at his most insightful in this pair of one-act plays, as politicians deal with disenfranchised voters, incompetent civil servants, an unpopular war, and romantic scandals in public life. The perfect Washington show, perhaps?
Press Cuttings is a hilarious look at public figures facing down angry mobs during a struggle for women's emancipation; while Augustus Does His Bit is a satiric look at bureaucrats who support the war effort without ever fighting themselves.

Directed by Bill Largess and brought to life by Washington's most expert talkers - the actors of the Stage Guild company: Vincent Clark, Laura Giannarelli, Helen Hedman, John Lescault, Lynn Steinmetz, & Alan Wade.

Don't miss out on the fun!

Strange Bedfellows -
Press Cuttings & Augustus Does His Bit
Where & When
Dates: September 30 through October 18, 2009
Time: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, & Saturday Evenings
at 8 pm;
Saturday & Sunday Matinees
at 2:30 pm
Location: Callan Theatre at Catholic University of America,
3801 Harewood Road, NE, Washington, DC
Tickets: $50.00 Friday & Saturday Evenings;
$40.00 all other performances -
Discounts for Students & Seniors!
RSVP: 240 582-0050 or


Tuesday, September 22, 2009

DTSB&CO Premieres ISLAND, a new multi-media dance

Dance Place Presents
DANA TAI SOON BURGESS & CO.
Artistic Director, Dana Tai Soon Burgess, “area’s leading dance artist” –The Washington Post

October 9 and 10 at 8 p.m.
October 11 at 7 p.m.
Dance Place 3225 8th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20017

To purchase tickets,
Visit www.danceplace.org
Or call 202-269-1600
General Admission: $22
Dance Place members: college students, senior and artists: $17
Children 17 and under: $8

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Dana Tai Soon Burgess awarded 9th Annual Metro DC Dance Awards for "Outstanding New Choreography"


Dana Tai Soon Burgess, Chair of the Theatre and Dance Department at George Washington University was awarded the 9th Annual Metro DC Dance Awards for "Outstanding New Choreography" for his multi-media dance entitled Hyphen. This dance premiered at GWU's Lisner Auditorium last October to critical acclaim "In the 16 years since he founded his company here, Burgess has emerged as the area's leading dance artist, consistently following his own path and producing distinctive, well-considered works." The Washington Post

This prestigious award is chosen through an adjudicated panel of dance experts and is the highest award in the DC region for dance. The Metro DC Dance Award was presented on the evening of September 14, 2009 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Burgess's Hyphen is a multi-media dance work including projections by video visionary Nam June Paik. This work was toured by the US State Department to South America this summer and also was presented in NY at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. It deals with contemporary American identity and the concept of how we as hyphenated Americans, for example, Asian and American, Latino and American, view identity in a multi-faceted cultural landscape. Hyphen will be presented again in DC on Oct 9-11 at the Dance Place in NE, DC 202-269-1600.

The Metro DC Dance Awards is a spectacular event celebrating the excellence of Metropolitan DC, Maryland, and Virginia's dance community. It showcases the diversity of DC's finest with performances ranging from tango to tap to modern dance, and gives distinction to artists in thirteen categories - including Outstanding Youth Performance, Emerging Choreographer, and Outstanding New Choreography. The Metro DC Dance Awards is the only annual opportunity in Metropolitan DC for artists and audiences to recognize professionals and youth in the dance field.

Friday, September 4, 2009

From-Prison-to-The-Stage

* I am directing the play readings and Pati Griffith, our colleague in the English Department, has adapted one of the scripts and will be reading stage directions.
Would love to see you all there! -Jodi Kanter

The printed program for our prisoner-written plays at the Kennedy Center to take place on September 5, 2009 is going to the printer tonight. Call our director Dennis Sobin directly at 202-393-1511 by 5 pm if you want to be included in it as a supporter. Simply use your credit card to make a donation in any amount you can afford and you will be recognized in the program along with the following supporters who are making this landmark Kennedy Center event possible:

Open Society Institute, Framme Law Firm, Joseph Lea, A.B.C. Consulting Services of Delaware, Joan Covici, Maxine I. Lyons, Alex Friedman, Dorothy R. Farden, Eckington House for Mental Health Services, Ronald E. Smith, esq , Elizabeth Evans, Drug Policy Alliance, Diane Flanel Piniaris, Coralie Farlee, BleakHouse Publishing, Robert Johnson, Sonia Tabriz, Liz Calka and Patricia E. Tichenor, esq.


Thank you.
Here are the plays that will be presented FREE on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009 from 7:30 to 10 pm during our "From Prison to the Stage" program on the Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center, Washington, DC. with your support:

1. The Love That Divides by Hakim M. Abdul-Wasi, Music by Inner Voices
"A man returns home to his Christian family after converting to Islam while away, only to find his family upset and unaccepting of his new beliefs."

2. One Fine Day in Inferior Court by Alex Friedman
"A wacky judge, a clueless defense attorney, a bloodthirsty prosecutor and a hapless defendant fall over each other in this courtroom farce."

3. I Am a Woman on Death Row
by Kathleen O'Shea,
Music by Lorri Carter
"Not one woman but dozens on death row in America today tell their stories of hope and survival."

4. Reading Slim by Raymond McGee
"A hostile prisoner resists taking advantage of educational opportunities in his prison to hide his inadequacies, including a shameful secret from his past."

5. Homeward Bound by Richard Dyches,
Music by Dennis Sobin
"About to leave his correctional institution, a prisoner finds that his shortcomings are still in need of correction as he prepares to face his wary wife and confused son."

6. Time In by Judy Dworin Performance Ensemble and the women of York Correctional Institution.
Music by Women of the Cross
"Story, song and dance about the heartaches and triumphs of women in prison."

"The Safe Streets Arts Foundation, incorporating both the Prisons Foundation and the Victims Foundation, is proud to sponsor the annual From-Prison-to-The-Stage Show at the Kennedy Center and the Prison Art Gallery at 1600 K Street. NW, Suite 501, Washington, DC, three blocks from the White House."

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Congratulations to Dana Tai Soon Burgess!

The GW Department of Theatre & Dance is pleased to announce that the U.S. Department of State has honored Dana Tai Soon Burgess, Department Chair of Theatre & Dance, as September’s State Department Alumni of the Month.


More from From the Department of State’s website: http://exchanges.state.gov/alumni/alumnus.html

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

GW dancers to perform at Arts on Foot Festival

The Arts on Foot Festival (founded 17 years ago by a GW alum) September 10, 11, 12th. Check it out and support our dancers!,
http://www.artsonfoot.org/

“The Penn Quarter Arts on Foot Festival is a visual and performing arts festival featuring Washington, DC theaters, museums, and arts at a variety of venues in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of Washington, DC. The festival becomes an art walking tour with area restaurants, theaters, galleries, museums, and more than 80 visual artists participating and dozens of Downtown attractions hosting visual art exhibits, performances, workshops, demonstrations, films, concerts and children's activities.”
http://dc.about.com/od/specialevents/a/ArtsonFoot.htm

Monday, August 31, 2009

Alumn Amanda Rosenberg, Associate Producer 'Mystery Diagnosis'

Tune in to see the work of one of our very own TRDA Alum, Amanda Rosenberg, Associate Producer of 'Mystery Diagnosis'. The first episode premiers tonight 8/31 on the Discovery Health Channel at 10pm and will air again Sat, Sept 5 at 5pm. The second episode premiers at 10pm on Monday Sept 7.


Friday, August 28, 2009

Welcome Back!

The Theatre & Dance Department is so excited to start our Fall Semester. Looking forward to seeing all of our TRDA students in class and around campus. Don't hesitate to stop by and say hello!

-Dana Tai Soon Burgess

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Faculty News

Karin Abromaitis, long time faculty member is currently directing Go Dog Go for Adventure Theater. The show will go on National tour next season. The Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County recognized her with a professional development grant for 2008-2009 and listed her on their professional teaching artist roster. Domestic Snakes, her play at this year's Fringe festival will be performed at Dixon Place in NYC next season. Cabaret Coo Coo by Happenstance Theater, was her solo singing debut. The show won the Fringe award for Best Comedy.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Alumn Alesia Young Changing Dance In LA

Deemed By Her Latest Presenting Venue As One of the “West Coast’s Finest Female Choreographers” GWU TRDA Alumn Alesia Young Is Changing the Face of Dance In Los Angeles

With work that has been referred to as organic, sensual, liquid, deeply connected, textural, and a conscious flirtatious play with gaze and perception this choreographer turned filmmaker is revolutionizing dance theatre creating works for the stage and camera that have been gaining her much notice in the dance world, and with renewed excitement and interest in dance in mainstream media, Young, with her diverse background and visual storytelling approach to choreography, is on her way to taking modern dance to the masses and riding the wave to success.

Young received her earliest dance training at The Performing Arts Center in New Jersey with additional instruction at New York's Steps and Broadway Dance Center, and throughout Europe, with a brief stay at Amsterdam's School for New Dance Development where she was exposed firsthand to the coupling of technology and the arts. Young has had the privilege of performing in such venues as Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors in New York City, The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, along with working with some of the industry’s most acclaimed choreographers, and sites her work with GWU’s own Dana Tai Soon Burgess, Joseph Mills and renowned multimedia artist Maida Withers as some of her most rewarding and influential.

A diehard east coaster, Young made the move to Los Angeles in 1998 after graduating from The George Washington University with a B.A. in Dance and American Studies with a focus in Multiculturalism and going on to receive her M.F.A. in Dance from UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures. She pursued a fruitful career in dance education while simultaneously developing a thriving career as a performer. Since moving to LA she has been a principal dancer for Oni Dance, String Theory, Collage Dance Theatre, Trip Dance Theatre, Sakoba Dance Theatre (London/LA) which she joined during their U.S. national tour, Contra-Tiempo, and Your Huge Head, an artist collective established by Young and four other dance artists in an effort to create more opportunities for new and innovative choreographers to produce work.

Choreography has always been a part of Young’s creative and professional life, whether self-produced or commissioned, continually committed to presenting original work throughout the country and abroad with a growing body of repertoire for the stage, site-specific, and film. Her site-specific work “Streams of Emergence” created for the Skirball's Siteworks Series in conjunction with the LA River Reborn photo exhibit, “Mujeres” commissioned for Contra-Tiempo's touring roster, and “Fluid,” a breakout animated dance film in collaboration with FADAM Production's Founder and BET Animation Consultant Eric T. Elder, are just some examples of the work that is garnering her some well-deserved attention.

Most recently, Young, alongside fellow String Theory artists, was featured in the Scene in LA section of Angeleno Magazine. She has been profiled as an artist to watch by California Dance Network and nominated for a Lester Horton Award for Individual Performance. Her films have been featured in the FRAME International Film Festival in Portugal, the Edit International Dancefilm Festival in Budapest, and on tour with the NY-based Dance on Camera Festival. Upcoming projects include a commission for London-based Sakoba Dance Theatre's 2009 fall touring roster, the world premier performance of her newest work “Romp” as part of The Edye Second Space’s Fall season, beginning work on her new evening length piece entitled Soaked which explores the descent into the dark and deteriorating effects of grief unaddressed and marks her pending return to Southern California’s boldest center for new performance - Highways Performance Space, and Halle Berry’s soon to be released feature film “Frankie and Alice,” where Alesia worked as Assistant Choreographer.

Her foray into dance for film, beginning with small independent projects, has moved quickly and unexpectedly into the world of animation, television, and feature film, and has Young’s eyes set on establishing a wider audience for dance and greater purpose for her work. Using the medium at its best along with her talent for movement expression, Young plans to reinvent storytelling in a way that breathes life into the human experience in its fullest representation.

Young shares that “(as a Director) I am on the path to making dance on film as accessible and marketable in the states as it is abroad, establishing more fruitful collaborations between multimedia artists and expanding choreographer's tools for envisioning work. As a Choreographer, I am constantly and actively engaged in life and creating a listening for other's experiences; taking in every moment with wide eyes and an unending thirst. This is what excites me and fuels my work.”

For more information visit:
http://alesiayoung.com/
Subscribe to:
http://www.youtube.com/alesiayoung






















Friday, August 21, 2009

NOTICE TO GW DANCERS

Anna Sperber is the Fall Semester Guest Artist for the dance program. The audition and rehearsal schedule is announced below. The schedule for rehearsal does not conflict with the sorority “rush” weekend or the two Jewish holidays in October.

GW Fall Semester 2009 Guest Artist Audition and Rehearsal Schedule

Audition for Dancers: Thursday, September 3, 6:30 pm Building J
Building J -
2131 G Street NW - audition for 6 or more dancers

Rehearsal Week #1:

Friday (September 4: 4 to 8 pm)

Saturday (September 5; 10:30 to 5:30 pm)

Sunday (September 6: 10:00 to 4:00 pm), Building J Down.

Rehearsal Week #2:
Friday (October 2: 4 to
8 pm
)
Saturday (October
3 10:30 to 5:30 pm)

Sunday (October 4: 10:00 to 4:00 pm),Building J Down.

Rehearsal Week #3:

Friday (October 9: 4 to 8 pm)

Saturday (October 10: 10:30 to 5:30 pm)

Sunday (October 11: 10:00 to 4:00 pm), Building J Down.

Technical space in - tech in: (Saturday, November 14, Marvin Betts Theatre, 800 21st Street NW – Four hours for rehearsal, space in - tech in and run.

The dance will rehearse once or twice each week for the entire semester and will be part of the DanceWorks MainStage Production, November 19, 20, 21, 2009 in Marvin Betts Theatre. For any questions of concerns, please contact the DanceWorks Concert Director Dana Tai Soon Burgess.

Best regards,

Maida Withers

withers@gwu.edu

Monday, August 10, 2009

Fall DanceWorks Auditions!

DANCE AUDITIONS: DanceWorks Fall '09
Thursday September, 3rd
Building J (2131 G Street, rear)
6:30 PM



Guest Artist: ANNA SPERBER
BIO


Anna Sperber is a native of Brooklyn, New York, where she is currently based. Her work has been pre¬sented in venues throughout NYC including Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church, Movement Research at Judson Church, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, the 92nd St. Y Harkness Dance Center, Dixon Place, Joyce SoHo, and Chez Bushwick (at Shtudio Show and The Ronald Feldman Gallery), Live Sh— at the Chocolate Factory, AUNTS, Catch! Series at P.S.122, and the Duo Multi Cultural Arts Center. She is a 2006-08 Movement Research Artist In Residence, and a recipient of NYSCA Dance Program Public Commissioning Funds. Her work has also been supported through residen¬cies at the Harkness Dance Center at the 92 Street Y, SILO/ DanceNYC, Dragon’s Egg, and the Experimental Television Center.

Sperber, with composer Mario Diaz de Leon and video artist Jay King collaborated on the cinema installation, Cutting and Joining, 2005, and she has also collaborated extensively with artist and musician, Peter Kerlin. In addition to her own work she has performed in the work of Julie Atlas Muz, Isabel Lewis, Beth Gill, Charlotte Gibbons, The Brooklyn Adult Recorder Choir, and with Fritz Haeg/ Animal Estates at The Whitney Museum and the Park Avenue Armory as part of the 2008 Whitney Biennial. Anna also dances with Juliette Mapp, whom she has worked with for the past four years.
Anna has taught in the Guest Artist Series at DNA in NYC, and at The American Dance Festival as part of the WFSS Series, and was selected to participate in the panel discussion at ADF/NY Winter 2007. Anna was a Co-Curator of the Movement Research Festival Spring 08 Somewhere Out There. Anna is a 2008 Sugar Salon Artist, a program developed and administered by the Williamsburg Art neXus (WAX) in part¬nership with the Department of Dance of Barnard College and supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Anna holds a BFA from SUNY Purchase, and currently runs BRAZIL, a studio and intimate performance space in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work is an investigation into the body as a cognitive vessel for processing emotional and temporal information. I look to create imagery that is intimate, visceral, and rooted in both lucidity and mystery.
I am interested in how our perceptions of time and our own personal histories affect our changing experi¬ence of ourselves. My process most often begins with solo improvisation, working intuitively with con¬cerns of physical qualities, kinesthetic choices, time, and space. As I continue to work, I allow each col¬laborating performer’s individual character to affect the direction of the material. I develop content and structure through working with repetition, and with attention to subtle shifts as we live in the material to¬gether over time. This affects what surfaces in the material and what direction it takes, letting the shape and energy of a body create psychology as much as it reflects it.
For me, this process is a way of allowing meaning and content to surface. My aim is to create a visceral experience for the viewer and to allow them to have their own associations and relationship to it. I find my way into the work without a fixed plan. I invent structure and meaning as the work reveals itself, which infuses the work with a palpable immediacy; a sense that you are seeing things as they are unfolding. In making work, I let many of my own questions remain unanswered, allowing them to articulate themselves through the process.

Through the use of found objects, set design, and the integration of existing elements of each perform¬ance space, I work to sculpt a unique immersive environment -a reflection of the interior world from which the piece emerges. I am interested in how the surroundings transform the dance, and how the dance transforms the space around us.

annasperber.com 55 S. Oxford St. #5 Brooklyn, NY 11217 646.281.5851 anna@annasperber.com �

Alumni in the News!

GW Alum, Megan Richardson, a Presidential Scholar in the Arts in Dance, appearing in the New York Times:

New Leaps in Research on Injuries

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/arts/dance/09kour.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

From Prison to Stage

Inviting all to join me for a FREE staged reading I'm directing at the Kennedy Center, "From Prison to Stage." The reading features a diverse range of scripts, all written by prisoners and ex-prisoners, and performed by talented DC actors. To see more about the show, please see:
http://tinyurl.com/nybagg

-Jodi Kanter

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Facebook

A friendly reminder to join us on Facebook as well:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=6512155865

We want to stay connected with you!

-Dana

Monday, July 27, 2009

Please tell your friends

Hi Everyone,

We are working away trying to reconnect with as many of our wonderful Alumni as possible. Please tell your friends to check in here at the blog so we can update their information. I would love to catch up with everyone.

Dana

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Bld. J needs our help


Dear Friends of Theatre and Dance at GWU,

I need to ask for your assistance. As you know I LOVE Building J-our dance designated building in the heart of the main campus. It is an historic building which was actually a carriage house in the 1800's. This building is an incubator for dance, it has launched the careers of so many of our alumni, mine included! J has housed the creative processes of countless students; nurturing their concepts all the way to performance. I have so many fond memories of working in J: swinging on the odd structural bar in J up, rolling on the floor in J down, sweating profusely during class in the winter, running around folding chairs creating spacial designs, trying to find proper released hip alignment and looking for the illusive arabesque. Over 15 years ago, when I was a graduate student at GWU, I witnessed the student choreographies of Vincent Caccialano, Stacy Palatt, Heidi Rauch, and Heather Pultz. Years later as a professor of dance I proudly watched the evolving aesthetics of Mary Lane, Jennifer Caulk, Sarah Halzack, and Jadee Mitchell among others. Well, I know all our dance alumni have a fabulous cadre of stories to tell involving Bld. J. Some stories are filled with choreographic dilemmnas, while others have uproarous stories of joyous laughter. Well, as this fall semester quickly approaches, Bld. J needs our help. After all that work, it needs a serious face lift! We desperately need to sand and repaint. The past few seasons of damp, humid DC weather have taken their toll. We need to raise 6800.00 in order to be up and running by the end of August for classes. Jennifer Caulk who started our Dance Alumni Organization (DAO) has pledged 1700.00 from DAO to assist. What a fabulous generous donation! DAO has jump started our goal and given us hope. But we are only part way there with time ticking! I ask our alumni who are filled with as much love for J as I have to assist me in raising funds quickly. We need to keep the tradition alive and get J ready for yet another class of Freshman this fall. Will you send TRDA a personal donation made out to "GWU" our TRDA alumni organization with a note designating "for Bld. J/CAST"? Our address is 800 21st Street, NW, rm 227, Washington, DC 20052. You can also donate on-line but remember to designate your donation to TRDA and Bld. J specifically.
https://www.gwu.edu/online_giving/

Your donation is tax-deductible under the full extent of the law and what a wonderful feeling it will be to give back to dance at GWU. Please give what you can as soon as you can. I want to personally thank you for believing in the power of dance as a transformative art form and for helping us continue to house this precious performing art on campus. Please contact me with any questions you may have.

Warmest,
Dana dtsb@gwu.edu

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Snippet from Smithsonian show

Hello all, hope the summer is going well. Thought I would share the media piece from the Smithsonian show at the National Museum of the American Indian that Carmen and I worked on. Enjoy.

Valerie St. Pierre Smith




ParisModernism2009 Blog

Professor Mary Buckley sends us this link to her Study Abroad blog: Paris: Modernism and the Arts, then and now

Definitely check this out.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Our alumni are everywhere!

Today after the AAC&U conference meetings we headed out to investigate Philly. Near this beautiful public art installation on South Street, we bumped into our favorite alumni dance couple Joe and Amber Lee! How wonderful to see them today! Our alumni are everywhere and thriving! Dana

Hi Everyone, We are so excited about Jodi Kantar's new DC show! Please come join us! Dana


http://thegirlwhowatersthebasil.blogspot.com/

Friday, July 10, 2009

News from Philly!

Hello Everyone, I am currently at the Association of American Colleges and Universities' "Engaging Departments Institute" in Philadelphia. I am in attendance with Dean Paul Duff, as well as with professors, Doug Boyce, Elizabeth Chacko and Heather Schell. It has been wonderful to meet with my colleagues and to expand the breadth of my understanding of academic leadership and educational assessments. I look forward to sharing this information with our TRDA faculty and students soon!

Sincerely, Dana

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Pina Bausch

In my job at The Washington Post, I'm occasionally able to put both of my GW majors--dance and journalism--to work at the same time.

Yesterday was one of those days, when news broke that groundbreaking German choreographer Pina Bausch had passed away. For many famous people, obituaries are written in advance of their death to avoid a scramble when it does eventually happen. However, the Post had nothing prepared for Bausch. While I've written performances reviews for the Style section and a performance preview for the Weekend section, I had never written a choreographer's obituary before (or any obituary, for that matter!). It was a great challenge. I had to delve into her biography and boil it down, identifying the most important aspects of her character and her work to highlight...and I only had a single afternoon to do it.

As soon as I found out I'd be tackling the story, I can honestly say a couple of my experiences at GW immediately lept to mind! I remembered talking about Bausch's company Tanztheater Wuppertal in Mary Buckley's Dance History class. We talked about the "tanztheater" style and the Ausdruckstanz movement that preceded and influenced it. I remember Maida Withers describing and fondly recalling Bausch's "Rite of Spring" in our Trends in Performance Art class. Without a doubt, my experience in those classes helped me put Bausch's career and her contributions to the field in context. I don't think I could've done this piece without them! –Sarah Halzack

To check out the final product, click here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/30/AR2009063003986.html

Master Classes in Peru

As a dancer with Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Co., I recently had the opportunity to spend almost two weeks in Cusco and Lima, Peru, where we performed and taught master classes. This was my second time visiting Peru with the company since I joined, and it is definitely starting to feel like an artistic home-away-from-home for us.

The tour was a great success. Our performance was well-attended in Cusco and each of our performances in Lima was sold out with would-be audience members turned away at the door. Particularly in Lima, the audience seemed very engaged and open. It is so fun to perform for an audience when you really get the sense that they are so supportive and invested in the performance. I find it makes me dance harder and commit even more to my character.

That said, being on tour is never without its challenges. Many of us struggled to adjust to the high altitude in Cusco. I certainly noticed that in certain sections of the choreography where I didn't usually feel particularly tired, I was suddenly feeling like I was gasping for breath! I also got a stomach bug while I was there and had to take care to rest and pace myself so I could resume performing. It's just a reminder that no matter what happens, you've got to roll with the punches and be as professional as you can!

One of the things I loved most about this trip and others I have taken with the company to Mexico and Egypt is the opportunity to meet new people. From the students who took our master classes to the Peruvians who assisted our stage crew, we made some new friends and as all of us did our best to speak each other's language. We also got to meet Linda Gonzales, the cultural attache, who was so warm and welcoming.

We had time to explore the country a bit, too. Of all the sightseeing we did, I was most excited to visit Machu Picchu. The ruins are really incredible and the Andes are even more massive and majestic than I could've imagined. We also visited churches, museums, the Pacific Ocean, and more than our fair share of souvenir shops.

After a whirlwind trip, we're now back in D.C. and on a brief break. We'll resume rehearsal in August, when we'll ramp up our preparation for our October performance at Dance Place. With a brand new work on the program (a piece called "Island," that tells the story of Chinese immigrants trapped at Angel Island and employs some pretty neat new multimedia elements), we're going to have our work cut out for us!
–Sarah Halzack


Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Welcome to GWU's Theatre and Dance BLOG!

As the new chair of Theatre and Dance, I am so excited to continue to expand how we communicate and engage our community of students and alumni, as well as, our larger family of friends. This fall we present three stellar, must see, shows.

The first is our New Plays Festival, written by our own GW student playwrites, next is the fabulously dark Little Shop of Horrors and finally a dynamic DanceWorks concert filled with contemporary moves! I hope that you will consider joining us by purchasing a six-pack of performances which will allow you to attend our performances all year long and/or to bring your friends and families to a specific show!
For more information go to:
http://theatredance.gwu.edu/Season/
All the best!
Dana Tai Soon Burgess :)