It's showtime!

This is it! You are about to make our work real. We have been building our world and now it is our job to make sure it can be your world as well, your adventure with your rules. We take our jobs as entertainers very seriously; so, we will be working to find new truths with every step, beat, and flick of a switch. We invite you to discover with us.

Can't wait to have ya!
-Rach + Andy

A random adventure through my rehearsal journal

repetition
sentencing
variation
stillness
pause
silence
exit
audience
body part
limitation
mirroring

aim to put the studies on the stage

content = location

meditate on the choice, let it happen for a bit

the viewer gives real-time feedback

Cotton balls
Black tape
Newspaper
Styrofoam

the viewer contributes to the improvisation

listen.
EXPOSURE

Deconstruction= we take what is known of the form, breaking down familiarity into its parts, changing the physical identity and then reassembling the pieces in new ways. The form is new; but, the sensory connections to the "known" model remain.

Motivations: a defined set of tools.
Motive: points of interest that create artful weaving of motives through variation into ever changing lines, pre-ordained so the viewer knows intuitively where we are going even though the overall composition is being created instantly through an intricate form of theme and variation.

What is a response?
an acknowledgement
a shift
a welcome
support
a pause
a direction change
an exit
an entrance

-Rach

not the ordinary path...

"...devices that I know that will take me out of the ordinary path" - John Coltrane

With about a month until the show, I thought I would write about how we have been preparing in a bit more detail.  We have our cross-training, of course;  but really, what is it that we do when we come to together in the studio?  The questions is: how do you rehearse improvisation?  You don't.  You can't.  For us, rehearsal is the practice of performance, not for performance.  We take our cue from Mr. Coltrane and we create "devices", intuitive and technical, that we use to carry us from what we know; so, we can discover and uncover things. 

Some sample devices: who is leading?  is this a solo? a duet?  a rug.  pause, exit, repetition, enter, stillness, mirroring.  who is following?  last week's subway ride.  body parts.  lamps verses flashlights.
the radio.

We apply limitations and freedoms, keeping in mind that these devices, can and will be lost in the spontaneity of the real-time compositions.  They are simply a beat that one can always return to... 

So, rehearsal goes: 
1. arrange the space
2. discuss what devices we will employ for the practice
3. GO

The most important thing is that we react to our immediate environment.  We are practicing how to address our own thoughts and the thoughts of the collective.  We aim to deliver "on the spot" responses.  And, what we get is newness: new patterns, new structures, new moves, new shadows, new shades. 

Improvisation is a practiced.  It is technical.  It is its own technique.  
But, really...it is magic.  :)

-Rach
 
STAY TUNED AND SEE YA AT THE SHOW! 

We're back and we're improvising

It is so good to be back! Andy Dickerson and I have devised the “pause, flow, and exit” of our first truly collaborative work, arrangement. (Andy's genius lighting design has been a part of Launch since 2006.)  

So, Andy and I go into rehearsal with our separate mediums, him on lights/me on moves,  and we blend them.  We are working on creating  spontaneous, valid compositions that display the element of choice, real-time choice.  Each rehearsal we explore improvisation not as the antithesis of composition, but as the place where compositions become compositions. 

We think about our tool kits, what we can use and how:

We arrange a world.  We wait.  We enter.  We pause.  We wait.  We watch each other.  We listen.  We respond/flow or we pause more.  We exit.  And, in turn, we shape solos and duets, sometimes even trios.  We enter with a plan and then we let that plan be destroyed.  We think about repetition, stillness (which is different than pause), limitations, objects.  We think about the audience.  All of it, we use to create a real-time composition.  We wonder who is leading?  Who is following?  We try to figure and then we just let it go.  A new idea comes to us.  We recall what once was and we use it.  We notice what is and we use it.  We volunteer to expose the layers of self, past and present, to alter and challenge perceptions, create new neuron connections, and to discover unique thoughts.  We improvise. 

Oh, one more awesome thing:  Fade Kainer is creating the sound score! Yup! 
It's good stuff.  

Save the date:  March 22-23, 2013 and stay tuned for updates! 
-Rachel

The review is in...

photo by Matthew Murphy

"It is dangerous. It is thrilling. Give me more."

"...oddly intriguing and absurd."

"Some of the most specific and stirring moments occur when the four diners completely utilize their bodies and full out movement technique"

-Christine Jowers, Dance Enthusiast

click here to read the entire article on the Dance Enthusiast's site:
http://networkedblogs.com/n1kdc

Meet the Artists: RACHEL

Rachel Mckinstry, born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio, improvises her way, trying to reside in the space between 4 and 5. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance performance/choreography from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor in 2002 and made her way to NYC. Rachel co-founded Launch Movement Experiment in 2005 in NYC and has been creating danceart with Launch ever since.


Here is some of Rachel's research for The Supper:

Meet the Artists: LIZ

Liz Riga, direct from the Motor City, received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance performance/choreography from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. Liz ventured to NYC in 2001 where she attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and received a Master of Fine Arts in dance. She has been using her creative juices as a co-founder/art maker of Launch Movement Experiment since 2005, making it her vehicle for expression in an attempt to extend beyond the status quo. In addition to her Launch dance party, Liz worked extensively with Keigwin & Company, creating, performing, touring, and teaching as an original member of the company.

Check out Liz in rehearsal for The Supper.
She always serves quality... werk.

Meet the Artists: ANDY

Andy Dickerson is the Resident Lighting Designer and Technical Director of Triskelion Arts, and is honored to have the opportunity to light Launch Movement Experiment for a 5th time. In addition to Triskelion Arts, he has worked at Joyce Soho, Center for Performance Research, Theater for The New City, Gene Frankel Theatre, Lehman college, and others, and has worked with such companies as Abby Bender Schmantze Theatre, Jessica Gaynor Dance, The Roxanne Lola Movement Machine, White Road Dance Media, NuDance Theater, Fools on Fire, and many more.


check out his magic:
www.cirquethis/lighting
www.launchmovementexperiment.com

Meet the Artists: JEFF

Jeff Poulin is an artist and lifestylist currently living in Brooklyn, New York. Inspired by dark fantasy, pop culture, and noir, Jeff launched a fashion brand under the name Thou Art Uncouth in 2007. Jeff has design for major entertainment studios including Marvel Entertainment and NBC Universal, and has released a limited edition hand bag collection.

Jeff designed and constructed all the fashion for The Supper. It's sleek, twisted, dark. Just like Jeff. Come see...

Meet the Artists: RICHERT

Richert Schnorr is a designer, videomaker, artist and performer who creates work across mediums and genres. His personal work explores how the meaning of identity has changed in the age of the internet. This work was recently showcased as his MFA Thesis, which he earned in Design and Technology at Parsons the New School for Design in 2011. He is also a nightlife performer and boylesque artist who has worked across NYC. His web/design/video clients include Jessica 6, Amanda Lepore, Cazwell and Ultra Nate.

www.richertschnorr.com

Richert created The Supper's Sneak Peak Video. He will be showing a new video piece at the show AND he is one of the performers in The Supper!! oh, yeah.

Meet the Artists: MATTHEW

Matthew Baker originates from Ann Arbor, Michigan, where, before launching into the dance world, he began his movement exploration as a gymnast and soccer player. Prior to relocating to New York City, Matthew received his BFA Degree in Dance from Western Michigan University in April 2008. In addition to his work with Launch, Matthew has been a member of Keigwin & Company since 2009. In 2010 Matthew enjoyed assistant choreographing alongside Larry Keigwin for Vogue's "The Fashion Show", New York's largest fashion show in history. Also in 2010, Matthew began creating and exploring with Launch and has continued collaborating since.

Watch some of Matt's sweet moves
in The Supper's rehearsal process:

Meet the Artists: FADE

Fade Kainer is a NYC-based musician/vocalist/producer/remixer. His current projects include industrial/metal band INSWARM and the doom outfit BATILLUS in which he contributes vocals, synths, and samples. Fade is also a live member of JARBOE. His solo project, STATIQBLOOM, is an ambient/electronic/noise project that has been described as "atmospheric music mostly composed in stream of thought, drifting at times from melancholy and sparse, to dense and haunting". Fade was the vocalist/songwriter of the industrial metal group, Still Life Decay (2002-06). Other projects include collaborations with Hekate, love is nothing, Ascension of The Watchers (live drummer 2005-06). In addition, he has remixed many bands including Fear Factory, Secrets of the Moon, Black Sun, Side 3. In 2007, Fade began composing music for Launch Movement Experiment, collaborating with the dancers to create "sonic scenery".

www.batillusdoom.com
www.myspace.com/inswarm

Meet the Artists: PATRICK

Patrick Ferreri has been exploring movement for as long as he can remember and against all logic, he keeps going. His investigations, oft excavations, have brought him into the company of too many amazing artists to list here, but since you are reading this you are probably curious so they have included David Dorfman Dance, Clare Byrne, Sara Shelton Mann, Albert Mathias and Kathleen Hermesdorf. He is currently inspired by cinematic viewings of the word, cloud patterns and plays of light in the sky, the drama we keep beneath the surface but secretly love to let "slip" out. He has spent the last two years on the west coast fostering and supporting a polyamorous love affair between adrenaline, caffeine, and glitter which has manifested in biking around San Francisco, hanging out with drag queens, eating, and thinking about audience engagement in art.

Patrick's Work:

The Supper Premise 001

Neurological testing is based on deception and secrecy. Not only does deception figure into the mind control experiments but it also keeps victims from determining who is conducting the mind control, how it is carried out, and where the perpetrators might be located...

SNEAK PEAK VIDEO!

Launch Movement Experiment presents The Supper from REGULARMOTION on Vimeo.

video shoot

Richert Schnorr is creating some video art for the project! About a week ago, he directed the first round of takes.
IT WAS A BLAST!!!

He is creating a sneak peak video which we will be posting and sending out prior to the show. He is also creating a video that will be shown before and after the show. AND, he is performing in the piece! We are excited to incorporate this element and his genius as part of the project.

Video coming soon... yeah.

what we have been up to : PART 2

notes and thoughts:

working with a confined space on the floor. I am not sure how i will confine myself? Confinement makes we wonder about both sides of the defined lines. What happens inside? outside of the them? closer/farther away?

patrolling. flashlights.

being confined to a specific area. confining something to a specific area. prisoner.
vast emptiness, confusion, disorientation, repetition.
lonely.

synopsis: she builds her own cell. she enters and exits it as she pleases. when she is inside her cell, she finds comfort in her loneliness. when she steps outside of it, she is disoriented, confused, short of breath, unable to exist without it. It repeats. The journey, her pattern, it remains the same. The external elements change. she doesn't.

to encompass all of the above research, I decided to repeat the same movement/spatial pattern three times, each time with a different prop and a different group of sounds. by doing so, i wanted to see how the varying themes within the piece influenced what i presented and what the audience received. Doing this, allowed me to try to conducted a real-time study of perception and perspective from my point of view as the performer as well as from the point of view of the viewers.

here is some of it:

what we have been up to: PART I

finally ready to start blogging again...

we have been developing and compiling material for a duet for Liz and Baker from improvised studies that have been documented over the past year.

the duet is becoming a private conversation in a public place. the dueters bombard each other with information and each decides how to deal with the information being presented given the location.

the notions of perception and perspective resurface.

words that are informing the duet intentions:
catching
separate
grab
throw
coincidence
toss aside
hand holding. hand shake
interruptions
shh...
not now

approaching theorem

Over the past few months (we took December off to refresh), we stepped out of the studio to examine the ideas and theories that we discovered in the studio. No movement. For now, I am not going to discuss how these ideas will be physicalized.

below is a sampling of some of my notes...

behavior: in response to a particular stimulus or situation. why do we behave this way or that? and how can that be manipulated?

Dr. Ewan Cameron: there were two main factors that allows us to "maintain a time and space image", a.k.a know where and who we are: (a) "continued sensory input and (b) our memory." he worked for/ with the CIA's mind control program. he devised the CIA's psychological torture method.

electroshock, isolation, continuous sleep.


"We are bemused and crazed creatures, strangers to our true selves" R. D. Laing

perception
perspective
vantage point
icon vs reality

interference
obedience
fear
shock

going public

Tomorrow, we will show a portion of what we have been studying. We will test some theories (previously considered in this blog) and see how they are perceived. A solo and a duet will be happening simultaneously; but in extremely different worlds. We will be addressing: private vs public; individual verses group; perception and perspective. We will also begin to consider the performance venue as a laboratory/sanctuary/torture chamber... The question looming around the whole concept being: who is studying whom?


As this performance nears, I have been thinking about the transition from the studio to the performance arena, private to public. The transition can be jolting, if one is not practicing fully during studio time. For us, we work hard to commit entirely to each rehearsal in a way that begins to close the gap between private and public. It is just a practice, not an execution whether it be for ourselves for viewers. Thus, public performance is simply an expression of the private studio thoughts. Not much changes in terms of delivery and energy.

I have also been wondering, as we all sometimes do, what the greater function of all of this is. For now, my thoughts remain attached to the idea that through abstraction and imagination, our performances open channels that allow viewers and performers to begin to understand complex realities in visceral ways, and in so doing provoke some kind of response. This is my goal, my job. I have come to find that it is important to not only know one's intention for a specific performance; but, to also identify a more expansive point. Once this is defined one's performance is clear, grounded, and full of truth no matter what the specifics of the current performance entail.

more soon...

-rach