Warm Welcome In Philly

Philly was certainly a warm and welcoming town for Mountain Empire and our Telephone Dance Project was well received for the Salon Show and for the H-O-T Series. We made some new friends and can't wait to go back!

Read about our exploits via the link below courtesy of ThinkingDance.net

http://thinkingdance.net/articles/2014/05/23/3/iMprovisational-Melange-at-Mascher/

What is Coming Up This Summer?

I'm so glad you asked!

After having a fantastic Philly weekend with the girls, we decided we couldn't live without more dance TOGETHER.  So we made more plans. Here are the dates, and the deets will follow, but know that we can't party without you, so come join us!

June 26-28, 2014 PortFringe, Portland, ME

July 10-17, 2014 Capitol Fringe, Washington, DC

July 18-20, 2014 Southern VT Dance Festival, Brattleboro, VT

Next Stop for TDP: Philadelphia!

The TDP 2013-2014 season is wrapping up with a stop in Philadelphia, PA and it'll be a full weekend May 8-10. There are so many dance opportunities to take advantage of that weekend, from taking class to partying to taking in one of the performances.  

Without further ado, here are the TDP-Approved activities:


TDP's Salon-Style Show
Drinks, snacks, dancing, performances, and more, featuring Joy Davis, Loren Groenendaal/Vervet Dance, Antonia Z Brown, and the Telephone Dance Project! 

When: Friday, May 9, 2014
           Doors open at 8:00 p.m. - performances will happen throughout the evening. 
Where: Mascher Space Co-op, 155 Cecil B. Moore Ave. Philadelphia, PA
Cost: $5-$10 sliding scale

Join our FB Event!


H-O-T Series at Mascher
This monthly series features improvisational dance, music, and other experimental performance from local and touring artists curated by Loren Groenendaal and flandrew fleisenberg.  TDP will perform an origibal improvisational score with accompaniment by local experimental musicians.

When: Saturday, May 10, 2014, time: sometime around 8?  
Where: Mascher Space Co-op, 155 Cecil B. Moore Ave. Philadelphia, PA
Cost: $5 or $10 dance pass
Join the FB Event!

4 Countertechnique Classes with Joy Davis

• Thursday, May 8, 2014 from 6-8p at Mascher Space Co-op, 155 Cecil B. Moore Ave. 

• Friday, May 9, 2014 from 9a-11a at fidget space, 1714 N. Mascher. 

• Saturday, May 10, 2014 from 10a-12p at Mascher Space Co-op

• Sunday, May 11, 2014 from 10a-12p at Mascher Space Co-op

Joy Davis is a dance-artist and certified Countertechnique® Teacher. Originally from Nashville, she has spent the last ten years between Knoxville, Chicago, and Amsterdam creating, performing, and studying contemporary dance and improvisation. Joy received her BA in Performing Arts through the College Scholars Program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She then served as interim Artistic Director of Circle Modern Dance, taught and choreographed as adjunct faculty at the University of Tennessee, and presented many works independently. While in Chicago, she received the Chicago Dancemakers Forum (CDF) Greenhouse Grant for emerging choreographers; danced with Erica Mott, Redmoon Theatre, and Striding Lion Performance Group. Joy also collaborated extensively with Meg Anderson to produce four original evening-length works and jump-started frequent gatherings for artists to share information. She had the honor of receiving her yoga teacher training from renowned center for yoga in Chicago, yogaview. Joy continues to train and study Countertechnique® with Anouk van Dijk. After completing the 2012 Countertechnique Teacher Training®, as only one of 14 teachers worldwide, she teaches classes and workshops all over the US. Joy is now a MFA Teaching Fellow at Smith College in the Department of Dance.

Photos from TDP's Salon-Style Show at Brookland Artspace

TDP hosted a Salon-Style Show at Brookland Artspace on March 29th that opened up a lovely dialogue about what dance presentation should look and feel like in a community.  We chose to present TDP's work alongside some special guest artists Althea Skinner, Sylvana Christopher,and Heather Doyle. The format was one of open dialogue between works, dancing that happened at unexpected times in unexpected places, talking before, during and after seeing works, and encouraged discussion about what the evening felt like.  Oh, and a party.  We met a whole lot of people new and old to dance and we hope to see a lot more of them in the future.

Photo Credit: Julie Sopoci

Photos from TDP's Performance at the National Portrait Gallery

On March 29th, 2014, TDP lead a Site Specific Dance Exploration in the Kogod Courtyard of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.  Visitors got to experience the Dancing the Dream exhibition, watch an open rehearsal by another Washington D.C. dance company and then try their hand at some simple movement scores under the direction of TDP.

The pictures show TDP giving directions for a few simple scores that adults and children of all ages could participate in such as "lead and follow", "the wave", "imitate or oppose", and last but not least, they were able to put everything they had practiced into a final score that had them starting far apart, taking inspiration from each other and the room and ending by being physically connected in the center of the immense Kogod Courtyard.  I hope you enjoy the images as much as we enjoyed dancing with these adventurous souls.

Photo Credit: Julie Sopoci

Next Stops: Virginia and North Carolina!

Hey friends,

It's been an exciting few months, and We've been keeping busy despite the insane winter weather.  The Telephone Dance Project has been all over the place in 2014! Last weekend we performed at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC; this Friday we're heading to Blacksburg, VA; and on Saturday we'll be coming back to my old stomping ground as featured performers at the Black Mountain College {RE}Happening.

The entire event looks like it's going to be awesome, with site-specific performance and visual art pieces installed all over the Camp Rockmont property.  The evening will hearken back to the postmodern "happenings" that used to occur when Rockmont was the site of Black Mountain College, the experimental art school that hosted some of the most influential artists of the 20th century.

The {RE}Happening will take place from 7:30 pm-midnight on Saturday, April 5th at Camp Rockmont.  The Telephone Dance Project will be performing at 8 and 9:30 in the gymnasium, and at 10:15 in the dining hall.  

The Asheville Citizen-Times just ran a great article about the event: http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20140323/LIVING/303230031/ReHappening-returns-5th-year-Black-Mountain

Here's the website with ticket information: http://rehappening.com/?page_id=2420

$30 gets you in to the evening's festivities from 7:30 on, includes two drink tickets and all the performance art you can handle.  

Many of you donated to the Telephone Dance Project's indiegogo campaign and we were overwhelmed by the generous response we received!  If you were thinking about donating but didn't get a chance, I'd like to encourage you to check out one of the patron level tickets: by adding $50 to your purchase, you have the opportunity to sponsor an artist of your choice (we hope you'll pick us!)  Bringing four dance artists on tour to five locations has been incredibly rewarding but not cheap, and every bit of your support is gratefully appreciated.  

Also, if this sounds interesting but you find that ticket prices are cost prohibitive, think about volunteering!  For more information and to sign up: rehappeningvolunteers@gmail.com

Please don't hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any questions about this weekend's festivities!  Feel free to pass this info along to any friends who might be interested!

Much love to you all-- hope to see you this weekend!

- Rachel

TDP's Interview with Erin Mitchell

Recently, TDP sat down at their various computers to answer some questions for Erin Mitchell, the intrepid writer behind the blog The Art of Balancing.


“It's been really interesting,” says Rugh, ”through the premise of the Telephone Dance Project we've worked with various levels of connectivity-- from the most rudimentary letter writing, to four-way google chats. Exploring the concepts of proximity and distance through movement feels important at this time in history in which technology is becoming increasingly connected yet isolating.”

Read more here:
http://theartofbalancing.squarespace.com/blog/2014/3/25/g1cn8px25o8e5ndayzhbv2dm4wvv4c

Learn, Dance, Watch with TDP in D.C.

The Telephone Dance Project's next stop on the tour Washington D.C. and we want you to dance with us!

Friday, March 28th 

Improvisation Workshop with TDP 
at Dance Place 
3/28 at 6:30pm-8:30pm
$20 general/$15 students and seniors
Register HERE.
We'll explore some of the ideas we use to create our long-distance works.  Workshop participants will also get a chance to try out some of the movement we'll be using for Saturday's Site-Specific Dance Exploration at the National Portrait Gallery.

Saturday, March 29th

Self-Guided Tour of Dancing the Dream and 
Open Rehearsal of the Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company
at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery 
3/29 at 11:00am-3:00pm
FREE
Join us any time between 11 and 3pm to take in the National Portrait Gallery's special exhibition honoring American dance throughout the 20th century as well as a glimpse into the preparations for Dana Tai Soon Burgess's newest work to be premiered in the spring.

Kogod Courtyard, National Portrait Gallery

Site-Specific Dance Experience with TDP
National Portrait Gallery's Kogod Courtyard 
3/29 at 3:00-4:00pm
FREE - let us know you're coming HERE
We'll take inspiration from what we've just seen, and some of TDP's methods of improvisation to create a work of art on the spot.  Join in the fun or watch as we lead a series of dances that you can be a part of by giving just a few simple directions.  Look, listen, and move your way into a deeper understanding of the art that exists all around you.


Salon-Style Performance with TDP and Guests
Brookland Artspace at 3305 8th St. NE 
3/29 at 7:30pm-8:30pm 
Invite with any donation
Put on your evening look, enjoy a glass of wine (donations encouraged), see the art provided by Catholic University Art Students and watch performances by TDP, Mountain Empire and more guest artists.  Performances will happen in an informal setting with dialogue encouraged.

You must be on the invite list to enter, but that's easy!  Simply  join our Facebook Event, or contact send your name to Katie at kcsopoci@comcast.net.

We can't wait to see you!

CALL FOR ARTISTS

The Telephone Dance Project is hosting a Salon-Style Show on Saturday, March 29th at 7:30pm at the Brookland Artspace Lofts in Washington D.C.

"Put on your evening look, head down to the Brookland Artspace Lofts, and enjoy a glass of wine as you watch performances by TDP, Mountain Empire and special guest artists. Visual art by Catholic University Art Students will be on display in the Brookland Artspace Gallery. Telephone Dance Project’s Salon-Style Show will happen in an informal setting with dialogue encouraged. You must be on the guest list to enter."

We still have a few slots left open for dance artists to show work, experiment with an improvisational score, or present a work in progress for friendly dancer feedback.  This is an informal and fluid dance setting and there will be wine served, so think of this as the ideal environment to try something risky.

Want to show something?  Here are all the details:

CALL FOR ARTISTS

Postcards for the DC Show

Getting media in the mail is my favorite, and the postcards are in! That must mean we're getting closer to show time! 

Join us on March 28th at 6:30 pm for a fabulous Workshop at Dance Place, on March 29th at 3pm for a Site-Specific Dance Experience at the National Portrait Gallery, and then at 7:30pm for a Salon-Style Show at Brookland Artspace Lofts. 

Much exploration and discovery will be had.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Telephone Dance Project’s D.C. Tour Includes a Weekend Full of Dance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

TDP members Katie Drake, Barbara Tait, Eliza Larson, Rachel Rugh

Telephone Dance Project’s D.C. Tour Includes a Weekend Full of Dance

Washington D.C. - February 13th, 2014 - Telephone Dance Project (TDP), a long-distance dance collaboration, brings their unique site-specific improvisational performances to D.C. in a weekend full of dance. TDP will host an Improvisation Workshop at Dance Place, a Site-Specific Dance Exploration at the National Portrait Gallery, and a Salon-Style Show at Brookland Artspace from March 28-29th, 2014.

READ MORE HERE

Save The Date for Washington D.C.

The Telephone Dance Project's next stop on the tour Washington D.C. and we want you to dance with us!

Friday, March 28th 

Improvisation Workshop with TDP 
at Dance Place 
3/28 at 6:30pm-8:30pm
$20 general/$15 students and seniors
Register HERE.
We'll explore some of the ideas we use to create our long-distance works.  Workshop participants will also get a chance to try out some of the movement we'll be using for Saturday's Site-Specific Dance Exploration at the National Portrait Gallery.

Saturday, March 29th

Self-Guided Tour of Dancing the Dream and 
Open Rehearsal of the Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company
at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery 
3/29 at 11:00am-3:00pm
FREE
Join us any time between 11 and 3pm to take in the National Portrait Gallery's special exhibition honoring American dance throughout the 20th century as well as a glimpse into the preparations for Dana Tai Soon Burgess's newest work to be premiered in the spring.

Kogod Courtyard, National Portrait Gallery

Site-Specific Dance Experience with TDP
National Portrait Gallery's Kogod Courtyard 
3/29 at 3:00-4:00pm
FREE - let us know you're coming HERE
We'll take inspiration from what we've just seen, and some of TDP's methods of improvisation to create a work of art on the spot.  Join in the fun or watch as we lead a series of dances that you can be a part of by giving just a few simple directions.  Look, listen, and move your way into a deeper understanding of the art that exists all around you.


Salon-Style Performance with TDP and Guests
Brookland Artspace at 3305 8th St. NE 
3/29 at 7:30pm-8:30pm 
Invite with any donation
Put on your evening look, enjoy a glass of wine (donations encouraged), see the art provided by Catholic University Art Students and watch performances by TDP, Mountain Empire and more guest artists.  Performances will happen in an informal setting with dialogue encouraged.

You must be on the invite list to enter, but that's easy!  Simply donate below to our Indiegogo campaign, contact us personally, or join our Facebook Event.

We can't wait to see you!


Thanks for making this all happen through your generous donations.  Consider sharing or donating the price of a ticket for someone who otherwise could not right here:

MA Performance Recap

The Telephone Dance Project has returned to their respective homes after their first weekend of performances and we've all had a chance to digest all of the magic of our first in-person rehearsals and performances.

To give a little background: before our MA performances, each of us was ensconced in our home states creating and practicing the phrases that were sent through the mail to us.  For me (Katie), I had created, written down, and sent my "D.C." phrase through the mail to Rachel in VA.  She read it, made her interpretation of what she read on the paper into a phrase on her own body and wrote that version down to mail to Eliza in MA.  Then Eliza repeated the process to send to Barbara in PA.  I couldn't wait to see how my phrase turned out by the time it got to Barbara.

Katie, Joy and Barbara discuss costume options 

 We had met each other at least once in person in the past to shake hands, share a cup of tea, and familiarize each other about the goings ons in our lives.  Our other meetings had only been through Google Hangouts and Skype to discuss logistics. So we were filled with excitement and trepidation about our first rehearsal as a group.  Would we mesh as dancers?  How would it look to put the phrases next to each other?  Would we remember the score (a framework used to put the phrases of choreography together into a "dance")?  Would it all fall apart?  How would the crowd react?

As the end of the week approached, we gradually descended upon Eliza's house in Northampton, MA as our schedules allowed and caught each other up on our personal lives over coffee, tea and wine.  On Friday evening, we had our first rehearsal together, running through our phrases, pairing up to see how our phrases came out "in the mail" and laughing heartily at ourselves and each other at how our words changed down the line into funny movements and strange combinations.  It turned out to be such a relief!  We were working easily together, the phrases were looking good, and putting them next to each other gave us all a lot of inspiration for our own hosted shows down the line.

We all jumped in feet first to Eliza's score which was a mixture of a tightly ordered set of events and an open improvisation section using verbal cues to jumpstart a new set of phrases.  Emphasizing how easy this collaborative process has been, we all came into the rehearsal having a good handle on the score because Eliza had proposed a menu of score options via email prior to our arrival that we could weigh in on.

Eliza and Barbara warm up in our first group rehearsal

Since this was our first time rehearsing together, we had to work on being "in" the space together by running through some improvisation activities and once we really connected and added just one more rule to pay attention to in our open improv section, that was the final thread that drew us close enough together to really get us synced up to read each other's movements and create interesting patterns in the chaos.

Our first performance happened at the Workbench Series in the Arts and Industry Lofts on Saturday night with choreographers Ailey Picasso, Claire Maurey, Sara Hook and Paul Matteson.  This was the first of many more Workbench showings to come.  You can find more about the series HERE.

Paul and Sara warm up before the Workbench Series

The space was that lovely kind of warm and inviting that you expect with artist lofts and there were plenty of chairs and cushions for the audience to pile onto.  We drew names out of a hat to determine the order of the show and as a result, we were able to watch all of the choreographic offerings unfold before us and greeted the audience on a warm stage.  After the performance, we had a circled discussion with the audience asking questions of us and vice versa.  The structure of our collaboration became the primary focus and it was clear that the individual voices we brought to the structure were a real point of interest.  Heartened by the thoughtful discourse and positive feedback, we headed into a small salon-style showing on Sunday evening.

Sunday evening's Birthday Salon was held in a neighboring studio in the same Arts-loft complex but in a smaller space with concrete floors and shared with choreographers Mountain Empire, Shaina Cantino, and Joy Davis.  The pieces were scaled down and modified to take the floor into consideration and there were breaks between each piece so the audience/guests could talk, buy more drinks and treats, and find another vantage point for the next piece.

Eliza surveys the treats

Shaina and Joy performing at the Birthday Salon

We kept the same structure for this show, but gave it a more "party" flair in both attitude and costume choice.  The smaller space, the second performance, and the actual party going on in the room gave it a more intense, slightly aggressive feel that was exciting.  We ended by fading into dance music and pulling people onto the floor to start a dance party that didn't end until 1am.  What a way to head into Monday!

Now as we're tallying up the travel budget for the MA show, we'll head into the planning stages for Washington D.C.  There are exciting plans to share once the ink has dried and once again, we want you to be a part of the show.  Just like our MA showing, we have special plans to make this event accessible to every income level.  An affordable Improv Workshop open to all levels, a Site Specific performance that you can come see and even hop into, and another free party where we are featuring some dance, visual, and possibly some music, and acting artists from the D.C. arts community.

In order to keep these events free, we need you to be involved in fundraising.  It's easy!  Consider it your ticket to the show, or a ticket for someone who wouldn't be able to afford it otherwise.  Plus, we have some nice incentives to reward your generosity.  If you can't afford to give now, share our campaign with your friends.  Word of mouth is priceless. VVV GIVE OR SHARE HERE VVV

First Performance in MA is in the Books

It's snowing out and we just had our first successful run of the Telephone Dance Project! You know what that means? Treats for our inaugural contributors are on their way and you can feel cozy, safe and secure that your dollars are doing good out there in that crazy world.

Next up is Washington D.C.! Get your very own fantastic treats by donating now and be a part of the fun! Stay tuned for a recap of the MA show and to where the next dance party is happening.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/telephone-dance-project/x/5954554

Rachel and Eliza rehearsing at Smith

Eliza makes sure the treats at the donation table are fabulous

We wait in the loft watching Sara Hook and Paul Matteson before we perform at Workbench

Meet the Dancers: Rachel Rugh

Rachel Rugh is a dancer, teacher, mover and shaker currently residing in the hip little hamlet of Blacksburg, VA.  She received a BA in dance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2008, and moved to the Pacific Northwest a year later.  During her four-year tenure in Seattle, she worked with several prominent Seattle dance artists including Pat Graney, Jurg Koch and Amy O’Neal.  In 2012, she was one of four emerging choreographers selected to create new work in the Bridge Project space residency at Seattle's Velocity Dance Center. Her choreographic work has also been presented at the Seattle International Dance Festival, Lo-Fi Arts Festival and Evoke Productions' Full Tilt (Seattle, WA).  Rachel teaches modern dance technique, composition and improvisation at several institutions throughout the New River Valley.  She is currently a guest instructor in contemporary dance at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA and Trillium Performance Collective in Lewisburg, WV.  Rachel began collaborating with Eliza Larson as a member of Larson's Greener Grass Dance Project in 2010.  Since relocating back to the East Coast in 2013, the two friends have rekindled their collaborative partnership as the performance duo, Mountain Empire.

As a dance artist, Rachel strives to make work that is honest, irreverent and intelligent.  She utilizes the bodies of dancers, trained and untrained, to create relatable emotional experiences in a performance setting.  Rachel’s pieces often take on a meditative quality: she has found live performance to be the ultimate mindfulness practice-- a shared experience in which the performers, and hopefully the audience, are focused on absolutely nothing else.  When our minds are clear and our focus is on the present moment, we radiate joy.