Feeling kinda wiped out after the RPS8 festival launch. So much going on! Many artists to meet, many art forms to take in, and many mini locations within bcurrent's new home at the Wychwood Artscape Barns.
Enjoyed co-hosting with Malube, although felt rather unprepared. But ultimately unlikely to have been without cheat sheet even with more prep time...although perhaps would've had 1 sheet rather than five :-)Always impressed by how many hands are involved in setting up an event (table, table clothes, food, brochures, signs). I think Shawn (bcurrent's production manager) gets big points for all her hard work. Also pleasantly surprised by appearance from remote rAiz'n Ijeoma!
After the launch, the rAiz'n ensemble did our organic/informal check-in then commenced a very diligent review of the danceforms we've learned this year: West African, Gumboot, Ballet, House, and Bharatha Natyam. Our goal is to see if these dance forms can inform (or move) our expression of Identity, which is the theme of our piece in development, "defin8". We all felt the suitability of a basic Bharatha Natyam "walk" for some of our upper crust characters. Ballet may have a similar application. I was interested in the difference between rAiz'n ballet review (supportive, fun) and my memories of childhood ballet class (judgemental, uptight).
We performed an excerpt of defin8 at the Summerworks launch party last night and then again tonight at the RPS8 launch. I can tell audiences find it amusing...I think our challenge will be to convey the difficulties with self-identification *clearly* without being too obvious.
It's nights like this (flowing from family-feel launch event into fun yet focused dance review) when I'm aware of how fortunate I am to be part of the rAiz'n ensemble!
Tanya.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
defin8tly on our way
So,
I was hoping not to be the only one blogging. Sigh. Still working on this one.
In any case, we have been busy bees these last few weeks. rock.paper.sistahz looms and SummerWorks lingers and we need to create something and we have been. I mean now, we have a script...which is constantly changing.
So far, we have a story about Johnette in a self recovery centre, a dancescape idea and a journey of sorts. We have fleshed out a kickass beginning and some great scenes and monologues written by individual ensemble members. The key now is link all this material together in a cohesive whole. We discusss, we write, we discuss some more. We are also adding additional sessions for those who can attend. (There is one in one hour, but I am burnt out and need a little time off). We are working hard.
Oh yes, regarding the director situation, it was pointed out that we needed to have one as opposed to multiple directors (an idea we were kicking around). But how? We didn't want one person to start our raising our baby, when in fact the baby hadn't been born yet. We decided that we will invite three outside eyes for this initial phase for rock.paper.sistahz and then we have invited Joan Kivanda to be our director. She was a member of the ensemble before and understands how we work. Also, we really wanted someone who understands our ensemble and would take our piece in the right direction. Yeah for finding a director!
We are also working out all kinds of admin details and other stuff. Looking for a stage manager, lighting designer, sound designer and set and costume designer. Some of these might come from the ensemble, but if you are interested, get in touch with us!
Anyway, we are performing next Sunday, May 3 at the SummerWorks launch and at the launch of the rock.paper.sistahz festival. Will be good to test out some of our material....
C'est tout for now.
Sedina
I was hoping not to be the only one blogging. Sigh. Still working on this one.
In any case, we have been busy bees these last few weeks. rock.paper.sistahz looms and SummerWorks lingers and we need to create something and we have been. I mean now, we have a script...which is constantly changing.
So far, we have a story about Johnette in a self recovery centre, a dancescape idea and a journey of sorts. We have fleshed out a kickass beginning and some great scenes and monologues written by individual ensemble members. The key now is link all this material together in a cohesive whole. We discusss, we write, we discuss some more. We are also adding additional sessions for those who can attend. (There is one in one hour, but I am burnt out and need a little time off). We are working hard.
Oh yes, regarding the director situation, it was pointed out that we needed to have one as opposed to multiple directors (an idea we were kicking around). But how? We didn't want one person to start our raising our baby, when in fact the baby hadn't been born yet. We decided that we will invite three outside eyes for this initial phase for rock.paper.sistahz and then we have invited Joan Kivanda to be our director. She was a member of the ensemble before and understands how we work. Also, we really wanted someone who understands our ensemble and would take our piece in the right direction. Yeah for finding a director!
We are also working out all kinds of admin details and other stuff. Looking for a stage manager, lighting designer, sound designer and set and costume designer. Some of these might come from the ensemble, but if you are interested, get in touch with us!
Anyway, we are performing next Sunday, May 3 at the SummerWorks launch and at the launch of the rock.paper.sistahz festival. Will be good to test out some of our material....
C'est tout for now.
Sedina
Friday, April 10, 2009
defin8 upd8s
Let me start this by saying I am looking forward to other members contributing to this blog on a regular basis. Gonna be great! Much better than our Salon Reports!
So where are we at? We've added Mondays now as we really gotta get working for SummerWorks and rock.paper.sistahz, so we are in serious work mode. In addition to our sessions with ahdri, rAiz'n has been seriously busy. Anyway, we've had some great ideas for defin8 and some very indepth conversations. It seems that class is big topic that we want to explore. Class seems to encompass so many other concepts like race and consumerism to name a few and I feel like it's a topic that is a bit taboo.
We have also set some serious deadlines for ourselves, of which I don't know the dates of I must admit. I will find out and post on the rAiz'n calendar, so we can stay up to date. There have been some cool ideas floating around about the use of a dancescape which will underscore our piece (similiar to a soundscape but movement). This dancescape would be some compliation of all the movement sampler work that we have been doing in the last few months. I love this idea! Also, the idea of an everyperson (borrowed from 7th gen, but not used!) named appropriately Johnette (or as suggested by me Johnetta) who is experiencing the piece has been suggested and I love it.
We also want to explore the idea of some sort of game show called Name That Class or something to really put the idea of class front and centre.
At this point, we have a chart paper with lots of ideas brainstormed over 3 sessions and some homework (create a scene based on any of the topics we are exploring). I love creation as this chart paper and homework will eventually be shaped into something that will surpass my singular imagination. It all starts with a discussion!
Anyway, it's great that we have all come together now. We have also been asked to perform an excerpt piece for the SummerWorks launch in May which I agreed to without consulting the group. Don't hate me! It seemed like Michael needed to know sooner rather than later and I didn't want to miss out on the opportunity. I think this deadline is good though. It will force us to get something ready and push us further.
Looking forward to next week and I have get writing! I will be creating an easy domain for us soon so we can stay organized and keep all of stuff in one place. Peace out! Someone else will be blogging next time...
Sedina
So where are we at? We've added Mondays now as we really gotta get working for SummerWorks and rock.paper.sistahz, so we are in serious work mode. In addition to our sessions with ahdri, rAiz'n has been seriously busy. Anyway, we've had some great ideas for defin8 and some very indepth conversations. It seems that class is big topic that we want to explore. Class seems to encompass so many other concepts like race and consumerism to name a few and I feel like it's a topic that is a bit taboo.
We have also set some serious deadlines for ourselves, of which I don't know the dates of I must admit. I will find out and post on the rAiz'n calendar, so we can stay up to date. There have been some cool ideas floating around about the use of a dancescape which will underscore our piece (similiar to a soundscape but movement). This dancescape would be some compliation of all the movement sampler work that we have been doing in the last few months. I love this idea! Also, the idea of an everyperson (borrowed from 7th gen, but not used!) named appropriately Johnette (or as suggested by me Johnetta) who is experiencing the piece has been suggested and I love it.
We also want to explore the idea of some sort of game show called Name That Class or something to really put the idea of class front and centre.
At this point, we have a chart paper with lots of ideas brainstormed over 3 sessions and some homework (create a scene based on any of the topics we are exploring). I love creation as this chart paper and homework will eventually be shaped into something that will surpass my singular imagination. It all starts with a discussion!
Anyway, it's great that we have all come together now. We have also been asked to perform an excerpt piece for the SummerWorks launch in May which I agreed to without consulting the group. Don't hate me! It seemed like Michael needed to know sooner rather than later and I didn't want to miss out on the opportunity. I think this deadline is good though. It will force us to get something ready and push us further.
Looking forward to next week and I have get writing! I will be creating an easy domain for us soon so we can stay organized and keep all of stuff in one place. Peace out! Someone else will be blogging next time...
Sedina
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
SummerWorks is workin' it!
Just wanted to post a congratulations to us all for getting in SummerWorks. Drum roll please....we have not, one, not two, but three rAiz'n thangs in SummerWorks:
-Our collective piece, 7th Gen & defin8: the next movement
-Maxine piece, Keen
-Deidre's piece, Inna Di Wardrobe
The fact that we are in SummerWorks is a testament to the creative spark that is being ignited at our rAiz'n ensemble sessions. Work!
Literally. rAiz'n ensemble, we have work to do...We also gotta figure out how we are gonna juggle 3 different productions. Oh the dilemmas of having too much going on.
-Our collective piece, 7th Gen & defin8: the next movement
-Maxine piece, Keen
-Deidre's piece, Inna Di Wardrobe
The fact that we are in SummerWorks is a testament to the creative spark that is being ignited at our rAiz'n ensemble sessions. Work!
Literally. rAiz'n ensemble, we have work to do...We also gotta figure out how we are gonna juggle 3 different productions. Oh the dilemmas of having too much going on.
Friday, March 27, 2009
back to blogging! word to wychword
It's been a longtime since I've updated this blog, despite my half hearted efforts to get my fellow rAiz'n members to blog. I figure I will lead by example and do some blogging myself and hopefully others will follow suit.
Last night was our Wychword Play Reading Series and it was a success. After a few readings we had done which were successful in content, but not necessarily in attendance (except for the famed Dutchman Reading which Cara single-handedly made a success), it was a nice to see a full audience of our friendly theatre folk in attendance. Jajube did a great job of directing and hosting and producing (we had too many chairs even!). Big ups to Navneet for physical labour and being Rinzing in her absence.
What I am learning more and more about getting people to attend events is the personal touch needs to be brought back. As much as email and facebook are great ways to promote, a good old fashioned phone call or in person visit goes a long way! This is how we got bums in seats for our reading and how I have been approaching my work in outreach.
We were all reading from our own pieces last night. There was a reading of Maxine's Keen, I read my piece, Last Dance, Marika read from her piece MULATTO NATION and Tanya performed her interactive piece, Biography Live. What struck me about all of the work was how we all infused so much of ourselves and our experiences into our creations. All of the pieces had a very personal resonance and I could even see shades of ideas we've explored in workshops emerging.
It's interesting because last year, it was sometimes unclear as to what we, the ensemble were doing. Especially during salon time which ended up at times being more talk and food more than anything else (what happened to the food!), but it is clear to me more than ever that this ensemble is about igniting our own individual creative sparks and giving us the support in order to feel comfortable taking a leap. So although, we sometimes don't have tangible to dos, just meeting on a regular basis is enough. As Deidre said (and I am para phrasing/this is not verbatim at all), how do you create an ensemble? You throw a group of creative people in a room (regularly) and see what happens.
What is happening for me is I am beginning to find my voice as a creator (individually and collectively), I am feeling motivated to create AND more importantly, I feel like I have some methodology and a community to support it. My piece has a long way to go, but I have taken the first step. Can't wait to see how everyone else's work progresses as well! Some of us are in the upcoming rock.paper.sistahz festival. Exciting!
Our next reading will be in April where we will be workshopping our piece defin8, which hopefully will be in rps as I am still working this out with ahdri. We will be blogging about this cre8tion (couldn't help it!) process.
Sedina
Last night was our Wychword Play Reading Series and it was a success. After a few readings we had done which were successful in content, but not necessarily in attendance (except for the famed Dutchman Reading which Cara single-handedly made a success), it was a nice to see a full audience of our friendly theatre folk in attendance. Jajube did a great job of directing and hosting and producing (we had too many chairs even!). Big ups to Navneet for physical labour and being Rinzing in her absence.
What I am learning more and more about getting people to attend events is the personal touch needs to be brought back. As much as email and facebook are great ways to promote, a good old fashioned phone call or in person visit goes a long way! This is how we got bums in seats for our reading and how I have been approaching my work in outreach.
We were all reading from our own pieces last night. There was a reading of Maxine's Keen, I read my piece, Last Dance, Marika read from her piece MULATTO NATION and Tanya performed her interactive piece, Biography Live. What struck me about all of the work was how we all infused so much of ourselves and our experiences into our creations. All of the pieces had a very personal resonance and I could even see shades of ideas we've explored in workshops emerging.
It's interesting because last year, it was sometimes unclear as to what we, the ensemble were doing. Especially during salon time which ended up at times being more talk and food more than anything else (what happened to the food!), but it is clear to me more than ever that this ensemble is about igniting our own individual creative sparks and giving us the support in order to feel comfortable taking a leap. So although, we sometimes don't have tangible to dos, just meeting on a regular basis is enough. As Deidre said (and I am para phrasing/this is not verbatim at all), how do you create an ensemble? You throw a group of creative people in a room (regularly) and see what happens.
What is happening for me is I am beginning to find my voice as a creator (individually and collectively), I am feeling motivated to create AND more importantly, I feel like I have some methodology and a community to support it. My piece has a long way to go, but I have taken the first step. Can't wait to see how everyone else's work progresses as well! Some of us are in the upcoming rock.paper.sistahz festival. Exciting!
Our next reading will be in April where we will be workshopping our piece defin8, which hopefully will be in rps as I am still working this out with ahdri. We will be blogging about this cre8tion (couldn't help it!) process.
Sedina
Friday, February 6, 2009
We are on youtube!
rCurrentz Aracely, Rehaset, Cassy and Alia and rAiz'n members, Sedina and Deidre all performed at Night at the Indies back in November. Check it out!
Sponsored Post - Canstage Cheap Thrillz
I have a cheapThrills pass from Canstage and I think it's a great way to see shows on the cheap. Also, a member of Canstage's GYM program, a fab way to connect with other emerging artists.
See below for all the info!
Sedina
See below for all the info!
Sedina
Come on down!
Are you looking for a HOT NIGHT OUT? Or maybe just some cheapTHRILLS?
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IS THAT ALL I GET?
No! You also get access to exclusive cheapTHRILLS events including parties and workshops, and our YOUTH NEWSLETTER detailing upcoming programs and arts events in the city.
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BUT I’M OVER 24!
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