Sundown Salon #29:DANCING CONVENTION

JULY 9TH, 2006, 4:00–9:00 pm

ORGANIZED WITH: Flora Wiegmann

PERFORMANCES BY: Collective Static including: Katie Bachler, Madeline Baugh, Lake Sharp, Aubrey White and Megan Yellott, Mirror Phase including: Bobbi Woods, Samantha Magowen and Natascha Snellman, Modern Garage Movement (including: Felicia Ballos, Reba Brooks, Jbird Leary & Erin Sylvester, Nancy Popp, Lake Sharp and Sissy Boyd), Rae shao-lan Blum, Kimberly Varella

VIDEOS BY: Emilie Halpern, Marianne Kim, Alix Lambert, My Barbarian, robbinschilds, Margo Victor, Sarah White

WATCH: video by BODYCITY

we will convene to dance. come prepared to move. there will be collective movement exercises, there will be dance performances in the dome, cave and gardens, there will be video screenings in the dome as the sun goes down. we will be welcomed into the salon by the bi-coastal dancers of modern garage movement. they come to los angeles to lead us in group warm-ups and movement exercises before performing just off the street, in the garage, where the cars should be. the evening will culminate with dance videos projected in the geodesic dome.

4pm group warm-up in the garage

5pm performances in the garage

6pm performances in the garden

7pm performances in the dome

* rae shao-lan blum * collective static * emilie halpern * robby herbst * marianne kim * alix lambert * mirror phase * modern garage movement * my barbarian * nancy popp * robbinschilds * lake sharp & sissy boyd * kimberly varella * margo victor * sarah white *

BIOS

* rae shao-lan blum * presenting: oracle bone * an improvisational dance *

In "Oracle Bone" the movement takes the story of how a primative version of the Chinese language was discovered completely by chance when a scholar fell ill as a metaphor for the abunce of noticings available when slowing down. > In 1997, NYC, Rae Shao-Lan Blum gave her first solo performance in a black box amidst the bustle of random pedestrian audiences in Times Square. Since she also performed in venues at St. Mark’s Church, JoyceSoho, Dixon Place, WAX, BAX, HERE, Judson Church, and Links Hall in Chicago. She danced with various independent choreographers and companies (Susan Marshall and Company, Janis Brenner and Dancers, Tanz Theater Darmstadt) in NYC and in Germany; and from 1999-2002 directed Dance First, a mixed ability performance group, and lead community workshops in integrated-ability dance.  Her movement background has a broad range of influences that began in early childhood witnessing a lot of Chinese opera and playing sports. She trained for several years at the Alvin Ailey School of American Dance and the Limon Institute. Woven in her work is also years of experience untraining. Improvisation and Continuum Movement are vehicles in playing the delicate negotiation of choice and chance.

* collective static * (megan yellott, aubrey white, katie bachler, lake sharp & madeline baugh) * presenting a dance in the garden *

A random grouping of voluntary particles: in this case, a dance. Collective static creates movement in response to the space in which it finds itself. beginning as stationary individuals stationed throughout the garden, we will collect ourselves to create the movements and sounds of garden- and perhaps a few that are terribly out of place.

* emilie halpern * presenting videos: solar kiss - 2001 * luna kiss - 2000 * disappearing act - 2005 * magicienne - 2001 *

> Working with photography, video, sculpture and slide installations, Emilie Halpern renders frankly sentimental themes like distance and longing with evolving complexity. Born in Paris, Emilie Halpern has since relocated to Los Angeles, where she received her BA from UCLA in
1998 and her MFA from Art Center College of Design in 2002. She recently had her second solo exhibition at Anna Helwing Gallery, and her work is currently featured in group shows at Tina Kim Fine Art in New York (until June 23rd) and Galeria ArteVeintiuno in Madrid, Spain (until July 15th). This summer she will participate in a group show at Bucket Rider Gallery in Chicago. Halpern is preparing a solo project for The Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum that will open in January 2007.

* robby herbst * presenting: group building activities * a group movement exercise *

> For this Salon, I will direct some group building activities towards the end of developing collective awareness and social dreaming. These collective movement and improvisations will take place during the “happenings” section of the Salon. I hope to involve attendees of the Salon in these movement improvisations. I imagine using the grass lawn area of the Dome. > Robby Herbst is a choreographer of the Agape Dance Choir. The choir works to institute the avant-garde culture of the human potential movement.

* marianne kim * presenting: DRIVEBY * 3 minute video *

* alix lambert * presenting: icarus * video *

* mirror phase * (natascha snellman, bobbi woods & samantha magowan) * presenting: BEYOND GEODESIC DOME *

> They're ravenous. They're ruthless. They live in a strictly hierarchical, alpha-dog, eat-or-be-eaten world. No, it's not a rerun of Wild America; it's the world of Mirror Phase!! A Playful trio consisting of Bobbi Woods, Natascha Snellman & Samantha Magowan.

* modern garage movement * (jbird leary, reba brooks, erin sylvester and felicia ballos) * presenting: MAYNARD, Germain Waters & The Peoples Mix in the garage* 25 - 35 min *

> MAYNARD is flowers in the attic relegated to the garage. Created out of boredom and in their free time of three weeks together during the icy beautiful San Francisco summer '05, bicoastal dancers (Brooklyn-SF) Jbird Leary, Erin Sylvester and Biba Bell simply made a dance, in the garage of Jbird's stepfather. It was the first MGM dance. The one-car garage set in the fancy house in the fancy neighborhood was the perfect original theater, the perfect rehearsal room. > Modern Garage Movement is a set of dances by Jbird Leary, made and performed in garages. > People walked by and wondered what was going on. "What are those girls doing?" > MAYNARD is all about the permanent rainbow and the possibility of imagination. The costumes, lights, music and movement appear out of nowhere to shift from color into next-door color. The music, designed by Jbird's ex-girlfriend Lani Rowe, is entirely based on the structure, meaning, and significance of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow," the song that almost didn't make it into that famous movie. Someone saved it. Thank Fucking God! > Way high up, there's a land I heard of......... > MAYNARD for the Summer Tour 2006 has new developments. Biba Bell goes to graduate school and Reba Brooks takes over, changing Biba's role to suit herself. And there is another real, invented person. The music is refined and more dissonant. The imagination of the dancers is exercised, the imagination of the audience stimulated. Fantasy doesn't need to make sense. > RT: 40 – 60 min (depending on size of space) > The Peoples Mix.. It's sexy to be old. What happens when you have gray hair and sagging titties? Don't know yet. What happens when you've lived a whole lifetime and are still living? It's a reggeaton sound score mixed by Jbird. These girls just love to dance! > RT: 30 min > Modern Garage Movement is a set of dances by Jbird Leary, made and performed in garages.

* my barbarian * presenting: peasants of mind * a video from 2003.

* nancy popp * presenting: drip_dance_disappear * performance in the garden *

> The sounds of windchimes echo as the leaves shift in the air, fracturing the space between them; a figure moves inside the dense texture, disturbing and rustling the patterns of air and light, swaying with the leaves and between them, creating a rhythm, swirling amongst and inside. > Leaves gathered from the site are strung and hung from the branches of adjacent trees where their drip lines overlap. A recording of windchimes plays and audience members are invited to move inside the dense foliage, creating a dance with the leaves. > Nancy Popp works with performance, video and photography. Her projects investigate the body and its identities in relation to place and landscape. She has shown with the Art Institute of Chicago, the Armory Center for the Arts, the University of Redlands, Highways Performance Space, the18th Street Arts Center, NewTown and at public places throughout California. She also performs with Corpus Delecti’s Butoh Performance Lab and the LA Art Girls. A native of Los Angeles, she received her BFA at Art Center College of Design and is currently an MFA candidate at the San Francisco Art Institute.

* robbinschilds * (sonya robbins & layla childs) * presenting: C.L.U.E. color location ultimate experience * excerpt * 2005 * 9 minute video * by A.L. Steiner, robbinschilds and AJ Blandford * music by Kinski *

(full-length version to premiere at Taxter & Spengemann in NYC in Spring of 2007)

* lake sharp & sissy boyd * presenting: bowls * a movement-based theater piece written by wes walker * in the dome (7 min.)

* kimberly varella * presenting a bellydance performance * in the dome *

* margo victor * presenting a video *

* sarah white * presenting: interference * a video directed by sarah white * choreographed by sarah white in collaboration with lindsey karr * performed by sarah white and jonathan bastiani * edited by dan dobransky * 10 min. *

> this work tells me something about yesterday. that hasn't subsided entirely, but has less action. interference is an immersion. it isn't funny, but i am sometimes. i'd like to make funny work. i live and dance in new york city. > johnathan bastiani lives, dances and studies movement in new york city. > dan dobransky is an art director / graphic designer based in brooklyn, ny. using his professional experience with mediums such as print, web, and video he collaborates with different artist based around the new york area.