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Review

Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca, Mar.3, 2017

You've got to catch your breathe after the performance. Spell-binding, exploding, passion bomb! True shared essence of dance&music, Sincere power of a woman - the power of both self-restraint and explosion. 

“[Soledad Barrio] thrust a hand at her viewers as if to plunge in a knife. The knife was imaginary, but Ms. Barrio never misses.” The New York Times

 

photo from https://artsandlectures.ucsb.edu/Details.aspx?PerfNum=3539

click the photo to see a video!

Sarah Jones, Jan 24,2017

The best listener. Huge EMPATHY. Penetrating. Poignant. Tears in humor.  A representative of MANY people. Bringing awareness of what  "UNITED" of States was like, is like, should be like. I'm so grateful for having her during our time. POWERFUL. 

And She mentioned me!!! what an honor - as the first immigrant, who even did not know how to read my address out to the taxi driver .... After her talk, I met some people coming up and saying to me "you are truly brave."  

“A sort of multicultural mynah bird, [Jones] lays our mongrel nation before us with gorgeous, pitch-perfect impersonations of the rarely heard or dramatized.” The New Yorker

Photo from https://artsandlectures.ucsb.edu/Details.aspx?PerfNum=3547

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, Jan. 20, 2017

Story/Time - Conceived and Directed and text by Bill T. Jones; Choreographed by Bill T. Jones with Janet Wong and members of the company; Music by Ted Coffey 

Random, series, collage, memories, history, personal and collective, layers, weaver, audience participation as a storyteller in their own way, 60minute-limit and tension - "reduction" of decades.  In the randomly-placed disparate fragments of stories, audiences are required to be a "weaver" of the given pieces with their own memories. Therefore it becomes a 60 minute-story that spans decades of contemporary arts and events - Schoenberg, Lou Harrison, John Cage, Virgil Thomson, .....

At the Q&A: "more than 50 stories, more than 5 hour-music," let go of intentions, random procedure difficulty - whispering:) collections of snippets, ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O_6RVNQlvQ&feature=youtu.be

 Inspired by legendary artist and composer John Cage, Jones creates a collage of dance, music and 70 of his own short stories, arranged anew for each performance by chance procedure.....Jones’ shorts stories are drawn from his own life and tales handed down through the generations of his family. In layering a traditional form against the avant-garde compositional concerns of the mid-century modernists, the tension between high and low art is called into question. (this text and photo are from https://artsandlectures.ucsb.edu/Details.aspx?PerfNum=3543)

ODC, Boulders and Bones, Oct.26, 2017

Ephemeral, evanescent, falling prey to time.... therefore eternal. 

East Meets West, March 15, 2017

Huge discovery of Bob Brookmeyer! I wish I knew his music earlier: Celebration Jig, Ding Dong Ding

"Jazz ending" 

"East" : Celebration Jig - Bob Brookmeyer, Don't Git Sassy - Thad Jones, Slinky - Chris Merz, A Night in Tunisia (premiere performance) - John Briks "Dizy" Gillespie, arr.by Jordan Mitchell, Absolution - JimMcNeely, Ding Dong Ding - Bob Brookmeyer 

"West" : Hungting Wabbits - Gordon Goodwin, St. Thomas - Sonny Rollins, arr. by Bill Holman, No Moon at All - David Mann & Redd Evans, arr. by Randy Aldcroft, Theme for Maxine (premiere) - Woody Shaw, arr. by Jack Aron

Lazy Day - Bob Mintzer, Willowcrest - Bob Florence 

UCSB Jazz Ensemble, Lotte Lehmann Hall

Music of Emma Lou Diemer, Nov.4, 2017

Former UCSB composition professor, Emma Lou Diemer's Sunday Afternoon concert. 

* Piano Music for Children, from "Travels Through Sound" (2015)

: In a High Steeple - In a Deep Cave - Wind in the West - Sailing on a Quiet sea 

* Suite (2008), Summer Day - Elegy- Jazz Romp 

And more to discover: her "Santa Barbara" works :

Santa Barbara Overture, https://open.spotify.com/track/70gIAkLh8kJKyifKKF5Nbc?si=hEGoaY_vS2KgEX6hZuRj_Q

Santa Barbara Rag, https://open.spotify.com/track/5vncq5rG6M3Mcfi4VkvT82?si=_E_TjYhLRASay9worYuIaw

The Old and the New: Transcriptions and Compositions for the Modern Mallet Ensembel

Claude Debussy, Golliwog's Cakewake, arr. Gary Werdesheim 

re-realized how lovely the transition and ending were. 

Le Nozze di Figaro, Feb.8, 2018

"Inside out"; duo or trio, I can't help but admire;

a few names to remember: Kosis Protopapas, Conductor; Bass-baritone Scott Levin, doctor Bartolo; Ingrid Luna, Scenic Artist, with her fun and incredible interview here: https://www.independent.com/news/2016/oct/24/sb-questionnaire-ingrid-luna/

Feb. 8, 2018, Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall, UCSB

Still We Rise - Jan. 31, 2018

Still We Rise - A Collaborative Performance of Art, Dance, Music, Theater, and Poetry 

 

“to embrace diversity because it is what makes us powerful.” 

"You too can say 'I was an immigrant’." - Professor Monique Meunier, Department of Theater and Dance, UCSB

http://www.museum.ucsb.edu/news/event/636

War of the Worlds - Moon to Midnight, Nov.18, 2017

Choreography for singer (Alien siren!!!);; Multi-site concert with broadcasting technology: 3 locations in downtown LA;  From a radio drama to opera; What the place means to the the composition;  Annie Gosfield, composer; the Industry (Director Yuval Sharon’s experimental opera company);  "This inside-outside dynamic"; dizzying and stunning 

http://nowartla.org/war-of-the-worlds/

https://theindustryla.org/war-worlds-secrets-revealed/

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-war-of-the-worlds-review-20171114-story.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/13/arts/music/review-war-worlds-los-angeles-philharmonic.html

photo: Hila Plitmann, in red as the alien La Sirena, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic performing “War of the Worlds” at Walt Disney Concert Hall. CreditMichal Czerwonka for The New York Times (link above) 

Buglisi Dance Theater, "Requiem," Music by Gabriel Faure, Jan 19, 2018

splendor, glory, majesty, nobility, pomp, state, magnificence, sumptuousness, sublimity, stateliness, grandeur, majesty, dignity, royalty, stateliness .....power of women, acceptance and striving, yearning and craving,  all in stillness. 


Jacqulyn Buglisi's work returned to Santa Barbara, wounded by the wildfire and mudslide, at such an appropriate time - as if the role of her work was providing the community with a safe and comforting place where transcending the sadness into beauty is possible. 

Given that her "Table of Silence" was performed in Santa Barbara for the memorial of IV tragedy, and returned in this difficult time of natural disaster,  it seemed natural to connect her pieces with the situation they took place.

Of course, with Gabriel Faure's Requiem, the movement's "lavishly colored sadness" was far apart from the wound of the brutally devastated community. However,  it truly aroused awe, with its greek-statue-like glamorous postures, extravagant gestures in waving capes, surrealistically foggy light - most splendid was, all these visual grandeur remained in stillness. 

“Requiem”, Santa Barbara Dance Theater, Hatlen Theater (1/17-21, 2018)

http://www.buglisidance.org/requiem

Photo: (c) Kristin Lodoen Linder (link above and through the picture)

Pilobolus for Kids, Jan 29, 2018

When you see 1,500 kids filled up the most significant theatre in town to see such an amazing dance company's performance that was made  for children only and given for free - it was truly moving. 

"if you want to make a show for kids, then it has to be ONLY for kids. Focus on kids, nothing else." 

- Engagement with kids through movement and sound wave, teaming up, "Pil!" "obo obo" "luuuuuus" :) 

- Focus on one thing, one work, one theme: Nature. 

- Entertaining explanation in between/ inviting kids to the stage and having them dance with the company. 

What a fantastic event it was - I was truly grateful for having the Pilobolus and the A&L.

Pilobolus Maximus, Jan 28, 2018

1. a la B'zyrk (intro): 

2. Branches

3. Echo in the Valley

4. [esc]

5. Rushes

6. a la b'zyrk (outro)

Pilobolus Master Class, Jan 27, 2018

Taught by Renee Jaworski and Matt Kent, co-artistic directors of Pilobolus (https://pilobolus.org/)

-More restriction, More freedom. Stick to one thing for a while. 

-The audiences remember how they felt about the performance, not the number of turns you did or the angle of your leg extension, so forth.

-How to start? More likely, 5 seconds after you start, is the real start. 

-Structure: 1) walk, run every direction in a circle, looking at eyes of others; 2) groups, explore highest and lowest, and variation; 3) small groups of 4-5 ppl, each one leads the team one by one, 4) group works, nature, such as mudslides 5) feedback 6) re-perform 

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