Education Partners
Bard College and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company
"For us to have the ability to share our material with artists-in-training is a fantastic way of seeing what they do with it. It's a way for us to learn about them and ourselves, as well."
Leah Cox, Education Director
Follow our Learning Experience!
Classes this semester include:
Advanced Modern Technique,
Advanced Beginner Modern Technique,
and Skills in Dialogue: Improvisation, Contact Improvisation, and Partnering.
Bill T. Jones's seminal solo, Floating the Tongue, will be performed as part of the Bard faculty concert in April. Stay tuned for details!
As part of their class, Bard students are collaborating in an online forum to create a collective record of what they've been doing and learning. Each technique class includes an improvisational investigation focused on one dance concept. Check out some of their ideas:
Concept--PATHWAY (both through space and within the body)"Something that really got me was working on the floor, and having a partner touch two points on my body while I was supposed to go from point A to point B internally, that is, to find the pathway within my own body. This was so interesting to me: it felt almost like I was looking at my self as if I was a drawing of a human body, like an anatomical drawing, and I had to follow the pathways delineated by my actual anatomy and somehow find how two parts connected. And it really made clear that EVERYTHING is connected, even if you think at first two parts are so mutually exclusive from each other. False! It was like a weird internal puzzle. It was also interesting how sometimes I would follow the impulse given by my partner, meaning the 1st body part touched would want to actually follow the source which motivated it to move, rather than move away from it to find the other point of contact." --Advanced Modern Student
Straight, Curved, Angular, Zig-zag
Focus--BREATH
Explorations:
1. With a partner. Partner defines two points in space by placing their hands clearly at two distinct points. You move one body part from point one to point two via a clear pathway that employs all types. This is done in one space and through space.
2. With a partner. Partner defines two points in space by placing their hands clearly at two distinct points. You place one body part at point one and move to point two, arriving there with a different body part.
3. With a partner. Partner touches one point on your body and then another point. You move between the two points in a distinct pathway within your own body, not in space.
Thoughts? Insights? About this or technique in general... share!
Response from teacher, Leah Cox: Touch being a powerful thing we want to move towards as connected beings.
"My muscles were working a lot harder after having defined a specific pathway for myself in. I could actually feel my body working in a more disciplined way. I was, however, surprised by how much my decisions about my own movement changed in relation to the way the people around me were moving; regardless of the way I had decided to walk, I found it difficult to stick to my idea when it was time to move, given interactions with other people. This made me realize how I unconsciously alter my own movement to accommodate others all the time. While working with pathways, the space of the room took on a new vibrancy, got much more interesting, and felt denser. Making this sort of deliberate movement through dense space has caused me to wonder what it would be like to do everything with the same amount of intention." --Advanced Beginner Modern Student
Response from teacher, Leah Cox: So interesting to note how these realizations can be translated and applied to all other areas of our life...
Read below for more information on this exciting new partnership!
BARD COLLEGE DANCE PROGRAM PARTNERS WITH WORLD-RENOWNED BILL T. JONES/ARNIE ZANE DANCE COMPANY TO INNOVATE CURRICULUM
Beginning in fall 2009, the dance program at Bard College will partner with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company to offer new classes in dance technique and choreographic methods, as well as special campus-wide forums and workshops. Courses will be taught by current and former members of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company under the direction of Leah Cox, the company's education coordinator. This innovative partnership will give Bard dance students the unique opportunity to work closely with a world-renowned professional company during their undergraduate course of study. "Bill's work crosses so many intellectual boundaries, it seems like a perfect fit for Bard," says Maria Simpson, professor of dance and director of the dance program at Bard. "This partnership represents our desire to develop a more wide-ranging vision for what dance can be in a liberal arts community. In addition to our current initiatives, our partnership with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company is an expanding relationship with a vision for future growth."
The initial goal of the partnership is to enrich the existing Bard dance curriculum. The company will offer two courses in modern dance technique, both addressing the foundations of dance from the standpoint of the company's physical aesthetic and imparting the company's rigorous mental approach to movement. A creative structure/critical analysis course will explore Bill T. Jones' process of creating original dance/theater work. Through critical analysis of recent company works and in-studio explorations of company choreographic structures and movement material, students will learn directly from Mr. Jones' carefully crafted dances. Coursework will develop capable choreographers and dancers as adept participants in collaborative processes, preparing them for the working practices employed by many artists today. "Bill's work is naturally discourse-driven and rooted in collaborations - a perfect fit for dancers with a strong intellectual drive, like those at Bard," notes Leah Cox, education coordinator and senior dancer with the company. "For us to have the ability to share our material with artists-in-training is a fantastic way of seeing what they do with it. It's a way for us to learn about them and ourselves, as well."
This unprecedented partnership will provide several unique opportunities for Bard dance students. As part of the new affiliation, Bard's dance program will have access to company archives for research and focused study. Company faculty will participate in student advising, and coursework will include interaction and dialogue with company performers and guest artists. Company faculty, as well as Bill T. Jones and associate artistic director Janet Wong, will participate in the critique and review of Sophomore Moderation and Senior Project performances, bringing an outside directorial and choreographic eye to student work. This ongoing presence of working artists on campus aims to establish a meaningful connection between undergraduate students and the professional dance/theater world.
The company's New York City base allows off-campus experiences for students, taking advantage of Bard's close proximity. Visits to company rehearsals and performances of Serenade/The Proposition are planned for the first semester.
Each semester the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company will present a campus-wide event to explore the intersection of art and public life. The rigorous process of dance creation and the form's cultural relevance in our time will be among the topics. Through these engagements, Bard students from all disciplines will be encouraged to consider their area of study as a collaborative component capable of engaging other disciplines in pursuit of a common goal, a hallmark of the work of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company throughout its 25-year history.
ABOUT THE BARD COLLEGE DANCE PROGRAM
The Bard Dance Program sees the pursuit of artistry and intellect as a single endeavor. We believe that the study of the body is a cognitive act demanding both physical practice and academic exploration. We focus on dance and choreography as a performing art with an interdisciplinary scope. Students are exposed to areas of inquiry that represent the broader contexts in which the art form exists, in and outside of the arts. We expect students to take risks--risks that call on their participation as citizens of the world and cultivate their perceptive sensibilities. We foster the discovery of a dance vocabulary that is meaningful to the dancer/choreographer and essential to her or his creative ambitions. This discovery leads to the cultivation of original choices--choices informed by a full exploration of a student's surroundings, choices that find expression in new and dynamic ways. We prepare dancers for the versatility and integration necessary to face the questions: Where will dance go next? What will the next dance revolution look like and where will it come from? We believe that serious inquiry in all areas of the liberal arts is critical to the development of the whole person and to the success of our future artists.
For more information, please click here.
–– Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Monday, July 27, 2009
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