Laura Ward/Octavia Cup Dance Theatre

Columbia Ballet Collaborative Show this weekend

2011-11-17T23:09:00.000-08:00

Just had tech/dress with Columbia Ballet Collaborative. Kokyat was there too, shooting, shooting, shooting! I went a little early so I would have some idea of the space and lighting possibilities. I watched a few of the other choreographer's techs. After seeing their pieces I had some doubts about my own work, thankfully my doubts eased up when I saw my piece with lights. Production values are so important!

It was challenging putting this piece together with only one 2 hour rehearsal per week and sometimes missing dancers. I had planned to do three movements. There are two. Not enough time to get it all done... alas. Well, we have 8 minutes. I am using music that Michel Ayello made; She Said Wait and Okla-Home the first is a song Michel made while watching me dance in Ella Condon's L'Empreinte video (http://vimeo.com/27892955). He used a poem I had written while listening to his Lawson (http://thelugglab.bandcamp.com/album/lawson ) album for the first time. Okla-Home is on Michel's album Dust Bowls it is the first movement.

I have enjoyed working with the CBC dancers. Thank you Jen Barrer-Gall! (She danced with Octavia Cup in the Dreaming this year at the FringeNYC and we await her return)

Here is the link to the show this weekend!

http://www.columbiaballetcollaborative.com/Welcome.html

L & M video- Sept 2011

2011-11-17T08:10:00.000-08:00

This is in the window of the big studio in Gina Gibney Dance center.
Michel wasn't so interested in filming me dancing on the floor. It was super hot and the window ledge was tiny, about 5 inches wide. I was holding on so I wouldn't fall. Michel was laying on the floor shooting up. That is why the perspective is so odd, avatar-like.
Video/Music-Michel Ayello, Dance- Laura Ward

2011-10-17T10:14:00.000-07:00

Laura Ward/Octavia Cup Dance Theatre

The Secret Theatre

Present

Red & Black: Dances from the Past and the Future

“There is nothing like dream to create the future. Utopia to-day flesh and blood, tomorrow”- Victor Hugo

Secret Theatre in Long Island City

Thursday October 20, 2011 at 8pm

Friday October 21, 2011 at 8pm

Tickets are $10

For tickets got to www.secrettheatre.com

For more info about the company go to www.octaviacup.org

To see videos go to www.octaviacup.org/videos.php

Laura Ward/Octavia Cup Dance Theatre will present Red & Black: Dances from the Past and the Future on October 20, 21 2011 at the Secret Theatre in Long Island City. Within the spectrum of Red and Black we move from passion to joy, from caprice to constant, from dreamlands to harsh realities in an evening of original expressionistic contemporary ballet en pointe. Included in the program is She Said Wait a new work in progress by Laura Ward featuring the Columbia Ballet Collaborative with original music by French composer Michel Ayello, and Chicanery, choreographed by Jaime Thompson. Octavic Cup is revisiting Dumbarton Oaks Celebration (2009) to Stravinsky's Dumbarton Oaks, L’Aigle Noir (The Black Eagle 2002) and excerpts from their recent FringeNYC show The Dreaming (2011) with an original score from Michel Ayello.

‪Secret Theatre‬‬ ‎
‪4402 23rd Street‬‬‬
‪Long Island City, NY 11101-5000‬‬‬
‪(718) 392-0722‬‬‬

7 to 45th Rd/Courthouse* or
E,M & G to 23rd St/Ely.**
Close to N,W & R Trains at Queensboro Plaza
Walk north on 23rd to green gates on the left side of street.

2011-10-17T07:11:00.000-07:00

2011-08-20T05:09:00.001-07:00

Pouacre Naked- from Edinburgh Residency at Dance Base

2011-08-09T07:12:00.000-07:00

Pouacre Naked from Laura Ward on Vimeo.

The eleventh hour- FRINGE NYC ay-yi-yi

2011-08-09T06:49:00.001-07:00

We had our venue prep yesterday. Serious highs and lows on my own personal roller coaster. Why is is that technology and the struggle between analogue and digital can bring me to tears? Just start talking cable connections and transformers and I begin to panic. A feeling most easily equated with sitting in the dentists chair. Insert Ativan here. Just kidding. Not really. Yes, I am...
Needless to say, while dancing, directing, choreographing and overseeing takes a toll, it also is hugely rewarding.
I saw the Stormy Pow Wow projections from Anna Hovhannessian for the first time last night. They knocked my argyle socks right off! (i was wearing argyle socks for venue prep- earlier in the day I was stopped by a street fashion blogger-in my grubby work outfit- Yes it was pink and black and red and matched my helmet, backpack and bike...)
Back to the good stuff. I also got to hear how Jason Greenspan's supreme allied commander sound design was going to work with Michel Ayello's score- and can I say SCORE!!!! WE WIN!!! I am so pleased about the sound in the space. Jason mixed a bunch of dream texts into the music. David Gordon, Cassie Roberts, Georgina Aragon, Nana Hitomi, Michel Ayello, Jay himself and I all spent several recording sessions working hard to create a diverse vocal and emotional range for the texts. We have some French, some Spanish, even some Japanese. The texts came from my mom, David Gordon, Michel Ayello, and me. We recalled dreams from the distant and immediate past. A full plate of madness if you please.
And Thank You Peri Schlossberg for being the super trouper of the day!!!

’If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less but to dream more, to dream all the time’’ Marcel Proust

2011-07-14T08:56:00.000-07:00

For Immediate Release

Laura Ward/Octavia Cup Dance Theatre
Presents
The Dreaming
In The New York International Fringe Festival

August 13, 18, 19, 21, 22, 24 2011

‘’If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less but to dream more, to dream all the time’’ Marcel Proust

Enter the Dream Machine with Octavia Cup. Fall into a shifting world where dance leads you into a dream so vivid your only escape is a pinch from a friend. High heels and pointe shoes cloud stomp through the subconscious borderlands between waking and sleeping in The Dreaming, an expressionistic trip on a mare of the night.
Abandon the rational mind in a crazy labyrinth of images, words and patterns. Experience dreamscapes morphing, twisting and emerging through reflections of movement, sound and words. Let go... Let's go...
Every great dream begins with a dreamer, Laura Ward with her modern/ballet company Octavia Cup teams up with French composer, Michel Ayello (LUGG) to bring a spectacle of free flowing expressionism to the stage. Texts from 3 generations of women are mashed up and blending into the mix with loops, samples and curls fusing new sounds with echoes from the past. The company spans 5 decades including dancers in their 20’s to their 60’s.

Conceived and Choreographed by Laura Ward in collaboration with Octavia Cup
Original Score by LUGG-Michel Ayello (listen to or download the music at www.lugg.bandcamp.com)
Projections by Anna Hovannessian and Ella Condon
Sound Design by Jason Greenspan
Text by Laura Ward, Sheila Ward, MIchel Ayello, David Gordon
Performers: Georgina Aragon, Jen Barrer-Gall, Cindy Bernier, Nana Hitomi, Cassie Roberts, Laura Ward

VENUE #12: 4th Street Theatre; 83 East 4th Street (Bowery/2nd Ave)
SAT 13 @ 5:45pm
THU 18 @ 8:15pm
FRI 19 @ 10pm
SUN 21 @ 8:30pm
MON 22 @ 3:15pm
WED 24 @ 2pm
www.octaviacup.org
www.fringeNYC.org
http://www.fringenyc.org/basic_page.php?ltr=D#TheDre

At Venue #12
4th Street Theatre
83 East 4th St between Bowery and 2nd Ave

Tickets are $15 advance purchase $18 at door
buy online at fringenyc.org or 866.468.7619

Inquiries- 646-241-8254, octaviacup@yahoo.com

Made possible by funding from LeRoy Neiman Foundation, Sheila Ward, Fred and Diana Elghanayan, Ruth Simmons, and other private benefactors.

Twisted Cupcakes by Ayello

2011-05-31T05:15:00.000-07:00

L'Amour - Octavia Cupcakes

2011-05-21T13:47:00.000-07:00

Looking for ... in all the wrong places...
But I think we found it here- at least in the fun factor.
Natalia Wodnicka, Nana Hitomi, Laura Ward, Cassie Roberts- we come in in that order if you wonder who is who. We are actually quadruplets...

Merci mes amies-Super duper big ass thanks to Ella Condon for shooting the videos and taking photos, and to our fabulous Sari for helping to do everything- run show- get us organized, costuming...

Sweet Child O Mine! - Octavia Cupcakes

2011-05-21T13:43:00.000-07:00

Fresh for Bar On A Show. Cassie Roberts (who I met while teaching a Bartenieff Fundamentals for LIMs- one of our latest additions) and Nana Hitomi.
This can also be a double duet- in a real sized space. Thank you Cassie for rocking the leg guitar- one of my all time favorite instruments!

Sympathy for Old Scratch- Pleased to Meet YOU!!!- Octavia Cupcakes!

2011-05-21T13:36:00.000-07:00

This is one of the dances Jessica Martineau and I made for Barbados in 2010, we did it there again in 2011 and this performance is from NYC at Bar ON A (Thanks Anne and Dee Dee)
This is Natalia Wodnicka and I.
This is a blast to dance.

never take anything too seriously!

2010-09-16T14:38:00.000-07:00

inspired by M Ayello

There is Hope behind that door

she's wearing white again- floating high-

anchored by a thread- like a balloon-

full skirts and weightless- only halfway there

My little dance means nothing to her

she sees through it all

translucent invisible- it matters not-

she hasn't fallen yet- she's afloat- atop-

a breath of lightness

she doesn't even know she is waiting...

Byrdcliffe and Edinburgh Fringe July/August 2010

2010-07-07T07:43:00.000-07:00

Hiya! Hola! How do? What is new...

Exciting news for the summer. We are going to be doing the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year at Dance Base in their Heads Up program. Yay!!! We are performing an adaptation from Echoes and Dreams that seems to be turning into Echo and Shadow. We have the fortune of being able to bring our poet, Alberto Zayden along. Jaime and I (Laura) will be dancing. Albert is going to revise his words in the same manner as we are re-innovating the dance. Lucky us- we will be customized!

We will be performing August 25th at 2pm, then again at 4pm at Dance Base on Grass Market St. in Edinburgh, Scotland.

In a stroke of luck we are going to have the chance to trouble shoot the piece at the Byrdcliffe Theatre in the Choreographer's Concert put on By Zack Jacobs and Bill Reinhart. That will be July 30, 31 2010 at the Byrdcliffe Theatre in Woodstock, NY at 8pm both nights.

Come see us!

ECHOES AND DREAMS rehearsal photos by Kokyat

2010-05-13T09:19:00.000-07:00

Alberto Zayden poetry from Echoes and Dreams

2010-05-11T20:06:00.000-07:00

DREAMCATCHER by Alberto Zayden

The sieve worked at first

Only good ones passed

Like tiny balls of couscous

Filtering through a dreamcatcher

Of nylon panty hose

But the nightmares

Cloying and relentless clogged the web

Ice-smooth and skated off

Rappelling towards us down the sides

On the backs of hungry spiders

For days we prayed to the alarm clock

A flash of blood red LEDs our only hope

Embarrassed by the silence of a coddling timepiece

It could not bare to let us know

That we had never been asleep

Philip Gardner- Oberon's Grove- and Michel Ayello

2010-05-11T20:03:00.000-07:00

http://oberon481.typepad.com/oberons_grove/2010/05/rehearsal-octavia-cup.html

http://oberon481.typepad.com/oberons_grove/2010/05/octavia-cup-rehearsal-gallery.html

http://luggvale.bandcamp.com/album/lugg-drops

Echoes and Dreams, May 20-23, 2010

2010-03-27T06:42:00.000-07:00

Laura Ward and Octavia Cup brings ECHOES AND DREAMS to the Queens Fringe Festival. An exploration of movement reflecting verse and music where dance leads itself through visceral reflections of frigid abandonment and a labyrinth of pictures emerges through words and patterns. The company known for stretching the boundaries of traditional dance performance teams up with poet Alberto Zayden (whose poetry the New York Times calls "Visionary") to bring a spectacle of free flowing expressionism to the stage. Original music from French composer Michel Ayello and Swiss-Italian Fa Ventilato add to the mix with loops, samples and curls fusing new sounds with echos from the past. Sets and design by installation artist extraordinaire, Judy Thomas.
Performers include Georgina Aragon, Kristen Goldrick, Nana Hitomi, Jessica Martineau, Katie Moorhead, Jaime Thompson, Laura Ward, Natalia Wodnicka, Alberto Zayden

The Secret Theatre- Long Island City
http://www.secrettheatre.com/
Thursday May 20th at 8pm
Friday May 21st at 8pm
Saturday May 22nd at 8pm
Sunday May 23rd at 2pm
Directions- http://www.secrettheatre.com/index.htm?page=directions

Rebound Festival in New Haven, CT on April 25th

2009-02-16T10:53:00.000-08:00

I will be doing a duet with Buddy Valdez for this festival. Buddy is an awesome dancer who trained at Julliard. He recently returned from Chicago dancing with Luna Negra.
We will be dancing to original music from Fuckintosh (Fa Ventilato)- a Satie vs Wagner mashup.

Here is a link
http://www.clarkdancetheatre.org/rebound.htm

Dumbarton Oaks with the Astoria Symphony Orchestra on March 21st

2009-02-16T10:34:00.000-08:00

BUY TICKETS NOW
http://www.astoriamusic.org/programs/spring-info.html

March 21 at 8pm
at LaGuardia College
31-10 Thompson Ave
LIC, NY
Tickets are $15/$20
Box Office 718 482 5151
or online at
www.astoriamusic.org

We are making new work to perform in Queens! We will be doing
Dumbarton Oaks with the Astoria Symphony Orchestra in their SPRING SONG DANCE show
March 21st at 8pm at LaGuardia College in Queens

Dancing with the Astoria Symphony will be
Laura Ward/Octavia Cup Dance Theatre
Ballet for Young Audiences/Long Island City Ballet
Martha Graham School Company

Octavia Cup has some new dancers!
Welcome to Temple Kemesis and Katie Moorhead! Laura and Jaime are still kicking!
Dumbarton Oaks will feature these four!

Link to more Dumbarton Oaks pictures
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=64713&id=613398084&saved#/album.php?aid=64713&id=613398084

Creative life – killer music – and a performance

2008-09-05T08:37:00.000-07:00

Amazing things are happening as life is stirring and shifting. I met Frank Heer and Fa last night at Lucy’s in the East Village. First of all Lucy is the Queen of the East Vill. Her hair is Queen of the East village and her presence is phenomenal. Truly- wonderful.
Back to Frank and Fa…
Frank wrote the book Bingo Palace (Swiss version not the one people know here) which was the inspiration for Whistle Me Higher by Bingo Palace- the soundtrack for the book. Fa and Frank are Bingo Palace. That was the inspiration for Whistle Me Higher: Imaginary Dances From Bingo Palace – the show I made with Octavia Cup.
We met up right after rehearsal for Between the Channels- a new piece we are performing at the 92nd St Y this Sunday the 7th at 6pm. We are part of New Choreographers on Point Previews show. We have had the fortune of doing this shows several years in a row. We often get other gigs through this. YAY! The music for this show is another Fuckintosh (Fa) mashup of Eric Satie vs. Richard Wagner- it is fantastic- especially for the musos out there. LOVE IT!
Also super exciting is the 2nd Bingo Palace that I recently got from Fa- we had just gone to see the 800 year of Minimalism at Damroshe Park – got totally soaked but had a great time! Gottshing was awesome – as was Beata Viscera who performed Pérotin’s work. YUMMY. On the way home we listened to Monumental Thrill and I got the scoop straight from the seahorses mouth!
Equally excellent was getting new Mercury Rev from Jonathan this week. My ears are smiling.

On another note I am getting involved with LIMS (Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies) again- the sweetest love of my life. I taught an Intro to LMA a few weeks ago and I will be teaching in their upcoming Bartenieff Certification program. Check it out! This ROCKS! No joke- the most expansive movement vocabulary and a kicking philosophy to go with it.

Great things- loads of people from the past are popping up in my life and it is 90% bananas! Sorry about the bananas Georgina.

Off to England on Tuesday- Yorkshire Downs.

dancing with dogs

2008-08-04T06:29:00.000-07:00

Self Portrait with Zeus

Just Like An Eagle – from Avignon, France 2007

2008-07-19T11:58:00.000-07:00

Blah blah blog for NYFA

2008-07-19T11:53:00.000-07:00

Artistic Intent

The emotional and physical strength and resilience of the “weaker sex” is an inherent theme in my work. I am also interested in teasing forth the darker shadow side of humanity as it pulses beneath the surface, drawing it out and shedding light on the spaces between motion and motivation. Heavy doses of humor, pop references and a sense of the absurd make these explorations compelling and palatable. Kaleidoscopic stories unfold around artifice and compulsion revealing themselves through non-linear, multi-layered collage-like spectacles that beg the question “is this getting better?”
The work reverberates on many levels echoing the consciousness of the viewer, providing drama and resonance while reaching into the secret soul spaces that thrum beneath the sensual assault of daily life.
The choreography is usually on pointe, but the movement expands well beyond the conventional forms of ballet as so clearly stated by Jack Anderson from the New York Times "instead of having dancers skim with balletic grace, she often had them stagger". The surprisingly controversial use of the pointe shoe happily places the company in the indefinable place betwixt and between ballet and modern dance. The movement vocabulary has developed through a multitude of dance styles creating a highly athletic lexicon that allows for great diversity of expression.
I believe it is within the scope of art to create space for reflection and connection, this in turn engages the vibrational level of the individual psyche, which then reshapes the collective unconscious. Dance has the ability to affect the audience on multiple levels often taking the viewer on a parallel ride through their own energetic body as they externally watch and internally take part in the show. This stimulates seismic shifts down to the cells.
As artists we take creative responsibility to make work and we must have faith in the integrity of the creative process- to allow our work to be what it is, and to accept ourselves as purveyors of the artistic expression of this current zeitgeist.
The slightly twisted explorations we present on stage juxtapose our mundane vision with that of Cervantes’ Don Quixote whose double-edged sword was the knack of seeing life not as it really is but as it should be! In dance I think it is time we sought specifically to support the whole and wholeness of our community on the local and global stage.

show

2008-07-07T21:00:00.001-07:00

http://eventful.com/events/E0-001-013795471-2

CAR

2008-06-08T14:31:00.000-07:00

new

2008-05-31T21:21:00.000-07:00

FREE PERFORMANCE

2008-05-21T07:04:00.000-07:00

Hey Peeps,

I am performing this Friday May 23rd at the Theater for the New City with Amir Khosrowpour (fantastic pianist). We are on at 6:17pm. You can come just for me! and leave when you want. It is a FREE for ALL! We will be doing a short improv piece.

COME HAVE FUN the Lower East Side Festival is FREE. Did I mention it is free?

C U There!

Laura

The End- Or - Whistle Me Back Down To Earth

2008-05-06T06:49:00.000-07:00

Show Motion

2008-05-03T06:39:00.000-07:00

The show is running- 2 down 2 to go. I could not be happier with my crew. They rock! and the audience response is phenomenal. Fun Fun Fun! Nurse Fantasy!!!!! Darth Maul has appeared in a black robe and is marrying people, Eve is getting plastic surgery, the dancing is off the hook and I skinned my hip diving into a pile of money! Hi ho Hi Ho it's off to Vegas we go. We have a little Wonderland, some fear and loathing and lots of athleticism. Dream team dancing to help bring your fantasies to life. And did I mention the hottest male bod you can get- without steroids ( I am finally getting it right) This is a scary dose of my life and a hilarious comment on The American Dream!

Radio interview link

2008-04-28T13:48:00.000-07:00

We had a great time Friday morning with Virginia Reed on Gary Null's Progressive Radio Network. "A Woman's Perspective" is Virginia's (also a Laban Movement Analyst like me!) Friday weekly talk show.

Here is the link to hear the archive- Check it out, we talk a lot about our upcoming show.

www.progressiveradionetwork.org

Whistle Me Higher

2008-03-26T07:16:00.001-07:00

2008-03-17T17:12:00.001-07:00

buy tickets online!

2008-03-14T10:46:00.000-07:00

http://www.theatermania.com/content/show.cfm/show/142287

Press Release

2008-03-13T12:39:00.000-07:00

Laura Ward/Octavia Cup Dance Theatre with Foundation 2021 Presents
The World Premier of

Whistle Me Higher: Imaginary Dances From Bingo Palace

at the Theater for the New City on May 1-4, 2008
155 1st Avenue (near 10th Street)

Whistle Me Higher- Imaginary Dances From Bingo Palace, created and produced by Laura Ward, celebrates the fantastic aspects of nature, religion, addiction, and the American Dream found within Death Valley/Las Vegas. The gamut of southwestern glamour, glitz and gluttony, is revealed through contemporary ballet, original music, spoken word and physical theatre, which includes eagle totems, Elvis weddings, and legends involving flying machines. The score, by Fa Ventilato (Fuckintosh, Bingo Palace) and Frank Heer (Der Flammender Grund, Bingo Palace) is a key portal into the often hypnotic, drug induced, dream-like show, set somewhere between Lost Highway and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Featured within the work are guest choreographers Georgina Aragon and Nadia Zaki. An excerpt from Whistle Me Higher- Imaginary Dances From Bingo Palace can be seen on YOUTUBE.com entitled Just Like An Eagle. It tells an old Native American legend from the Panamint Mountains in Death Valley and illuminates the adaptation required for survival.
Performances will take place at the Theater for the New City in the Johnson Theater May 1-3, 2008 (Thursday – Saturday) at 8:00pm and May 4, 2008 (Sunday) at 3:00pm. Tickets are $20 and can be bought online through the (I will set this up soon) website.*

Canadian born, East Village resident, Laura Ward, founded Octavia Cup Dance Theatre (www.octaviacup.org) in 1998. This will be Laura’s sixth New York City season. Laura’s work has been shown at many venues including the 92nd St Y with New Choreographer’s On Pointe, Merce Cunningham Studios, Williamsburg Art Nexus, Byrdcliffe Theatre in Woodstock. In 2007 Octavia Cup performed original works in Avignon, France and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as well as on the Delacorte Theater stage in Central Park (in a Tribute to Marc Bolan). Octavia Cup has performed at the New York City Ballet’s Annual Wellness Weekend. Laura has choreographed for NYC's Earth Celebrations Festival and danced with Classics Dance Theatre, Yass Hakushima Mime Theater and Roots of Brazil. Laura is a Laban Movement Analyst and teaches for Dance New Amsterdam, Equinox and the Laban/Bartenieff Institute for Movement Studies.

Fa Ventilato, was born 1967 in Switzerland. He is a New York based music artist and producer. His work, within the variety of contemporary music, finds its way into film, performance, art installations, dance theater, and conceptual pop albums. He played in bands such as Halcion, Pee Air, Melomane and Drum I Lama. In recent years his focus has switched to the world of home recording, experimental electronic music and exploring the art of sampling. His commissions include: refined soundtracks for the 7th and 8th BIFF trailer (Brooklyn International Film Festival); the sound installations for the Columbian video artist Monika Bravo; 'Playing With Time', 'September 10th'; and for the music on the animations- 'The Last Autumn Days', 'One Way', 'A Matter of Life', 'Passing Moods', 'Mattino d'Inverno Mattino d'Estate' by the Italian artist Luisa Rabbia. Ventilato has collaborated with the Swiss dance theatre company Sans Filtre making 3 real time soundtrack performances for them.

Excerpts of this show premiered in Avignon, France, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and at the 92nd st Y in 2007. A preview excerpt was shown at City Tech in 2008.
This presentation is a production of Laura Ward/Octavia Cup Dance Theatre in association with Tin U. Nye and Foundation 20-21, and is supported by the LeRoy Neiman Foundation, Ruth Simmons.

2008-03-11T12:09:00.000-07:00

Eagles

2008-03-10T11:08:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/octaviacup

Inspiration and Herstory

2008-03-09T23:11:00.000-07:00

In February last year (2007), at a party at the National Arts Club, hosted by Tim Nye- who incidentally is helping to produce Whistle Me Higher... (huge run-on lead in...) I met the Swiss-Italian musician Fa Ventilato- exactly one half of the band Bingo Palace. Always on the lookout for original music capable of inspiring choreography, I was very pleased to learn that Fa had first come to the US with the hopes of collaborating with american dancers and choreographers, he had had some success with it in Der Schweiz working with Sans Filtre creating real time soundtrack performances. Upon his arrival in USA he did some preliminary surveillance and reconnaissance of the New York dance scene and was unable to find anyone of any interest to work with, he soon retired the idea of dance collaboration, for several years it lay dormant- in 2007 it reawakened- which brings us back to our meeting in Gramercy at Tim's party. Fa explained to me that the current musical work he was involved in was essentially mashing-up disparate artists to create a totally different sound, not mixing 2 songs and coming up with one song laid over the other, or sampled and mixed to have the exact same winning/selling effect that the original song had as so often is seen in reconstructed or mashed, or sampled work. it is a kind of recomposition created in realtime. this certainly peaked my curiosity.
We exchanged emails and met later in the week at the W hotel lobby for a handoff- I showed him a few videos on my ipod (technology has its rewards), I in turn received a collection of his cd's Fuckintosh and some older work- Whistle Me Higher by Bingo Palace- his collaboration with musician and author Frank Heer. Frank had written a book called Flammender Grund (burning ground- or flaming reason) and the two of them together teamed up to form Bingo Palace. the music they made- Whistle Me Higher- was created as the soundtrack to go with Frank's book "In short, it's about a swiss teacher who flees Switzerland and tries to shed his past in the glittering sun of the death valley. The beautiful stranger Jade helps him on the search for his great grand father's bones." (from The Roman Games Diary blogpost).
I was quite pleased and drawn into the Fuckintosh cd's. the first one i got to know was Kraftwerk vs the Beatles it encompasses many different moods and tones- often just a little too twisted to be entirely comfortable- Exactly as I likey! Perfect to match up to my own slightly twisted aesthetic.
Fa came to a couple of my solo generative rehearsals at Joyce Soho. I brought the camera and Fa played DJ and videographer. it was a mash up/improv jam. lots of fun and I began to see that there were some definite affinities and new places to explore.
Several of these improv videos wound up on youtube. i did my own mash up editing job on one song from Kraftwerk vs the Beatles and loaded it up onto youtube much to the annoyance of many kraftwerk and beatle fans who wanted to know 'what have they done to the music?" on the other side of the coin a few musos found it interesting.
Over the summer I created Just Like An Eagle - the birth of Whistle Me Higher: Imaginary Dances From Bingo Palace was in its gestational phase. Big thanks to Georgina Aragon for pushing me hard to get my legs moving faster and my passes higher and of course, for her sharp eye and creative input. I took this dance along with an older blacker eagle dance to Europe for the summer. I performed as a soloist in Avignon and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival- Riding on the Danceformspro bus with Susana B. Williams.
Upon returning to the good ole USA I hooked up with the tiny girl with huge eyes and presence- Heather Garbrandt, adding another body to the petri dish. We wrestled around with three new pieces that have grown into a solid base for the show. Our emergency life saver Jaime Thompson climbed into the experiment in January of 2008 and picked up some of our slack moments, shaking them out and reinventing them with lightening speed. the soundtrack continues to evolve as i need to cut pieces apart, shortening, and cross fading etc.
We had 2 February performances of the basic skeleton of the new material. our first exposure was at PS 50 - an elementary school in Harlem. City Year an outreach program from Americorps had reached out to DNA (Dance New Amsterdam) looking for
a volunteer dance company who would perform for the kids during their spring break camp. It concurred with my new resolve to help create abundance in the dance community by performing for anyone anywhere for anything. The show was in a cafeteria style room, kids sat on the floor and we tried our best not to knock them over- space was limited and very oddly set up- which for me was a huge mental challenge- orientation was difficult. the floor was hard and we were unable to dance in our toe shoes, but the kids didn't notice. They were most impressed by our more acrobatic partnering moments. one little boy erupted in a "that's some hot stuff" which has become our favorite quote from the experience. he was referring to our leotard, i think. another hit was the question at the end of the show- a little girl wanted to know if I was Heather and Jaime's mom.
Our second big event was a performance at City Tech in Brooklyn Heights - a free show, open to the students and the public at the rather unfortunate time (for the public, not the students) of 1:00pm on a Thursday. We had a great time even though the stage was hard and cold.- Lonne Moretton (my favorite person to run into at BAM), Kate Thomas and Marla Hirokawa also showed work. The show was well curated by Miryam Wasserman. She had seen us all at New Choreographer's on Pointe Previews at the 92nd St Y last summer- she saw the american premiere of Just Like An Eagle! She invited us to do the city Tech show AND she even paid the dancers! Yippee!
This past week Lisa Benke joined the Cup Cake Team. Jumping into her pointe shoes again after a 7 year hiatus. KUDOS to her, and she has huge shoulder bruises to prove it. Lisa popped out of my Ballet class at Equinox. She can turn, has great musicality and an excellent disposition (always a bonus). Equinox has been a surprising source of dancers both Jaime and Heather came through connections from the NOX. Jaime actually worked there- back in her more cynical days. She disappeared for a while, then resurfaced at BAE. We were all shocked when she told us she'd met an amazing man and her personality rearranged itself enough for her to notice that she was actually a happy person. WHAHHOOEE. She is now one of those rare folk who extoll the virtues of married life.
Heather was sent to us in 2006 by an angel called Sousek (an ex equinoxer, current radio city girl and octaviacupdancerwrangler)- who has been to a rehearsal or two but never actually danced for the Cup. Heather is engaged to John the Greek and teaches a million ballet classes a week to people of all ages. Most important to us is the fact that she teaches at the Long Island City School of Ballet -which, by no accident has become our prime rehearsal venue.

And that is the news from flakesnowbegone! as far as i can remember at 3:28 am monday morning- this is purely my distortion of our history- it may bear no actual resemblance to the facts from another point of view- that is the super duper scooper- so to say.

2008-03-07T20:25:00.000-08:00

Whistle Me HIgher: Imaginary Dances From Bingo Palace

2008-03-07T13:49:00.000-08:00

Who: Laura Ward/Octavia Cup Dance Theatre

What: Whistle Me Higher: Imaginary Dances From Bingo Palace

Including all original Music from Fa Ventilato, and Text From Frank Heer

Choreography by Laura Ward, with special guest choreographers Georgina Aragon and Nadia Zaki

Where: Theater For The New City 155 1st Avenue (near 10th St.)

When: May 1-4, Thursday-Saturday 8pm, Sunday 3pm

Why: Why? Because We LIKE YOU!