6 consummate performers from the field of dance explore the question
of who deserves…
A SEAT AT THE TABLE.
A series of provocative vignettes designed to refract our perspectives on that proverbial place of belonging and power — from the domestic dinner tables to the seats of social power. Who gets a seat? Who makes the offer? Once seated…then what?

24’ of table, a metamorphic game of musical chairs, transparent alliances, personal compromises … one’s relative position and perspective grows more  & more uncertain. What does a seat at the table really get you anyway?

“The first idea I’d like to suggest is that we all love music a great deal, it means a lot to us. But music is even more powerful if you don’t just listen to it, but you make it yourself…everybody, each of us, everybody in the world has the power to create and be part of music in a very dynamic way, and that’s one of the main parts of my work. So, with the MIT Media Lab for quite a while now. We’ve been engaged in a field called the act of music. What are all the possible ways that we can think of, to get everybody in the middle of a musical experience? Not just listening, but by making music.” (Watch Tod Machover’s lecture below, recorded March 2008 in Monterey, California. Duration: 20:35.)

Staycee Pearl’s dancers are beginning to make their own dances and adding Thursday evening work sessions (starting tonight at 6 pm) to the regular Saturday class schedule. 

Part of this process involves studying other choreographers and finding inspiration/meaning for your work. Last week we looked at a clip from Bill T. Jones’ Dancing to the Promised Land (you can watch the entire documentary on Netflix). Jones used the gesture of his mother resting on a hoe for inspiration, divided the part of Eliza from Uncle Tom’s Cabin between four dancers (each of whom connected to the character and the story in a distinctly personal way), and incorporated words/language. So you should be thinking this week about gesture, images, story and language. Please bring an idea with you into our 9 am session on Saturday in room 340, where we will continue our inspiration sessions before dance class.

Here is a clip of Bill T. Jones talking about his work, Fondly Do We Hope… Fervently Do We Pray (a dance about Abraham Lincoln) with Bill Moyers. And here is a link to a longer video of Jones giving a lecture about dance, choreography and life. Take an hour to watch it. You will certainly come away with some ideas.

Hope Academy’s Wednesday Animation Club has been working with Squonk Opera’s Michelle Carello, as part of the community residency program at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater. The animation students are making a music video to the They Might Be Giants song, “Happy Doesn’t Have to Have an Ending.” The animated music video will be performed to live at our Spring Music Festival on Saturday, March 27 at 7 pm.

In the meantime, Michelle and Squonk Opera have generously offered us tickets to see their performance of Mayhem and Majesty on Sunday, March 21 at 2 pm at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater. Hope Academy animation and HAT Co students are invited. There will be a question and answer session following the performance and Michelle will be there to talk about her role in the production. Please RSVP to Norma Meyer at 412-441-3800 x11 by Friday, March 12 if you would like to attend. 

Here is a taste of what you can expect.

Congratulations to Sam Gardner who won an honorable mention in the 2010 Pittsburgh Public Theater Shakespeare Monologue and Scene Contest. His “Alas, poor Yorick” speech was filled with “infinite jest.”

We came… we ate… we danced… we limbo-ed… we dressed in funny costumes and hats… we partied last night and celebrated a belated Carnival/Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras. Thanks to ELPC’s Worship, Music and the Arts Committee for a fantastic evening. And to the hearty souls who were determined not to let a little snow stop them from having a good time. Check out more photos here.

Yes, we are open today with classes and private lessons as usual (unless something changes, weather-wise — check back later for updates). Six inches is nothing!