Green Street Emerging Artists Program

by Nicole Harris

 Last night was the first showing for the Green Street Studios Emerging Artists Program in which a small number of choreographers are selected to work with two mentors to create new works and produce a concert.  I am very excited to announce that this winter I will be one of four choreographers participating in the program along with Jennifer Hardy, Angie Hartley and Jillian Grunnah.  We will be working with mentors Rozann Kraus from the Dance Complex and Monkeyhouse's own Karen Krolak over the next two months while get ready for our concert on February 11th & 12th!  I really enjoyed watching everyone's work and think this is going to be a concert filled with personality and beautiful dancing!  I am thrilled to be a part of it! 

Jillian Grunnah

Nicole Harris

 

Angie Hartley

Jennifer Hardy

Come visit us at http://gssemergingartists.blogspot.com/ (Don't worry, we'll update you here at the Monkeyhouse blog too!) for updates on the show, information on the process of building pieces and more exciting tidbits!

Monkeyhouse @ First Night 2011 Fun Fact of the Day

Monkeyhouse @ First Night 2011 Fun Fact of the Day:

Hot dog! Eva Dean is a freaking dream dancer. For starters, look at those articulate toes. Her company is celebrating its Silver Anniversary and yet she has been incredibly willing to carve out time to develop 4-Eva: L'appel du vide, her solo for First Night.

Having never tried to set work on a more experienced choreographer before, I confess that I was a bit intimidated as I started this piece in November. She kept reminding me though, that she is "not precious about anything." Our rehearsals have resounded with laughter and the piece evolved much more rapidly that either of us had expected. Can't wait to hear what people think about it when it premieres tomorrow night.

Have you gotten your First Night button yet?

Monkeyhouse @ First Night Fun Fact of the Day

by Nicole Harris

Monkeyhouse @ First Night 2011 Fun Fact of the Day:

To those of you who have never been to a Monkeyhouse rehearsal it might come as a surprise to know that we sometimes lose focus.  (To anyone who has ever spent any time with any one of us this comes as no surprise at all...)

This stool, which made its debut at Art Beat and is just one of many chairs gracing the Monkeyhouse stage in the next few months, provides hours of upended entertainment during quiet moments of rehearsal.

At the start of rehearsal today Karen was standing in for Courtney.  In an obvious next step, Karen's socks were standing in for Karen.  They were working very hard.  Hard enough that a camera was brought out to document the occasion.

Anne and her french horn did their best to keep us in check, both when we got a little off track and during the new Firk we were rehearsing.  I am so glad she (and her horn) are making it a habit of appearing in Monkeyhouse shows these days!

Monkeyhouse @ First Night 2011 Fun Fact of the Day

Monkeyhouse @ First Night 2011 Fun Fact of the Day:

Psst...did you know that you can check out one of Monkeyhouse's pieces for First Night 2011 on Facebook? Our friend, David Wechsler, of the Tyranny of Dave (who also makes a mean chocolate chip cookie), posted it for us. We will be using another song, Call of the Waters, for Eva Dean's solo.We would chat more but we must skedaddle off to rehearsal.

Monkeyhouse’s Major Events & Milestones from 2010 (part 1)

Monkeyhouse was truly honored to be included in Karen Campbell's Boston Globe article about milestones in the Boston Dance Community. While emailing her for the story, we realized how amazing 2010 has been for this organization and we could not have accomplished this without YOU. Thanks for reading, encouraging, and fueling our growth. We hope you enjoy waltzing down memory lane and savoring the last 52 weeks with us.

Anti-ossification at Cool New York

Monkeyhouse’s Major Events & Milestones from 2010

January

  * Monkeyhouse finishes Anti-ossification, a duet choreographed by Karen Krolak and Nicole Harris, to premiere at the Cool New York Dance Festival in Brooklyn, NY. Both shows were performed to full houses.

February

  *Karen Krolak is nominated for an IRNE for her choreography on Actors' Shakespeare Project’s Coriolanus.

March

  * Monkeyhouse’s blog Connect 2 Choreography named one of the 50 Best Blogs for Dance Students.

April

  * Monkeyhouse is awarded Best Dance Company in Boston 2010 by the Boston Phoenix Readers’ Poll.

  * Monkeyhouse launches C2C: Connect to Choreography a new monthly television show produced with SCATV in Somerville.

  * Karen Krolak and Nicole Harris return to the Groton School for another week long residency working with theater students.

   *Monkeyhouse initiates a series of Sporks, focus groups that tackle organizational topics, to generate new ideas from long time supporters.

May

  * Karen Krolak is invited to be USD Lab Artist at Union Street Dance in Brooklyn, NY. As part of this program, Karen led a series of Musings, workshops that Monkeyhouse uses to sketch out choreographic ideas. This is the first time Musings are opened to the general public.

  * Jon Schaffrath and Nicole Harris join the Monkeyhouse Board of Directors.

June

Movers & Shakers, Anne Howarth and Kristin Bezio, on Moving Day.

  * Nicole Harris galvanizes Monkeyhouse’s Movers and Shakers to prepare the organization for our move from the Arlington Center for the Arts.

  * Karen Krolak begins meeting with Karen Comeau, a teacher at the Healy School in Somerville and a fellow "Diplomatic Delegate" on the 2009 Somerville Sister City trip to Tiznit, Morocco. They develop a program that will use choreographic exercises to help students understand elements of grammar and improve reading comprehension.  They plan to partner with a school in Morocco in the future.

to be continued...

Monkeyhouse @ First Night 2011 Fun Fact of the Day

Monkeyhouse @ First Night 2011 Fun Fact of the Day:

Ramfeezled has been one of Monkeyhouse's most popular pieces ever since Amelia O' Dowd premiered it in 2002. When Amelia moved to Dayton, OH, we knew it would be a challenge to find someone to fill her fishnets. 

Thank goodness for Nikki Sao Pedro. She is Monkeyhouse's reigning queen of repertory resurrection. You may remember that we set Ululation/Mourning After, aka the Nail Shirt piece, on her for Cambridge Connections: Urban Dance at Endicott. For First Night 2011, she is adding a little whiff of Revere to Ramfeezled (Redux) and the results are a rip-snorting good time. 

Seriously, folks get your buttons because you do not want to miss this.

Monkeyhouse @ First Night 2011 Fun Fact of the Day

Monkeyhouse @ First Night 2011 Fun Fact of the Day:

Anne Howarth is a wonderful example of why we love chatting with audience members after our shows. Our Production Manager, Jason Ries, first met her at a reception after Monkeyhouse's production, Ahem, Aha! Hmmm... in 2004 at the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center. Anne has guided us to local classical music hot spots and has been an incredible Mover & Shaker. This year, for example, she helped us move the office, checked people in at Your Just Desserts, and offered advice at Sporks. Everyone needs a French Horn player like this in their life.