my first contact with w. forsythe

image found here:
http://www.modephonie.de/?p=530

thanks to my dear friend h i had my first contact with w. forsythe's choreographic work this evening. now, i will be perfectly honest and say that ballet is not something i usually enjoy - classical ballet that is. but this... was different. 

a bunch of us went to the opernhaus dortmund to see a public rehearsal for “Körper.Tanzen.Formen” which - when it is performed "for real" as of march 26th - consists of three parts, one choreographed by g. balanchine, b. millepied, and w. forsythe, respectively, in that order. in the rehearsal - at least in the public part of it - the dancers performed sequences from the first and third parts.

the first was nice - i guess the fact that all dancers were in their own clothes, not in full costume, so all looked different and, well, fairly natural and normal, really helped me enjoy this part. there were also some moves that were so expressive they just made me chuckle. lots of exaggerated femininity and several instances of exaggerated masculinity in the moves. still, it was fairly close to what first comes to my mind when i hear the world "ballet" - a certain degree of artificiality, lots of tippy-toes, and this seemingly effortless lightness. 

the other part, forsythe's choreography that is, or at least the part of it we got to see, was utterly different. the title of the piece is "the second detail." the music was interesting and intense, the movements fluid yet exact, and the part i liked best was the female lead dancer in that sequence. powerful, yet undeniably womanly. her movements showed untamed energy, something organic, natural, something innately strong. she wasn't wearing tights so you could actually see those muscles in her legs working, a perfectly tuned machinery of sinews and fibers and bones. but none of this made her appear masculine.

i thoroughly enjoyed the lack of hyper-feminine gestures and positions in this part of the performance. woman's body does not have to be all fair and fluttery and melty and bendy in a male dancer's arms. she doesn't have to tip-toe and twirl like a pink lollipop in a tutu. 

anyway. i had a great time. and i made first contact with something new to me. how much better could you spend the day? 

btw i should have big news soon, as the responses to my ph.d. applications are coming in now. watch this space. :) if you like. feel free to watch other spaces if you prefer. i'm just saying. :D

elimae link & candy from strangers

just to let you know, the february / 15th anniversary issue of elimae is now online, and it contains two of my fragment poems: http://elimae.com/2011/02/Five.html (taken from my forthcoming five parts of love chapbook)

not much other news - still waiting to hear from the schools i applied to, so keep those fingers crossed!

i am currently reading anne carson's if not, winter (again!) and lee ann roripaugh's beyond heart mountain. the other night when i came home i found two poetry books and some chocolate in my mail box, with no note or name to them - die schönsten gedichte von heinrich heine and liebesgedichte von frauen, so i guess i know what i'll be reading next. :D

i did figure out who the gifts were from, eventually. i wonder, however, which is worse: taking candy from strangers, or taking poetry from strangers? in any case, they were not from a stranger.

2011 - duracell tomcat passes on

felix the cat

1993 - 2011

2011 - going well so far!

so i heard from dancing girl press this morning. they want to publish "the five parts of love: confabulating sappho"! this will be my first chapbook, so i am extra-excited about it. this should be available as of march 2012. of course i will keep you posted on that. :-)

at the end of it all...

... there is a catalogue. check out my post (over at the bookshelf-blog) about the ruhr-atoll catalogue that just came out, marking the very end of the whole project.

http://thepoetryshelf.blogspot.com/2010/12/das-ruhr-atoll-exhibition-catalogue.html

since i am still working on applications, there are no other news, so have a lovely christmas season, and i will try to post more reading reviews (on the bookshelf, again) before the year is out.

tidbits: fill your shelves, and: where's the true austen?!

what an interesting article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11610489
was austen's style not really her own? what was her own writing like? how much freedom should an editor take in "preparing" a book for publication?
i don't know about you but i would love to look at austen's actual manuscripts to see how much or how little was changed, and what she sounds like "unedited". not a big fan of austen & co really, but this might change things...

also, if you haven't picked your fall and winter (poetry) reading material yet, quickly make your way to dancing girl press, because they are having a super sale! any five of their beautiful chapbooks for 20 bucks. could there be any easier way to get a hold of new poetry?! sale lasts until oct 31st.
here's the link:.
http://www.dancinggirlpress.com/winter10sale.html

and another article i thought i would share:
http://www.robinbarcus.com/hildajewel1.html
"Hilda: A Jewel Distilled" an essay about Hilda Gorenstein, by artist Robin Barcus
art, painting, as a channel of communication and a way of living that stays, despite alzheimer's disease.
interesting stuff. and beautiful art.

here's looking at TRUST (ISEA 2010, dortmund, germany)

went to the opening of the TRUST exhibit, which is part of the ISEA (international symposium of electronic arts) this year in dortmund.

it is an interesting sampling of current electronic art. installations (audio and/or visual),  some of them interactive. while of course this type of art is almost impossible to document with photographs, here are some pics (taken by me), just to give you an idea.

my favorite (sorry no picture) must be the musical instrument designed by mexican artist ariel guzik to interact with whales. it looks like it should be part of the TARDIS and the sounds it produces, of itself, are intriguing. the idea here might be to give the inhabitants of the ocean, for once, a harmonic, pleasant sign of our existence, - a nice change from being hunted down "for research purposes" and harpooned in the belly.

actually, there is a tie for my favorite - seiko mikami's installation "desire of codes" (also no photo - impossible) is mindblowing and playful at the same time. go see it if you can!

a working, hand-drawn antenna

joyce hinterding, australia

part of a grid of video projections

not sure whose work this is,

but it's disturbingly fun!

a large marble slab

konrad becker, austria

...and finally, for those who like really fast rollercoasters and strobe lights, or are just fascinated with light as a mind-altering agent, carsten nikolai's installation is... amazing and nothing for anyone with any risk of seizures.