We've moved!

You can now find the Dance Exchange blog on our website, www.danceexchange.org. Visit the blog to find past posts from "DX on the road", as well as posts from Liz Lerman and communications manager Emily Macel. Thanks for reading!

"The Matter of Origins" Opened Last Night!

And the University of Maryland's campus newspaper has an article about it. Check out what The Diamondback is saying about The Matter of Origins:

"'This kind of investment in creation is exactly what a research university does', said Paul Brohan, director of artistic initiatives at CSPAC, calling Lerman 'wide-thinking' by noting her credentials in performance and academics....

'You're gonna be thinking and feeling and wondering and seeing,' Lerman said. 'And then you get some chocolate cake. It sounds like a great night to me!'"

(Article by Andrew Freedman, Photo: Dance Exchange company member Sarah Levitt, by Jaclyn Borowski/The Diamondback)

"The Matter of Origins" in Gazette.Net!

In less than 24 hours, the curtain will rise on The Matter of Origins. Research and development spanned three years and carried Liz Lerman as far as Switzerland, where she met physicists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

But Gazette.Net looks at the premiere's smaller, more personal side. Read Dennis Carter's article, and find out why Lerman says the show's got "an interesting sub-story."

(Pictured from left to right: Dance Exchange company members Ben Wegman and Thomas Dwyer. Photo by Leah L. Jones/The Gazette.)

"The Matter of Origins" Featured in Sunday's Washington Post!

In the Post today, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange's own Ben Wegman talks about The Matter of Origins world premiere, which is inspired by physics:

"'It's incredibly dense material,' says Benjamin Wegman, one of the dancers who accompanied Lerman on her trip to Switzerland, who describes the immense scale of the CERN collider and the whole complex there as 'like you're in a Will Smith science fiction movie.' After all the thinking and discussing and rehearsing, though, he says he's come to appreciate what he calls 'the beauty' of physics.

'We see it as very dry, basic math,' Wegman says, but for physicists, the math is a language. 'The math is the purest form that they can understand things in. And it's like the world is just a translation for all these things they're thinking.'"

When I see the photo above (Wegman with dancer Paloma McGregor), I think about the language of movement. Check out Astrid Riecken's other photos, read the rest of Sarah Kaufman's article, and watch the Dance Exchange artists speak with their bodies during their September 10 and 12 premiere!

True Life: I'm a Liz Lerman Rehearsal Assistant

See that photo? It's a bit how I felt the other day, whirling to keep up with the notes Liz Lerman threw my way during The Matter of Origins tech rehearsal. Eleven pages, many asterisks (*), and a few hieroglyphics later, I'm happy to report that Lerman deciphered my writing.

What a treat to hear her think out loud: "Yes, Sarah!" when Levitt nailed the choreography, "...not sure about the bubbles here...ohh, scary...what is the relationship between Tamara, Thomas, and Ted...." (TA, TD, and T for short.)

As Lerman works with designers to refine the show, I anticipate what will surely be an incredible event. If you haven't yet, order your tickets today!

Email from the road

At James Madison University last week, Elizabeth Johnson and her team of Dance Exchange alums and adjunct artists created a DNA dance for the incoming freshman class of 4000 to link to their year-long study of the connections between science and art. During the residency, EJ sent an email to the company describing the experience:

Hey DX,
Thanks for the thoughts yesterday. We felt the love.

It was truly....wow. I am next to Wayles [Haynes]...and she says “transformational.” It was impressive to see the amazing power of all those people moving. We were awe-struck with the amount of participation and energy. Their gratitude was palpable. Visually arresting. They couldn’t stop dancing after the event was over. We will share the video.

Our team was incredible. They came in prepared to learn and to lead. [DX] alums Michelle [Pearson] and Gesel [Mason], working the bullhorns in the lower half of the quad and fixing some communication issues for the second round. They are incredible facilitators and Ralph [Glenmore] and Ronya-Lee [Anderson] each led hundreds of people in their teams too. Ronya-Lee says it was “exhilarating” and “memorable” and “hopeful to see many people rally around one thing.” Meghan [Bowden] had her own quadrant of 500 people. I personally thank Wayles and Meghan for putting the fun factor in this plan. Vincent [Thomas] helped to make a plan that was organized and efficient. Daniel [Zook] and Sam [Speis] worked the A team. [Daniel] was BEAUTIFUL and so very himself. A student said in his southern accent “that boy can DANCE.”

Onward, gotta run!
EJ

Read more about JMU's DNA dance and see the full video of the performance here.

JMU freshman performing their DNA dance

Photo by Diane Elliot

How do you get 4000 freshman to dance?

...You send Elizabeth Johnson and a team of Dance Exchange adjunct artists to James Madison University's freshman orientation! The incoming class spent their summer reading The DNA Age by Amy Harmon, and EJ's task was to help them put what they'd learned about issues surrounding genetics into their bodies, and create a dance that the whole class could do together. 4000 freshman came together on JMU's quad to perform the dance they created. Here is a video of student reactions to the experience:

Tea intensive

The second act of The Matter of Origins is a chance for the audience, dancers and physicists to come together to share tea and conversation. Why tea? Edith Warner ran a small tea house in Los Alamos in the 1940s when scientists like Niels Bohr and Robert Oppenheimer were up the road developing the atomic bomb. Bohr, Oppenheimer, and other scientists frequented Edith's tea house for dinner and a slice of her famous chocolate cake.

In addition to the company members that will be performing in our three tea rooms, fifty local dancers and students from the University of Maryland will be serving tea and dancing with us. Here is video from our rehearsal over three days in August:

Get your tickets for the premiere! Buy online or called 301-405-ARTS.

In case you missed it

We are deeply embedded in the world of Origins right now, but I thought I would resurface for a moment to revisit our time dancing on concrete just a short month ago in garage/dances. We performed two sold-out shows at a parking garage in Adams Morgan as a part of the Capitol Fringe Festival. Here is the last part of the show, featuring company members and our Summer Institute participants...enjoy!

DX at AAHSA

A few weeks ago, company member Shula Strassfeld and adjunct artist Michelle Pearson led a workshop at the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging conference in Minneapolis, MN. Conference attendee Ancel Romero blogged about his experience in the workshop:

I looked around me and saw peers stepping out of their comfort zones, expressing themselves in ways they perhaps had not done before. I saw from without, but they, like me, were gifted with that rare opportunity to also see within. We danced like we never danced before.

Read his entry about the workshop and the conference here.

"Origins" residency in the form of an equation

[(10 dancers + 8 designers) x (2 fire drills) + (20 dorm rooms) + (10 trips to Whole Foods) + (1 76th birthday) + (5 tea cups) + ("1 ton of pitchblende") - (1 visit to the massage therapist/1 visit to the acupuncturist) x [(new) set + music + costumes + text + video + movement] x ( ) ] / (5 days) =

1 Dance Exchange creative residency at Montclair State University

Costume pieces

More costume pieces

Ami gets ready for photo call

Photo call: John Borstel and Ben Wegman

An evening out in downtown Montclair

A big thank you to everyone at the Alexander Kasser Theater at MSU for making our week run so smoothly. We can't wait to be back next spring. And now: company vacation! We'll see you in a week...

Kasser Theater, Montclair NJ

This week Dance Exchange is at Montclair State University to spend a week onstage in the Kasser Theatre with "The Matter of Origins". Our full production team is here and we'll spend a lot of the week working on our technical elements. While the dancers are perfecting choreography the design team will be adding video, sound, lights, and starting to look at costumes. We also have our beautiful set for the first time.

The Production Team and Liz working out the details.

Lighting and scenic designer Michael Mazzola & Production Manager Amelia Cox working with the scenery.

Rehearsal at UMD

Warming up yesterday afternoon in the Kay Theatre at University of Maryland

Photo by Ben Wegman

Robots, etc.

Why were these objects in the room yesterday? All I can say is that we're back in "Origins" rehearsals and coming at our subject matter from every angle. Read more about the project here. And see it September 10 and 12 at the University of Maryland's Clarice Smith Center!

Dancing in garages

Last weekend, the company and 23 Summer Institute participants performed "garage/dances", a site-specific work created at a parking garage in Adams Morgan and our studios in Takoma Park. Our audiences and participants withstood the 90+ degree heat to see and perform dances in and on cars, against walls, down ramps and over balconies. Read the reviews here and here, and take a look at the pictures below. (All photos by John Borstel).

Defined spaces

Today we had our first rehearsal in the parking garage we'll be performing in next weekend. I love seeing a performance space for the first time, whether it's a theater, garage, hotel ballroom, whatever--so much possibility exists in that first visual experience of a place before the physical ones begin. We learned today what works and what doesn't in this space, and I'm struck by how simple structures (like canons and lines) become so charged in defined spaces. Here are some pictures from the past few days:

In the studio

Bulking the image

Planning

Keith and the group

Rehearsal in the garage

Summer Institute 2010!

Our Summer Institute kicked off yesterday with a sampler class. We started things with a DX classic, Blind Lead, and then moved through improv structures, strengthening exercises, and combinations lead by different company members. Adjunct artist Keith Thompson taught his (fierce) phrase to the group and leads them through it in the video below.

We are working toward a performance on July 16-17 in a parking garage in Adams Morgan which means we pack in enough information in one day to make it feel like three. Already after one day, we have enough material to make and craft a solid piece. But--we're back to it tomorrow to continue to vary and develop our material and see where it leads us.

Takoma Park 4th of July

One of the things I've really loved about coming to work at Dance Exchange has been getting to know Takoma Park, which is a beautiful neighborhood right outside of DC and is the home of the company. This year, many of us celebrated the 4th of July in part by attending the Takoma Park 4th of July parade! Takoma Park actually has one of the oldest Independence Day celebrations along the Atlantic Coast and this year was the 121st annual event.
Community spirit was high and we cheered on Dance Exchange partners Impact Silver Spring and Washington Adventist Hospital as they marched in the parade.

A group of young activists at Piney Branch Elementary School is trying to get a dishwasher in their school cafeteria so they don't have to use styrofoam trays. Their supporters had a large parade presence!

Marchers from a local dog training school.

The parade passes right in front of Dance Exchange. Takoma Park Council Member Josh Wright rode his bicycle in the parade.

Company members Ben Wegman and Shula Strassfeld (with Bashie) take in the Takoma Park 4th of July parade!

Social

Tonight, Ben, Emily, Ellen and I went out to the Dance/MetroDC year-end party at The Passenger just outside Gallery Place in DC. We got a chance to catch up with our friends in the dance world here, and learn about Dance/MetroDC's plans for the coming season. I'm excited for the "Should I Quit My Day Job?" Dance Offs in which D/MDC will pair professional choreographers with groups of non-dancers who'd like to try their hand at dancing and performing. The winning group will perform at the Dance Awards in October. Can't wait!

Company member Ben Wegman and Dance/MetroDC director (and former DXer) Peter DiMuro catch up

Peter and DX Projects Coordinator Ellen Chenoweth take in the scene

Headed out: Ellen, choreographer Kelly Bond, and Ben

Last week at St. John's

Michelle, Thomas and I spent last week at St. John's on the Lake in Milwaukee, WI. We made small group dances to finish of our week together...

Tools for Health in Milwaukee

This week, Michelle, Thomas and I are in residence at St. John's on the Lake in Milwaukee, WI. We've just wrapped up a two-day Tools for Health training with local dancers and health care workers, and tomorrow we begin working with a group of residents to create a short piece for a showing on Friday. We're also documenting the whole process in collaboration with a videographer, so you can expect to see clips from that later this summer.

In addition to learning Dance Exchange tools and methods for generating and crafting movement, the participants shared their own practices when working with seniors with varying cognitive and physical abilities, crafted dances, developed potential workshops for their constituents, and participated in two Dance Exchange-led workshops with residents at St. John's. A number of issues emerged around how we talk about what we do: we're not dance therapists, but the impact of our work as artists can have a therapeutic effect, and can have an impact on clinical goals. How do we document goals met and provide evidence for our other artists and health care providers? A new dance, an article, clinical assessments with residents, participant writings, blogging, video--there are many ways and we're finding more.

In the spirit of finding multiple outcomes in this kind of work: We had each of our participants fill out pre- and post-assessment forms about their experience in the training. One of our participants, an Occupational Therapist, told us that on her pre-assessment form, she circled "1" in response to the question "Do you consider yourself a dancer?" On her post-assessment form, she circled "4".

If you are interested in learning more about Tools for Health or attending a future training, please email Dorothy Williams, Partnerships Manager: dorothyATdanceexchange.org.

Plan it.

Today Thomas, Martha, Shula, Cassie, Ben and I had a planning meeting/rehearsal for our upcoming Summer Institute. The culmination of our institute will be a performance in a parking garage in Adams Morgan, so we started playing with the cars in our parking lot at DX for ideas.

Check out the performances featuring DX company and Summer Institute participants on July 16-17...more details coming soon!

Day o' meetings

Meet the DX: Ben

Company member Ben Wegman grew up in Normal, Illinois and trained at the Joffrey Ballet and Point Park University. He joined the Dance Exchange in 2007 after spending a few years as an adjunct artist. You can see him dance in the premiere of Liz Lerman's The Matter of Origins in September at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.

Talk a bit about your dance background.

I grew up as an incredibly active kid. When I wasn’t tearing through the neighborhood at full speed, I was playing soccer, taking tae kwon do, taking tap and gymnastics, performing in my church musicals, etc. Dance has always been a part of my life, but I really began to take it more seriously my last two years of high school. I began to approach ballet very seriously, and for a long time thought it would be the focus of my dance career. Thankfully some mishaps with the Joffrey Ballet led me to realize that my strengths were best focused elsewhere.

How did you come to Dance Exchange?

I met the Dance Exchange during my time as a student at the Conservatory of Performing Arts at Point Park University. Peter DiMuro, one of the former producing artistic directors of the company, made a new work with several students selected through an audition process. Working with Peter and the tools of the Dance Exchange I was exposed to methods of creation and choreography I had never even imagined. It was the first time that my voice and ideas were an integral part of creating something within a group. I had never worked so collaboratively or so intensely with a group of people in my life to make a work of art.

Do you have a favorite moment on tour or in rehearsal?

Being in Japan was a highlight of my time with the Dance Exchange. I was incredibly moved by the culture, tradition, work ethic and generosity of the people there. It was one of the only times in my life when I had to solely rely on my art and creative process to translate ideas; there was very little shared spoken language among myself and the participants. It was a struggle and also a joy to watch dance be both personal and universal simultaneously through creation of a new dance work with that community. It was also one of the first opportunities for me to flex my leadership muscles and I learned a great deal about myself and my capacity as an artist/teacher/facilitator. It is a time in my life that I hold very closely to my heart.

Do you have any pre-show rituals?

I wouldn’t say that I have a specific pre-show ritual, but I become a very specific person before shows. I used to go really crazy before shows - be very physical, warm up for hours, expend a lot of energy in the hopes of warming up my body and getting myself excited, but I’ve found that the older I get and the less physical work I do right before I perform, the better. I tend to be very quiet before I perform, very reflective. Pre-performance time is a time to center myself emotionally, physically, mentally. I find myself in deep self-dialogue before shows; you could almost say in a meditative state. It’s these moments when I have to push the rest of myself aside, and place my faith and trust in my physical being, in my training, in the knowledge that my structure holds, in all the work and study I’ve done over the years.

What is up next for you with Dance Exchange?

A lot. I just finished a residency in Lawrence, Kansas at the Lawrence Arts Center teaching modern technique and choreographic tools. The rest of the year will find me creating and teaching at our Summer Institute, preparing for the world premiere of Liz Lerman’s The Matter of Origins in September, touring throughout the fall, creating new works with students at Dickinson State University in Dickinson, North Dakota and students at University of Maryland and beginning to work with the Minnesota Chorale in Minneapolis to design a concert of dance, movement, and song with a mixed abilities cast.

What would you do if you weren't dancing?

If I wasn’t dancing, I would probably be working/studying within the visual art world curating and presenting. I have a strong interest in how we foster new art as well as represent and make apparent what has come before. I’m interested in how art speaks across time, culture and language and how that dialogue changes as our society evolves.

What do you do when you're not in rehearsals?

Well, I don’t think I’m ever not in rehearsal honestly. I think as long as I continue to dance, I’ll be in some form of rehearsal. My body and mind seem to be in a constant state of discovery and collaboration, be it in the studio or sitting at a coffee shop. Sometimes I feel like my entire world revolves around the discoveries of my physical structure; I just can’t shut it off.

But, when I’m not in the studio, I like to read. I’ve recently rediscovered bikram yoga and find immense strength in the practice of that. I tend to drink too much coffee and spend too much time on facebook as a hobby. I like to provide conversation and company while my friends cook, since I’m probably the worst cook ever but the perfect dinner guest. I enjoy foreign films and old movies. I am fed and nurtured by the Smithsonians and art galleries around DC, the Hirshhorn being a particularly favorite spot of mine.

You almost always have a book on you at Dance Exchange. What are you reading right now?

I’m never just reading one thing – I’m currently downing 5 back issues of the New Yorker, the new anthology of Kay Ryan’s poetry, the fourth section of Roberto Bolano’s 2666, and William T. Vollmann’s Kissing the Mask.

Photos: Ben in rehearsal in Portlaoise, Ireland in 2008 (Photo by Jori Ketten) / Ben with two community participants in Sheboygan, WI (Photo by Sarah Levitt) / Ben performing Keith Thompson's work, Blueprints of Relentless Nature (Photo by John Borstel)

Cassie featured in July's Dance Magazine

Company member Cassie Meador is featured in this month's Dance Magazine! She wrote an article for their "Why I Dance" section:

"Rather than spending hours trying to move like others in a ballet class, I attempted to move like the things I observed in my environment: the resilient squirrels in my yard, the way the magnolia trees bent down during a storm, the walking ritual my 88-year-old neighbor took to the edge of her drive each day, and the speed of land being cleared along the Savannah River. It was these tiny and grand expressions that I hungered to dance about."

Read the full article here.

Constant Preparation

Though it appears quiet at the studios this week with the company on a much-deserved vacation, there’s actually a constant undercurrent of preparation for Liz Lerman’s new piece, The Matter of Origins. Behind the scenes, it takes a lot of people to make the vision of a dance into reality: people to design the set, the lighting, the video, the costumes, the sound; someone to help with historical facts and help shape the piece; people to actually build the set and make the costumes; various managers to keep rehearsals, performances and schedules running smoothly; and a crew to operate everything in each theatre we visit.

All these people have lots of meetings and need to talk to each other constantly about how the final piece should look, sound, and feel. Over time, and through many phone calls and emails, bits and pieces emerge. Each time we rehearse we come away with more – music or text that we really like, stunning video sequences, choreography we know involves eight stools and two chairs that will need to be designed and built... The whole process is truly a collaborative effort.

This week has provided a good opportunity to organize DVDs of rehearsal footage and paint the cubes that are part of the set. We're grateful to have the time to do these things now, because come the middle of July, The Matter of Origins is going to kick into high gear and barrel along at warp speed until we reach the premiere at the University of Maryland on September 10 and 12.

Community Forum with Washington Adventist Health

Tonight we had 15 members from community organizations in the metro DC area come to a forum to contribute their ideas for Washington Adventist Hospital's proposed Center for Spiritual Life and Healing. No better way to discuss the integration of body, mind and spirit than to use them together with the help of some DX classic tools: Blind Lead and Build A Phrase. To learn more about these tools visit www.danceexchange.org and click on TOOLBOX.

What we did in Sheboygan

Here is the five-minute introduction created by Dan Klopp of Keyhole Films for the community work we created at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in February and March of this year. Enjoy!

Sore and happy.

A big big big thank you to everyone who made the trek to Olney Theatre this weekend to see New Works/New Voices. We had a great show--incredible performances by the company and the community participants who made an appearance in the final piece of the evening, Still Crossing. AND we had a lovely party for our cast, audience, board members and sponsors after the show!

We're on a break from rehearsals now until June, but we'll be posting periodically about what we're up to until then. Coming up in June: rehearsals for Martha's work Wind Studies, Liz's work Nocturnes, a residency at a retirement community in Milwaukee, and preparation for our Summer Institute in July.

Tonight!

New Works/New Voices is tonight at 7pm at the Olney Theatre Center in Olney, MD. If you haven't purchased your ticket yet, you can get it here, or by calling the box office: 301-924-3400. Join us after the show for a reception with the company and community participants. See you tonight!

Community participants rehearse Liz Lerman's Still Crossing at last night's dress rehearsal

Read all about it.

Cassie, Keith, and EJ talked to the Gazette last week about the variety of rep in our show on Saturday at Olney Theatre. Read the full article here, then buy your tickets to the show here. We'll see you Saturday!

The company in Cassie Meador's Drift

Photo by John Machtig