Inside the Studio: CalArts School of Dance

From Robin Cox, on Music for Dancers

Connecting Dots Across Mediums

I encourage students taking the Music for Dancers course sequence to consider relating movement to music beyond tempo, mood, and/or phrase structure. These items I've just mentioned are perhaps the most inevitable and direct ways of connecting musical sound to movement for dance performer, choreographer, and audience member. But, there is more. Even if an audience member isn't consciencely aware of further points of connection, I believe choreographers, and in turn performers of movement, will deliver more richly layered experiences for an audience if they additionally consider, for example, items such as musical motifs and secondary/accompanimental parts in the music.

By musical motifs, I mean the very brief and recurring ideas, shorter than a melodic phrase and maybe only a couple of notes in length, that occur in many works of music. These catchy little musical gestures often do much to define the "face" of a work of music, and therefore allow for potential relationship with any, yes that's right, recurring movement gestures.

Additionally, as creators, performers, or as audience, we often fixate upon the primary "theme", "melody", or even instrument, in the music. But, just as multiple movement ideas are often expressed simultaneously on stage (of equal weight or not), music is too often layered with additional secondary/accompanimental parts rich with possibility for relating to dance content. For example, if one was choreographing to a rock band, couldn't one or more dancers move in relation to a background musical pattern by the bass guitarist? or the occasional but recurring chord from the keyboard player? As another example, if moving to a vocal a cappella group, couldn't one choreograph/perform in relation, not to the primary melody of the soprano, but instead to the supporting line by the tenors, altos, or basses?

These other supporting musical parts certainly effect our ears, or else of course why would they be there? So, if they effect our ears, don't they then inevitably effect our dance?

From Colin Connor, on Choreography

It’s now very near the end of the school year. Everyone is tired, dancing in several works in performances these next three weeks, doing final assignments for other courses, and planning their summers. It can seem that putting out that much is just not possible. But, then again, perhaps it is…

I am always struck by how much most artists feed, constantly, on the work of other artists in other mediums. At this time of year, students can feel too busy to do that on their own initiative. But, in the third year choreography class, a little push in that direction gave us all surprising energy.

Everyone is now working on projects that are entirely their choice, not teacher given tasks. I did, though, ask every member of the class to bring in three things that speak to them about their own work in progress:
A two dimensional work of art (painting, photograph, etc.)
A piece of writing from a work of fiction or poetry, or from a play; and
A physical or sociological law.
The idea was to base the choice, in some way, on how the works were made (not on subject matter).

In groups of four, each explained to the others why each of these things fascinated them vis-à-vis their own work. Based on what the others saw and heard, and on what they had seen of the work already, those three then gave a specific choreographic task to that student.

By now, they were already comfortable doing quick studies, to be completed in ten minutes, based on solving a particular choreographic problem. Similarly, this study was to be completed in only ten minutes, with one dancer.

The first energy spark came just hearing the tasks they had come up with for each other. They were marvelous, tasks such as “making a world of awkward feminism,” or “making instinct visible.” Almost all were intriguing challenges that somehow combined the impossible and the engaging, and absolutely all were connected in unexpected ways to each choreographer’s emerging work. People found themselves generating useful new raw material for their creations. We all received a sort of artistic jump-start.

Most importantly, everyone experienced the pleasure and freedom of coming at their work from a fresh, unexpected direction, one that would have been impossible for them to generate on their own. They also found that they could actively support and usefully challenge each other in ways other than just “giving feedback.”

Especially at this time, as the year is building to its end, all of us, students and faculty alike, need to use what feeds us, artistically and energetically. Certainly we need to use dance itself to feed us – not to tire us out, but to give us energy. But we can also feed on the art of others, art that speaks to each of us individually. Perhaps feeding on art that speaks to us, we will be fueled to create art that can speak to others.
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From Mitchell Rose, on Dance for Camera

I'm psyched. Today in my Dance for the Camera class, I was amazed at what the students produced... and how quickly! Last week during class we went around the halls of CalArts with a camera and a monitor. I had prepared a list of shooting experiments to try. The point being that often, when one makes a dance-film, the camera aims at the dancer and merely tracks her/him, keeping the subject centered. The camera then is really... for lack of a better word... dumb, slavishly following the action. I wanted to demonstrate how in "dance for the camera," the camera is a collaborator. The shooting is itself part of the dance. Putting a dancer at the edge of the frame and shooting from a low angle makes a completely different statement than standard eye-level, center-frame shooting. Panning across an empty space and "finding" a person dancing makes the camera active. So last week I had prepared a list of 20 such shooting experiments and the class members took turns dancing, directing, and shooting. Then this week, in the Mac Lab, I gave the students an hour to each edit the footage into a piece. (They had all brought music for the edit.) I was completely amazed to see the breadth of styles that could be sculpted from the same footage. I always tell the class that in dance-film, editing is writing. Here, our 20 shots became our vocabulary, and they were arranged into diverse and rich language. Very cool.
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From Laurence Blake, on Ballet Technique

Last week’s return from Spring Break made it evidently clear that as much progress as we make during a school term, it is always good to go back to the basics. It was my intention to continue challenging the Ballet I class and build on their progress. But as I began to approach the class with my lesson plan, it became evident that muscle memory, physical strength and mental acuity cannot be turned on like a light switch.

This is indeed an argument for keeping the practice of dancing alive each and every day. A teacher once told me: If you miss class one day, you notice it. If you miss class two days, your teacher notices it. But if you miss class three days, the audience notices it!

It is important to have time to recoup after a long stretch of physical involvement and it is important to diversify your mental curiosity with other stimulus. However, to maintain a level of proficiency there has to be some time dedicated to reflection and memorization.

As tired as we all get at times, those students who stay physically engaged and curious about the art form are definitely better prepared to resume the rigors of dancing after returning from a break.

So how does a young artist get back on track after a week of rest and rejuvenation?
Go back to the basic principles of the technique and spend time revisiting the complex structure of the body and allow it to regain muscle strength and memory. This idea holds true for anyone who is in a situation where the body is under constant strain but needs maintenance. But especially on a student level, it does not hurt to go back to the basic principles (and exercises) to reestablish muscle memory, strength and clarity as well as retune mental acuity.
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From Rosanna Gamson, on Composition One

This week we worked on how to work. What happens when you're not inspired? Tired? Out of ideas? I return to the practice of "enthusiasm" from the Greek enthusiasmos, meaning to be inhabited by the spirit. You can't be inspired all the time, so you need a reliable source of enthusiasm for your process.

We established some rules and theories to test on the next assignment. We're going to examine our experiment's outcome this Thursday.

Rules:
-- Stay in the studio. You can leave the room for five minute each hour. If it's a 3-hour rehearsal you can
take fifteen minutes in the middle, but keep to five minutes per hour.
-- One hour of studio time = one stage minute. I.e. a three minute study needs three hours of rehearsal.
For the sake of this experiment everyone HAS to work for three hours-- no more and no less.
-- No food, coffee, gum, newspapers, etc. in the studio.
-- No side-talk. Don't tell jokes or denigrate yourself or the work.
-- Dancers don't direct each other (unless choreographer specifically requests).
-- Take breaks outside the studio.

Theories:
-- If you clear your mind of extraneous activity, something will happen.
-- If you interest yourself in your intention and remain available to all possible answers to the question,
something will happen.
-- The majority of what you do in the studio will not end up on stage.
-- Invention and remembering what you did are two different states; use video, generate and discard LOTS
of material, and/or devise a system that leads you to the same experience rather than setting stuff right
away.
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From Nora Reynolds Daniel, on Contemporary Technique

When I was very young I was convinced that if I jumped off of a tall dresser onto my bed, and caught the air just right, I would be able to fly. I did this for hours. I tried flapping my arms in a variety of ways, but no amount of repetition allowed me to take off the way my vivid imagination suggested was possible. It was a lot of fun, and ultimately I did learn a few basic facts about gravity. I am guessing that the natural kinesthetic urge to repeat things in an experimental way has taken place for most people, and especially dancers, at one time or another. I think it is essential to bring whatever we can retain of our innate childlike curiosity to the process of learning movement.

In technique class I usually request that dancers spend time on their own repeating and reviewing a phrase or combination in order to hone in on the details. Here’s why: First, I want to encourage this element of repeating as a healthy habit in class. Second, it’s time to engage in some self-discerning observation. This is only tedious if we entirely forget to be curious. That is, as each student becomes more and more their own guide, it is natural to probe a little. The idea is to quickly tackle and then move beyond the initial questions about right vs. wrong and what the movement looks like, to a more personal experience. … “How am I doing this suspension, this transition, this weight shift, etc. How does one part of the phrase reference another part, what are the level changes, what does it feel like, and what needs to happen to make this balance or turn work a little better?” this dialogue is without limits, and is meant to happen in motion, answers not always coming from me, the teacher, but also emerging from the ongoing physical process of trial and error, and self guided practice. Everything improves through this process. Whatever you are doing is basically what you are learning. Digging into movement more fully, with discernment, curiosity and imagination, should lead to an unfolding of greater ability. Also, a phrase that is initially challenging may simply feel better as it becomes better known and less awkward. All that takes time and, yes, repetition.

I once heard a great bodywork teacher named Dean Juhane say that the Grand Canyon was made by repetition. He was talking about posture, and driving home a point about those small things we barely notice, and how much impact they can have over time. Repetition can be pointless, but it can also be powerful, a tool for learning. What makes it a powerful tool in a technique class is obvious to me as a teacher. Those dancers in class who are moving from their own impetus, reviewing, trying things out, watching others dance, are practicing something that always yields positive and very visible results.
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From David "DK" Kroth, on Concepts for Lighting

This week's class in Concepts for Lighting was about theatricality. In lighting terms this usually means we get to go a bit over-the-top and get to dig deep into our tools of the trade. It was good fortune that Eun Ju's show opened that same evening because her concert had many of the elements discussed in class! Her designers used atmospherics, follow spots and break up patterns to shape the space and to build the environment for the piece.

Once the idea of theatricality was presented to the class, the students could think of many things that push the elements of the design. I made a master list as a hand-out, some of the tools listed were; atmospherics (haze, smoke, fog), patterns, extreme angles, pushing color, shadow casting and silhouettes. I took care to go over each element because there is a very distinct difference in use and even intent.

There are many examples I cite in the class; Act II in Swan Lake, the opening scene in the Nutcracker, the movie Moulin Rogue all have great theatrical moments and are easy to call to mind. For this class I play a scene from the DVD of Chicago using our video projector and theater sound system. I can't think of any musical number more packed with over-the-top elements than The Cell Block Tango. It has it all: haze, silhouettes, extreme angles, bold colors and fast cuing. To top off this blog, I'll embed this number from the movie via YouTube. See if you can count all the terrific elements of theatricality.
Enjoy!

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From Glen Eddy, on Ballet Technique

Among the people who have inspired me in my approach to teaching Ballet you might not expect to find the name of Jack Nicklaus, The "Golden Bear", winner of 18 Majors and considered by many to be the greatest golfer of all time.

Mr. Nicklaus is also a teacher of golf and has a credo which I will paraphrase; "first you learn to swing, then you learn to aim". I take this to mean that the animal power of the swing has to be developed first, before the refinement of aim, range, spin, and all of the other things that go into a golf shot. If you lose that joy in the swing, if you doubt, question, hesitate, you can have a hard time getting it back, whilst you can ALWAYS learn to aim.

In Ballet this translates into; "first you learn to move, then you learn to refine". This may seem counterintuitive and is in fact the opposite of what the teaching of Ballet appears to be, but I believe there is truth in Jack Nicklaus' idea which I try to hold in the back of my mind, in my classes. I believe that the natural, animal, organic feeling, the freedom and power of movement, can be lost if it is overly controlled in
the early stages of training.

In fact refinement of line and technique go hand in hand with the power and pleasure of dancing in the classical Ballet class. The class itself is like a strange evolution that goes backward, from the placement, stillness, exactitude and contained work at the /barre/, to the explosive energy, the sense of flight, and sweeping movement of the final /grand allegro/ or big jumping combinations. The student is asked
to progress from physical scientist to instinctive beast in the course of one and a half hours.

The challenge for the student (as well as the teacher) is to remember that the point of the class is that sense of freedom and power - the "swing" - that comes at the end, and that nothing should happen in the earlier stages of the class that does not benefit the pursuit of that goal. For me the feeling of freedom and animal power within the exacting classical form is what great dancers have, and is what the classical technique has given the world of contemporary dance.
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From Francesca Penzani, on Video for Dance

From the beginning of pothography the study of body in space and time has been the main fascination with artists and scientists ( Muybridge and Marey); In 1894 Lumiere patents the cinematograph. In the same year Thomas Edison films Ruth St. Denis doing a skirt dance outdoors.

Since the beginning of moving pictures dance and dancers have been part of the process of art and technology co-existing together.

There are 3 ways to film dance: Record notation films (generally used for movement analysis)

Documentation of performances ( to present the dance as it was choreographed for the stage)

and Videodance or Dance for the Camera (to create interaction between film technique and dance, therefore Choreography for the Camera)

In the last 25 years Dance on camera has developed very quickly.

It has become an art form in its own right and there are now more opportunities to show dance video works as many Dance on Camera Festivals have been emerging all over the world.
In class we watch many different dance on camera works from choreographers and directors from all over the world. We start with early dance films, to Maya Deren to the more contemporary.

The past 2 weeks we concentrated on studying works of Thierry de Mey (filmmaker, composer) in collaboration with choreographers such as Anne Theresa de Keersmaeker, William Forsythe and Wim Vandekeybus among others.

We looked at the structures of film, music, choreography and architecture of his works.
In class we experiment with different possibilities to create a dance specifically for the camera.

How can we bring the essence of the dance into the frame, the editing and the rhythm that the artists can create within the "squareness" of the technology, its possibilities and limitations.

It has been interesting how every student sees, perceives and creates dance from behind the "eye" of the camera instead than for the stage.

We are starting a new short project based on different elements such as space, geometry, colours, body parts.
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From David "DK" Kroth, on Digital Portfolio

Digital Portfolio class is a lot of fun to teach. I think everyone likes the "doing" of things and making one's first web page and finding it on search engines is very satisfying. The emphasis is on presentation and a lot of the material comes from other classes. I think this is one of the strengths of teaching in a program rather than a collection of individual classes.

The resume and artist statement come from the Thesis Seminar class and the students are also taking Advanced Video Editing where they are working with Final Cut Pro. In the first semester, it was all about the first big push to get enough material completed to post online. CalArts offers "e-mail for life" and the pages from this class are hosted for free on the CalArts servers.

Having learned basic HTML and CSS, they then learn how to use the digital pictures of their shows and make thumbnails to present their work. The second semester they will learn to post video clips of their choreography and then begin some of the more advanced work in Photoshop like touch-ups, filtering for depth-of-field and batch conversions.

At this stage, everything is a "work in progress" even while it is posted online. I'd like to share three links of the work knowing that the overall look of the pages might be changing from week to week!

http://alum.calarts.edu/~echung EunJu
http://alum.calarts.edu/~spark Sung-Yun
http://alum.calarts.edu/~yenchou Yen-Lin

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