If I could introduce you to the work of Portland-based choreographer/dance artist Linda Austin with any performance of hers sight unseen, I’d choose Paired Spectacular: a performance diptych in honor of Deborah Hay & Yvonne Rainer opening Friday, June 18 at 7 PM with performances June 18-20, Friday and Saturday at 7 PM and 9 PM and Sunday at 7 PM at Performance Works NorthWest (4625 SE 67th).
Austin stands out among Portland choreographers as her solo and group works generally extend further into performance to include interaction with mundane props, the use of voice, body-triggered sound, and uniquely: humor. They are less about movement as movement, and yet they don’t wander off the contemporary path into the reactionary world of narrative. The reason Paired Spectacular will be a great intro to Austin is that it finds her addressing the work of two influential dance makers, so you’ll get an intro to the work of Hay and Rainer in addition to Austin’s work, while witnessing one of our best dig into her own influences.
As Austin puts it, “Paired Spectacular is a love letter in the form of a performance diptych, dedicated to Deborah Hay and Yvonne Rainer, two dance pioneers whose work continues to resonate in the bodies and minds of dance experimenters today. Each half of this hinged work pits choreographer [my] own history, compositional inclinations, and processes against that of the two iconic figures.”
Dancers Linda K. Johnson and Richard Decker join Austin for “Part One: Universe,” in which each performer makes an exacting effort, a la the practices of Deborah Hay, to navigate ephemeral states of consciousness, summoning up an unpredictably arcane universe from mundane objects and dancing that remains stubbornly unfixed to any strict pattern.
“Part Two: MUTT” is an homage to, and ersatz version of, Yvonne Rainer’s seminal 1966 work Trio A. After performing a continuous series of highly specific, multi-layered movement tasks as a solo, and then as a duo with Richard Decker, Austin is joined by a mob of 14 Portland dancers in ruffled shirts for a chain-letter version of the piece. Threaded throughout both halves is Austin’s penchant for revealing the magic in everyday materials—dental floss—popcorn—paper bag—brick—used in unfamiliar ways. Even more magic is revealed via the expertise of lighting wizard Jeff Forbes. MUTT features Linda Austin, Jin Camou, Richard Decker, Nancy Ellis, Anne Furfey, Dora Nicole Gaskill, Bonnie Green, Rebecca Harrison, Paige McKinney, Kaj-anne Pepper, Chelsea Petrakis, Danielle Ross, Robert Tyree, Fawn Williams and Taylor A. Young.
Tickets: $12 – $15 sliding scale. Reserve at 503-777-1907.
POSTED: June 17th, 2010 | AUTHOR: lisa | FILED UNDER: dance | TAGS: anne furfey, bonnie green, chelsea petrakis, danielle ross, deborah hay, dora nicole gasill, fawn williams, jeff forbes, jin camou, kaj-anne pepper, linda austin, linda k. johnson, nancy ellis, paige mckinney, performanceworks northwest, rebecca harrison, richard decker, robert tyree, taylor a. young, yvonne rainer | No Comments »
This weekend is the next in the Alembic series of nights of new performance at Performance Works NorthWest (4625 SE 67th). Alembic #9: Organizam: A Mutant Cabaret of Non Acts runs two nights, Friday and Saturday, April 2-3 at 8 PM.
Curated by sound poet, Fluxus artist Mark Owens, Organizumb is “humor-based, conceptual, non-dramatic events informed from experimental traditions such as Dada, Situationists, and Fluxus. Two nights blending words, laughs, music, dancing, props, concepts, video, (non-) acting, games, sounds, implosions, with live humans with John Berendzen, Tony Christy, Maria Jose Gonzalez, James Yeary, Maryrose Larkin, Eric Matchett & Jake Anderson, Anna Daedalus, Leo Daedalus, David Abel, J.A. Lee, Crag Hill, Linda Austin. ”
POSTED: April 2nd, 2010 | AUTHOR: lisa | FILED UNDER: performance | TAGS: alembic, anna daedalus, crag hill, david abel, eric matchett, j.a. lee, jake anderson, james yeary, john berendzen, leo daedalus, linda austin, maria jose gonzalez, mark owens, maryrose larkin, tony christy | No Comments »
“And then I’ll come over here and do this.”
“And then I’ll come over here and do this.”
On Friday, Linda Austin and JP Jenkins traversed the mezzanine of the Armory in a performance of Mark Applebaum’s visual score “The Metaphysics of Notation” that was loose, wacky, and charming. In paper jumpsuits, with a truckload of inspired props from vases of tired flowers to piles of clothes (robe/disrobe), a slinky and a couple of ping pong balls, Austin and Jenkins scrolled through movements best described as serious play. I’d expected Austin simply to improvise a solo to the graphic score (which I was really looking forward to). What I got instead was a series of delightful surprises that made my day.
Jenkins scored the piece with vocal improvisations (any/everything but singing), guitar, hitting and or trailing a big fake gem ring along the railing and a metal panel wired with contact mics, oh and a Linda Austin solo for piano and toy keyboard.
This was the last of four noontime performances at the Gerding Theater at the Armory co-sponsored by Portland Center Stage and Third Angle New Music Ensemble, which will perform “Metaphysics” in a program of other adventurous music on March 5 at Hollywood Theater.
POSTED: February 27th, 2010 | AUTHOR: lisa | FILED UNDER: performance, review | TAGS: choreographer, composer, dance, jp jenkins, linda austin, metaphysics of notation, performance | No Comments »
Portland-based choreographer Linda Austin is the final artist to perform “The Metaphysics of Notation” today at noon at Portland Center Stage on the Mezzanine, Gerding Theater at the Armory.
Performance series “The Metaphysics of Notation” finds abstract notation interpreted through a kaleidoscope of methods: theater, movement, music, and sound poem. Third Angle and Portland Center Stage have invited a number of artists from different disciplines to interpret “The Metaphysics of Notation,” an epic, 72-foot graphic score by Mark Applebaum currently installed on the mezzanine at the Gerding Theater at the Armory.
The series is in anticipation of Third Angle’s concert “Chance/Perchance: A Musical Happening,” on Friday, March 5 — featuring work by David Schiff, Terry Riley and Mark Applebaum — at the Hollywood Theatre.
POSTED: February 26th, 2010 | AUTHOR: admin | FILED UNDER: dance | TAGS: dance, linda austin, metaphysics of notation | No Comments »
Performance series “The Metaphysics of Notation” finds abstract notation interpreted through a kaleidoscope of methods: theater, movement, music, and sound poem. Third Angle and Portland Center Stage have invited a number of artists from different disciplines to interpret “The Metaphysics of Notation,” an epic graphic score by Mark Applebaum currently installed on the mezzanine at the Gerding Theater at the Armory. Today at noon, sound poetry ensemble Blum Blum Shub Sound Poetry Coincidence (featuring David Abel, Leo Daedalus, and mARK oWEns) interpret the 72-foot long work.
Leo Daedalus of Blum Blum Shub (named for a random number generator) said this about the performance:
“The Metaphysics of Notation” score comprises three sets of graphic expression:
1) structural marks; 2) marks that are proxies for other marks; 3) indecisive marks
Applying to those sets the methodologies advanced in E. S. Segrob’s Handbook of Unforeseen Categories (El manual de las categorías imprevistas, Naguara, 1936) I will construct a vocal body of filler concepts (see Wirklichstein, Der Füllselbegriff) in blind concordance with the blackbox predicates (Bazzutti, Gli sguardi incombenti; Jäänenä, Miksi kuka?) of my colleagues, Messrs. Abel, Owens, and Nenhum (in absentia).
The series is in anticipation of Third Angle’s concert “Chance/Perchance: A Musical Happening,” on Friday, March 5 — featuring work by David Schiff, Terry Riley and Mark Applebaum — at the Hollywood Theatre.
Performances happen each Friday in February at noon at Portland Center Stage on the Mezzanine, Gerding Theater at the Armory. Next up are the Quadrophonnes Saxophone Quartet on the 19th and dancer/choreographer Linda Austin on February 26.
POSTED: February 12th, 2010 | AUTHOR: lisa | FILED UNDER: performance | TAGS: blum blum shub sound poetry coincidence, david abel, leo daedalus, linda austin, mark applebaum, mark owens, metaphysics of notation, pcs, quadrophonnes, third angle | No Comments »
