http://spectrumdance.org Dance School and Dance Performance Company Thu, 17 May 2012 03:09:07 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 http://spectrumdance.org/2012/03/harrys-sister/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=harrys-sister http://spectrumdance.org/2012/03/harrys-sister/#comments Tue, 27 Mar 2012 19:15:58 +0000 admin http://spectrumdance.org/?p=1616 http://spectrumdance.org/2012/03/harrys-sister/feed/ 1 http://spectrumdance.org/2011/12/jerusalem-journal-nov11-17-2011/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=jerusalem-journal-nov11-17-2011 http://spectrumdance.org/2011/12/jerusalem-journal-nov11-17-2011/#comments Sat, 03 Dec 2011 01:10:24 +0000 admin http://spectrumdance.org/?p=1259 http://spectrumdance.org/2011/12/jerusalem-journal-nov11-17-2011/feed/ 0 http://spectrumdance.org/2011/11/jerusalem-journal-1/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=jerusalem-journal-1 http://spectrumdance.org/2011/11/jerusalem-journal-1/#comments Thu, 10 Nov 2011 04:54:32 +0000 admin http://spectrumdance.org/?p=1072 http://spectrumdance.org/2011/11/jerusalem-journal-1/feed/ 0 http://spectrumdance.org/2011/11/reflections-on-the-new-beast/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=reflections-on-the-new-beast http://spectrumdance.org/2011/11/reflections-on-the-new-beast/#comments Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:27:28 +0000 admin http://spectrumdance.org/?p=1064 http://spectrumdance.org/2011/11/reflections-on-the-new-beast/feed/ 0 http://spectrumdance.org/2011/03/the-departure/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-departure http://spectrumdance.org/2011/03/the-departure/#comments Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:49:29 +0000 donaldbyrd http://spectrumdance.org/company/donald-byrd-blog/?p=88 http://spectrumdance.org/2011/03/the-departure/feed/ 2 http://spectrumdance.org/2011/03/lanford-wilson-leading-american-playwright-dies-at-73/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=lanford-wilson-leading-american-playwright-dies-at-73 http://spectrumdance.org/2011/03/lanford-wilson-leading-american-playwright-dies-at-73/#comments Sat, 26 Mar 2011 17:52:17 +0000 donaldbyrd http://spectrumdance.org/company/donald-byrd-blog/?p=84 http://spectrumdance.org/2011/03/lanford-wilson-leading-american-playwright-dies-at-73/feed/ 0 http://spectrumdance.org/2011/01/the-narrative-impulse/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-narrative-impulse http://spectrumdance.org/2011/01/the-narrative-impulse/#comments Thu, 20 Jan 2011 17:38:33 +0000 admin http://spectrumdance.org/company/donald-byrd-blog/?p=79 http://spectrumdance.org/2011/01/the-narrative-impulse/feed/ 0 http://spectrumdance.org/2010/12/assessing-choreography/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=assessing-choreography http://spectrumdance.org/2010/12/assessing-choreography/#comments Wed, 29 Dec 2010 21:38:22 +0000 admin http://spectrumdance.org/company/donald-byrd-blog/?p=67 http://spectrumdance.org/2010/12/assessing-choreography/feed/ 1 http://spectrumdance.org/2010/09/authentic-structures/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=authentic-structures http://spectrumdance.org/2010/09/authentic-structures/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:11:34 +0000 admin http://spectrumdance.org/company/donald-byrd-blog/?p=62 The Miraculous Mandarin/Petrushka), it occurred to me that the formality and tidiness of those pieces robbed them of their vitality and the structures were inadequate to support the theatrical experiences I wished the audience to have or ideas I wanted them to grapple with. For years my work had very much been grounded in a proscenium aesthetic (a framed picture through which the audience peered to observe what was on the other side). I had relished exploring the possibilities of proscenium theatrical devices as well as the visceral thrill and dynamic energy generated when the conventions were broken. But what had once seemed exciting now started to seem like mindless habit - irrelevant, artificial, un-thoughtful, automatic and gratuitous. These explorations had grown tiresome. This became clear to me during Man/Pet. The PAMU projects (Beyond Dance: Promoting Awareness and Mutual Understanding), with their focus on complex geo-political issues, seemed to demand that I explore other ways of working and structuring. I saw these projects as a possible way, an opportunity, to break the old habits and begin to explore other kinds of structures and organizing principles, something more ‘authentic’- structures that mimic or attempt to replicate the complexity and the unknowable(ness) of the subject of the pieces or even of life itself. I was weary of the neat and tidy on stage, viewing things from only one vantage point, everything organized so that the eye could easily take it all in. I wanted something that was closer to how the contemporary world appeared to me – so unknowable and complex that order as it had been known seemed to disappear and become unpredictable, even chaotic.]]> http://spectrumdance.org/2010/09/authentic-structures/feed/ 2 http://spectrumdance.org/2010/08/le-bal-noir/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=le-bal-noir http://spectrumdance.org/2010/08/le-bal-noir/#comments Mon, 02 Aug 2010 14:32:06 +0000 admin http://spectrumdance.org/company/donald-byrd-blog/?p=60 Le Bal, a work from 1929, was his first attempt in this genre that he continued to explore through out his long career. These ballets, including La Sonnambula, La Valse and Davidsbündlertänze, seem to be dance as envisioned by a surrealist or romantic poet and in this sense they are radically different from the cool and austere masterworks like Agon and The Four Temperaments that we usually think of when we think of Balanchine. Sometimes referred to as ‘Le Bal Noir’ ballet or The Black Ball ballets the above works which form the core of the corpus of the genre share some distinctive traits beyond their ballroom setting: undercurrents of something tragically wrong, bereavement and loss, ill-fated relationships, and destiny as indifferent and fickle. In many ways, Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty anticipate the genre of ‘le bal noir’ - with Rothbart and Carabosse as agents of fate who make the party go terribly wrong. Yet, in these ballets as in all things 19th Century, conflicts are resolved, in one way or another, by the end. Many believe that Balanchine, whether consciously or not, modernized the genre by letting narrative points remain uncertain and leaving plot questions unanswered. To him, these works were not about happy endings or even tragic ones, but rather suggesting philosophical and human complexities through irresolution.]]> http://spectrumdance.org/2010/08/le-bal-noir/feed/ 0