Happy New Years.

Chroma.

Last Thursday evening was the San Francisco Ballets world premiere of Wayne McGregor’s Chroma, which was originally set on the Royal Ballet of London. Contemporary lovers including myself have waited all season to watch this piece with orchestrations by The White Stripes and needless to say Chroma did not disappoint. Everyone and they’re mothers had come out to see this ballet. Not only dancers from the company who were not performing in the ballet came out to support but also seemingly everyone else in the world too. Christopher Wheeldon was in attendance because he had come back for the resetting of Ghost that the company premiered last season and I had the chance to catch up with him. Interestingly enough we share the same taste in bad films and I will not talk any further about that to keep us both from getting embarrassed.

Back to Chroma...I had an extra ticket so I invited my friend and dancer Alex Jenkins who is a big White Stripes/Radiohead fan so it was only appropriate that we go to the show together. We met at mine had a lil sesh and off to the ballet. The program opened with Wheeldons Ghost, which is an enchanting ballet with costumes that flow just as much as the choreography and music. The cast performed it beautifully with a new sense of maturity now that they are giving it a second go this season. With all of this "ballet is dead" hoopla it’s refreshing to see Wheeldons work because he is such a gifted dance maker and Ballet is lucky to have him.

Next was Helgis ballet 7 for Eight. This was a good time for me to think about my appointment on Sunday to get my taxes done. Thank You Jaime for giving us something to watch onstage.

Chroma was the final ballet of the evening and the company was in top form. The 1st cast of performers were Anthony Spaulding, Dana Genshaft, Frances Chung, Garen Scribner, Maria Kochetkova, Isaac Hernandez, Pascal Molat, Jaime Garcia Castilla and Yuan Yuan Tan. Stand out performers amongst the men were Garen Scribner who was so focused and attentive to every moment and detail that even in moments of stillness you can see the energy emitting off of his body ready to explode into the next sequence. Scribner’s full attack and abandon was a pleasure to watch. Jaime Garcia Castilla was the other standout performer amongst the men starting off the piece in a duet with Frances Chung with her strength absolute command of technique and flexibility Garcia was able to match while doing partnering work that would break any normal person or dancer for that matter. Once it was time for Castilla to really start moving in either solo or group work you can tell that he was moving not because he was supposed to instead he was moving because he had to. Fleshing out every detail with crystal clarity you could not take your eyes off of him and if you did he was offstage and you were eager for his next entrance. Standouts amongst the women were Maria Kochetkova whom is a world class prima ballerina with her petite frame you would expect it to be more difficult to fully digest McGregrogor's sometimes grotesque technique but she was all encompassing absorbing all of the movement information into her body and making it her own. Kochetkova commanded the stage and your attention with her dancing. She was able to bend, contort and lengthen her body in ways that were not human. She was like the Honey Badger onstage. She was not afraid of anything and attacked all of the movement like a beast! Next comes Dana Genshaft whom I did not know was even in the performance. I made a point to not look at the cast list and just be surprised with whomever was dancing. She was truly something special a great surprise. Genshaft is one of those rare performers who not only dance a roll but you can see them experience it and what an experience. Her opening solo with her standing in a fourth position forced arch with arms reaching behind her back is the first thing that comes to mind when I think about the piece. Not too mention the orchestrated music of the White Stripes and partnering by Anthony Spaulding this section was the ballets apex in my mind. Alex sitting beside me was freaking out over Genshaft and her all encompassing presence with her smooth style and radical technique coupled with an otherworldly sex appeal we need to see more Genshaft onstage please!

All in all it was a great evening so thank you to all of the dancers of the San Francisco Ballet for all your work because it’s a pleasure to watch.

Chroma video with the Royal Ballet of London

Below is a video of Dana dancing something i made for her years ago. Enjoy and go see the Ballet while they are still in season!!!!

THom Yorke TuesdayS

BluBrd from electrolift on Vimeo.

Thom Yorke Tuesdays in conjunction with Stanley Donwood's art show this Thursday i give you Blue Bird which we shot years ago. Garen and Dr.Bacon teamed up for this beast of an edit and color corrected mindfuck to the track JetStream by Yorke, which is a bside to his solo album The Eraser.

This is one for the.....

Heres' an old Photo taken by Benjamin Wardell of Hubbard Street Dance with Garen Scribner , soloist in the San Francisco Ballet. We were working on a putting together a fun evening of dance around that time for the Urban Art Farm and Paulis Bday party. I had flown in a couple other dancers from NY who were in ABT and Jose Limon at the time and we had a good evening of new works by me and a couple others. Ahhhh the good old days....

Mietie

MiTie from electrolift on Vimeo.

Mitie marks the 1st video that we shot using the Red Camera. The film was shot about a year ago in Dr. Bacons home studio with Garen dancing.

Make sure that you watch all the way to the end so that you can get a grasp of the genius that is Dr.Bacon. Garen is beautiful too but i dont need to point that out to anyone:)

This will be the last High quality dance video that will be seen on here by us for the rest of the year. Start tuning in to this blog in 2010. For starters we will be having new dance films screened in festivals in NYC and i will be collaborating with some new companies and artists setting my choreography on the concert stage using some dope multi-media and set designs.


take care everyone and hope that you enjoy Mietie.



stay up!




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Thome Yorke Tuesdays: Jetstream and Cymbal Rush

THOM YORKE STARTED A NEW BAND WITH FLEA FROM THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, NIGEL GODRICH, LONGTIME RADIOHEAD PRODUCER AND A COUPLE OTHER ARTISTS.

IN CELEBRATION HERES THE VIDEO WE DID OF THOME YORKES "JETSTREAM" OFF THE HARROWDOWNHILL LP ALONG WITH CYMBAL RUSH (LIVE) FROM THE ERASER.

link for LA tour dates. http://radiohead.com/deadairspace/







enjoy. I loved making them.



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Incubation: Studio G

all of you need readers i am bringing back some old material from Studio G. With these tough economic times one can not afford to be just wasting money on rentals or wasting movement information....... Oh hell no!

This clip was shot in my room about a year ago with the understanding that i will be using the information at a later point with different music and multiple dancers. Now i am currently in the studio working on new material for a May performance using multi-media and i will be bringing this little study that i did in my room back. I made it just for this case. A long time ago while studying composition in school one of my classmates and good friend Kevin Guy told me thats its ok to re use movement that you have made earlier. Not everything has to be new and its not cheating if you never used it in a show before now is it? Ive been doing it ever since and i always have a back catalog to resort back to.



LOCK IN.


Studio G_Incubation from T.A.G.San Francisco on Vimeo.

Tagsf DART: GAREN

GAREN from The Winger on Vimeo.

what is that you say? Yes i will be going to DC to work with dr. Bacon on some new joints.


thanks for asking.



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Fun FridaYS

Triam from T.A.G.San Francisco on Vimeo.


i dont know if i posted this video earlier last year.

Dont think that i did.

hope not.

what if i did?

oh man. I most certainly hope not.

ah, who am i kidding? I dont give a fuck.

Happy Friday.

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While on the Subject

I just finished watching the "Film" version of Cymbal Rush on the post below. I spoke in short about how we did a live version of the piece at NCSA. Today what i decided to do is elaborate on how i developed it for stage.

Once we (garen and I) decided that we were going to do Cymbal Rush for stage i had to start thinking about how to translate the movement on a much larger scale. Dancing for film is a lot different than stage because you are more or less confined to a certain frame that you need to be in at all times. Thus making it more intimate. Stage is different story. Stage you have so much more space to fill so that the movement does not seem flat. Garen made it a point to tell me that we have to go much bigger than before. The only thing that i really had to wrap my brain around for "stage" was the lighting which is KEY. The choreography remained the same with the exception of some transitions and new phrasing for Ben Wardell(Hubbard St)who filled in for an injured Quinn Wharton(SFB).

Lighting was so important for me that i flew my ass out to North Carolina so that i can be there to tech the lights. I had been in contact with the Lighting Director of the program who was still a student. Once i came in for the 1st tech i was so pleased about how well the LD was able to produce my lighting specifications. The lights were done so well that i had time to work on other ideas that i had. I wanted to make it more atmospheric. The reason why i am, and was so hell bent on the lighting is because good lighting sets the tone and atmosphere. The music for Cymbal Rush is so driving, pulse heavy with these rich classical piano undertones, lyrical phrasing that is talking against the music and then lifts you up into the clouds. It would be easy for the music to overpower the dance because its so heavy and full. My job was to translate the movement to the music but also have to be able to set the tone with the lights. I wanted to have the audience be transported into another place the entire 6min while my dance was being performed. Judging by the viewers reactions and my former teachers i can say "Mission accomplished".

here it is..

Studio G_Incubation

Im back from my vacation.

Batteries charged back up.

I want to thank everyone for they're overwhelming support for the work that i do. I have received a lot of emails from folks expressing to me the satisfaction and inspiration that they get from my work. I still find it weird, but cool too.

Also would like to clear one thing up. When i talk about shooting myself i dont mean it. I have a interesting sense of humor and its all in the name of "shits and giggles".

"This town deserves a better class of artists and im going to give it to them!"

Here is the clip from last week that i promised pre-mental breakdown. Its a work in progress.

Oh, i know that i posted on another site that i will not be using Radiohead anymore but this is an old joint so go chew on a stick:P



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Studio G_Incubation from T.A.G.San Francisco on Vimeo.

Tomorrow we dance/Studio G_(clip)

Here is clip from some phrasing that i worked on 5 months ago. Sooo
many blurbs of movement that have gone untouched. Now im starting to
revisit them and develop the phrases into full movements.





Tomorrow you get the real deal buddies:)

oh, i will suggests that you play your own music with the clip. You will be surprised. Might be cool!



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XL1

The Cannon Xl 1 is the camera that has been selected for this evenings shoot for Studio G.

I am familiar with this prosumer camera because we shot B-Roll with the same camera in my Video production class through BAVC.

Right now i am at work and excited about the shoot later on tonight with Beth, Dores, Garen and Martyn. I got Jeezy to help assist me with the shooting and rehearsal direct while i set up.

blagh, Blagh , blagh!

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Hustling.

Things to do today:

Review web-site layouts and send more pics.

Go over to Garens to show him html layouts and look at video featuring the red camera.

Speak with Sam about getting fiscal sponsorship through BAVC.

Call Dores, Martyn, Quinn(Studio G interview) and beth about working on 3's

Make up movement for 3's (short)

storyboard "END"

CHILL!