Evidence Report #1

This summer, while in Milwaukee, I worked with Amii LeGendre on her project Evidence - which she describes as "a custom-made solo performance for a single spectator" which "is choreographed based on your response to a questionnaire about your life experiences."  In rehearsals Amii lead us through a process to create, frame and present our solos. Then, from a group of people who requested a solo, we each picked a person, got their questionnaire, and created and performed a solo just for them. The solos ranged in time from 10 minutes to an hour and performed in a site-specific location. And even though the solo was performed in situations in which other people could view it, it was performed for that one person.

The first solo I created was a "practice" solo for one of the other dancers, N., who was participating in the Evidence process. When I began going through her questionnaire I had no idea what to do and felt alittle lost. But over time I just kept reading and re-reading the answers she supplied and slowly ideas, images and movement possibilities kind of bubbled up. One of the first ideas was N.'s response to the question, "Who has helped you recently?". She responded by writing, "My closest friend is always helping me lighten up."I thought that is also something I could help with, so I constructed a section in which I danced (big, peripheral, sustained movements) and then stopped to tell her a really dorky joke - for example, "What kind of hair does the ocean have? Wavey.", or "Why does the flamingo lift up one leg? Because if she lifted up two she'd fall over." Total knee slappers. Another section consisted me doing 5 different movement phrases because 5 is her favorite number. There were a total of 6 sections and the performance lasted about 15 minutes.

What was so incredible about doing this performance was the attention that we gave to one another. For me there was no distraction, no gab between my intention and feedback from N. because it was very clear for whom and why I was performing this dance . She was seemed very focused and attentive during the whole time because, I believe, the solo was only for her. This single focus between us created a bubble in which we were operating and was quite magical. Because there was such an intimacy of communication there was instant feedback anytime I did anything. Even though I was fairly nervous before it started, once it started it felt like everything I did was easy and appreciated in a way that I have rarely felt from an audience - no matter how big or small.

In my next entry I'll discuss my experience creating and performing a solo for a complete stranger.

Dwell: Milioke

Click to Play

A dance solo with text exploring ideas of home: leaving home, creating a home, being home. Developed over 7 weeks while in Milwaukee away from my normal home and family. Created and performed by Daniel Burkholder with original music by Seth Warren-Crow, DC Improvisers Collective and Chad Speed. Performed in conjunction with University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Dance Department.

Sections include:
Milwaukee German Festival
Yoga/America
Solo for Frank P Zeilder
What I miss most
Dorms
Home Solo

New Sounds

Today I finished my final sound design project. The assignment was to us a digital recorder and record sounds to manipulate into a song. I went to the Milwaukee German Festival and recorded a bunch of sounds - including different bands, people talking, kids playing in water and this weird foot vibrator thing. I manipulated and edits the sounds quite a bit, though some of them are still recognizable. Enjoy:

MGF by dburkholder21

Forsythe's Improv Exercises

Currently I'm studying improvisation with Gerald Casel as part of my MFA studies at UWM and this week we're going through some of William Forsythe's improvisation technologies. In today's class we worked with a number of exercises that primarily had to do with space and specifically with lines of the body. In one exercise we imagined drawing lines in space - either from a specific body part into space or from an inanimate object (floor or wall, for example) into space. Once you 'draw' the line you can then imagine moving it, dancing around it and relating to it. Other exercises we did had to do with folding and unfolding the limbs, creating spirals into the floor and manipulating other kinds of imaginative object. As I was doing these exercises I noted that they felt like they were improvisational exercises devised by someone trained as a ballet dancer. I don't mean that in a good or bad way, just that it was interesting to feel the history of Forsythe's training in my dancing as I was exploring his 'technologies'. It makes me wonder how the improvisational exercises that I choose to explore and teach are influenced by my body history. Or, if dancers whom are predominately trained in other modalities (ie. not modern/post-modern) would approach creating improvisaitonal exercises. We, of course, have some examples in tap, hip hop and probably many, many forms that I am not aware of. Any examples anyone can supple would be very interesting.

Here's one of the exercises I found on YouTube:

I'm a Composer. No I'm not.

This summer, as part of my work for an MFA in Dance, I'm taking a class in sound design and editing. For the class we are using Audacity to edit sounds and music. For our most recent assignment we had to take a specific file of a man and woman talking and make two different studies that felt very different. So, while I'm not claiming to be any kind of composer, here they are:

Bullet:
Bullet by dburkholder21

Who I am:
Who I am by dburkholder21

The Value of Patience

I like art that requires patience.

Recently a colleague commented that she thought I must not mind if audiences are sometimes bored. I took this as a compliment.

I mean I want people to connect to the work, be effected by it and find value in it. But, it is also ok if they have to do alittle work. When I'm reading a book or poem or listening to music or watching a dance, it is ok if there is time of ambiguity or even boredom. I often find if I keep investing myself into the work there are great rewards. If I just give up on the work if it's not immediately engaging than I loose out.

And, of course, sometimes the work just isn't any good. I can be bored or disinterested and there is nothing to reinvest in. But I don't know that at first glance - it takes time and effort on my part.

I am currently reading a book of poetry by Pablo Neruda and last night I read through one of the poems and at the end I had no idea what the poem was about. So, I had a choice to either just go on to the next poem and discount the current poem or reread it again. I, obviously, reread it. And then I read it again. After multiple readings the meaning and flavor of the poem became clearer. It is a lovely poem.

So, patience is something I value in art, in the watching of art, and in the making of art.

'night

I'm back in school this summer working more on completely my MFA in dance at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. It's far from home, but the weather is wonderful! Last week we had an intensive workshop in screendance (dance for camera, etc..) with Ellen Bromberg. It was a wonderful workshop and Ellen is a excellent teacher and guide. We worked on looking at screendance, both historically and contemporary, as well as learning techniques to create our own work. In culminating the week we each made a short screendance (2 minutes or less) with just one other person. Mine is called 'night, and here it is: