The Hide & Seek of Inspiration

Hello everyone, Kaley Pruitt here.  I am a dancer, choreographer, arts administrator, and creative thinker.  I like to include the last one because it’s a part of me that I hope applies to how I am as an artist but also how I am as a person, more importantly.  I’ve been negotiating NYC for just about 2 years now, and it still amazes me how it can turn on you.  Don’t worry, I mean in good ways too.  This place is just full of endless possibilities; pitfalls but also magical moments.  Those are the ones that sustain you until the next inspiration hits.  As a member of Junior Committee, I want to tell you who I am, but I also think we are in a field of showing who we are.  Here is a 2 minute dance film that I created, top to bottom, choreography to filming to the music, at a time when I was truly inspired.  What do you go back to again and again to rediscover yourself and remember what inspiration tastes like? When it is hiding, what do you seek to get yourself back in the game?

I’d love feedback videos of what inspires you all!  Oh yeah, the logistics about me; I currently dance for Natalia Duong in Project Agent Orange, and I am also a dancer for Angelo Dance Project.  I am the Administrative Assistant for Elisa Monte Dance, and also work at Baryshnikov Arts Center.  After all of that, taking class and seeing shows comes next, and then maybe some rest, just maybe.

I really look forward to sharing some thoughts on dance in NYC with you all.  Stay tuned for my post Wednesday, “Taking Ourselves Seriously”.

[Member Blog] Leeanne M. G-Bowley: Sharing Dance Videos

One way that I like to connect with friends and family is to send a youtube video to express a sentiment.  This practice has expanded to sharing “in-spired” videos with the supporters of my dance company via social media.  Also, within In-Sight Dance we exchange videos via e-mail or social media in order to inspire each other, make each other laugh, or share something incredible.  Of course, much of these videos revolve around dance (though the Honey Badger video was an exception to that rule).

I’d like to share some of these videos with you.  Want to join in the fun?  Post your favorite dance video to share with the JComm community!

I frequently trade videos with Cody Potter, one of the dancers I have been working with from the start of In-Sight Dance Company. He shared this video this past weekend.

Here is a video that was shared with me by a great dramaturg after we just finished working on a play that had brought up much discussion about art’s role in social change and action.  The discussion continued with this video–which might be seen as an unlikely source:

A good friend of mine from college posted this on my Facebook recently.  I danced with this friend, and though we’re on different coasts, being able to share dance we see online connects us artistically as well as emotionally.  Like the first video it uses animation and here is amplifies the power of the dancer.

Mishi Castroverde, another dancer with whom I love to trade video, shared this Tedx video awhile back.  Like the Step Up video, it demonstrates how dance can be a tool for change.

Blueprint Call To Action

“Dance is a field with more guerrillas than institutions” –John Munger, Director of research and information at Dance/USA

Dance/NYC’s mission is to strengthen the professional dance field in New York City.  They help to foster a society that appreciates the art of dance and supports the creative process.  In 2007, former Dance/NYC Executive Director Michelle Burkhart created the Junior Committee (JComm) to advocate specifically for young professionals in dance and to serve as a liaison between the organization and its younger constituents.  JComm is a diverse sample of the field’s guerillas and our partnership with Dance/NYC brings us in from the fringes and allows us to effect an institution.  Our relationship is mutually beneficial and we work together to serve the dance community.

[Member Blog] Erica Frankel: Dance & New Media in Universities

My alma mater, NYU, now boasts a Dance and New Media program  housed within the NYU Tisch Dance program. I think it’s a pretty cool, and important, step forward for a college dance program. Check it out:

 

Do you know of any other dance programs doing interesting work with emerging media?

[Member Blog] Erica Frankel: Photos From Your Show

As a graduate student at NYU I’m currently taking a seminar with dance critic Deborah Jowitt. Last week in class someone mentioned a photo from a critique they’d seen recently, and Deborah groaned “don’t get me started on dance photography.”

She went on to tell us about a show she’d recently gone to review by a relatively notable contemporary choreographer. When she emailed the dance group later to get photos to accompany her review she was sent one unimpressive image taken by a dancer during rehearsal one day and one cell phone photo. The choreographer admitted that she was trying to save money.