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  • Fleeing yet again - Canada, then Poland. Back late October.

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  • Regarding the Pain of Others - Sontag

    Thursday, Aug 7, 2008 4:28PM / Members only

    In Regarding the Pain of Others, Susan Sontag bounces around and between the issues and complexities that arise when things like war, art, and entertainment are confused with and for each other in the world of photography.  She marches briefly through many histories, mostly from the 20th century, including that of war, paintings, and photography.  She includes, but refuses to focus on, disenchanting tales (like one of the staged Iwo Jima victory), and instead exerts her efforts on the many and varied influences and affects that these photographs have and have had, asserting that a photograph’s caption or publication date can grossly change our understanding of the photograph itself, can grossly effect a photograph’s reception, despite the prevalent idea that photography, the photographer, and the photograph are all objective objects, i.e., those tangible things which both are real and depict reality.  Though at times it seems as if Sontag is simply trying to dethrone the role of photography (particularly war photography) from its high position of authoritative story telling, where photographs behave as factual pieces of evidence, she is actually doing much more than this, something far less naïve.  Instead of advocating for the blind discrediting of photography and the re-positioning of writing and painting to its previously, (perhaps) more highly esteemed location, she is actually, quite importantly, encouraging the reader to see more frequently and more critically the complications that lie between products of reality, perceptions of products of reality, and the experience of reality itself.  She is called to re-iterate what has become commonplace in postmodern thought (though not yet in postmodern living), that all is subjective, all is valuable and questionable, all is worthy and vulnerable…that to question, investigate, and challenge, is a noble thing, a necessary thing, and that we should never equate.  Her punch line at the end let’s us know that although photographs might seem to bring us a closer to a conflict, and do have a specific and special role in presenting conflict and world events to us, they can never substitute or adequately represent the event itself.  That the photograph (like all things, essentially) exists as part, as a very small part, of much larger systems, happenings, histories, and circumstances.  The book is brilliantly written, quickly read, incredibly appropriate, and highly recommended.

  • ...is all that an(n)a sees

    Friday, Jul 18, 2008 4:12PM / Members only

    This is nearly the entire work (in two clips) - just a bit at the beginning has been left out because the footage we captured wasn't too great.  I premiered this work at the Fringe Club in Hong Kong in July 2007, as part of a shared evening of choreography, with Emily Woo Zeller, titled "Corresponding Constructions". 

    The work itself is largely based on my perception of a sketch Anna Timofeyeva made of me....so my perception of someone's perception of me.  As it's based on these ideas of identity and perception, I'm utilizing repetition throughout the piece as a means/attempt to present familiar material in new contexts, so as to make visible a new statement/reality/perception of the material itself,  making the argument that context and framing are ever present and will always affect the way we understand everything...ourselves, environment, others, histories, futures, presence, etc.  We can also think of existence this way, as constant re-framing of things familiar.  Throughout life our body continues to produce, more or less, the same cells built on the same DNA models and of the same materials, all the time...but they're NEW cells...and as our body is filled with new cells, and emptied of old ones, we become 'new'...though all of this new material has really just been re-framed/re-organized....such that we are always new and different and simultaneously always as we were.

    This 'task' or 'message' may not be discernible to/for the audience.  I'm convinced that it's not absolutely necessary for them to 'get it'. Most important with this work (and all my work) is that the audience takes their own path to understanding what they're seeing (their own frames determine their own perception).  By having a clear task for myself and the work,  though, I can have clear direction, focus, and rigor during the process, and clarity during performance, such that the audience might be able to understand that I'm doing something - even if they don't immediately understand what I'm doing. Comments appreciated - more work to come.

    Video:

    Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkpRel0yyWc&feature=related



    Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nwo8x-oivc&feature=related




  • in the middle, somewhat elevated - P. III

    Friday, Jul 11, 2008 5:23AM / Members only

    I suppose I've rediscovered my obsession with Forsythe - and what a wonderful re-discovery it has been!  I'm sure this is due, in part at least, to thinking about my own company...the work that I want to make, the affect I want it to have, and the relationships I want to have with my dancers and my work...basically everything.  In being frustrated that my first video-post was taken down, I've been searching just a bit for other clips about this work - and came across this absolutely fantastic recording of a rehearsal.  Featured in the 10 minute clip (ALL of which is worth watching) are both the duet I mentioned in the first Forsythe blog, and also the solo posted in the 2nd one.  It's wonderful to get an opportunity to see how Forsythe works with his dancers...and perhaps even more so, great to see how the work itself was developed, how the dancers 'figured' things out and etc.  Often the process is infinitely more interesting than the performance itself.

     

    However,  San Francisco Ballet will be performing this work, January 29 to February 8, 2009, at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, if you'd like to see it live.

     www.sfballet.org


    Video:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtpF7A_o0v0&feature=related


  • in the middle, somewhat elevated - P. II

    Wednesday, Jul 9, 2008 9:22AM / Members only

    So - the first video disappeared, but I found it again!  So now we've got three awesome examples of Forsythe's work.  A duet, then a solo, and then a 10 minute clip from rehearsal.  All important, all awesome.

    Video:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLWDtbHNzxw

  • in the middle, somewhat elevated - William Forsythe

    Monday, Jul 7, 2008 4:32PM / Members only

    Not my favorite Forsythe ballet - but a damn good one nonetheless and arguably his most important work, as it cemented his place in the canon.  Created on the Paris Opera Ballet and premiered in 1987. The music is by Thom Willems.  Just after Balanchine died, Forsythe emerged as the internationally heralded champion of ballet - providing a new (and much needed) take on neo-classicism and 'contemporary ballet' - making it a relevant form for the 21st century.  The angular aesthetics of Balanchine are sufficiently evident here, but also evident are the boundaries Forsythe pushes and the risks he takes as a choreographer, in addition to his unique use of and relationship to space, lighting, and music.

    One can also find recordings on YouTube of the Mariinsky (Kirov Ballet) doing this work with Svetlana Zakarova, and while the her extensions are more extreme - the soul of the work seems to be lost and it moves from a dance to a series of unfelt acrobatics...I think this has largely to do with the way she contains her energy within her body...while it's clear with Syvlie Guillem that she's radiating outward, and focusing more on the performance of the work than on what it requires technically.

    Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVWf-JDw8CQ


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  • Official artist
    posted on Saturday, Aug 9, 2008 6:03AM  [Report]
    Yes, I read "On Photography", but in 1979, while I was in college, and I didn't really appreciate the argument then. Must carve out some time to read it again. I also want to read some other post-modern things that I didn't get around to in grad school, Mulvey's landmark work, some gender stuff, all for a specific project that isn't going to be presented in that context, but could benefit from expanded inquiry while I research the topic and formulate what I think I'm seeing. In art history, I was working in a field (medieval architecture and architectural sculpture) where these methodologies weren't useful, so I never looked too deeply into them before. I learned early on that your method must arise out of what you are studying, not the other way around. Otherwise, a method will really limit what you see and how you interpret it. It is tougher to come at a subject that way--but, in the end, much more fruitful. But now that I'm dealing with the contemporary artistic expression of a very gender fluid performer, and am looking at video and live performance, these critical works might help me frame the work in some useful ways. The only way to find out is to give it a try. I'll know right away if the inquiry is fruitful, or simply a waste of time.

    Oh, this is really making me shake off the cobwebs. It has been years since I've thought about art history. You're more immersed in these current methodologies than I ever was. Also, you're studies are about 25 years younger than mine. A lot has changed in the liberal arts in terms of the canon of theorists since the early 80s.
  • Official artist
    posted on Thursday, Jul 24, 2008 10:20PM  [Report]
    hey there, just watched your video, is so cool...actually i'm a ballet dancer too, and i'm looking for the music for my new dance. wonder if you can help me up here...thanks

  • posted on Sunday, Jul 13, 2008 12:30AM  [Report]
    Very good!

  • posted on Wednesday, Jul 9, 2008 5:41AM  [Report]
    Hi Charles, thanks for dropping by. Amelie is one of my favorite movies too :)
  • Official artist
    posted on Monday, Jul 7, 2008 4:05AM  [Report]
    great stuff
  • Official artist
    posted on Sunday, Jul 6, 2008 9:02AM  [Report]
    Charles,

    Thank you for your very meaty and well considered reply to my tirade. (Yes, I knew it was a tirade at the time, but sometimes just being passionate and speaking from the heart, and not the head, is important, too.) I will think on it and reply to specific ideas soon. (You have given me a lot to think about, which is wonderful. Thank you!)

    I did want to bring to your attention a report that was in NPR earlier this week about art in nineteenth century America. As soon as I heard the report, I thought about your blog. In it, a historian of Shakespeare in America talks about the amazing period in American history when Shakespeare was popular entertainment that was embraced wholeheartedly by the working class. Two rival actors, one American born and the other from England, were representatives of two camps in a debate on the role of art in society. The English classically trained actor was the champion of the upper class, who felt that art should be the preserve of the educated classes. His rival was a native-born American who was known more for his passionate performances than for his high art presentation. There was an actual riot in New York between the camps of these two actors and the outcome changed the role of art in America forever after. Here is the URL for the report: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92126509
  • Official artist
    posted on Tuesday, Jul 1, 2008 1:04PM  [Report]
    thanks for the add man !!!
    cheers ...

  • posted on Wednesday, Jun 4, 2008 9:52PM  [Report]
    Welcome to AnD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • posted on Monday, May 19, 2008 5:09PM  [Report]
    Welcome to AnD!

  • posted on Thursday, May 15, 2008 12:03PM  [Report]
    welcome to alivenotdead! =)
  • More comments >

Stats

  • Charles Slender grew up in San Diego, California and graduated with honors from the University of California, Berkeley, with degrees in both Dance and Performance Studies and English Literature. His ...

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  • Occupation:  Modern Dance
  • Gender: Male
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