The Seasons Project

Video of The Seasons Project excerpts

2009-12-29T19:06:00.013-05:00

Here's to hoping you've had terrific holidays, and sending you best wishes to kick off 2010!

As 2009 draws to a close, we reflect on how much we've enjoyed creating dances together this year, and how thankful we are for your continued support. We'd like to share this excerpt from our recent showing of The Seasons Project, the dance that began with our seasonal improvisations in New York City parks throughout 2009.

Your tax-deductable donations keep us dancing.

Donate Now

Visit VIA's website for more information on the company.

Spring rehearsal

2009-12-06T21:08:00.003-05:00

Take a short survey we've created about the seasons

2009-12-02T16:16:00.005-05:00

We've compiled a few of our starting points for

our improvs into this short survey.

We'd love your input.

Saturday December 12, 4:30-5:30 @ DNA...free!

2009-11-19T14:40:00.002-05:00

We're in the studio creating a performance work from our park studies (sights, smells, sounds, impressions....), and working with collaborator Jim Briggs III on an original score from the sounds recorded in each park the day of our improvs. We're also excited to share the other pieces we've been developing this fall.

Saturday December 12
4:30-5:30 pm
Dance New Amsterdam in the Theater
Free!

Adrienne-Katie-Dawn-Jim
Megan-Lindsay-Lindsay-Mike-Sydnie-Beth

Afterward we'd love for you to join as we grab a cup of hot cocoa or a drink at a cafe nearby before continuing on to any other holiday festivities.
We plan to head back to DNA that evening for our friend Aynsley's show at 8, and would love for you to make a night of it with us.

This Sunday in City Hall Park

2009-10-23T11:15:00.003-04:00

Hello New York Friends!

I hope you can make it to City Hall Park this Sunday at 4 p.m. for our third seasonal improvisation. You are welcome to stop by to watch, stay as long (or as short) as you like, and even join in if the mood strikes. Jim and Mark will be recording the sounds of the day, and we'll also be filming the event for future reference in the studio. Soon we'll be putting this whole thing together! Save the date: Dec. 12. We'll be showing our first three sections and other new works for the first time. And, whether or not you can make it on Sunday, we'd love to read your comments here...
Cheers, and Happy Fall!
Adrienne

What are your impressions of the changing seasons?

2009-10-17T10:58:00.002-04:00

We'd love to hear from you. Whether or not you've been able to join us for any of our New York City park improvisations (next one is Sunday October 25 and 4 p.m., City Hall Park) we would like to incorporate your impressions into our work.

How does your mood shift with the changing seasons?

What smells to you associate with fall? (spring? summer?)

Colors?

Sounds?

What inspires you about the seasonal shits?

How have your perception of these shifts changed over the years?

Over the years, have you noticed an actual shift in how our seasons change?

We welcome your comments here on this blog and would love to see you on the 25th.

Please join us on Sundat Oct 25...and save the date: Saturday December 12!

2009-10-15T14:02:00.004-04:00

Please join us on Sunday Oct 25 at 4 p.m. in City Hall Park for our The Seasons Proejct: Fall, our third seasonal improv exploring the changing seasons here in New York. In the mean time, we welcome you to visit our project blog and check out posts, photos, and video from our spring and summer events. We'd love to incorporate your own seasonal impressions into our work, so even if you can't make it to the park please we welcome your personal musings and responses for us as comments here on our blog.

And save the date:

Saturday Dec 12

afternoon

details coming soon!

Save the date: Fall Improv in Lower Manhattan

2009-09-14T22:15:00.007-04:00

Sunday October 25 at 4 pm

City Hall Park

Please join us to explore the Fall season as we gather for the third installment of The Seasons Project.

Dawn is showing at Under Minerva

2009-09-05T10:23:00.010-04:00

...of Paradise

A Natural Hybrid

bright, colorful, odd

strong, sharp, sophisticated

My heart is beating like a jungle drum

Bum bum-bum ba-ba-ba ba-bum

This piece, inspired by our Summer improvisation in Ft Tryon Park, will eventually be fused into The Seasons Project. This first showing, an sectional outline, if you will, (...of Paradise) is a holographic image of the mating worlds of birds and humans in preparation for love. We are inescapably human, but how much of what we do to get ready to woo is mirrored elsewhere in the natural world? The Birds of Paradise preen and clean themselves and their homes to charm their mates. Don't we humans do the same? Through the lens of the multitude of colors, smells, sounds, and tastes that summer offers us, let your senses brim with the ripeness of the season and its excitements.

Performance at Under Minerva, 656 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY. 8pm, tickets are $6.

Reflections...Rehearsing Summer this Fall

2009-09-04T13:01:00.010-04:00

Thank you friends who joined us in Ft Tryon Park on August 3! It was great to see friendly faces and meet some new folks. And thank you dancer friends (young and old) who surprised us with your willingness to jump right in and participate along side of us. We had a beautiful day for it, and our setting overlooking the river was gorgeous. For the improv, Dawn guided us through noticing the sounds (lots of birds, rustling leaves, an ice cream truck, and the occasional airplane overhead). A guitar player nearby inspired us with Flamenco-like rhythm and melody. Other highlights were a red-light/green-light inspired improvisational game and a wind-blowing-trees study. We spent a lot of the time exploring bird-like movement, something Dawn is focusing on in the studio with the dancers right now. She is working this fall to cull that material from our Summer improv into a dance section to be shown at Under Minerva later this month and then ultimately as part of the larger project. We were also able to capture these sounds for our future sound score. Stay tuned for more details, and for our Fall improv date.

Second Event: Summer! Monday August 3, 4 pm

2009-07-29T11:28:00.014-04:00

Monday August 3 at 4 pm

Ft Tryon Park (directions below)

Please join us to explore the Sumer season as we gather for the second installment of The Seasons Project.

Today is Monday, August 3 and our second Seasons Project improv will take place this afternoon from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in Fort Tryon Park. The exact location is Linden Terrace.

Directions: Take the A train to 190th St. Exit the station at either 190th or 192nd St. & Ft. Washington. Being on Ft. Washington is most important. Walk north on Ft. Washington St. and you will walk straight into the park. Keep walking into the park, straight ahead until you get to Linden Terrace.

In the studio...showing next week!

2009-05-21T11:40:00.007-04:00

Hello, all and happy happy SPRING!

Katie and Jim are working on our sound score today, and tomorrow we head into the studio to refine the material we discovered in the park. I got a sneak peak of the sounds before editing last week, and Jim successfully captured the sound of Natalie playing together with church bells, children playing, sneezes, and squeaky grass! We'd love for you to join us to see and hear this work in progress:

VIA Dance Collaborative
Wednesday May 27
8 pm
Dixon Place

161 Christie Street

Click here for directions

The evening, presented by Dixon Place, also features a new duet choreographed by founding company member Katie Swords and of course a sneak-peak at The Seasons Project: Spring. The show runs under one hour.

Afterward, we'll head over to Jadis wine bar around the corner. They have promised some sort of good drink special for us, though I'm not sure what it is!

Reflections: our Spring event in Central Park

2009-05-11T17:11:00.012-04:00

On Saturday May 9 we met in Central Park to begin The Seasons Project with an improvisational exploration of the spring season. If you met us at that event, welcome! We'd love to hear your comments here on this page. If you didn't join us on over the weekend we'd still love to hear your impressions.

We began Saturday afternoon by gathering on the lawn just inside the East 67th Street entrance, where we found our permit granted us a beautifully unique (and not too muddy) spot to explore. Katie is leading us through this season, and ultimately taking on the choreographer's role, and she started by asking us to be still and to smell and listen: grass and musky earth and a the smell of sweetness like new growth; children playing, birdsong and the periodic crack of the ball players' bat nearby. We shared some of this perception verbally, but then dove right into the movement exploration itself.

A big, black rock held maple seedlings and our bodies slothed over it -- viewers said we appeared to be coming out of hibernation. An old, large oak tree with a seemingly-impossible horizontal branch expanded its reach over the lawn and provided endless impetus for our movement. Mud puddles and a stand of five human-size trees offered other arenas for our interactions.

Flutist Natalie Joachim sat in the grass and provided a beautiful melodic score, while Sound designer Jim Briggs III recorded the sounds of the day and the sounds of our movements: in addition to Natalie's playing, he captured the squeak of wet grass under our feet, our splash in a puddle, our scrapes against a rock, and the occasional springtime allergic sneeze!

Throughout the afternoon we gleaned inspiration from our surroundings' unique springtime characteristics, and we engaged interested passersby by asking their impressions of spring and inviting them to keep up with the project on this blog. We were surprised by the number of foreign visitors -- many who happened upon us many spoke little English, and most were vacationing. We recorded most of these interviews as well, and they may find a home in Jim's final score.

Over the next few weeks we'll be heading into the rehearsal studio to cull Saturday's discoveries into a dance section. We plan to show a rough draft that section on May 27 at Dixon Place, at 8 pm.

First Event: Spring! Saturday May 9, 4 pm

2009-05-04T17:36:00.004-04:00

Please join us this Saturday for an outdoor improvisational exploration of the spring season.
Stop by to watch -- or to participate
This Saturday
May 9
4pm
Central Park -

Lawn outside Billy Johnson Playground

Enter from E. 67th Street

more info. here: http://www.centralparknyc.org/site/PageServer?pagename=virtualpark_southend_billyjohnsonpg

This is the first of a years' outdoor improvisations, to coincide with each season of the year, each in a different Manhattan park. After the park initial improv we will be heading into the rehearsal studio to cull our days' discoveries into a distinct section of a larger dance work, with a seasonal section choreographed under the direction of a different key VIA choreographer. At the end of a years' time we will have a full dance with movement and score based on our reflections of the changing seasons. We want you to contribute to this project: In addition to being invited to each seasons' outdoor event, you will also be able to join in right here, online.
Hope to see you Saturday, rain or shine!