Collaboration Chronicles Round 2: Threading Motion at the NE Quilt Museum!

Since words and original music were the perfect accompaniment to our experimental mobius show, I decided to keep Jenn and Christos on as active participants in my new work (the 'live' component to Luminarium's Threading Motion Project), with Rose, Katie and Leslie dancing as a trio.  

Preface; I had minimal knowledge of anything to do with quilts!  Merli, and her previous interest in quilting, was the one driving the connection to the NE Quilt Museum in Lowell in her quest to create the beautiful Quilt Vignettes (on film), and I was glad to contribute work performed live amidst the museum's collections.  

I approached my work from a very broad standpoint.  Quilts are comfort, they are art, they are hard work.  As art, quilts too must be conceived through creative process, which can be flattened into the ideas of preparation, process, product.  While I often don't work methodically, any artist has at least a bit of personal process, so in that manner I related to quilting.  I remember my grandmother teaching me how to sew buttons onto scraps of fabric, and later turn scraps of fabric into larger items; her motto was constantly "measure twice, cut once"and this along with ideas of blueprint, trace, and steadiness were inspiration behind the first phase of the piece.  The second phase, process, attempted to stretch and weave our 60ft aerial silk throughout the performance space.  The dancers became thread, became fingers in control of thread.  They were thoughts and ideas, put into action or discarded.  Each of the three was constantly in contact with the silk.  It supported their weight and movements, it was a thin barrier between two partnering dancers, it was a constant. Finally, our final portion of the work demonstrated the permanentness of a product, whether tangible, visual or auditory, and the ultimate goal of sharing it with others.  

Hopefully soon we will share some video, so you can experience and weigh in on our final product.  With subtle/intricate music providing support to the movement, and the following poems spoken throughout the 15 minute piece, many audience members raved about the work's multiple layers providing a fullness to the viewing experience.

Check out the brilliant poems that follow, and if YOU attended this weekend's showing, please send us your thoughts.

Many thanks to Jenn Allen, Christos Zevos, Rose, Leslie, Katie and everyone that made this project possible!

-Kim

 WRITTEN MATERIAL COPYRIGHT C. ZEVOS

Collaboration Chronicles... Threading Motion Round 1

As a artist (especially a former college dance major), we often find ourselves in forced or chance collaborations.  To be completely honest, besides working with Merli in constant Luminarium endeavors, I had never really collaborated with someone I knew on a personal level.  

We were accepted to mobius' Tinderbox series for April.  Having the Threading Motion Project approaching and not a lot of time, I decided to present the broken-down version of my live trio, done as a solo.  I suppose in retrospect this is typical for me, present the introspective exploration on a work that hadn't been created or performed yet.  Backwards, as usual!  

Anyways, in order to fill out the sensory experience, I approached my lovely jazz-composer/trumpet-playing sister, Jenn Allen, to provide some of her new musical sketches to add more life to the work.  With Jenn on trumpet, and Christos Zevos, bassist extraordinaire, we had an awesome thing going!  

60 ft- of teal silk, the movement talents of Leslie Armstrong (our newest Luminarium dancer)... the art exploration was visually interesting, but since I am a backwards worker and the world knew nothing of this piece, I felt audiences needed a tiny bit more context.  We had sections exploring unravelling, emerging, distributing/scattering, a section based on an ostinato, and another unravel.  I was going to write some amateur poetry myself... when Christos casually offered to take a turn at it during one of our two rehearsals.  Just under two hours later, at the end of rehearsal, I am certainly glad we had agreed to give it a go.  

Even if you are lucky enough to have wonderfully talented people in your life, you can still be rendered speechless by new creations...  Please enjoy the following poetry, which accompanied our mobius/Tinderbox performance!

-Kim

---

Emerge 

rises from water: 

fathoms deep, cold 

and round 

the world held their 

breath- 

and exhaled. 

---

Scatter 

sunlight through window 

hand-clap, dust constell 

-ations 

each particle 

              spread, 

even drift 

to new homes 

---

ostinato 

a  shopping cart 

with a  stubborn 

wheel squeaks a 

stubborn    hand 

cracks  knuckles 

with    shopping 

bags  in  hand  a 

car  door  creaks 

a  window  with 

small   cracks   a 

strong        hand 

squeaks  chalk a 

hand  bag with a 

stubborn    clasp 

shopping     cart 

sound  over time 

---

unravel 

unslip, 

tight wound 

and wind 

-no sag 

sound of 

hands brushing 

on walls, 

oceans of 

smooth cloth 

sky made 

solid, balled 

up 

and released. 

ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT C. ZEVOS

Sketchbook: Light vs. Dark

This Luminarium "Sketchbook" entry brought to you by Merli.

From approximately 10am to 11pm, Kim and I spent our President's Day communicating back and forth about grants, research, connections, scheduling, planning, rehearsing, etc. The nitty-gritty aspects of running a company. But from 11pm to 1am, the conversation shifted to the creative process, and what a meaty conversation it was!

We covered several directions this topic could take us, but I thought it might be interesting for our viewers to see a little sneak peek behind the creative process of one of our current works, Spinal.

For those who have been following all the recent images of my Quilt Vignettes for our Threading Motion Project with the New England Quilt Museum, you might remember a digital sketch of Spinal, in which a white spine-like quilt would be projected across a dancer's back. Spinal quickly became a favorite among these digital sketches, not only for myself, but for my viewers, and the dancer I cast!

Little did we know how tricky this vignette would secretly prove to be...

Jess Chang, rehearsing Spinal.
Quilt by Sonya Lee Barrington
(Photo enhanced to show shadow...otherwise difficult to capture on film)

My original concept was to project the image onto Jess's spine, seating her on an angle to allow us to play with her shadow. However in reality, Jess was so dark in comparison to her surroundings, and the beam of light was so bright, that my eye continuously wandered to the projection. Only to the projection.

Light and anatomy are both to blame for this lack of intrigue: Unlike my other quilt vignettes, in which the patterns cover a greater amount of space and the dancers face any number of directions, we suddenly found ourselves with a thin vertical beam of light against a flat back...good luck making it undulate, let alone move!

Now, this was by no means a shock, but when you combine a bright, stationary beam of light with the inability to see the rest of Jess in the dark, you are literally left with one of the most boring films of all time. (I'd post it here, but... I mean, it's literally just the spine quivering in the dark to the sounds of me giggling with frustration.)

Fast-forward one hour to when we threw on the lights, and suddenly the entire piece takes on a completely different feel and complexity:

I filmed it again in the light, and was struck with a sudden sense of success! It is amazing how differently this piece now read: With the focus drawn away from the projection and instead onto Jess as a whole, I found myself excited by the unexpected movements of the spine on her back. A highlight, rather than a hiccup.

So now it's less than 24 hours before my next rehearsal, and I am still struggling as an artist to determine the best move. Do I try to salvage the dark version? Do I welcome the fully-lit version? Or do I try to find a balance in between by using clamp lights to manually adjust the Jess to projection ratio?

I guess we'll find out at 9:30pm...

Kim Thoughts...

Secrets & Motion (thought into words and vice versa)

**Note!  I wrote this post about our upcoming summer/fall Secrets&Motion project awhile ago, and have been trying to keep it at arm's length, while immersing in our Lowell Quilt Project.  I am letting my thoughts out in an attempt to release them from my active brain space, and keep them simmering until later spring.**

Listening to Myrlie Evers-Williams speak at the Inauguration made me once again aware of why I've wanted to work with words for so long.

In planning the start of last year's season, or maybe end of the one before, I brought up working with diary pages in the context of the candid thoughts of youth, but it wasn't the right time for such a project.  At the tail end of Mythos:Pathos, really as fodder for grants and something to put on paper for the next year's marketing materials, I threw the idea of turning words into a full-length performance again, and it took root.  Moving forward with an equally motivated codirector, we decided we wanted to pursue text (both original and preexisting, anonymous and owned) and we would find it through community members and library books and other sources, and we would treat it with dance.  A solid assortment of text-turned-dance would be a shot to capture who exactly we are.

Words are so important, even if they never become words.  Words are progress.  Words document, propel, and provide narrative to history.  Words are birthed thought (yes, I'm still going!), opinion and communication.  Words are protection and unfortunately sometimes weapons.

An important idea to me, personally, is how often words are forgotten or dissolve from our brains. The fables, myths and cautionary tales we read as kids are so often forgotten or discredited with adolescence.  Advice from our parents, those things we never said we would do or allow again, our wedding vows- what falls by the wayside?    A wonderful side-effect of this project is the amount of time we will be granted to meditate on words we might otherwise just read through; selecting text will be a vital task.

While Merli and I will be creating and merging segments together to form a larger show, I think my own focus will be selecting historic and contemporary texts and comparing them to original and personal pieces to find both difference and universality.  This, as always, is bound to change and in need of specificity, but it's currently a nice way to think about time travel through words, thoughts and dance.

Ok... now, bring on the quilts!

-Kim

Sketchbook: Quilt Vignettes (Part II)

Casting is complete! Our filming day is being secured, and so far, I have received nothing but enthusiastic feedback from the artists behind the quilts I chose...fantastic!

Below are three more digital sketches inspiring me for this week's rehearsals. Can't wait to start working with our dancers...

This quilt is so simple, that I am actually inspired by it! Because the focus is on this framed rose image that is delicate and light, I thought it might be interesting to begin with the dancer tucked in on herself, then quickly throw herself into an unfurled position (jump? arabesque/dive?) with fabric flying about her. Just the one motion. Then I'll slow it down on my computer to make it look almost like a flower unfurling.
(Chinese Rose  by Diane Loomis)

Same quilter as Gingko. When I first saw this image, I immediately imagined it on a woman's spine, so I found it fitting when I realized the name was "Spinal." For this quilt, I'll actually black out the rest of the image so that the dancer is mostly in the shadows/dark, while only the spine is illuminated.
(Spinal by Sonya Lee Barrington)

This one is my favorite quilt. Originally I saw it as a woman standing in a long white dress with billowing sleeves. We'd turn on a fan and have her basically undulate in the wind, but her feet never move. Upper body only.
(Chasm by Judith Content)

Alternatively, I may place two white blocks inside the gaps, so that the figure can
play within the unique shape of the quilt.
(Chasm by Judith Content)

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Lowell Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

Sketchbook: Quilt Vignettes

As January spirals to a close, our company is now ready to jump into two concurrent projects: 1) Our community outreach project with Young at Arts and the South Boston Boys & Girls Club, and 2) Our Threading Motion project with the New England Quilt Museum. Today’s “Sketchbook” entry represents the latter!

We are thrilled to be collaborating with the museum in sync with its Silk! exhibit opening this April, and have recently received a large grant from the Lowell Cultural Council to do so. Fantastic! What’s tricky about this project is explaining the concept. As the quilt-enthusiast who came up with this idea, I’ve found myself bursting at the seams with my excitement to explain: “We’ll select some quilt images, project them onto our dancers in the studio, and create little vignettes that will play as a film on loop in the gallery!” This is inevitably followed with a confused supportive smile and puzzled stare, until I show them my digital sketches of ideas, at which point they suddenly understand the look, feel, and concept I’m trying so hard to describe.

Below are three of the six quilts we will be working with, along with my original sketchbook comments for each image. I hope this can shed some light on the project, and gain a little excitement as we get ready to cast each vignette tomorrow night!

-Merli



This one is feeling pretty exciting to me. It hit me that I could project the image horizontally, have a pair of dancers tumble their way across, then flip it in FCP back to vertical so that they're tumbling down this vine of gingkos.
(Gingko by Sonya Lee Barrington)




This quilt is so intricately patterned and "busy" looking that I thought it could look really intriguing across someone's face and hands as a closeup.
(Cynthia Star by Janet Elwin)



This one is interesting because I originally didn't feel drawn to it for this project, but have since come to love its burst of color, and think some powerful leaping across could really bring this to life.
(Gilding the Arbor by Bethanne Nemesh)

The Adventures of Ithaca!

Hello Lumi-followers,

This weekend offered Luminarium three days of adventure, as we traveled up to Ithaca, NY to perform our first commissioned work alongside a talented orchestra performing new work by Justyne Griffin.

The road trip got off to a bit of a rocky start, as Kim shuffled cars at the airport rental until landing on the biggest, best model they had (shy only of a stretch SUV, really). At 4pm we hit the highway (and traffic), and by midnight, we arrived two hours late for our 10pm dress rehearsal. Luckily for Kim and myself, this was not the first time we've been illegally let inside a building after hours to view a space. One sneaky, whispered meeting with Justyne and a short car ride later, we finally arrived at our new home:




Our home was perfect! Cozy, but spacious, with plenty of room for the six of us. Only downside, perhaps, was the sulfuric water that resulted in leaving our showers spelling like eggs. But all in all, a wonderful little home for our retreat.

Saturday's adventures began with Kim-made coffee (our resident coffee expert) in our kitchen, with each of us exploring the yard, living room, and wrap-around porch, followed by a trip to the Carriage House, a local breakfast/lunch destination that completely wowed us.

Perfection personified. 

After a meal of garlic-battered home fries, pig belly, brie-stuffed french toast, and fancy pesto grilled cheese, Rose suggested we find the waterfalls of Buttermilk Farms, "easily accessible by car." Sure, if you can find it! After a few wrong directions, we successfully forded a totally Oregon-Trail-worthy river in our hulk mobile and arrive at the falls.

Photo by Amy Mastrangelo

End of the day brought our performance...and also our first time hearing the music in person. Good thing we're all creative, and can make things click in just about any situation. Helped that we were a little giddy with adrenaline before going onstage, as well:

We had to keep quiet...Here's what we're saying:

Merli: Hey! We're about to perform-
Rose: in Ithaca!
Mark: Not the Hamlet of Varna
Merli: We have this whole dressing room to ourselves-
Mark: all 12 feet of it!
Merli: That's Kim. Behind you.
Rose: Enjoy the show...
*For those wondering at home, Hamlet of Varna is a real place, that we really drove through...every day. :)

A short clip taken from the first section of the trilogy of works:


The trip was a wonderful experience. Not only did it allow us the opportunity to spend time together as a company outside of the rehearsal studio, but it gave movement to music, and music to movement through a collaboration that (shockingly) took place over the past few months merely through email. The coming together of these two live art forms was powerful for Justyne, Kim, and myself, and we were so touched by the feedback we received from the audience after the performance.

And as we end this post with images of the amazing post-show gourmet cupcakes we eagerly consumed, we wish all of you safety during the impending hurricane Sandy, and hope to visit NY again soon.

-Merli (and Kim)
Dancers on tour: Rose Abramoff, Jess Chang, Mark Kranz, Amy Mastrangelo

Waiting to be eaten: Chai Latte, Pink Champaign, Green Tea & Orange Fortune Cookie cupcakes

So beautiful, so delicious. A Ginger & Rosemary cupcake...who would've thought!