tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62335852011-04-21T15:38:23.494-07:00Writing My Dancing Lifea running account by Lisa Kraus of performances seen, dance work in progress, experiences teaching and reflections on history Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comBlogger281100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1141578925562547992006-03-05T09:14:00.000-08:002006-06-22T12:08:11.880-07:00Link UpFor anyone who happens on this blog and is perplexed about the lack of recent additions, I wanted to offer some links to ongoing writing in the Philadelphia Inquirer and Dance Magazine online. It turns out that many of the links are no longer active. If you are interested in a piece and can't access it, I'll be happy to forward it to you. Another way to access my writing is by googling "Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1127923344614035482005-09-28T07:39:00.000-07:002005-09-28T09:22:05.180-07:00Caught in the Middle - #1After its smash New York Times review I decided I’d better pick up the phone and order tickets to Mabou Mines’s "Red Beads" or miss out. The preceding agony -“do I go or don’t I?” - reminded me of the watershed moment when it became clear my choices were no longer black and white but involved many shades of gray. I’d entered adulthood. This weekend, bright lights beckonedLisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1111594890258453522005-03-23T08:18:00.000-08:002005-03-23T08:21:30.260-08:00A Tense Issue or No Time Like the PresentTo me, after it’s over, the experience of watching a dance still exists behind my eyelids. I see it clear as a bell and I want others who weren’t there to get as palpable a re-telling as possible. That’s why, like Deborah Jowitt and many other hero writers, I choose to write as though the work is unfolding in front of me. In the present tense. Sure, you Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1108327804011074682005-02-13T12:44:00.000-08:002005-06-09T11:54:26.556-07:00River of Words Even though postings have been sporadic, I HAVE been writing regularly.You can read my preview of Matthew Neenan’s world premiere of 11:11 at the PA Ballet at http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/family_guide/10791641.htmand the review of the evening including that piece, with Tharp’s Nine Sinatra Songs and Peter Martin’s the Waltz Project at http://www.philly.com/mld/Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1106851751365359642005-01-27T10:44:00.000-08:002005-01-27T10:49:11.366-08:00Out It Popped
In writing to apply for support to attend the '05 National Critics Conference in Los Angeles, out popped this: I love dance so much that I feel it deserves to be seen and accurately reflected back, taken to task, goaded to greatness, questioned and cherished. It is my greatest pleasure to feel an intimacy with the work I write about, as though I am part of it somehow or it part of Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1106064420321127422005-01-18T08:03:00.000-08:002005-06-09T11:55:37.130-07:00The Beholder and the Beheld the kernel of my irritation today has to do with work I’ve seen recently and the challenge of reconciling it with my own not-yet-clearly-articulated view of what art is for. I believe it was Ghandi who said “You must become the change you wish to see in the world.” Looking at some recent performances I wonder what it is my colleagues have in mind. And also why my own Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1094740582488275802004-09-09T07:33:00.000-07:002004-09-09T07:36:22.486-07:00High IQ
“Our Little Sunbeam”
33 Fainting Spells
Philadelphia Live Arts Festival
Arden Theater
September 3 - 5
I remember watching the Wooster Group in New York’s Performing Garage reeling out their spectacles based on T.S. Eliot’s “Cocktail Party” and Arthur Miller’s “the Crucible.” The tenuous line to their base texts would be augmented with the overlay of other text – on Timothy Leary’s Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1089976366442949892004-07-16T04:11:00.000-07:002004-07-16T04:21:41.606-07:00Unfinished Business
This blog has been going the way of all things. Toward entropy. Dissolving. Supplanted by other writing in fact. Stored in my hard drive are several half-baked pieces that I had neither the time nor impetus to ready for dissemination. Is this part of the nature of creating when neither a deadline or a paycheck are implicated?
My first real attempt at dance writing, Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1086890340452908152004-06-10T10:56:00.000-07:002004-07-16T04:22:21.766-07:00In Bed with the Philistines – How Intimate Do We Get?
My husband calls himself a philistine when it comes to looking at dance. I think some of his blurted out opinions are among the freshest and truest I hear. I envy his "naivete". From this new-minted critic's hot seat, it looks refreshing compared to the degree of responsibility I am beginning to feel.
Recently, I recently had lunch with Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1084463028940885792004-05-13T08:42:00.001-07:002004-05-16T09:31:05.243-07:00Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1084463031673022862004-05-13T08:42:00.000-07:002004-05-16T09:28:02.886-07:00Body of Belief
(This is an “appreciation” written as an assignment for Wendy Perron’s ‘Writing on Dance” class currently offered at DTW. The assignment asks for a piece 350 words long and this is over twice that!)
Some things are simple like a circle is simple. The form itself is easy enough to see, but the fact that it’s continuous, without end, with an inside and an outside, makes it a form Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1083433719817802922004-05-01T10:48:00.000-07:002004-05-03T03:15:52.780-07:00This letter is a reflection on a guest-artist visit I just made to Bennington College, of which I'm an alum. I lectured on and performed "50 Moves" and then taught a technique/repertory class. Eva is Eva Karczag, fellow veteran of the Trisha Brown Company, the New York downtown scene, the European Dance Development Center and a dear friend. Eva is completing her Masters degree at Bennington this Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1082472739377081152004-04-20T07:52:00.000-07:002004-04-21T12:04:52.576-07:00Spring Bounty
As I write today a bird sings in the blooming crabapple tree just outside. Spring can feel so astonishing even though I’ve seen 50 of them already. Just as there are many things taking place in the natural world, many of the dancing seeds I’ve planted are sprouting now.
We began a series yesterday through Philadelphia Dance Projects (www.philadanceprojects.org) of technique/Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1081454719928955222004-04-08T13:05:00.000-07:002004-04-20T07:58:33.216-07:0050 Moves #6 - Judson Remix
There’s this moment in the making of work where pieces have been floating about, uncertain of their relation to each other, kind of gratingly ‘out there’ and then because the time is right, the instincts are good, the little idea gets listened, to, they line up next to each other, ka-chunk, and there you have it, a meaty resolution. And as with some life events where Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1079976676916613272004-03-22T09:31:00.000-08:002004-03-22T09:39:17.780-08:00Honey on a Razorblade - Charles Linehan Company
The afterimage of Charles Linehan’s U.S. debut concert at the Danspace Project (March 18 – 21) is of the lofty space glowing with linear corridors of light, inhabited by adults whose movement has the clean edge of a glinting razor. The dancing seems an inquisitive play on physical range and limitation. The effect is quiet but charged, intimate butLisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1078932468538141022004-03-10T07:27:00.000-08:002004-04-02T13:57:20.360-08:0050 Moves #5 - Dancing for My Grandmother
There’s a Buddhist idea, related to reincarnation, that all sentient beings have at one time or another been our mother. It's a thought is intended to engender compassion. After all, if someone standing before me was my mother and had the patience to clean up after me and comfort and feed me, I could find a bit of patience and care in relating to them nowLisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1078845039340212242004-03-09T07:10:00.000-08:002004-04-02T13:56:36.606-08:0050 Moves #4 - The Dam Breaks
My husband is highly superstitious. If I say anything really positive about how things are going, he looks immediately for the nearest wooden surface, urging me with his eyes to knock it ASAP. So of course I write this with some trepidation. BUT I do feel like the dam broke today in working on "50 Moves". That old analogy of the artist being like an oyster chewing onLisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1078162105417487532004-03-01T09:28:00.000-08:002004-03-11T11:10:23.860-08:00On Dance and Mnemonics
I asked Vicky Shick how it is to remember the seemingly endless streams of subtly shifting faceted movements in Susan Rethorst’s choreography. She bemoaned the fact that it’s harder as a middle aged person to take in and retain movement. Her performance looked flawless to me, but I can only imagine the effort involved. Susan herself said that she makes her work inch by Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1077295065978131562004-02-20T08:37:00.000-08:002004-03-11T11:06:12.890-08:0050 Moves #3 - On Flow, The Critic and The Deadline
6 weeks. That’s how long until I perform a shortened version of my solo “50 Moves” at Judson Church. I like the feel of 6 weeks. It’s a good amount of time but still it’s soon. “6 weeks” instills just the right amount of stress. I have to mobilize, get in the studio and stay focused.
There are people who work along in a measured consistent wayLisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1077294582833334412004-02-20T08:29:00.000-08:002004-03-11T10:58:33.360-08:0050 Moves #2 - Fresh Start and Throwing Away
In a recent New York Times article, Sofia Coppola describes the living space of a veteran Japanese designer who worked on her film “Lost in Translation” as being “an utterly bare, completely white apartment”. Ishioka herself said: “I have a chair, a glass table and big windows. I am frightened to buy a sofa. Empty space is very important for me. WhenLisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1077116218098879232004-02-18T06:56:00.000-08:002004-03-11T11:08:25.140-08:0050 Moves #1
There is much to be said for the practice of just going in the studio and doing ‘it’ whatever it is. For the past few days I’ve been perplexed about how to approach “50 Moves”, the solo I made in ’03 for the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. At the time I made it, it expressed everything I needed it to at the moment. And in the last few days it has seemed like a six month old newspaper. Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1076679816719150282004-02-13T05:43:00.000-08:002004-03-11T11:20:41.310-08:00Standing Up To Sprawl
In the last few days, while ideas for this web log have been piling up, I’ve been forced into rude awakenings in more formal areas of publishing. I’m writing reviews, a first, and working at editing. Here on blogspot.com no money changes hands, there’s no limit on space, and the freshness of the medium is all about being unexpurgated. It’s not like too many words here will Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1075740541786617162004-02-02T08:49:00.000-08:002004-02-11T10:50:50.653-08:00Tracing Lineage
Peter Pleyer, a German choreographer who is one of the graduates of the European Dance Development Center where I taught for nearly a decade, mailed me with a couple of questions. He’s working on a birthday performance in Berlin for next summer and wants to draw together many threads of his dancing life and make sense of history. He mentioned the lecture Barbara Dilley gave whileLisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1075147680011321992004-01-26T12:08:00.000-08:002004-02-03T07:49:01.310-08:00At the New Museum
My son Ryan doesn’t always want to visit museums. Dragging him away from his Blue Bell, PA home with newly fallen snow on the ground and two different new snowboards to try out involves arm twisting and bribery. We arrive before the throng. It’s fun to see the giant chaotically colorful image from ‘Lateral Pass’ in the entry of New York’s New Museum of Contemporary Art and say Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1074699539274253192004-01-21T07:38:00.000-08:002004-04-20T08:00:22.873-07:00New Museum Prelude
After classes I’d teach in Trisha Brown’s Soho loft in the 70’s, students and I would wander around the corner to Fanelli’s Cafe for a pizza and a pitcher or 2 of beer. The place was a relic of a long ago time, an easy dark spot for relaxing replete with heavily carved wooden bar and red checked tablecloths. My son Ryan, who is 8, was hungry before seeing the show “Trisha Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1074102298412910162004-01-14T09:44:00.000-08:002004-01-14T09:46:49.640-08:00Toward a Post-Modern Lexicon
In true busman’s holiday style, my husband, who designs databases for a living, spends a fair amount of leisure time at his computer. A favorite site he discovered is Dilbert’s create-a-mission-statement where you fill in the blanks to come up with a collection of sentences that sound earnest and forward thinking but actually mean nothing whatsoever.
Paul Ben-ItzakLisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1073664472321303992004-01-09T08:07:00.000-08:002004-02-13T05:52:03.996-08:00Reviewing the Reviewers
Whether or not it’s well-founded, a bad review feels like muck and slime that won’t wash off. The two worst reviews I ever got were from reviewers whose writing I completely admire. One, the late Burt Supree, wrote for many years with a sort of settled everyday majesty for the Village Voice. He said that watching one solo of mine was as much fun as watching “someone shootLisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233585.post-1073313131524964802004-01-05T06:32:00.000-08:002004-01-05T06:41:15.983-08:00Some thoughts on the Paris Opera and Pennsylvania Ballets performing Balanchine
Though I know little of the history of Philadelphia’s Academy of Music , the parallels with Palais Garnier, the Paris Opera building are amusing: the Italian horseshoe plan with boxes by the stage for the most elevated spectators, the round ceiling with pendulous chandelier, in this case crystal, the ornamental Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07457195307892012206noreply@blogger.com