April 28, 2004

Gormley Sells Himself for Merce

Anthony Gormley, the "sculptor" responsible for the Angel of the North, is helping DanceUmbrella to raise money for a forthcoming commission by selling a painting of questionable quality (according to our in-house painting expert Harris, who happens to be a 6 year old tabby cat, Ed!).

The painting, titled "Territory" is up for sale at auction although it was created with "Organic soya oil, bleached shellac, charcoal, linseed oil and pigment" so we are unsure if we can actually call it a painting. Presumably the local art-shop was all out of actual paint.

The money is to help towards commissioning a new work from none other than Merce Cunningham; "acclaimed as 'the world’s greatest living choreographer' by The Wall Street Journal" the press release gushes without even a hint of embarrassment. Here in the Lab we think that choreographing anything when you're dead presents obstacles that for many would be insurmountable and therefore the quote is a little unfair to those choreographers no longer breathing of their own volition.

The work is being auctioned by DanceUmbrella via their website, just like Ebay. Sadly you can't make bids online. Instead you are required to print out a form, fill it in and then post it to DanceUmbrella. It's hardly state of the art but this is contemporary dance we're talking about here. At the time of writing the highest bid was £5,100.

In keeping with this spirited generosity Article19 has decided to offer it's own original work "Empty Coke Bottle in the Bin - On Toilet Roll" to the highest bidder. We can only accept bids on the back of a used £20 note to the usual address.

DanceUmbrella's Website

April 26, 2004

Creative London

Today sees the launch of "Creative London" a multi-organisational attempt to promote the creative industries in the nations grimy capital city.

Using suitably ambiguous language the new initiatives website promises to;

"... promote and grow the diversity, depth, quality and energy of the creative industries in London. Already a global success story, London’s creative economy generates over twenty billion pounds in turnover and is responsible for more than half a million jobs."

It is not at all clear what this has to do with the Arts sector in the capital or how this initiative will benefit those in the performing arts. According to the website it would appear that the main aim of this project is to help support "creative industry" meaning design, film production and other mediums. The news release speaks of a so-called "Space Agency" (oh good grief, Ed!) that will, in their words;

"[act as] a clearing house for empty buildings or rooms which could be used for marketing, rehearsals and performances by arts groups."

Many artists located outside London may disagree that a city in receipt of the vast majority of Arts Council England funding across all art forms is in need of another initiative that focuses yet more attention on the city, financial or otherwise.

[ link ] Creative London Website

April 13, 2004

More Money up for Grabs

Laban has once again launched a plethora (that means more than one!) of awards to help develop new work and dance writing skills for the unwary dance artist.

The press blurb states;

"The Chris De Marigny Dance Writers’ Award 2004 is aimed at assisting and developing new and emerging dance writers in the UK.  One award of £1250 will be made to support or fund a project or study that will help develop the writers’ skills. 

The Marion North Mentoring Scheme 2004 is designed to support and develop new and emerging choreographers in the UK by giving the two winners an opportunity to have feedback from, and discussion with, an established choreographer / dance artist over a one year period.   

“Rosemary [Butcher] is particularly good at turning things on its head which can be both thrilling and terrifying but however one experiences it, it is challenging and this is fundamental at this time in one’s creative life.”

Bim Malcomson, Winner, Marion North Mentoring Scheme 2002.

The UK New Choreography Awards 2004 are aimed at supporting and nurturing new and emerging choreographers in the UK.  Three separate awards of £1500 are given to financially support and aid choreographic practice or research."

The amount of money on offer is not all that generous but it's money and it's free. We would helpfully suggest that the award for new dance writing goes to someone with a seriously sharp sense of humour because lets face it, were it not for Article19 there would be very little to laugh about or at in the wide world of dance. A fact made all the more remarkable because we know some very funny people who work in this business, although Wayne McGregor doesn't really count because he's unintentionally hilarious!

For more information clickety click on the link below;

April 05, 2004

New Bloggs New Galleries

Just a short note to push some new additions to Article19.

First of all we have Mathew Gough in the bloggs section. Mathew, in his own words, describes himself thus;

"I live in Sussex and work freelance teaching improvisation, choreography, and dance analysis. i have recently become involved with youth arts working on several social inclusion projects and intend continuing to use my skills to benifit the wider community.

my passion and main area of research is dance and emergent technologies mainly;

-Artificial Body Intelligence
-Algorithmic modeling of Vector Notation and Contact Improvisation
-Motion Editing via Motion Acquisition and Re-targeting in a Haptic Environment

my long term goal is to construct a performance in with real and virtual dancers improvise with each other spontaneously."

The blogg makes for a fascinating read but keep your head together as you do because simple it's not and here in the Lab we're still trying to figure it all out.

[ link ]Mathew's Blogg

Image Galleries

New to the image galleries we have a selection of pictures from the recent Newcastle Schools Dance Festival where the kids performed with accompaniment from Northern Sinfonia. Also new to the gallery are some choice images from a recent rehearsal with BalletLorent of the company's new work "La Vie des Fantasmes Erotiques et Esthetiques". We hope to bring you some video of the new piece in the near future.

[ link ]Image Galleries