Monday, January 31, 2011

Alastair MacAulay on Fred Astaire as Bill Robinson

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In case you missed it the first time around.... A mighty nice article on and about Mr. Astaire. Complete with links to YouTube,



YouTube



and YouTube.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Movement Museum talking about dance in Montreal 97: Amy Blackmore, Holly Greco

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Our show from January 27, 2011
(Download: MP3 74MB, Flac MB, Ogg Vorbis 40MB or Stream)

In this show Chris 'Zeke' Hand, and Jenn Doan talk to Amy Blackmore and Holly Greco about Bouge D'ici.

The theme song of the week is The Secret Swizzles' version of Do You Want to Dance, the dance poem of the week is The Dance by John Cowper Powys, This Week in Dance History highlights Mikhail Baryshnikov, and the music played during the show is from the CD Emerging Field by Faruq Z. Bey.

Movement Museum a radio show broadcast Thursdays at 14h on CKUT 90.3 FM in Montreal, and podcast Friday mornings at 8h at http://movement-museum.blogspot.com/. Co-hosts Chris 'Zeke' Hand, Jenn Doan and Bettina Forget talk about dance in Montreal.
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Dans cette emission Chris 'Zeke' Hand et Jenn Doan parlent avec Amy Blackmore et Holly Greco de Bouge d'ici.

La chanson theme de la semaine est la version par The Secret Swizzles de Do You Wanna Dance, le poeme de danse de la semaine est The Dancer par John Cowper Powys, l'Histoire de la Danse Cette Semaine marque Mikhail Baryshnikov. La musique joue pendant l'emission est du CD Emerging Field par Faruq Z. Bey.

Movement Museum une emission de radio diffusee le jeudi a 14h sur les ondes de CKUT 90,3 FM a Montreal, et podcast vendredi matin a 8h a http://movement-museum.blogspot.com/. Co-animateurs Chris Hand (aka "Zeke"), Jenn Doan et Bettina Forget parler de la danse a Montreal.

Listen


Jenn Doan and Chris 'Zeke' Hand

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

S'envoler by Estelle Clareton & Montréal Danse

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They just put the video up on YouTube...

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Montreal Dance gets reviewed

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Icônes, à vendre in La Presse by Stéphanie Brody.
BJM Danse in La Presse by Aline Apostolska.

Rhetorical Question and How it was Done

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When did actors stop doing their own dancing?

Why Natalie Portman didn't have to dance (click on the movie poster). Personally I love the line, "add audience and orchestra." Thanks to Ruminations by a Rogue Ballerina for the head's up.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Win tickets to Dumb Type's True at Usine C

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Dumb Type is going to be presenting True at Usine C January 27, 28 and 29 at 20h. We have a pair of tickets to give away to the performance of January 27. In order to win them, all you have to do is email us your suggestion of who you would like us to have as a guest on the show in the future. Best answer wins, good luck!

Louis Robitaille woke up early on Friday.

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The artistic director of BJM Danse Montréal was interviewed on C'est bien meilleur le matin, and while he was probably there to promote the BJM shows at Place des Arts last weekend, René Homier-Roy wanted to talk about Black Swan, maybe M. Robitaille should have slept in.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Movement Museum, talking about Dance in Montreal 96: Winifred Burnet-Smith

Howdy!

Our show from January 20, 2011
(Download: MP3 74MB, Flac 599MB, Ogg Vorbis 38MB or Stream)

Movement Museum a radio show broadcast Thursdays at 14h on CKUT 90.3 FM in Montreal, and podcast Friday mornings at 8h at http://movement-museum.blogspot.com/. Co-hosts Chris 'Zeke' Hand, Jenn Doan and Bettina Forget talk about dance in Montreal.

In this show Chris 'Zeke' Hand, Jenn Doan and Bettina Forget talk to Winifred Burnet-Smith a dancer with the Hofesh Shechter company.

The theme song of the week is Sharon Cuneta's version of Do You Want to Dance, the dance poem of the week is Salome by Pitts Sanborn, This Week in Dance History highlights George Balanchine, and the music played during the show is from the CD The Key is in the Window by Aaron Shragge and Ben Monder.

Listen

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Movement Museum une emission de radio diffusee le jeudi a 14h sur les ondes de CKUT 90,3 FM a Montreal, et podcast vendredi matin a 8h a http://movement-museum.blogspot.com/. Co-animateurs Chris Hand (aka "Zeke"), Jenn Doan et Bettina Forget parler de la danse a Montreal.

Dans cette emission Chris 'Zeke' Hand, Jenn Doan et Bettina Forget parlent avec Winifred Burnet-Smith une danseuse de la compagnie Hofesh Shechter.

La chanson theme de la semaine est la version par Sharon Cuneta de Do You Wanna Dance, le poeme de danse de la semaine est Salome par Pitts Sanborn, l'Histoire de la Danse Cette Semaine marque George Balanchine. La musique joue pendant l'emission est du CD The Key is in the Window by Aaron Shragge and Ben Monder.

Écouter

Jenn Doan, Bettina Forget and Chris 'Zeke' Hand

Thursday, January 20, 2011

John Rockwell writes extremely eloquently

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John Rockwell, the former dance critic for the New York Times writes extremely well about what it is like to be a critic.

Some quotes
Critics may be full of themselves, but they do have a higher conception of their role than artists and presenters. We see the critic’s role as a noble one – trying to encapsulate in resistant prose the artistic experiences we encounter, maybe helping to educate our readers and provide them a sounding board for their own opinions, advancing the standards of an art form we love. Critics must love the art in question and bring a certain level of expertise (technical, historical, experiential) to the job. Underneath all that, they have to have the gift of good writing. Critics are not there to serve the dance community or particular artists. They are there to join in – lead, maybe, in a dominant paper – a wider conversation and shared enthusiasm about the art form.They are not there to serve the dance community or particular artists. They are there to join in – lead, maybe, in a dominant paper – a wider conversation and shared enthusiasm about the art form.
There is an inherent tension between reviewers and reviewed, and that’s inevitable, even healthy. Critics who are overly friendly with certain artists and champion them incessantly lose the confidence of their attentive readers. Every critic, more properly every good critic, has a sensibility that becomes evident to readers over time: they particularly like ballet or experimental dance or ethnic dance or tap dance or historical dance or certain dancers and choreographers. That might make those who fall outside the favored circle upset, but a critic who blandly likes everything is hardly the solution. Nor is the critic who tries to confine him/herself to “objective,” nonjudgmental description much help. The very act of description and the choice of what to describe amounts to a subjective judgment, and anyhow, readers want critics to render a judgment, if only to calibrate it with their own, to confirm what a genius or idiot the critic truly is.
And I can assure you, whatever bitchiness the reviewed may feel about the reviewers is nothing next to the bitchiness reviewers feel among themselves.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Dance Passport needs to get some fact checkers...

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Yesterday, Dance Passport wrote that Universal Vibes claims to be "the first of its kind in the world" and labels their unique style: ASL inspired hip hop.

The only problem is that within 30 seconds I found the DEAF Dancers

Who posted to YouTube 6 months before Universal Vibes, and then with 30 more seconds I found this from 2008. So they are neither first, nor unique.

Not to take anything away from Universal Vibes, but Dance Passport should know better.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Merlet Ballet Shoes, au coeur du mouvement tries the web 2.0 on for size

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I'm not certain who Eric Johnston is, but last week he posted three videos that make Merlet sound and look like the best thing since sliced bread™.




Friday, January 14, 2011

Movement Museum, talking about dance in Montreal 95: Lys Stevens, Stephanie Felkai

Howdy!

Our show from January 13, 2011
(Download: MP3 70MB, Flac 579MB, Ogg Vorbis 37MB or Stream)

Movement Museum a radio show broadcast Thursdays at 14h on CKUT 90.3 FM in Montreal, and podcast Friday mornings at 8h at http://movement-museum.blogspot.com/. Co-hosts Chris 'Zeke' Hand, Jenn Doan and Bettina Forget talk about dance in Montreal.

In this show Chris 'Zeke' Hand, Jenn Doan and Bettina Forget talk to Lys Stevens and Stephanie Felkai, founders of Movement Museum.

The theme song of the week is Barbie's version of Do You Want to Dance, the dance poem of the week is The Dancer by James Stephens, This Week in Dance History highlights José Navas, and the music played during the show is from Subtle Lip Can.
Stephanie Felkai

Lys Stevens
Movement Museum une emission de radio diffusee le jeudi a 14h sur les ondes de CKUT 90,3 FM a Montreal, et podcast vendredi matin a 8h a http://movement-museum.blogspot.com/. Co-animateurs Chris Hand (aka "Zeke"), Jenn Doan et Bettina Forget parler de la danse a Montreal.

Dans cette emission Chris 'Zeke' Hand, Jenn Doan et Bettina Forget parlent avec Lys Stevens and Stephanie Felkai, fondateurs de Movement Museum.

La chanson theme de la semaine est la version par Barbie de Do You Wanna Dance, le poeme de danse de la semaine est The Dancer par James Stephens, l'Histoire de la Danse Cette Semaine marque José Navas. La musique joue pendant l'emission est par Subtle Lip Can.

Listen


Jenn Doan, Bettina Forget and Chris 'Zeke' Hand

Thursday, January 13, 2011

The Ballet Bag does Giselle

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And since the Ballet Nacional de Cuba will be performing it here in February, it'd would be a good thing to commit at least some of this to memory. As with many ballet backgrounders they go over their dream cast, the background, the music, a synopsis, other notable versions, along with what they call a mini biography. But what I go gaga over is that in a very 21st century way they also point you to videos
Legends
  • Gelsey Kirkland – Act I variation [link]
  • Olga Spessivtseva in her signature Act I variation (diagonal of turns – instead of a manège – see also Rojo and Bouder videos below) [link]
  • Alicia Alonso & Azari Plisetsky – Act II Pas de Deux [link]
  • Alicia Markova & Anton Dolin, a short clip with testimonials and performance footage [link]
  • Carla Fracci and Vladimir Vasiliev – Act II Pas de Deux [link]
  • Natalia Makarova – Mad Scene with Mikhail Baryshnikov (Albrecht) and Frank Smith (Hilarion) in David Blair’s  production [link]
  • Mikhail Baryshnikov – Albrecht’s Act II variation (diagonals of brisés instead of entrechats) [link]
Today
And that is what makes the Ballet Bag such a kick-ass website.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Ballet dancers in feature films, a "tradition of morbidity"

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A very nicely written post over at The Guardian on other films that feature ballet. Sounds like you could program your own film festival.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Ballet Victoria's "Beauty and the Beast"

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Act One


Act Two

Friday, January 7, 2011

Movement Museum, talking about dance in Montreal 94: Amy Blackmore, David-Albert Toth, Emily Gaultieri, Helen Simard, Bouge d'ici

Howdy!

Our show from January 6, 2011 (Download: MP3 75MB, Flac 579MB, Ogg Vorbis 40MB or Stream)

Movement Museum a radio show broadcast Thursdays at 14h on CKUT 90.3 FM in Montreal, and podcast Friday mornings at 8h at http://movement-museum.blogspot.com/. Co-hosts Chris 'Zeke' Hand, Jenn Doan, Kallee Lins and Bettina Forget talk about dance in Montreal.

In this show Chris 'Zeke' Hand, Jenn Doan and Bettina Forget talk to Amy Blackmore, David-Albert Toth, Emily Gualtieri, and Helen Simard from and about the festival Bouge d'ici.

Left to Right: Helen Simard, Emily Gualtieri, David-Albert Toth, and Amy Blackmore

The theme song of the week is the Mamas and Papas's version of Do You Want to Dance, the dance poem of the week is The Dancer's Reply by Howard Nemerov, This Week in Dance History highlights Rudolf Nureyev, and the music played during the show is from the Joe Sullivan Big Band's CD Northern Ontario Suite.
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Mouvement Musee une emission de radio diffusee le jeudi a 14h sur les ondes de CKUT 90,3 FM a Montreal, et podcast vendredi matin a 8h a http://movement-museum.blogspot.com/. Co-animateurs Chris Hand (aka "Zeke"), Jenn Doan, Kallee Lins et Bettina Forget parlent de la danse a Montreal.

Dans cette emission Chris 'Zeke' Hand, Jenn Doan et Bettina Forget parlent avec Amy Blackmore, David-Albert Toth, Emily Gaultieri, et Helen Simard du festival Bouge d'ici.

La chanson theme de la semaine est la version par les Mamas and Papas de Do You Wanna Dance, le poeme de danse de la semaine est The Dancer's Reply par Howard Nemerov, l'Histoire de la Danse Cette Semaine marque Rudolf Nureyev. La musique joue pendant l'emission est du CD Northern Ontario Suite par la Joe Sullivan Big Band.

Listen


Jenn Doan, Bettina Forget and Chris 'Zeke' Hand

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Fabienne Cabado gets her chops busted

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Right here.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Marie Chouinard on Désautels

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I almost missed this one... and apologies for being late to the party. It originally happened back in Novemeber.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Paths of Flight

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While normally, I'm not a big fan of things GE, this is a very well done short film.



If you can, watch it full screen.