Good Things!

  

*  Congratulations to Courtney Wagner and Jim Peerless on their recent engagement!

*  Monkeyhouse has a new intern, Danny Foner!  Keep an eye out for more information about him soon!

*  Longtime friend and supporter Leon Hovsepian just became a father, TWICE!  Congratulations, Leon!  And welcome twins, Leo & Logan, to the Monkeyhouse family!

*  Speaking of interns, four of our graduates headed off to college last month!  Best of luck to you Laila, Elyssa, David & Katelyn!  We can't wait to hear all about your adventures!

*  In addition to raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for The Jimmy Fund, the amazing Zach Galvin, sang the national anthem at Fenway Park last week!  Check out all the amazing work he's done with the Jimmy Fund Walk and maybe even get your walking shoes on!

*  Luminarium and Monkeyhouse Mused together!  In early August members of the two companies joined together share our creative processes and it was great fun for all!

*  Andrew Mudge's beautiful film The Forgotten Kingdom had its Boston showing last week.  Please go check it out if you can!  Congratulations on a job well done!

 

* Mara Blumenfeld, who gave Karen the original Princess Pamplemousse hat, is costume designing The Jungle Book at the Huntington Theater in Boston.

 

* South African actor, Nick Boraine is also in Boston this month for a five week residency with Global Arts Corps at ArtsEmerson. Monkeyhouse first met Nick when we both were performing at the NYC Fringe Festival in 2001. You can see him in free showings of the documentary, Truth in Translation ,and a workshop of a new project about the peace process in Northern Ireland.

 

* Our favorite palindromist, Barry Duncan was named Artist of the Month by the Somerville Arts Council!

 

*  Monkeyhouse reached over 400 "likes" on Facebook!  Thanks to everyone who spread the word!  We'd still like to keep going, so if you haven't already, tell the social media world why you love Monkeyhouse! 

 

What are your good things this month?  Share with us HERE! 

Monkeyhouse Loves Natick High School!

by Katelyn Alcott

Monkeyhouse and Natick High School are like a peanut butter and dance sandwich eaten quickly in the brief time between classes and rehearsal.  We have had a long standing relationship with the school and its community and are constantly amazed by the things that this wonderful group of students accomplish.  

Monkeyhouse has many ties to the drama program at Natick High School, including alumni, interns and Nicole Harris's choreography for the musical productions.  The students have performed at Monkeyhouse events and both Sarah Friswell and Sarah Feinberg were once part of the drama program. 

Many of Karen's students from Impulse Dance Center have also been NHS students.  This  past year Monkeyhouse had six student interns from Natick High School, Marie Libbin, Rosie Steinberg, Laila Fatimi, David Makransky, Katelyn Alcott and Elyssa Berg.  Laila, David, Katelyn and Elyssa are all graduating seniors headed to college in the fall. Laila will be attending the University of Maine, David will be attending Boston College, Katelyn will be attending Wagner College and Elyssa will be attending Virginia Commonwealth University. Best of luck to the graduating seniors! 

Our ties to Natick High extend beyond the students.  You might remember vice principal Zach Galvin who was the emcee for last year's Your Just Desserts!  And our audiences are always peppered with NHS faculty and staff.

You can see more of these outstanding students throughout the year.  Whether you check out school performances of the drama, band and choir programs, student run groups such as Seven's Not Enough, or their out of school arts adventures which are numerous and wide ranging - you will constantly be impressed by the talent that comes from these young people.  What have you done to show your support of young local arts today?  

Don't Forget! Internship Presentation (Program Included)

By Elyssa Berg

Don't forget to check out the presentation of the work Laila and I created during our internship with Monkeyhouse! It's a free event that will be presented in the Natick High School Auditorium. There will be two performances; one at 6:30 and one at 7:00. Come show your support for Monkeyhouse, Laila, and I and enjoy some dance! Here is the electronic program for tonight.


Internship Presentation
Presented by Monkeyhouse
at Natick High School
May 21, 2013

Photo by Paradise Photo and Video

Logic or Passion (premiere)
Choreographed and performed by Laila Fatimi
Music by Owen Walker
Developed during Monkeyhouse internship
A special thanks to Karen Krolak and Nicole Harris

Right Of Passage (premiere)
Choreographed and performed by Elyssa Berg
Music by Marcus "Ides" Jackson
Developed during Monkeyhouse internship
A Special thanks to Karen Krolak and Nicole Harris

Monkeyhouse's Intern: Elyssa Berg

by Laila Fatimi

Elyssa Berg is a senior at Natick High School who is going on to major in Dance and Choreography and hoping to minor in Exercise Science or Nutrition at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA this coming fall. In this interview, she talks about the large parts in her life and what she has taken from her experiences so far that will help her down the road. 

LF:What do you feel was the most important thing you learned from growing up at Impulse Dance Center?

EB: Well, growing up at Impulse, I can say that it has definitely shaped who I am completely. I’ve spent most of high school held to a high standard of discipline that has taught me a lot. Being on time, never slacking off, always on task and focused, I could basically keep going on for a while. Not only have I learned how important being a role model for the people around me, but I have also learned how to work with the people around me. Being able to help others grow and have them help me grow and improve is an amazing process that never ceases to feel rewarding. Being part of the two performing companies,The Connecting Point Dance Company and the TAProject, I was able to learn how to act professionally not only when at venues that we are performing at but also in rehearsal and in class.

LF: What was your favorite performance you’ve done? And Why?

EB: I would have to say that my favorite performance would be Circles III, where I performed Arie Hockman’s “Red Means Go” with the Connecting Point Dance Company. Performing at Circles III was one of the first times I felt like I fully performed a piece and gave it my complete all. It was such an amazing feeling to be satisfied with what I have done on stage. For the first time I was able to forget about what I’m doing and just dance.

LF: I understand you attended the Bates Dance Festival Young Dancers Workshop and the Urbanity Contemporary Summer Intensive, this past summer. Did you learn any new techniques and styles from the programs? 
EB: With every teacher that you study with, there will always be a variation of style and I was able to experience a lot of that while learning from so many people in such a short amount of time. It was interesting how fast I found myself able to adapt to the styles of the teachers. Two teachers definitely stand out to me with very different styles and techniques. One was in Kyle Abraham’s Repertory Modern class that I took for three weeks at the Bates Dance Festival. His style was quite contemporary with a little kick. It felt like there was somewhat of a hip hop influence in his style which was very different to anything that I have previously experienced. Also taking class from Kat Pantos and Urbanity’s Contemporary Intensive was very unique. Her style was hard hitting and intense movement that required a great deal of strength and endurance. Because I had never studied contemporary intensely, this was my first exposure to the technique and style that was challenging and very different to anything that I have studied before.

LF: Did you like any particular style more than others?

EB: I would say that studying with Kyle Abraham was my favorite experience with a new style. Not only does he have an amazing company, Abraham In Motion, that I got to watch perform and also take class with the company members, but I was able to fully immerse myself in a style so much out of my comfort zone that I ended up falling in love with. Being surrounded by his company members for the three weeks, taking classes with them, and then being able to have Kyle set a piece on my class, I was able to experience his whole creative process and experience his style to the greatest extent.

LF: You have been a teacher’s assistant for 6 years now. Have you learned anything from teaching?

EB: I have to say that I am really grateful to have the opportunity to assist classes at Impulse Dance Center. When I first began assisting classes I began with the younger children, usually around 7-8 years old. Watching young dancers grow and learn is such an amazing experience that is completely fulfilling. Later on I moved on to the older children when I began assisting ballet classes. Not only am I able to learn how to direct a class but assisting classes helps me to become a better dancer. I’m able to notice corrections that have to be made which really helps in my body awareness. All the corrections that I am able to give to the students I find that I am focusing on for myself in my own classes. Also being the example in a ballet class means that my technique has to be on point all the time. I take the class that I assist as seriously as any of my other classes and am able to work just as hard as I would during any other class.

Intentions of Movement

By: Elyssa Berg

This week Laila, Nicole, and I spent a good amount of time exploring movement through improvisation. During a specific exercise Nicole had Laila and I improvize while focusing on specific body parts that she would call out. We explored movement through body parts including the hands, feet, pelvis, lungs, and even the kidneys. With such an extended amount of time to focus movement using a specific part of my body I found it easy to explore. I was finding new ways to lead with that body part, use it as a space hold, put weight on different parts of it, and use it to initiate other movement in my body. There was a clear purpose to my movement as I was focused on how I could use the specific body part in new ways.

After this exercise we wrote about which body part was our favorite to focus on, which was our least favorite, and why this was. One of my favorite body parts to move with was my toes. I found different ways to move on my toes, different ways of following where my toes were leading, and it was easy to allow the rest of my body to relax and follow without restricting other movements. Another one of my favorites was moving with my ear. It is not usually a body part that I think of as influencing my movement so I thought it was enjoyable to focus on as I surprised myself with the outcome. My least favorite body part to move with was my elbow. When I was moving with my elbows I felt like I was focusing so much on the specific movement of the elbow that my body wasn't able to respond and react to the movement; making me feel stiff and contained.

Once Laila and I decided what our favorite and least favorite body parts to move with were we were given the task of creating two phrases, one with our favorite body part and one with our least favorite. I chose for my least favorite body part my elbow and for my favorite body part my toes. When going into this exercise I figured that it would be more difficult to create a phrase with my least favorite body part than it would be to create one with my favorite. It turns out that i was completely wrong about this. Going into this task I had no intensions for the phrase with my elbow to be anything that I would like, for it to be interesting, or for it to be easy to create. My phrase actually came naturally and after I had previously written down why I didn't like using that body part I was able to change my approach to my movement making it more enjoyable. When I started creating my phrase using my toes I had a lot of difficulty. I felt like I put a certain expectation on what the phrase needed to be. I thought that because it was my favorite it had to be an amazing phrase using everything I had discovered when I improvised. It turns out that my expectations and intentions on what I thought my movement should have been greatly effected the creative process.

Interns: Building and Adapting Phrases

By Laila Fatimi

This week, we’ve been working on building phrases. Before building a phrase, Nicole had Elyssa and I read a chapter from “The Intimate Act of Choreography” by Lynne Anne Blom and L.Tarin Chaplin. While reading the chapter, a few concepts stood out to me. One: there should be a distinct beginning, middle, and end to each phrase no matter how long or short. This gives the phrase a structure. And two: There should be a high point at the beginning, middle, or end of the phrase.  “The impulse serves as an impetus out of which the movement flows necessarily and organically” (Blom & Chaplin, 25).

 We then had to build phrases of our own, using what we had just learned. Once we finished our phrases, the task was to  pick 3 characters, and represent each character through the same phrase. Depending on the different characters we were focusing our phrase on, we would emphasize certain parts of our movement. For example, make our movement slower, or make it faster. The characters I used, were Carmon (from Spy Kids 1, 2 AND 3), Gatsby, and Willy Wonka. 

 For Carmon’s version of my phrase, I made my movement quick and sharp. A drawn out develope turned into a powerful kick. For Gatsby I made movement slower and more grand. And finally, for Willy Wonka, I made the phrase slightly faster, happier and added a couple skips in.

 This exercise taught me how to adapt a phrase, just by changing the feeling behind the movement and to make the phrase own a different identity.

Works Cited

Blom, Lynne Anne, and L. Tarin. Chaplin. The Intimate Act of Choreography. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh, 1982. Print.