Mary LaBianca http://marylabianca.org Dance + Choreography Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:51:20 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 On Chance http://marylabianca.org/2012/04/10/on-chance/ http://marylabianca.org/2012/04/10/on-chance/#comments Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:51:20 +0000 marylabianca http://marylabianca.org/?p=204 As a choreographer in Cagefest 2012 in Chattanooga, TN, the process of setting a work through a chance structure has been both challenging and creatively recuperating.  It feels like a puzzle made of three dimensional pieces, that vary ever so slightly on each face.  The pieces can come together in so many different ways to form a bijouterie of phrases. Something that has become part of the puzzle is maintaining not only authenticity for the form but also for my own intuition of quality.  Recent reading of Dance as a Metaphor of Existence by Hawkins was an interesting compliment to the research reading on Cunningham’s various approaches to chance.  Hawkins comments in a Platonic manner on his own experience of objectively putting movement together,

“so lots of people say, cut it out. Cut out this intellectual stuff. Just dance”  Don’t be so dumb. Everything one does in any aspect of life comes out of some deduction you have made from some beginning notion (103).

Where do I balance my own aesthetics in this process has been a question that keeps rising to the surface as I work on this project.  Maintaining integrity for my aesthetics, to allow this process to push my work further and still pay tribute to the form itself is a precarious task.

]]> http://marylabianca.org/2012/04/10/on-chance/feed/ 0 With grattitude .. http://marylabianca.org/2012/01/08/with-grattitude/ http://marylabianca.org/2012/01/08/with-grattitude/#comments Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:30:11 +0000 marylabianca http://marylabianca.org/?p=197 At the start of this year I look back in gratitude for the many gifts that Merce Cunningham has given to the dance community.  With the end of the Mondays With Merce series and the close of his company this year, I have heard many dancers and choreographers speak with sadness as we reach the end of the celebration and commemoration of his life and work.

If you have not already viewed the Mondays series, they are still viewable at:

http://www.merce.org/about/mondays-with-merce.php

]]> http://marylabianca.org/2012/01/08/with-grattitude/feed/ 0 1940 http://marylabianca.org/2011/11/03/1940/ http://marylabianca.org/2011/11/03/1940/#comments Thu, 03 Nov 2011 03:47:32 +0000 marylabianca http://marylabianca.org/?p=169

If dance is to be brought into universal use, if it is to help in the development of a more general appreciation of human art values, it must be considered educationally.  The future of dance as a democratic art activity rests with our education system.

-Margaret H’Doubler

]]> http://marylabianca.org/2011/11/03/1940/feed/ 0 Dance : A Creative Art Experience – H’Doubler http://marylabianca.org/2011/11/03/a-creative-art-experience-hdoubler/ http://marylabianca.org/2011/11/03/a-creative-art-experience-hdoubler/#comments Thu, 03 Nov 2011 03:35:12 +0000 marylabianca http://marylabianca.org/?p=161

‘Tis to create, and in creating live

A being more intensive, that we endow with form

Our fancy, gaining as we give

The life we image

-Lord Byron

]]> http://marylabianca.org/2011/11/03/a-creative-art-experience-hdoubler/feed/ 0 Movement Choirs http://marylabianca.org/2011/09/13/movement-choirs/ http://marylabianca.org/2011/09/13/movement-choirs/#comments Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:24:43 +0000 marylabianca http://marylabianca.org/?p=104 Screen shot 2011-09-12 at 1.33.21 PM Screen shot 2011-09-12 at 1.33.59 PM

I have been researching and looking at images of movement choirs in preparation for leading 200+ early childhood educators in a closing reflection session.  Historic Movement choirs attempted to construct a dynamic image of a community that was grounded in identity and group expression.

The ideas for movement choir can be traced back to Rudolf Laban who is most famous for his system of movement analysis that evolved out of experimentation.  He worked in the first half of the 20th century and became interested in how to move people in large groups together.

]]> http://marylabianca.org/2011/09/13/movement-choirs/feed/ 0 Looking at the world through the lens of dance …. http://marylabianca.org/2011/09/01/looking-at-the-world-through-the-lens-of-dance/ http://marylabianca.org/2011/09/01/looking-at-the-world-through-the-lens-of-dance/#comments Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:41:46 +0000 marylabianca http://marylabianca.org/?p=101
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/01/arts/dance/art-of-summer-grand-centrals-fluid-human-dance.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha28
Article by ALASTAIR MACAULAY
]]> http://marylabianca.org/2011/09/01/looking-at-the-world-through-the-lens-of-dance/feed/ 0 More Merce …. http://marylabianca.org/2011/08/30/more-merce-2/ http://marylabianca.org/2011/08/30/more-merce-2/#comments Tue, 30 Aug 2011 14:54:05 +0000 marylabianca http://marylabianca.org/?p=98

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/07/12/arts/dance/20110712-rainforest-ss.html

]]> http://marylabianca.org/2011/08/30/more-merce-2/feed/ 0 Montréal Danse http://marylabianca.org/2010/11/10/montreal-danse/ http://marylabianca.org/2010/11/10/montreal-danse/#comments Wed, 10 Nov 2010 13:51:13 +0000 marylabianca http://marylabianca.org/?p=71

http://www.montrealdanse.com/

]]> http://marylabianca.org/2010/11/10/montreal-danse/feed/ 0 More interesting Art … http://marylabianca.org/2010/09/22/more-interesting-art/ http://marylabianca.org/2010/09/22/more-interesting-art/#comments Wed, 22 Sep 2010 23:31:33 +0000 marylabianca http://marylabianca.org/?p=68 MoMA PS1 9/23 @ 5 pm and check out “Balcony Scene 2010″ – a performance by Franklin Evans and Paul David Young.

]]> http://marylabianca.org/2010/09/22/more-interesting-art/feed/ 0 “Making the Simple Sensational” – Trisha Brown http://marylabianca.org/2010/09/13/making-the-simple-sensational-trisha-brown/ http://marylabianca.org/2010/09/13/making-the-simple-sensational-trisha-brown/#comments Mon, 13 Sep 2010 01:59:41 +0000 marylabianca http://marylabianca.org/?p=59

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/arts/dance/12kourlas.html?scp=2&sq=trisha%20brown&st=cse

]]> http://marylabianca.org/2010/09/13/making-the-simple-sensational-trisha-brown/feed/ 0