Boston Dance Alliance Gala

by Karen Krolak

If you are looking to add some excitement to your Thursday night, pop over to Boston Dance Alliance's Gala at the Sanctuary Theater in Harvard Square. Marcus Schulkind, who has influenced many of Boston's finest modern choreographers, companies, and dancers will be named the 2009 Dance Champion.

Thanks to Shoetube.tv, you can also bid on a chance to be featured on an upcoming edition of their reality makeover show, Pimp My Pump! Omid Maxey, Artistic Director of Safar Coiffure Salon, will whisk one lucky winner off a shoe shopping, boutique hopping adventure. Oh, and if you don't feel up to a total fashion overhaul, you could try to win a gift certificate to one of my favorite boutiques, Black and Blues, in Davis Square.

There are still tickets available at the door so feel free to stop by. Hope to see you there!

Sanctuary Theater
400 Harvard Street
Cambridge, MA
April 30, 7- 10
Tickets $40/members $60/non-members

Caitlin and Nikki perform with Danny Swain

If you were a fan of Monkeyhouse's Zizz at First Night Boston 2009, then you will not want to miss Danny Swain Dance Company's performances this weekend.

Both of Zizz's fiesty dancers, Caitlin Meehan and Nikki Sao Pedro, are featured "That Which Doesn't Kill Us...”, a collaborative evening of multi-media dance theater. The concert will feature new and repertory works as well as live, original music by local composer Jane Wang, and video by film-maker Greg Shea.


According to Danny, "this year’s concert promises to transport audiences though a rollercoaster of emotions. Wrought with ghosts, scary clowns, images of war, and tales of conflict and death, the program does manage to infuse a few laughs with ironic statements, either visually or verbally, within the heavy subject matter. "

April 24, 25, at 8:00pm, and April 26 at 7:00pm
at the Dance Complex’s Julie Ince Thompson Theatre,
536 Massachusetts Ave - Cambridge, MA
Tickets: $20 General Admission / $15 Students, Seniors & Boston Dance Alliance members

Groton School Residency

By Karen Krolak

Good morning from Groton, MA! Laurie Sales, the Theater Director at the Groton School invited Monkeyhouse here for a week long residency. With the magnolias about to bloom, it is a glorious time to wander around Teddy Roosevelt's alma mater.

Since Monday I have been moving, writing, and teaching workshops in Groton's Studio Theater. In my first class I worked with 5 theater students who are developing short solo pieces. Inspired by a woman who ran the Boston Marathon blindfolded this year, I broke the group into pairs where one person would guide a partner who could not see. From their experiences exploring the building's water fountains, doors, steps, and corners, they generated short phrases of physical memories. Then we applied tools from The Intimate Act of Choreography's (by Lynne Blom and Tarin Chaplin) chapter on abstraction to create three versions of those phrases.

I was truly impressed by the creativity and boldness of this group of kids. Laurie has obviously introduced them to a wide range of theatrical techniques. Hopefully, I will have time to post some more on the other workshops and events but I must run to teach a Public Speaking class.

Related writing

by Karen Krolak

As I mentioned last in my sabbatical report last fall, I am also a professional shoe blogger. You will be amused to know that I was recently promoted to be Shoetube.tv's Fitness Footwear Guru. 

While I was traveling in the Midwest last week, several people asked me how to find my shoetube posts. Since many of my posts feature dance shoes, projects that I am choreographing, or even my students at Impulse Dance Center, I decided to include a few links for you. 

Dance Shoes:

tap shoes

ballet slippers

roller skates

Choreography Projects:

Coriolanus

Jacob's Pillow Choreographers Lab (part of what inspired my Somerville Walking Project) 

First Night

Other Choreographers:

Gerald Arpino

David Parker

Sutdents:

Jena

Revolutions...more military movements

by Karen Krolak

Errg. I will not be back in the Boston area tonight which means that I will not be able to attend Revolutions at Springstep in Medford.  I was so looking forward to it after the rehearsal process from Coriolanus (which closes this weekend.) 

Isabel Fine, former Artistic Director of the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, gathered experts from three different martial art forms, Capoiera, Chinese Wushu, and Kalari Ppayattu to create Revolutions. The idea for this evening of martial dance presented in the round evolved after a performance she curated for the opening of the Rose Kennedy Greenway last summer and she hopes that it may eventually tour New England.

If you have a chance to go, please let me know what you think. Last week I had a great conversation with one of the performers, Aparna Sindhoor, who was recently featured on the cover of Dance Magazine, and I should post some segments from that within a few days.