Inside the Studio: CalArts School of Dance

From DK, on Concepts in Lighting for Dance

One of the things I very much enjoy about my dance lighting classes is the small class size. Nine students is typical and allows for so much more to happen in the course. One can step away from the lecture and enter into conversations and allow for tangents of interest. 

Quickly becoming one of my favorite exercises is the task of lighting a song. Small groups of three students each pick their own song and must illustrate it with stage lights. Learning to read a channel sheet, pick color, guess at levels all in advance is a terrific exercise. Then going into the theater to actually progam the lighting cues and then run the cues along with the song; the students have a hands on and on-the-spot visual experience. 

I think one of the greatest challenges for designers and choreographers in the context of dance lighting is learning how to time the transition between the cues. This is what can give lift and energy to a piece. Experiencing the trials of lighting a song is a very good first step in learning how timing in lighting can be a great support to a dance piece.

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From Mitchell Rose, on Dance for Camera

In my Dance for Camera class, we just screened the students’ second projects of the semester. It’s been an exciting process... but I’ll give you a little back story first. We have two Dance for Camera teachers/classes in the School of Dance and in mine I stress narrative. That can be a challenge for many dancers—actually for any artist that works in abstraction. It certainly was for me. I was a choreographer with my own NYC-based company for many years. But then I decided to become a filmmaker and moved to Hollywood. This change in medium forced a huge shift in my artistic being. As choreographers, we’re often suckers for... let’s face it... whatever looks cool.  In film, that doesn’t work—there has to be a rigorous sequential logic. So when I introduce narrative into my dance-film classes, I see some students run up against this challenge—placing the abstraction of dance within the concrete structure of narrative filmmaking. To help keep everyone on track, for this project we did this: I had the students all write short stories. This gave the projects a firm narrative core. Then I had them adapt the short story into a dance. Then they took those dances and adapted those into dance-films, retelling them with film grammar, and freeing the dances from the bounds of space and time as only film can do. It was a fascinating process. But there’s no time to rest.  Get them up on YouTube quickly... because the Final Projects are due in a month!

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From Robin Cox, on Music for Dance

1 + 1 - 1 x  0 = 3

Certain conversations will always be a staple in my role of advising young choreographers in use of music.  A common starting point is a request for help in finding music that *compliments* the dance.  Music that compliments, reinforces, enhances, or is harmonious to whatever the choreographer wishes to convey through movement is a natural and often appropriate desire.  But, music that contrasts, or goes so far as to *conflict* or *oppose* dance movement may do more through bringing additional depth or broader potential for interpretation to the dance. Such music may even go so far as to accentuate the impact and intent of the movement itself, by the very contrast.

For example, if one wishes to enhance intensity in a frenetic movement sequence, it might just work better to have music slow and subtle as a contrast to the bodies in motion, instead of intense and frenetic music.  As further observation,  I left often left dance performance that was accompanied by very fast, active, and loud music thinking how slow and labored the dancers looked by contrast. No matter how very quick or fleeting the dancers moved on stage, the music seemed to negate some of that energy.   I think this also works on an emotional level as well. The tension between emotion intent in movement performed to music of an opposing emotional state may just create more collective impact.

There is also a third category, that of music providing a "clean slate" to the dance.  Music may compliment, music may contrast, and in this case, some music may even allow for a neutralizing or negation of a dance's interpretive limits.  In other words, if a choreographer is concerned that their movement's emotional qualities are too heavy-handed, the likely interpretation of the movement is too narrowly focused, the stylistic context of the movement too tightly defined, etc. etc.,  choose music that will counteract or diminished these issues.  Music for this purpose would not be that of compliment, nor that of clear contrast, but perhaps music that the emotionally neutral, very abstract in sound relationships, or stylistically undefined.   I often think this third category is under-appreciated as a means to create dance-works infused with a broad palette of possible interpretations for an audience.  It also may push an audience more towards active engagement with the dance, if the intent, meaning, or purpose, between music and movement is not so very obvious.

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From Colin Connor, on Reviews and Contemporary Technique Class

          We have just finished our annual week of Reviews, one of the most effective (and tiring) elements of our Cal Arts Dance Program. And now, this week we are back to regular technique classes (after a week of marvelous guest teachers.) This particular transition is perhaps where I most easily see how the different experiences that students have shine light on each other.

          Each of the eighty or so students has twenty minutes to meet with a group of about eight faculty, including the Dean and their individual faculty mentor. The student first reads a written self-evaluation, and then hears comments from each faculty member in turn. The mentor then encapsulates the session for the student’s written Spring Review. In technique class there are many students to one faculty member. During reviews, there are many faculty members to each student.

          The self-evaluation is a reflection on the year so far, with its difficulties and achievements. It is enormously instructive, for me sitting there, to hear how the year has been from the student’s own perspective. These self-reviews are often moving, and all help me to know better the individual battles and hopes experienced by each unique student in our school. What’s more they give me a totally new insight into the class work habits that I am trying to help the student develop.

          Some students look at things with rather rose tinted glasses, and may need to be reminded of work habit pitfalls, excessive absences, or unfulfilled potential. Some students, who are doing extremely well, reveal a personal sense of failure that is not at all accurate. They may be advised to visit with faculty more often to help them see how much they are achieving. Others seem to have the ability to see clearly how well they are responding to challenges, and where difficulties and strengths lie. Sometimes the wisdom a student shows in this self-review is simply inspiring, and challenges me to keep pace with my teaching as he or she continues to develop more and more artistry with eyes wide open.

          With each student, it is useful. For example, I may have felt some students were lazier as class became more complex. After reviews, I now realize that the cause may be an enormous insecurity about their technique. Knowing that their disappearing from the work of the class is a way to avoid feeling bad about their dancing, I will try to catch them as they become nervous in class, and help them escape that pattern. Conversely, a certain complacency may be heard in the self-review. Now realizing that what I took as ease was perhaps a little laziness, I make sure that I challenge that student more in class.

          It is also a chance to hear other faculty respond to each student. I find myself jotting down things that other faculty members say – excellent advice for me as well as the student. The whole year, as I watch each student dance, I am being told who they are, and how they taste the world around them. How I read this helps me teach them as individuals. The review week is a chance to see them from a totally different point of view, and a chance for them to reveal new and helpful information. All in all, I come out with an overwhelming sense of the individuality of each of our students.

         Now we are back in technique class. I want to keep that sense that we are all individuals, working on our individual artistry, even in a class that is a group activity. This week, in contemporary technique, the challenge for each dancer is to be making personal choices, incessantly. The challenge is for them to be just as individual in their dancing as they are in conversation during review week. After all, they want to be dance artists, and that is where there need to develop their individual voice. For a writer, writing will be where that artist is most eloquent. For a dancer, the dancing needs to be more personally eloquent than writing could ever be.

          We have always had a few things in common, those of us who go on after our education to become dancers. For all of us: The development of individual dance technique was the result of ongoing collisions, collisions between what was asked of us, and our own curiosities, sensuality, musicality, drive... The heat from those collisions is what has always made technique class thrilling and challenging. The core of class is each individual dancer making choices - choices in focus, attack, concentration of energy and attention, phrasing, intention…

          Too often, technique is looked upon as something that is medicinal, a chore, and building it is seen as a never ending and rather desperate climb to get better than others. Taking technique from this perspective will always be exhausting. It is far more effective and energizing to take it as a chance to explore an evolving personal perspective and as a multitude of opportunities to test that perspective against the rigors of the class. Not surprisingly, this is the approach that can be seen watching successful working dancers as they continue to hone and mine their craft.

          Last week and this remind me how much I believe in the power and complexity of each individual, as people and artists. It is important for me to keep that belief at the forefront of my teaching. 

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From Stephanie Nugent, on Review Week

Last week the School of Dance at Cal Arts held it’s once-a-year “Review Week,” an opportunity for each student to meet individually with eight faculty mentors to discuss his/her experience, achievements, and challenges in the program.  It is a grueling week for faculty, as we meet from 9 AM - 5 PM M-F with one hour for lunch and a couple of 20 minute breaks (if we stay on schedule).  And, it is certainly no less intense for students, who are expected to prepare a self-evaluation, which they present at the beginning of their review.  This remarkable ritual, however raw and intense it sometimes becomes, is always imbued with empathy, respect, and a desire to promote a student's growth.

I have worked in other academic settings, where student reviews also take place, but after experiencing two years of reviews in the Cal Arts Dance School, I feel compelled to acknowledge just how valuable I find our program’s version to be.  In reflection, I see three main components contributing to success in these reviews: the practice of having students open the discussion with a self reflection, that each student has a mentor, who generally has knowledge of how his/her mentee is engaging in the many facets of our program, and the wealth of our faculty’s wisdom in dance technique, creative practices, and critical thinking.

This process provides an insight into the perspective of the student like no other.  Because much of our daily activity in studio classes is primarily physical, much of my early impressions of students come from how well their personalities are expressed through their bodies.  At times, I have been blown away by the depth of inquiry and thoughtfulness expressed through a student’s words, and find myself suddenly swimming in ideas for how better to help them tap into personal potential for expression through movement.  Sometimes it is not so much how the student expresses in words that is informative, but where he/she chooses to focus the writing.  One page can never really speak to everything a dancer is feeling, learning, etc., but in noticing where emphasis is placed and what is absent, it is possible to glean something of what is important to the student.  Having this information offered, from the student’s perspective, seems to set the stage for meaningful and focused discourse.

Though many students in the school of dance learn to seek dialogue with different faculty at different points throughout their education, the mentor, having worked with the student in many different capacities, often has a more three dimensional perspective on the student’s development.  In our reviews, once a student has read his/her self reflection, the faculty each reflect upon the student’s words and offer his/her observations.  The mentor takes copious notes and at the end has the opportunity to synthesize these comments with his/her often more complex experience of the student.

From a technical faculty in ballet, modern, jazz, and pilates, to creative faculty in composition and improvisation, and to Ed Groff, the dance history faculty who carries the torch for how students are engaging in critical thinking and analysis, nowhere else have I become more aware of the articulate and compassionate capacities of a faculty than in these reviews.  Ninety reviews from eight different perspectives, each one tailored to the particular student.

I come away from this round of reviews exhausted, but fully ready to jump back into the three-dimensional world of movement with a deeper understanding of the students with whom I work.  I also look forward to challenging each student to bring some of the insight and individualism expressed in their words into the classroom and their bodies.

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From Sara Wookey, on Walking in Santa Clarita...

In my course, “Walking Santa Clarita: Mobile Bodies, Close Readings and Re-imagining Space”, the students - representing the schools of Dance, Theater, Studio Arts, Music and Film/Television – have been working in the studio, in spaces in Santa Clarita and in the classroom.  We began the course working with an attention to the body, its postures and its interaction with others through space and time.  We engaged in a variety of movement experiments that enlivened our kinesthetic awareness, perceptive skills and considered the performative nature of every gesture.  From there we went outside of the studio and into Valencia where we are conducing field research in three different areas that exist along a paseo.  Those spaces are: (1) public space/parks, (2) private space/residential, and (3) commercial space/the mall.  A variety of site analysis and experiental activities have taken place in, so far, two of the three the locations.  Two weeks ago, we heard a lecture on Surrealism by guest Michael Deragon that was held in a cul-de-sac in one of the neighborhoods, treating it as both classroom and stage.  This week we will be taking the bus (as part of our walking adventures) to the Valencia Mall to study human behavior and use of the spaces of the mall.

 In addition to the studio and on-site time, the students have presented a series of case studies on artists and choreographers working within public space.  These different examples have been insightful and inspiring to our own research.  Soon the students will be working in collaborative teams to develop a site-oriented work that responds to a “problem” discovered during the research period.  The students’ “solution” to the problem might be conceptual, activating, absurd, practical, etcetera, but must by supported by our research, critical readings, and discussions.  More specifically, they will be required to align their solution with a theoretical inquiry and reference an affinity to an artist that was presented in the case studies. 

Along this journey, the students are keeping individual field notebooks and writing formal papers about their process and critical questioning in relations to their art making.  The aim of the course is to consider the potential of art for public space as an act of change and to consider the role of the artist in society and one who works both within and outside of the studio.  We will be presenting the final projects on May 6^th from 9am-12pm.

 It has been my pleasure to work with these students and at CalArts.  Thank you

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From Kate Fox, on Anatomy of Movement

In my Anatomy of Movement course this week, we are looking at the Vertebral Column. This opens a multi-faceted discourse about the skeletal structure of the spine, the distribution of the weight of the body in relationship to gravity, postural analysis, and what is inferred by the phrase “physiological efficiency.” I choose to provide this information using both kinesthetic and cognitive modalities. I often introduce and intersperse my lectures with a movement experience, where students get to bring to their conscious mind the physical structures we will be discussing. This body-sensing contributes to the retention of this material by making it relevant to the student. 

Students are also working on their mid-term which is a two page written response and in-class discussion of  “Natural Rhythms of Movement,” from Paul Souriau’s The Aesthetics of Movement. As we study the physical body from an anatomical viewpoint, we also engage in theoretical and conceptual discussions about movement. The mid- term serves to give the students a place to recognize their own sentiments about observing themselves and the world around them, and explore concepts of movement and physicality, natural rhythms and unconscious alternation.  I am eagerly awaiting their written and oral responses to this article, as the class is a diverse population of dancers, musicians, animators, and theater technicians this semester. 

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From Stephan Koplowitz, Dean of the School of Dance

Introducing The Next Dance Company at CalArts

This semester started with high energy and great expectations. This is the first year of a new endeavor in the School of Dance, the creation of The Next Dance Company, comprised of only BFA IV students.

The idea of this company is to give a focused performance and choreographic showcase for our graduating seniors. The structure of The Next Dance Company is this: The company makes use of the time allotted to the Choreography II class, which serves now as our prime time for several different works to be created, rehearsed and reviewed. All of the works in process this semester will have outside rehearsals, but the company has the chance to look at all work being created and rehearsed each week during our normal Choreography II time period. All works for The Next Dance Company are performed by BFA IV's.  Pieces commissioned for the company are choreographed by BFA IV's, guest artists, faculty and/or MFA students. This process of creation and casting ensures that each and every BFA IV will be seen on the stage.

The annual Spring Dance Concert at the Sharon Disney Lund Dance Theater and subsequent performances at REDCAT, will serve as the venues for The Next Dance Company's premiere performance this season. Traditionally, in an effort to maximize the opportunities for presenting works by students at all stages in the curriculum, the annual Spring Dance Concert had an A and a B Program.  As The Next Dance Company, the BFA IV's will comprise the entire B Program.  As the instructor of the Choreography II class, I serve as the Artistic Director of the company.

For this first year, we have four dances that will engage all 25 students: An excerpt of "Faith" by critically acclaimed and 2008 Alpert Award winner, Pat Graney; a re-mounting of a work of mine, entitled "Famished" from my first season at Dance Theater Workshop (DTW) in the late 1980's, and two premieres by MFA II choreographer Andre Megerdichian and BFA IV choreographer Nick Bruder. The rest of the program will consist of works by BFA IV students, selected by audition. As of this writing, we have over 17 dances being choreographed by BFA IV students. It is my hope that we will select six to eight works to complete our program in the Sharon Disney Lund Dance Theater, April 30 and May 2, 2009 and then make further selections for our performances at REDCAT the following week.

Since the creation of REDCAT, the School of Dance has had the opportunity to present selected dances from Spring Dance at this important Downtown venue, one week following the concert on campus at the Sharon Disney Lund Dance Theater. This year, it will be The Next Dance Company that will hold this honor.

I am excited by this new opportunity for our graduating seniors, I am pleased with the energy and excitement they have demonstrated thus far in our process and I hope you will join us in April and May to see the fruits of our labors. 

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From Andre Tyson, on Contemporary Technique

Barack, political paradigm shifts, flatbacks, friendships and forging artistic integrity.

As we move ever so quickly through this semester on the heels of Barack Hussein Obama’s historic election and inauguration as our 44^th president, I could not help but try to tap into and capitalize on what I believe is a shift in the paradigm in American politics, along with a new cultural and social awareness. In this new Age of Obama that is ushering in a new civility, bi-partisanship and call to public service {we hope}, lead by a charismatic, competent leader with a calm confident demeanor aided by his Team of Rivals, all seems possible. I thought it would be useful to discuss building artistic integrity, and a way to begin that dialogue was a talk about the importance of being in class. 

As students in training it is very important to fully participate in daily classes, as it is the foundation to a large part of what we do as dance artists. Additionally, ones’ personal practice is the framework that will support you through the plateaus’ of a life in the arts. 

Our graduating MFA II and BFA IV students are about to embark on a wonderful artistic journey with many surprising twists and unexpected turns. This final semester at CalArts is their last opportunity to advance physical and intellectual parameters and progress technically in a concentrated conservatory environment. The harsh reality about ones’ study after university is that future training is primarily just maintenance of skills.

As dancers it is the understanding we will always be students/subordinates working on perfecting our craft as artists. Upon graduation subsequent training and development has a significant different focus and tenor. Hopefully, you will have acquired as many of the necessary tools to sustain you throughout your career.

My conversation with the class was not a chastisement but rather a frank word to the wise. Making students aware and prepared for the real world expectations that await them was the spirit and tone I tried to straddle and impart. As soon to be professionals working in companies or creating their own companies, being present is crucial. It is integral to the life-blood of the art one participates in. This immutable fact is also something they are going to demand as fellow artists and art makers.

These last months will help galvanize a strong foundation for their artistic mental and ferment artistic integrity that they will hopefully spring board off of gaining new information along the way. These attributes will guide them through out their careers, and that artistic integrity begins in class.

I mentioned how friends that I began my career with over thirty years ago have a transcended camaraderie from our experiences from taking class together.

Even though our artistic paths have diverged our friendships remain intact and thrive due to the relationships that were forged through the common experiences we shared from daily class. 

A major portion of our integrity as artists and world citizens was formed in that time together. That shared experience of rigorous, intensive training together as a collectivity of young, ambitious, energetic, self-motivated passionate artists bonded us. That bond has been a source of solace, strength and mostly celebration as we move forward on our individual life paths. These friendships affirm the reality of time that the cycle of life writes for our personal and artistic narratives. It still brings a warm feeling to my heart; many fond thoughts to memory and a childlike infectious smile to my face. I would not trade that for anything in the world.

For me taking and being in class consistently was first and foremost a selfish act on my part. I started dancing late and always felt like I was playing catch up. Studying dance in New York City in the late 70’s early 80’s, was quite a unique experience. It was a heyday of dance in New York. Classes were packed with forty to fifty super talented people on a regular basis. Hot sweaty studios around the city were littered with the likes of a Baryshnikov, Hines and Jamison. These notable dance legends among many of the Divarati of the commercial theater and concert dance scene often bumped shoulders and rubbed elbows with us mere mortals. All of us vying for attention from Master Teachers were at best daunting yet utterly inspiring times. Being fortunate to take class {sometimes} and work with a litany of Dance Legends was incentive to be in class. Moreover, we were in class because we wanted to be. We wanted to grow and be apart of something larger than ourselves.

I had the great pleasure during this time of meet incredible people and gain life long friends. These friends have gone on to have incredible careers in and out of dance/ the arts. For my contemporaries and I, class was a way to commune as artists. Classes were happenings full of raw creative energy that you wanted to be apart of it. Vested participation was our way of showing support and solidarity for the struggle of trying to be artists and also homage to the dance pioneers and innovators. This exciting, vibrant, brutal, unforgiving and ever changing art form was corroborated as a community by daily class. Finally, taking class was a badge of honor to be worn proudly and upheld. You respected the tutelage of Master Instructors and you don’t get to be a Baryshnikov, Hines and Jamison by missing class. I also made it clear to them that I am fully aware of the extremely taxing schedules they have here. As a faculty we are also very cognizant of challenges they face and those to come.

I pointed out that they are role models for our underclassmen whether that mantle is a desired one or not. I mentioned how our MFA students have taken this charge on and have been positive examples without trying. Shying away from the title: role model personally, my idea of a role model is clearly reflected around and among us.

Our campus custodians, cafeteria workers, our students’ parents as well as my fellow colleagues are shining examples of people who do what it takes with integrity, show up everyday and get the job done without much reward or praise. In this city of Ultra Celebrity where role models are garnered from a who’s who list of movie stars and athletes, not always the {our} most worthy choices, these examples are refreshing.

 As graduating seniors they set the tone for the rest of the CalArts students’ population regardless of métier and they should embrace that charter. The examples they set will add to the overall culture of excellence at the Institute. So as we herald in a historic new American Political and Cultural Era on a wave of positive optimistic goodwill, let us siphon a few lessons from the examples our new president is setting along with the unsung heroes in our midst. Artistic Integrity begins in the classroom. I feel confident that our very talented graduates {and undergrads} will be making history of their own as they set forth on their creative paths.

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From Cynthia Young, Associate Dean of the School of Dance

We have just started the semester and already it is time to talk FAFSA and Fall 2009.  Every bit as important as your artistic and academic education is the ability to be pro-active and anticipate major deadlines that may not be creative but will impact your ability to be creative.  Whether it is a deadline for a grant, scholarship or financial aid, delaying action or procrastinating will not put you in a place of confidence and good standing.  Just as in technique class we are what we practice.  A highly creative individual who cannot keep deadlines, lets dates slip and forgets to make important contacts will not be able to sustain a long successful career.  There are many artists out there who are hungry to work with the skills to self promote.  Artists high in demand know how to keep a calendar, manage time and interface with grace and respect.  No one has the luxury of putting off till tomorrow what should have been done yesterday.  This year the deadline for FAFSA is March 2. If you want the best package you can receive don't delay - go on-line and fill out the information. Be sure that you check back and be mindful to watch your email for anything that may be returned for a signature or modification. I have watched students lose priority funding because of a small error that goes uncorrected. There are foundation-awarding committees who summarily dismiss grants due to minor errors or omissions. Bottom line it is your responsibility to dot the i's and cross the t's. There are many students who will make the deadline but there is only one pool of funding that everyone will be receiving financial aid from. Even with the new era being ushered in by President Obama the state of the economy today is not healthy and it will be some time before we are back on track. The competition for funding is fierce.  Log on, follow the instructions, get it done - you will sleep better tonight.

 

"Destiny is no matter of chance.

It is a matter of choice.

It is not a thing to be waited for.

It is a thing to be achieved."

-William Jennings Bryan-

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