Performing Arts

The Walker Art Center and Southern Theater are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2007 Momentum: New Dance Works commissions. The proposals and work samples were carefully considered by a panel composed of the Southern Theater's Jeff Bartlett, Walker Art Center’s Philip Bither, and 2007 ad hoc panelist Erin Thompson. The following four artists/companies will be presented at the Southern Theater over two weekends in July, 2007:

July 12-14
Justin Jones
Maggie Bergeron

July 19-21
Cathy Campbell
Off-Leash Area

Momentum: New Dance Works 2007 is a partnership between Walker Art Center and the Southern Theater, with support from the Jerome Foundation, created to promote the work of an exciting new generation of dance and dance-theater creators in Minnesota. The series enables innovative, under-recognized choreographers to have their work presented to the broader public.

This will be the sixth year of the series, applications were numerous and of outstanding quality, making the selection process extremely competitive. We would like to thank all the artists for the time and energy invested in this application process, and we congratulate the recipients on their achievement!

The Performing Arts department went out for a much-deserved celebratory lunch today. The cause for celebration? The completion of Sarah Michelson’s residency and performance, last September. And Philip Bither’s birthday in November. And our annual holiday lunch/happy-hour in December. To make it seem not as pathetic as it really is, I try to call it “efficient.” Conversations to get something - ANYTHING - planned have usually gone like so:

PA Staffer #1: We should really go out to lunch to celebrate our hard work on this…we deserve it!

PA Staffer #2: Yeah, that’s a good idea - when?

PA Staffer #1: Um, how about Friday?

PA Staffer #3: I can’t, I have to go pick up (insert artist name here) from the airport .

PA Staffer #2: Next Monday?

PA Staffer #3: No, that’s when I’m taking (same artist) over to Perpich for their residency stuff. How about Tuesday? Tuesday works for me.

PA Staffer #4: No, I’m shuttling around (insert different artist name here) and then have to do a Costco-run for the backstage hospitality stuff. And Wednesday’s their tech rehearsal - so I need to stick around.

PA Staffer #1: Thursday?

PA Staffer #5: Oh, I’m sorry, I can’t - I have three back-to-back to meetings straight into prep for the post-performance talk.

So, yeah, four months later - we finally did it. Maybe we should start planning now for something in June to celebrate the next possible success that might happen in March.

Oy.

Tonight is the opening of Mabou Mines’ DollHouse (running through Sunday afternoon), and the Ibsen.net cup runneth over with interesting and informative tidbits about all things Henrik Ibsen: the history of A Doll’s House, an alternative script ending to appease enraged audiences and lily-livered theater producers (though written and vehemently denounced by the author), and photos from the first-ever performance in 1879:

Enjoy your macaroons, little birds.

The Walker Art Center and Southern Theater are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2006 Momentum: New Dance Works commissions. The proposals and work samples were carefully considered by a panel composed of the Southern Theater's Jeff Bartlett, Walker Art Center's Philip Bither, and 2006 ad hoc panelist Kristin Van Loon of HIJACK. The following four artists/companies will be presented at the Southern Theater over two weekends in mid-summer 2006:

Karen Sherman
Live Action Set & Spaghetti Western String Co.
Leah Nelson
The BodyCartography Project

In this fifth year of the series, applications were numerous and of outstanding quality, making the selection process extremely competitive. We would like to thank all the artists for the time and energy invested in this application process, and congratulate the recipients on their achievement!

Opening night of SUPER VISION (newest theater/new-media/spectacle work about "dataveillance" by The Builders Association and dbox) is just hours away. Since announcement of the work's topic many months ago, my awareness of surveillance in general and the resulting paranoia has seen new heights.

As a performer, surveillance doesn't bother me when I am notified of, and consent to, it. I am also aware that when I look beyond the stage lights into an audience and see that steady red pin-point of light, my performance tends to morph as I question my audience - am I performing for the group present, or am I performing for those who will see this on video (stage and film requiring different acting techniques)? That said, how does the awareness of surveillance affect us when walking down Hennepin Avenue, or into an elevator, or bank lobby, or grocery store parking lot, or even the Walker Art Center? Does this awareness change our daily performance? Do we find ourselves unwittingly putting on a show?

Enter the Sweat Anticon: a hooded sweatshirt that zips up to the top of the hood, leaving only eyeholes for the wearer to see out - effectively blocking the view of Big Brother. Good for anonymity, bad for a visit from the Department of Homeland Security. Interesting how the mere act of wearing such a garment and taking advantage of the ability to see but not be seen turns the wearer into the very thing he was attempting to evade. The watched is now the watcher.

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Last week I was the lucky recipient of my favorite recurring piece of Performing Arts Junk Mail. It has a photograph of a rather large smoke-and-mirrors style set-up, with beautiful women in "ta-daa!" poses flanking a blushing, yet proud, CEO on a large motorcycle. Apparently, for Your Corporate Event, you can "dazzle audiences with state-of-the-art illusions or magically produce your CEO on a Harley Davidson motorcycle® or in a NASCAR®!"

It's days like these that I not only get a good laugh because their booking managers obviously either don't know or don't care what kind of performing arts the Walker programs (otherwise they'd save some money on printing and postage), but also because I am so, SO happy I work here. In these days of rampant fiscal mismanagement, I can't imagine any employee of any company anywhere finding joy in seeing their boss "magically produced" on a Harley Davidson motorcycle® or in a NASCAR®.

Viva la arts non-profit!