i've been too busy to notice lately, jennifer, but i WAS mega-impressed by those opera house 'sail' performers on new years eve. i've just received a complimentary copy of the ABC video, courtesy of ausdance (sorry - i got the last one! :p ) so as to have a lasting record of it.

Grace, I'm sooo jealous, I'd love a copy of that video. There has to be another one floating around somewhere. Any ideas?

jennifer, re the video: i haven't had time to view it, but it's actually the ABC New Years Eve 2000 videotape, commercially available. i assume perhaps it wasn't selling too well, which might explain a few copies being donated to arts organisations. <P>until i view it, i don't know how much of the opera house flying dancers is there...but if it's any good, and you can't buy a copy in sydney, i'll be happy to make you a copy of mine, OK?

Grace, thanks for the offer. Maybe I can even borrow your video when I'm back in OZ (our nickname for Australia). I'll try ABC first though. Thanks for the tip.

Here is information on a site-specific performance in SF:<P>Sara Shelton Mann<BR>The Monk<BR>The Feast of the Soul<BR>The Beloved <BR>a Performance Dialogue<BR>May 25 through 28, 2000 at 8:00pm <BR>A State of Aliveness: Dance, Rachael Kaplan, Mimm, Film, Austin Forbord, Music, Norman Rutherford, Art, Roberto Sinfuentez, Somei Yoshino Taiko Ensemble: Director: Bruce Mui Ghent, Members: Ellen Bepp, Jimmy Nakagawa, Kallan Nishimoto, performance, Sara Shelton Mann Workshop Participants <P>Drumming/Dance/Film/Multimedia/Text/Image/Contact Improvisation/Singing/Chanting/Breathing<P><BR>This is a site specific performance extravaganza topping off an 8 week Sara Shelton Mann in residence at Dance Mission Theater workshop. If you want to participate in this workshop/performance call (415) 826-4401.<BR>For reservations, please call (415) 826-4401<BR>Admission is $15.00<BR><p>[This message has been edited by Azlan (edited May 27, 2000).]

I'm perplexed about the "site-specific" nature of this piece though. It seems to me as though it's in a theatre. Correct me if I'm wrong. For me, site-specific means making use of a site outside the usual theatre or studio environment. I'm keen to learn more about the event though.<P>Thanks!<P>------------------<BR>[This message has been edited by Jennifer]<P>[Edited by Azlan at Jennifer's request]<BR><p>[This message has been edited by Azlan (edited May 27, 2000).]

Jennifer, you're right. I was wondering about this myself. Maybe I'll get someone associated with this production to respond to your question.

It would be interesting to hear what's coming at Dance Mission. Maybe the space is going to be used in an altogether different way. Beppie Blankert used the garage of Dance Theater Workshop in New York for her recent performances of "Dubbelspoor" (Double Track) instead of using the usual performance space. I wouldn't call the piece site-specific though as the garage was transformed into a performance space of the "Blankert" kind. Meaning, it was transformed to fit the concept of the piece (see Beppie Blankert thread).

Spring Loaded, London's annual showcase of modern dance from UK-based companies, has a tradition of mounting at least one site-specific work. This year's took place just around the corner from The Place in the very strange St Pancras Church in London's Euston Road, which, '...is like an early 19th-century experiment in postmodernism, an odd, enduring mix of pagan and Christian, British and Greek. So the temporary addition of a live art installation to the church doesn't come as much of a surprise. A glass shelf is currently suspended three metres above the ground via an elegant construction of chrome stilts, and for three-and-a-half hours each evening, dancer and choreographer Carol Brown is performing her solo Shelf Life.'<P>Sounds intriguing, but I hope that the 3.5 hours represented 2 or maybe 3 performances!<BR> <A HREF="http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/reviews/story/0,3604,327349,00.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/reviews/story/0,3604,327349,00.html</A> <p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited June 05, 2000).]

Hmm, I received this from Kim Shipp of Shipp & Company Dance Theatre. Can this be considered site-specific dance? Is this a legitimate art form?<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><BR>"Retail Dance?"<BR>A concept developed by choreographer, Kim Shipp<BR>"Hey, Ruth St. Denis did Vaudeville, why can't we do dance for dot.com's?"<P>A new concept in dance, "Retail Dance" brings movement into the retail setting of store windows, showrooms, special events, and advertising including stores on the internet. These performances are not just side "gigs" to promote a larger show or a particular artist. They are a new, sustainable type of dance performance.<P>It is my belief that movement should be an integrated part of our society. Let's face it, the audiences are not getting to the performances, the arts programs are the first to be cut in our schools, and multi-media companies are buying out our performance spaces. Where can we go? Where is one place we can find the public now days? Shopping… <P>In my experience, if you put a person moving in a public space, people will stop and look, and stare, and think, and never forget what they saw that day. Here, we play on the novelty unexpected. If we're lucky, they'll talk about it over lunch and express some opinions. If they see Retail Dance more than once, they might even compare their experiences and we've made headway to making movement an exciting, thought provoking, and integrated part of our society. <P>Today, movement to the public is like a foreign language they're afraid to speak, but wished they had learned as a child. Surround them with it, as with any other with a language, and they will pick it up, at least enough to understand it, if not enough to speak it! Retail Dance surrounds the public with movement in their everyday lives, so they become fluent in it without even realizing it.<P>Retail Dance Performances take place at a space other than a theatre, but the similarities to traditional site-specific work end there. As the choreographer, you are providing a service to a vendor to help them draw customers into the store and give the customer a feeling about the product. The challenge is to use your creativity, crafting of movement and the very specific space provided to achieve the vendor's goal, but still make an artistically substantial, statement for the public to enjoy.<BR><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

A couple of years ago, Spring Loaded Festival in London had a site-specific work in King's Cross and Waterloo train stations. the dancers were dressed like commuters and stood about for a while and them went into action. Apparently it was great fun and good movement and raised more than a few eyebrows among the tired commuters.<P>The Retail concept may or may not be in the same category, depending upon whether it is really promo dance or is performed according to the choreographer's vision. Just cause it's fun doesn't mean it can't be art.

True. In Retail Dance we pair with commercial entities, but we give nothing away in terms of artistic content. The process is an artistic collaboration between a merchant and a choreographer, the content of the work being their product. We are in a moment (especially in the bay area) where vendors are trying anything to get the customers attention....they are even resorting to creativity! And who else should provide them a creative means than society's artists!

Can we put Fashion show under Retail Dance too? I recalled seeing a documentary on TV and believe it or not, this happened in China. Apparently a boutique store was trying to promote their products and they have the models "cat-walking" at the display window and it sure attract lots of pedestrian. What do think about that?

Every year a noted theatre or film director is given carte blanche to create the Festival de la Mode, at Galleries Lafayette in Paris. Two years ago the honours went for the first time to a dancer, Marie-Claude Pietragalla. <BR>She turned the entire first floor into different performance spaces in which the visitor was taken on a journey, fusing fashion with contemporary dance. To great effect.<BR>Actually Grace, the two jeté pictures you posted in the Mats Ek thread are from the publicity shoot.<BR>One thing it did achieve here was to make dance and dancers more fashionable again and helped sweep away the "Bunhead" image. (sorry Dame Blandine!)<p>[This message has been edited by Michael Montgomery (edited June 14, 2000).]

Kim, is your show in Palo Alto?<P>Can I also ask about funding? Did it come primarily from the retail store?