The Movement Research Festival finds its roots in the Improvisation Festival/New York (IF/NY), initiated in 1992 by Sondra Loring (a MR Artist-in-Residence at the time) and Julie Carr. In 1999 IF/NY became a programs of Movement Research, under the curation of Programming Director Amanda Loulaki. In 2004, Movement Research created an artist-curator format, and, beginning in 2006, Movement Research established the festival as a twice-annual event.
The Fall Festival is shaped by Movement Research's programming staff in collaboration with Festival Curators, who bring their own interests and ideas to specific festival events. The Spring Festival is produced by a group of artist-curators who determine the emphasis, shape, and programming. Together, these two approaches allow for a varied investigation and exploration into current artistic concerns and reflect Movement Research's mission of valuing artists, their creative process and their vital role within society.
Spring 2013
December 3
Movement Research Festival
Margaret Paek
December 8
Movement Research FALL 2008 Festival
MÃÂ₯rten SpÃÂ₯ngberg
May 21
Precarious Homes
The Invisible Dog Art Center, 6:00 pm
51 Bergen Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
FREE
Precarious Homes: A Conversation on Precarity and Performance with Katherine Brewer Ball Performance and the performing body have a unique relationship to life in later capitalism. In post-Fordist economies characterized by precariousness Ã’â¬â what Julia Bryan-Wilson calls Ã’â¬Å“a pervasively unpredictable terrain of employmentÃ’â¬Â Ã’â¬â the language of performance is commonly used to describe affective and immaterial labor that does not generate an end product. So how might we understand the economics of performance? What are the stages, platforms, and structures that support dance and other "live" performances? This conversation-and-cocktails event is an attempt to discuss the economics of home, of stages, and the unique place of the performing and precarious bodies that inhabit them.
May 21
Welcome to the Alternate Shelter!
The Invisible Dog Art Center, 7:30 pm
51 Bergen Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
$10
House warming and house sweating performances by Erin Markey, Jen Rosenblit, Greg Zuccolo. Donation based bar included.
May 22
Look at me Don't look at me: the natural version
Workshop with Jen Rosenblit
Grand Army Plaza, 1:00 pm
Meet at the Grand Army Plaza entrance to Prospect Park
Brooklyn, NY
FREE
Pre-register online at www.movementresearch.org Meet at Grand Army Plaza in Prospect Park 2/3/4 to Grand Army Plaza or B/Q to 7 Ave Look at me Don't Look at me: the natural version is a workshop on improvisation that deals directly with language, the felt, a questioning and widening of space. This gathering follows in my research and practice of improvisation, performativity and choreography, allowing for an agenda to build on itself among those who are present. Any score generated is located experientially. The culture of the workshop maintains a dedication to improvisation in all its glory; there is no goal of a thesis statement. There is no word limit. We can delete our mission statements. We don't have to get to the point. We will honor an interrogation of performance that understands the complexities of being looked at and all the desires and expectations that follow. Something to stand on. We will consider our bodies as institutions that generate a governing order.
May 22
An Evening at The Glass House
Arts@Renaissance (part of St. Nicks Alliance), 12:00 pm
2 Kingsland Avenue (at Maspeth Avenue)
Brooklyn, NY 11211
$15 (full evening pass including food)
Collective on Collective 6:30-7:30pm The Colectivo AM (Hunab Ku Mata Caro, Nuria Fragoso, Magdalena Leite, Leonor Maldonado) from Mexico meets NY-based Quartet Collective (Rachel Bernsen, Abraham Gomez-Delgado, Melanie Maar and Taylor Ho Bynum). Artists sweat, talk and think together, addressing the idea of collectiveness as an alternate way of creating and relating, and as a creative shelter from the existing system of art presenting. What time is it now? Food Time! 7:30-8pm The art of foods, by Athena Kokoronis, to be looked at and tasted throughout the evening. The Glass House 8pm-9:30pm Performances by Tenants in the Main Space Tenants: Malin Arnell, Walter Dundervill, Mariana Valencia, Marya Wethers, Yackez 9:30pm Wander around and visit the Installation Rooms Artists are assigned a room to make their own; a home, a world, a creative space to own through their design. Experience an installation of ideas happening throughout the evening.
May 23
Park Dance, Nature Style
Workshop with Michelle Boule
Grand Army Plaza, 11:00 am
Meet at the Grand Army Plaza entrance to Prospect Park
Brooklyn, NY
FREE
How can our park behaviors of rolling, frolicking, tree hugging, birdwatching, and sunbathing inspire and deepen our creative practices? Icy Spicy Leoncie says it best: Ã’â¬Å“MAN! LETÃ’â¬â’S HAVE FUN.Ã’â¬Â LetÃ’â¬â’s use the park to lighten up and enlighten our movement investigations, going into the depths of serious play. An outdoor inspired warm-up will lead us to improvisation, watching, talking, spontaneously devised nature rituals, immediate composition, and performance for each other and anyone else who wants to watch. WeÃ’â¬â’ll take advantage of what the park has to offer to our senses and let this expand our sensibilities. With nature as our backdrop, classroom, communal body, support, and container, weÃ’â¬â’ll see how deepening our ability to experience enhances our creative practices and vice versa.
May 23
Writing with Dance
Facilitated by Cassie Peterson
Grand Army Plaza, 1:30 pm
Meet at the Grand Army Plaza entrance to Prospect Park
Brooklyn, NY
FREE
Writing with Dance will focus on the art of dance criticism and will be grounded in the details of body-based, live performance. How do we talk and write about dance? How do our experiences and conversations translate to the page? So much dance writing and criticism tries to convince us that the writer is operating from a neutral or expert position; and that a performance can be reduced or understood as one thing; and that as such, it has some kind of inherent value or non-value. Through this process of commodification, the work is reduced, reified, and objectified, whereby emphasis is rendered solely on product and not on process or method. In these two hours, we will discuss ways that we as writers can focus on an artistÃ’â¬â’s process, as we learn to write Ã’â¬Å“withÃ’â¬Â dance as opposed to writing Ã’â¬Å“aboutÃ’â¬Â it. Bring in a piece of your own dance writing to share if you want, as we explore our various visions of dance writing and criticism.
May 23
Another Evening at The Glass House
Arts@Renaissance (part of St. Nicks Alliance), 7:00 pm
2 Kingsland Avenue (at Maspeth Avenue)
Brooklyn, NY 11211
$15 (full evening pass including food)
Blessings 7-8pm YouÃ’â¬â’re invited to a special banquet produced by Athena Kokoronis in collaboration with choreographer Suiso Ogawa and performer Emma Quaytman. In Blessings, Bodies gather around a table to sit together. The event invites you to open your mouth to taste; a meal and a dance will be served. Roommates 8-9:30pm When you get a roommate, how much privacy do you need? How close do you want to be to that person? Is it possible to share the unique nature of living? In Roommates, paired artists spend a few hours privately in a studio in advance of the performance to design a situation in which they feel comfortable to share the same space and time of performance while they explore this unique possibility for collaboration. The experience is both private and public. Participating Pairs of Artists: Benjamin Asriel / Justine Lynch Marjani Forté / Tatyana Tenenbaum K.J. Holmes / Ryutaro Mishima MartÃÂn Lanz / Cori Olinghouse The Glass House is Open! 9:30pm Experience the installations and performances in each artistÃ’â¬â’s created home and world. YouÃ’â¬â’re invited to stop by any room at any time! Your room tour will be accompanied by Kenta NagaiÃ’â¬â’s music experiment. Installations and Performances by Malin Arnell, Walter Dundervill, Kenta Nagai, Mariana Valencia
May 24
Body Sound
Workshop with Samita Sinha and Kota Yamazaki
Movement Research at Eden's Expressway, 1:30 pm
New York, NY
$25
SinhaÃ’â¬â’s vocal performance practice integrates raw utterance, speech, song, and raga (Indian tonal systems) with sensitivity to the body, and explores an elemental, primal way of sounding. YamazakiÃ’â¬â’s movement practice, which is grounded in butoh and Noguchi Gymnastics, examines how the flow of water in a body and the vibration of our own voice transforms into movements. The voice will be used to explore our internal movements and blocks, finding our individual balance between sounding and listening, being alone and relating to others, and connecting to the space around us in which stillness and movements coexist. This workshop is open to anyone with curiosity to explore their own voice and body. Workshop participants will perform at First Street Green on Saturday, May 25.
May 24
In My House
Co-Presented with Roulette
Roulette, 7:30 pm
509 Atlantic Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217
$10
Ã’â¬Å“When you feel sad and blue / You just come and see me anytime / IÃ’â¬â’ll be waiting for you dear / And your fears you can leave behind / HereÃ’â¬â’s the key to unlock the door to my house (to my house)Ã’â¬Â (From In My House, lyrics by Mary Jane Girls) Performances by Larissa Velez-Jackson, Amber Bemak, Tess Dworman, Sam Kim Post-performance talk with the artists moderated by Katie Brewer Ball, joined by Molly Poerstel-Taylor and Jillian Peña.
May 25
Still Sounding, Still Standing
Co-Facilitated with First Street Green at First Park
First Street Green, 12:00 pm
33 E. 1st St.
New York, NY
FREE
Open Practice and Performance led by Samita Sinha and Kota Yamazaki Everyone is welcome to this outdoor open event in the park! This practice connects you to the inner and outer landscapes of your body by listening, sounding, standing and moving. A performance by the participants of Ã’â¬Å“Body SoundÃ’â¬Â workshop will follow.
May 25
Burning Down The House
Co-Presented with Roulette
Roulette, 7:30 pm
509 Atlantic Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217
$10
Ã’â¬Å“Hold tight wait till the partyÃ’â¬â’s over / Hold tight weÃ’â¬â’re in for nasty weather / There has got to be a way / Burning down the houseÃ’â¬Â (Burning Down the House, lyrics by Talking Heads) Performances by Molly Poerstel-Taylor, Luke George, Stanley Love, Jillian Peña
June 2
Spring Festival
Performances by Ellen Fisher, Sondra Loring and Pile of Shit: excrement from the festival activities, what remains, what smells and what evolves.
May 11
OPENING
Sunny Jain, Malcolm Low / Formal Structure, Okwui Okpokwasili, Patricia Noworol Dance Theater
May 12
Spring Festival: Placing Performance
Moderated by Sarah Maxfield
Panelists: AUNTS, Megan Bridge, and others.
Gibney Dance at 890 Broadway, 6:15 pm
890 Broadway, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10003
What words do we use, arrange, invent, and discover to talk about the particular communicative power of performance work? How does geographic location and environment influence the creation, languaging, and understanding of dance and performance? How do digital/ virtual sites affect the consumption of dance as a living, complex, emotionally dense form? Join Sarah Maxfield, AUNTS, Megan Bridge, and the co-curators of the 2015 MR Spring Festival for an intimate conversation about locality, environmental and digital influence, and curatorial process. Part of Movement Research Festival Spring 2015: LEGIBLE/ILLEGIBLE.
May 14
Spring Festival: Freedom Station (Kid Friendly)
Prospect Park, 2:00 pm
Southern end of the long medow
Brooklyn, NY
The artist/parent: conundrum or harmony? Bring blankets, bring the little ones, take a break from the binaries to share conversation about finding balance in the roles of artist and parent, and more broadly about the integration of art and life practice...as we simply enjoy a day outside together with our kids! Part of Movement Research Festival Spring 2015: LEGIBLE/ILLEGIBLE.
November 30
FESTIVAL | a dialectic of dark and light
Opening night Movement Research Festival Fall 2015 featuring Jaamil Olawale Kosoko in collaboration with Brenda Dixon-Gottschild, Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste
June 6
Movement Research at the Judson Church
Justin Cabrillos, Anna Carapetyan, Ayano Elson, Marguerite Hemmings, Michael Mahalchick, Sarah Maxfield, BASHIR DAVIID NAIM, Marissa Perel, Randy Reyes, Julia Santoli, Lily Bo Shapiro, Anna Adams Stark
June 7
Festival Studies Project: PASSAGE
Festival Curated by Aretha Aoki, Elliott Jenetopulos, Eleanor Smith and Tara Aisha Willis
Moderated by Risa Shoup with panelists Anna Carapetyan, devynn emory, Robert Kocik, and iele paloumpis.
Gibney Dance at 890 Broadway, 6:30 pm
890 Broadway, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10003
This Studies Project will bring together dance artists who also work in the field of care-giving: end-of-life, beginning-of-life, navigators of illness and wellness. Why do many dancers become doulas? What is the overlap between guiding bodies through the cycles of life, and guiding bodies through space? What is it that draws dance artists to this profession? How do we acknowledge the specific needs of different communities and that all care is not equal/universal?
- * 2012 Movement Research Artist-in-Residence
- ** 2011 Movement Research Artist-in-Residence
- *** MFA Candidate, Ohio State University supported in part by Ohio State University
- • MRX Sweden in collaboration with KonstnΓΒ€rsnΓΒ€mnden/The International Dance Programme, Sweden
- † MRX/Mexico Exchange Artist
