jammin' in BK

I am so impatient to get into the recording studio! but we have to wait for scheduling, etc. so for now I've been working up some tunes to get out and do some gigs with my friend Tim Daoust.  We're trying out some different angles with the songs, in both electronic and acoustic configurations, in order to start taking them out around NYC and hopefully beyond.  I wasn't able to tour behind the first album after being swallowed up by dance back then, so it is really exciting to be working on different possibilities for doing those songs live now.

It's wonderful working with Tim because he can go in any direction that we might want to take this, having a background in electronic music as well as rock and classical/new music composition (among other things).  Plus, he has the fabulous Penny, who helps us out a lot; for example checking to make sure that I have set up my gear properly:

 

keeping my equipment case warm:

and letting us know when we are not doing anything particularly impressive:

Re:Vision performances in April

So it looks like we will be performing the new dance in a shared program at The Tank in NYC on April 15th and 16th.  The Re:Vision Series, hosted by Forward Motion Theater, features mixed media and interdisciplinary artists, so we will be expanding the piece into new dimensions and my brain is spinning like mad with ideas!  So far we've been working with the dance in silence, but I'm thinking about creating an electronic score for these performances or incorporating spoken word... or maybe, singing.  And/or possibly, video of some kind.  It's quite a challenge to add such elements right now, since I'm really enjoying the simple rawness of the movement we've been making and have been thinking more in terms of showing the dance outdoors and in simple studio spaces at the beginning.  But this is a great opportunity to try some new ideas for the work and to be part of an interesting show.  Anyway, we'll see what happens!  More details about the show are listed on our website Calendar.

things like this make me so happy

Beautiful artists building bridges with their work. The doumbek player is the totally awesome Joe Tayoun, who played on my "Song of Songs".   Happy Friday!

dancing into the recording studio real soon

Should be in the recording studio early this year! Just working out some last details. Meanwhile I wrote another song, so that's good. This one is definitely a DANCE toon & you know that makes me happy cause I love to dance :)) More soon!

watch us make a dance

Beginning a new piece that I hope will become an all-terrain vehicle; we'll be working outside at times, and also in theater spaces.  I'm planning to develop the movement vocabulary by combining some processes from my earlier works Peace Prayer and disSolve subMerge.  This piece has connecting themes with one of the new songs, so it may also find itself winding through a video at some point.  I've decided to keep a separate blog along with a video journal of our rehearsal process, so that you can watch as the dance develops.  Check out some of what we've done so far, below -- and to read more about what we're doing in these rehearsals, visit our Dance Process Journal blog.

artist of the day on Fanbridge!

Woa y'all Fanbridge.com just made me their Artist of the Day! Startin' the weekend with a happy dance :)

october full moon update

Finally about to get started in the recording studio woooo!!!  So I should have more news on that soon!  I want to see what we do in the studio and maybe put a larger live band together during that process, but I'm also going to start doing a few little gigs here and there.

The first will be a shared concert with other composers.  Next month I'm performing my song "Badful Badful (The Stolen Child)" in the Student and Alumni Composers Recital at Swarthmore College.  I am working out a new live drum part for this event and will be accompanied on percussion by the Lovely and Fabulous Barbara T, who also doubles as one of my dancers.  Most of this program will be classical and/or new music, including a piece by the satirical (and occasionally slapstick) composer P.D.Q. Bach/Peter Schickele.  There are also several other exciting composers on the program and I 'm really looking forward to hearing everyone's work!  This show is free and open to the public; click here for more details.