For 10/9/09 meeting with Mary Armentrout

dear all,

I very much look forward to seeing you this Friday (4 to 6 in Dwinelle Annex, room 126).  I just wanted to let you know some of my thoughts for the upcoming session.  Jessica Robinson, director of CounterPULSE, who is my main collaborator in producing the dance discourse project, has enthusiastically said she will be joining us for this session, which I think will be great.  We will be talking about the dance discourse project in general, in addition to spending some time with the topic of the upcoming ddp #7 – “dancing diaspora” and the larger festival “Performing Diaspora” at CounterPULSE that it is part of.

There are two topics that I think are of interest, and I am hoping we can have time to discuss both of them.  First, I am very interested in hashing out how things like the dance discourse project run into the theory-practice divide, and I think this group may have interesting opinions about that.  Second, I want to make sure we have time to talk about some of the issues inherent in the “dancing diaspora” idea, bringing us to issues around culturally specific dance and how it lives in the modern world, and perhaps even the particular identity of the bay area dance scene.

I keep returning to the Shannon Jackson reading on the theory-practice divide, and am glad we picked it as one of our two main articles for the year, so I plan to bring aspects of that reading into our discussion.  The Kraut reading I think nicely intersects some of the issues that will come up around dancing diaspora.  In the interests of further elaborating, messing up, and problematizing the working artist-theoretician divide, I am also offering you all these two selections from the CounterPULSE “Performing Diaspora” blogs.  All of the artists in the festival have been blogging about their work and process, and I find these two very strong and full of rich problems.

Prumsodun Ok talks about costuming and gender in classical Cambodian dance:
http://counterpulse.org/approaching-the-feminine-prumsodun-ok-for-performing-diaspora/

Sri Susilowati talks about innovation within traditional forms and the
“pigeon-holing” of ethnic dance:
http://counterpulse.org/traditional-dance-does-not-put-the-%E2%80%9Cno%E2%80%9D-into-innovation-with-apologies-to-the-shredded-wheat-commercial/

If you have a chance to look at these too, that would be great!  see you on Friday!

xx  Mary

First DSWG meeting DATE & TIME

Hello all,

Just to clarify, the first DSWG meeting will take place on Friday, September 11, from 4 to 6pm at 126 Dwinelle Annex on the UC Berkeley campus. All meetings will be at the same time and same place.

See you soon!

DSWG schedule

Here it is, the 2009-2010 Townsend Center Dance Studies Working Group schedule of discussions, readings, and events! This year, the Dance Studies Working Group has an overarching theme: Theory/Practice/Interdisciplinarity. Each month’s discussion topic approaches the theory/practice divide in relation to the dance field and to the notion of interdisciplinarity. The idea is to focus our discussions on the individual readings, visiting scholars, performance events, and workshops in a way that builds our broader discussion from month to month.

Please note that readings will be sent to you via email (no reader this year) and that they are for your enjoyment and, perhaps, provocation. In other words, though we’ll probably be discussing them to some extent, don’t let not having read them keep you away from meetings. As for performances, there are of course many, many dance events happening in the Bay Area all the time, but we’ve chosen one per month based on personal interest and availability of date, time, and venue details. Since the smaller local venues that we hope to include in our working group performance list have yet to set their spring schedules, we will list spring events once these dates are announced. Also, we will look into block tickets for events if we can confirm a certain number of attendees (TBD). Please feel free to post additional performances and events to the blog in the comments section (dswgberk.wordpress.com).

Lastly, we are thrilled to have several esteemed guests this year. Professor Mark Franko (UC Santa Cruz Department of Theater and Dance) and Alva Noë (UC Berkeley Department of Philosophy) will be presenting to the group. In addition, we will discuss Erin Manning’s and Janet O’Shea‘s April visit to Berkeley. More information about these outstanding scholars to be found on the blog.

So, thanks for joining us. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Best,

Sima, Ashley, and Mary

DANCE STUDIES WORKING GROUP: THEORY/PRACTICE/INTERDISCIPLINARITY

SEPTEMBER 11

* Opening session led by Sima Belmar. Introduction of this year’s theme, Theory/Practice/Interdisciplinarity. What is the nature relationship between theory and practice in a dance studies context? Where do questions of interdisciplinarity further solidify or complicate this relationship?

* Reading: Jackson, Shannon. “Practice and performance: modernist paradoxes and literalist legacies” in Professing Performance: Theatre in the Academy from Philology to Performativity (2004); Burt, Ramsay. “The Specter of Interdisciplinarity” in Dance Research Journal 41/1 Summer 2009. (Both are attached to this email).

* Performance: Dandelion Dancetheater presents MUTT: chapters one & two at ODC Dance Commons, San Francisco, Sept. 18 – 19, 8:00 PM, Sept. 20, 7:00 PM. Tickets: $11-$18, www.dandeliondancetheater.org

OCTOBER 9

* The Dance Discourse Project: practice and theory across the academic/professional divide, led by Mary Armentrout.

* Reading: Kraut, Anthea. Excerpts from Choreographing the Folk: The Dance Stagings of Zora Neale Hurston (2008).

* Event: Dance Discourse Project 7: Performing Diaspora at Counterpulse, Oct. 15, 7:30pm, Free. http://www.counterpulse.org/calendar.shtml. (This event is part of the Performing Diaspora Festival at Counterpulse, Oct. 15-Nov. 22, 2009).

* Performance: MILK BAR at the Sunshine Biscuit Factory Complex in Oakland, Oct. 9, 8:30pm, $5-10 NOTA. www.milkbar.org

NOVEMBER 13

* Guest speaker UC Berkeley professor of philosophy Alva Noë presents on dance and philosophy in international and interdisciplinary contexts.

* Reading: Excerpts from Out of Our Heads: Why You Are not Your Brain and Other Lessons from the Biology of Consciousness (2009).

* Performance: DV8 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Nov 12–14, 2009.

DECEMBER (no discussion meeting)

* Event: Ralph Lemon speaks at Stanford University, Dec. 3.

JANUARY (no discussion meeting)

* 3-hour Embodying Theory Workshop with Jess Curtis in the Bancroft Studio, UC Berkeley Campus, date and time TBD. (This workshop is still pending. We’ll keep you posted).

* Reading: TBD.

FEBRUARY 12

* UC Santa Cruz Professor of Dance Mark Franko presents “The Dancing Gaze: La Argentina from Valery to Ohno.” Kazuo Ohno’s Admiring La Argentina contains a complex reflection on the way past sources are absorbed into present performance. Ohno’s history of watching La Argentina contained two events of the gaze: one in 1929 when he saw her perform, and another in 1976 when he saw her movement in an abstract painting by Nakanishi. (This will be an updated version of a paper Prof. Franko gave at the 2009 Society of Dance History Scholars conference).

* Reading: TBD.

* Performances: Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, Feb.4-6, YBCA; Lyon Opera Ballet performs Forsythe, Kylián, and De Keersmaeker, Feb. 26-27, Zellerbach.

MARCH 12

* Somatics and practicing theory, led by Mary.

* Reading: Excerpts from Shusterman, Richard. Body Consciousness: A Philosophy of Mindfulness and Somaesthetics (2008).

* Performance: Sara Kraft, YBCA, Mar 18–20, 2010.

APRIL 9

* Closing discussion led by Ashley: This meeting will focus on ideas introduced by professors Erin Manning and Janet O’Shea at their April 6 panel discussion, relating them to the topics and questions that will have arisen during our year-long inquiry.

* Reading: Manning, Erin. Excerpts from Relationscapes: Movement, Art, Philosophy (2009); Phelan, Peggy. “Trisha Brown’s Orfeo: Two Takes on Double Endings” in Of the Presence of the Body: Essays on Dance and Performance Theory (2004).

* Event: Erin Manning and Janet O’Shea panel on dance and the practice/theory relationship, Apr. 6, Durham Studio Theater, Dwinelle Hall, UC Berkeley, Free.

* Performance: Reggie Wilson/Fist and Heel Performance Group and Andréya Ouamba/Compagnie 1er Temps, YBCA, Apr. 1-3, 2010.