Creative Energies Diverted

I guess it's safe to say RandAll Dance creations are on an extended hiatus.

The past year I have been teaching circus & dance for a large portion of my time.  Some of my other working time, I have been learning & creating a Chinese Pole Duo with my partner Nick Lowery.  More about that will soon be on DuoStraightUp.blogspot.com.

See you in the circus world.

~ Rachel Randall

One Minute Movement Final week

One minute of choreography a day.  Four days a week for the month of July 2012.

Week 4 update!

Day 1 I created a hand gesture phrase inspired by Puchini’s Nessun Dorma song in Turandot as I was waiting off stage during rehearsals. 

View preliminary sequence without music: http://youtu.be/jOUiqlH6OXc

Day 2 I explored making a sequence with the German Wheel.  It feels way cooler than it looks on the video.  Still have more to learn on this apparatus.  The wheel I’m using is new at SANCA & this is the first time I’ve used it.  It’s awesome because it’s actually the right size for me.  I’ve been practicing on two wheels, one too big & one two small…

German Wheel Sequence: http://youtu.be/3OZCyK7NjJk

Day 3 I finished editing The Picnic Table dance film project with advice from my friend Reed.  I had three different ideas to do with the footage.  First, I was going to run the 1 minute dance sequence with as few angle changes as possible & all wide full body shots, then play that whole sequence again in reverse & fast so it looked like it was rewinding.  Next, I was going to play the sequence with several quick cuts, using different angle & distance shots, & repetitions of my favorite moves from the dance.  After that, I had this idea to create a grid of about 6 boxes with the different angle shots playing in them simultaneously.  I couldn’t figure out how to transition from the more “normal” sequence to this grid sequence without it being awkward.  Plus I don’t know how to shrink my clip & arrange multiple ones yet, so I decided to just concentrate on the first two ideas like Reed suggested.  My friend Oliver came over later in the week & we found music to go with it.

You can watch it here: http://youtu.be/RcBMjkDJ8h8

Day 4 I finished the opening act for the SANCA staff show “Between Raindrops: A Seattle Love Story,” & begun putting together the ending act…  The closer still needs lots of work!  But the opening is awesome & uses umbrellas!  I love umbrellas & apparently umbrella was my first word as a baby.  I’m not going to post the video of the opening & spoil it for the show…  You’ll just have to come see it. 

Show info: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/257927

Stay tuned for my ideas about future development.

One Minute Movement Project Update

One minute of choreography a day. Four days a week for the month of July 2012.

This project is keeping me on my toes & keeping me creative 4 days a week even if I don't fully like that minute worth of choreography that is created each time.

So… posting stuff online in a timely manner hasn’t really happened.  Here is a little bit about the multiple projects & performances I have been doing in addition to this personal 1Minute Movement challenge:   

I was lucky enough to be a yellow galaxy girl character in a film by Alicia Berger that is being projected in the Seattle Center fountain August 3 & 10 at 9:30pm.  More: https://www.facebook.com/events/361562243913856

Another day I got to be a ninja doing acrobatics all around the city, including the new Ferris wheel, while promoting a new line of cosmetics called Emotional Brilliance by the store Lush.  On the weekends I had fun (& bruises, floor burns, & sore muscles) dancing for DASS Dance in their show, “Untitled, 1982.”  More: dassdance.org

Rehearsals for the Seattle Opera’s production of Turandot directed & choreographed by Renaud Doucet are also finishing up soon & the show opens at McCaw Hall August 4^th.  It is truly an amazing production & I’m honored to be dancing in it & working with such great people at Seattle Opera. More: seattleopera.org

In addition to all that I am still teaching circus classes & flying trapeze at SANCA.  They have this great new pay-per-flight thing on Fridays from 6pm to 9pm that is affordable enough to get a taste of flying without emptying your pockets that I highly recommend to everyone (especially if you’ve never flown before!)  Flying trapeze is so fun!!!

More: sancaseattle.org

Ok, here we go…

Here’s what I’ve done for the 1MM challenge:

Week 1 created a partner study with Terry Crane, two days I created different 1 minute sequences for the “Wind Blown” concept, & began developing “Project Benjamin,” a dance piece created with my friend Ben’s strengths & movement character in mind.

Week 2, I continued developing “Project Benjamin” for one day, setting movement to “Bird Song” by Florence & the Machine.  The next day I began teaching the piece to Ben for my hour of 1MM working time.  Day 3, I attempted to choreograph to a song called “Romantic Acrobat” by Danni Rosner, yet I know the lyrics so well that I found myself “Micky Mouse-ing” the words & being way too literal for my taste.  I finished that hour of work feeling like the 1 minute I choreographed was a failure.  I want to revisit that song & choreography, but find a way to move away from too literal an interpretation of the lyrics.  The fourth 1MM of the week came together literally at the last hour.  I was not feeling creative as I was super tired & sore from the DASS Dance performances & being an acrobatic ninja earlier in the day on Sunday. Finally, at 11pm before going to bed, I went outside to sit on the picnic table in my back yard & cool off.  I started stringing together a sequence of movements using the picnic table as my dance space & an object to interact with.  By 11:30pm I had a minute worth of choreography that I liked way better than the “Romantic Acrobat” sequence.  I tried to film the sequence, but it was too dark—which brings me to week 3.

Week 3 started off with choosing a costume look to go with my back yard picnic table sequence & filming my 1 minute movement multiple times & from multiple angles.  For working purposes this 1MM is called “Picnic Table.”  Day 2, I used my hour of creative work time starting the process of video editing the clips together into a sequence that uses the most appealing views & dynamic timing.  Unfortunately, I’m not as fast at video editing yet as I am with choreography.  I had to start by converting the MP4 files into something like Apple Pro Res 422 to get it into a format that works with my final cut pro editing software…  This short dance film is still a work in progress, but I hope to spend time on it again & maybe finish it in week 4.  Day 3, I created a fun little tango, salsa, & flamenco inspired sequence in the living room because Ben was listening to Tango music before an instructor came over to give him a tango lesson.  I have always admired Tango, but never tried actually it.  Later in the week, I was lucky enough to be there during Ben’s second lesson & the instructor let me join in.  Tango is awesome, & it’s so fun to dance in those pretty ballroom shoes.  Day 4’s creativeness wound up being working on the choreography for the SANCA staff show, “Between Raindrops: A Seattle Love Story.”  I am creating the opening & closing numbers for the show, which will premier August 24^th & run for two weekends.  I get three rehearsals with the cast (who are mostly all used to being solo circus performers, yipes!) to make two ensemble pieces.  The opening act is mostly finished & uses lots of umbrellas & acrobatic balancing.  I love how the energy builds in this piece & it will be even better when all 14 cast members are on stage!  For the closing act I created a cute little partner sequence that will appear somewhere in the act.  I’m still brainstorming ideas for the sequencing &the look/feel of the rest of the closing act.  I am hoping to include things like juggling/passing, acro/hand to hand, diablo, & tumbling, in addition to the dance movement…   Only got one rehearsal left.  Wish me luck!

Here’s the little sneak peek into the unpolished choreography for the closing act as it was filmed for missing cast members:

Kiss Kiss!

Rachel

One minute of choreography a day.  Four days a week for the month of July 2012.

"Wind Blown"

One minute of choreography a day.  Four days a week for the month of July 2012.

The first video is up!

The One Minute Movement

One hour a day.  One minute of choreography a day.  Four days a week for the month of July 2012.

You know how writers challenge themselves to write one page a day... 

Four days out of the week I will choreograph a minute's worth of movement for each day.  Some days I will have a specific assignment or goal in mind, & other days I will choreograph whatever movement comes to the surface.  At the end of the week I will share little snippets of the process &/or some of the final one minute movements.

I would love to hear from you, so feel free to leave comments or suggestions.  After watching the videos, which one minute movement would you like to see expanded or developed?

At the end of the month come see my favorite one minute movements performed live at an informal studio showing.

Week 1 done!

This week I worked the most on a creation called “Wind Blown,” which had its share of success & failure.  Also did the beginnings of a partner study with Terry Crane, & created a phrase called “Project Benjamin” which I am creating specifically to be performed by my friend Benjamin Weston at a park in Georgetown (Seattle).

Here’s the original “Wind Blown” page in my notebook that sparked creation:

Here’s the page for the partner study with Terry Crane:

I’m really excited about this one because I love partnering & the automatic opportunity to tell more of a story because we have two people relating to each other on stage.  It needs more development & it seems to take longer to create longer sequences in the beginning because of the collaborative nature of partner work.

For “Project Benjamin” I just went out on the sidewalk one day & thought about how I’ve seen my friend Ben dancing down the street with his headphones on.  Ben sent me two pieces of music & I’m going to try to use one of them, expand the dance material, & teach it to him later this week.

Come back soon to see videos of the One Minute Movements!  

They are being uploaded to youtube later today.

What do your tax dollars do?

Oh boy, it looks like I'm advocating for arts funding these days.  I got an email from a fellow dance artist & my former college professor, Mark Haim.  Of his dances I have seen, I am very impressed by the way specific focused ideas drive his choreography. 

"Today, the U.S House of Representatives Appropriations Interior Subcommittee passed their initial FY 2013 funding legislation and proposed a cut of $14 million to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). President Obama actually proposed an $8 million increase.
Please take two minutes to send a customizable message to our members of Congress to restore full NEA funding.

You just need to enter your zip code, then sign an e-mail to our representatives in Washington. Lets advocate for the arts and dance!"

Fund a Festival

Seattle International Dance Festival needs funding to off set costs of this year's festival & continue bringing the festival back.  Check out the kickstarter & pledge within the next 10 days.  Two generous donors will match any donations (up to $2,500).

Action Attack! from Rachel Randall on Vimeo.

Action Attack!

See the video from Art on the Fly here:

https://vimeo.com/43595285

This is the stop-motion video generated from the slow motion dance battle performed at Art on the Fly. Art on the Fly is the outdoor portion of the Seattle International Dance Festival running from June 1st to June 10th 2012 & featuring local as well as international dance artists.

For more info about the festival see www.seattleidf.org

For more info about RandAll Dance see www.randalldance.com

Video by Rachel Randall

with

John Jensen

Fisher Qua

Jonathan Rose

Meredith Sallee

Abigail Wallace

Orville Zharoff

Reed Nakayama's camera (he also makes a sneaky appearance in the video)

& volunteers from our sidewalk audience

Original Music:

"Something I can Touch"

"Big Blue Whale (Reprise)"

"Karate Theme"

By Nathanael Volckening

More about Nathanael: www.volckening.yolasite.com

Stop-motion video from Art on the Fly coming soon!

Check back here on Wednesday June 6th before or after going to see Spotlight on Seattle or the International Series at Raisbeck Hall.
Thank you to everyone who participated & came out to see dancing on the sidewalks.

In case you missed it at the event, I posted this letter on the table during RandAll Dance's slow motion dance battle to address the issue of violence:

Dear Seattle International Dance Festival Attendees,

This dance is supposed to be entertaining, yet it is also not to be taken lightly.  Every action has an inevitable consequence.  This slow-motion dance battle is about capturing actions & responses.  In light of the recent murders, I would like to say that this slow motion dance battle was originally intended to show entertaining interactions between the dancers & was not meant to encourage violence in any way.  It is still not meant to encourage violence in any way.

As we play with actions & responses, our number one rule is that NO ONE GETS HURT. 

If you have young children watching this, please make sure that they understand that this is play-fighting & that hurting other people is wrong.

Take care that your everyday actions towards others are compassionate, patient, & friendly to produce good responses from those around you.  When you’re angry or upset, take a deep breath, & think about the consequences of your next actions.  Sometimes, there’s no going back, the journey just goes on whether you’re ready or not. 

My thoughts go out to the families & friends who have lost loved ones.

Safe travels,

Rachel Randall

Modern & Acrobatic Dance Workshop in Yakima

Monday July 18, 12noon to 1:30pm, $15

At:

Yakima School of Ballet

200 S. 32^nd Ave

Yakima, WA, 98902

Ages 11 & up, fast beginner to advanced level in any movement style.

Please bring active wear that covers knees, shoulders & back. Bare feet or socks ok

Drop-in the day of or contact to pre-register:

(509)910-3038

randalldance(at)gmail.com

www.randalldance.com

Workshop Description:

In this workshop we will explore the physics of movement through Rachel’s unique choreography that allows students to find acrobatic ways of moving combining momentum, flow & falling with style.

Biography:

Rachel Randall is a professional choreographer & dancer based in Seattle where she directs & manages her own company, RandAll Dance, in addition to teaching dance & circus arts at the School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts, Momentum Academy of Music and Dance, & Issaquah Dance Theatre, though she began as an assistant to KayLynn Thysell at Yakima’s Melody Lane, & to Lisa Price at the Yakima School of Ballet 13 years ago. Last fall she created RandAll Dance’s first full-length show “Box of Chocolates,” with a space grant from SANCA. This spring she performed works by Khambatta Dance Company at international dance festivals in Canada, San Francisco, & Seattle, as well as performing as an acrobatic monkey for the Seattle Opera’s production of The Magic Flute. Ms. Randall holds a Professional Diploma in Dance Studies from Laban in London, as well as a BA in dance & anthropology from the University of Washington where she received the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography. On the heels of completing her AA at YVCC, her last big project in Yakima was choreographing her first full-length show, “Collages,” in collaboration with composer Dr. Isidore Rudnick & artist Candice Kite that was performed at the Yakima Valley Museum in 2005. Rachel is so excited to be dancing in Yakima for a few weeks this summer.

Public Art

It looks like Morgan Nutt and Rachel Randall are public art at bus stops! Check out Christopher Buchmann's photography!

http://www.chekmate.net/2011/03/city-panorama-installed/

Pictures of Rachel's feet on the unicycle are downtown on 4th Ave between Jefferson and James. Read about the process:

http://www.chekmate.net/2011/01/city-panorama-half-the-bike-twice-the-rider/

The collage of Rachel and Morgan dancing is in Kent. Photos were taken at tech rehearsal for P. S. I'm Not Catching You that was performed in Northwest Dance Syndrome's show Collide. More info here:

http://www.chekmate.net/2010/12/city-panorama-dancers/

Review for Box of Chocolates show

http://www.examiner.com/dance-in-seattle/randall-dance-s-box-of-chocolates-proves-to-be-just-that

Introducing "and All" dancers collaborative efforts as "The Post Scripts"

RandAll Dance is taking a short creative hiatus but performances with "and All" dancers continue!

Collaborative efforts continue on the development of "P. S. I'm Not Catching You" between Morgan Nutt, Rachel Randall, & Aliza Rudavsky in NW Dance Syndrom's show, Collide. For our collaborative work together we are calling ourselves "The Post Scripts."

Collide show:
Erikson Theatre, November 5, 6, 7
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/133361

The Post Scripts (aka Morgan, Rachel & Aliza) will also be appearing this Friday, Oct 29 at Modern Dance Behind the Pink Door.

The Pink Door restaurant around 10pm. Come early if you want a seat!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=160773883945818

Photo by John Cornicello

Opening Night for "Box of Chocolates"

The "Box of Chocolates" show is opening tonight!!!

There will be dancing and chocolate! Bring your sweet tooth and your sweetheart.

Tickets on sale at the door for tonight. Brown paper tickets still available online for Sunday.

Performance Time!

RandAll Dance presents

“Box of Chocolates”

Featuring a variety of sweet dance pieces

Some light, some dark… yet one is never enough

Performances:

Saturday, September 25, 7:00pm

Sunday, September 26, 2:00pm

At:

The School of Acrobatics & New Circus Arts (SANCA)

674 S. Orcas St

Seattle, WA, 98108 (Georgetown)

Free parking

http://randalldance.blogspot.com

http://www.youtube.com/user/RandallDance

Tickets:

$15 General

$12 students, seniors, & artists

$9 SANCA students

Available here:

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/125826

“Box of Chocolates” features choreography by Rachel Randall in collaboration with the “and All” dancers, Julia Cross, Michelle Mullin, Anh Nguyen, Morgan Nutt, Ian Randall, Aliza Rudavsky, & Markeith Wiley. Show may also include surprise works by guest choreographers such as Markeith Wiley. More updates to follow

Photo credit to Erica Rubinstein

Poster design by ej Landsman

Dancing in the Shower

Read below about Azeotroupe and the event. RandAll Dance was invited to present work at this fundraiser event. Rachel Randall will be dancing in a shower with two hot guys, Chris McCallister & Alex Loch.

Dance party after performance pieces!

AZEOTROPE, a new Seattle-based theatre artist consortium, announces its company debut with an inaugural gala and fundraiser on Saturday, July 17, 2010 at Blue Marble Energy, 3408 Albion Pl N, in Fremont and the Northwest premiere production of Red Light Winter by Adam Rapp, scheduled for October 2010 at Theatre Off Jackson.

Founded by Seattle actor Richard Nguyen Sloniker, Azeotrope's mission is to create a space where audiences confront the marginalized and obscured, bringing visibility to the invisible. We hope to broaden Seattle’s cultural and artistic environment with vital, urgent, and exciting projects that would otherwise be underrepresented.


To celebrate its company debut, Azeotrope will hold its inaugural gala on Saturday, July 17, 7:30PM at Blue Marble Energy in Fremont. The evening will feature a series of short original works inspired by the material in Red Light Winter, presented and performed by some of Seattle's favorite artists, including:

Manuel Cawaling, Executive Director of Youth Arts Northwest
Emerging Director Sarah E.R. Grosman (Washington Ensemble Theatre Collaborator)
David Hsieh, Managing Artistic Director of ReAct Theatre
Emerging Director Mike Jones
Actress Jessica Martin (The Trip to Bountiful, A Christmas Carol, Rock n Roll)
Michael Place (Seattle Actor/Director and former Artistic Director of Washington Ensemble Theatre)
Director Makaela Pollock (The Santaland Diaries, Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom)
Choreographer Rachel Randall (RandAll Dance, School of Acrobatics & New Circus Arts)


The evening will also include a silent auction, thanks to generous donors from the Seattle community, as well as food, drinks, music and dancing. There is a $10-20 suggested donation at the door.

For more information, please visit www.azotheatre.org.

Azeotrope can also be found on Facebook and Twitter (@AZOtheatre).

Press contact: press@AZOtheatre.org

Artopia!!!

5:00pm RandAll Dance performs

@ The Levee Breaking's stage (near Airport Way & 13th Ave)

We will be dancing to live music by The Nextdoor Neighbors!

Audience members are invited to dance with us for a portion of the event.

Look for adorable dancing dolls.

(At least, that is what the costuming is attempting to look like. We are adorable if nothing else.)

Dancing dolls include:

Adorable Annabelle, played by Michelle Mullin

Cherry Blossom, played by Alix Isom

Dolly Dear, played by Julia Cross

Fancy Faye, played by Rachel Randall

&

Eye Candy, played by Anh Nguyen

Dolls have price tags but are not for sale. However, they are accepting donations in exchange for dances =)

Lo-Fi times have changed

RandAll Dance will go on with Moraine at 9:30pm.