I'm not sure what happened to the summer being the down time for performing arts ...this month has been beyond busy with performances and opportunities. Here's one more chance to get some summertime dance action before the real season begins: Open Flight Studio's* Flight Deck performance, featuring creative offerings from movement-based artists awarded studio residencies from May to August each year. This year's recipients are Jessica Jobaris and Rosa Vissers, and they will be joined by invited guest Victoria Jacobs.
The focus of Flight Deck is on the creative process, so what gets shown may be raw, random and/or unpolished...or not. It all depends on where the artists are in the development of their project. Open Flight itself is a bit of an adventure, located on the 2nd floor of an unassuming building on The Ave, up a curved stairway into a surprisingly airy studio. It's a nice intimate space to crawl inside a choreographer's mind for a while.
Shows will be Sat & Sun August 27 & 28, 7pm, followed by discussion.
Flight Deck at Open Flight
4205 University Way NE
* This is where I confess to having been a member of one of the original partners at Open Flight. Do not let this deter you! Flight Deck is super cool!
Friday, August 26, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
New York Noise
This is one of those weeks that I just don't have enough time.
Exhibit A is the New York Noise: Tales From the No Wave series at Northwest Film Forum. Three examples of the "No Wave" underground filmmaking movement, plus the Seattle premiere of the documentary "Blank City".
I just got back from seeing Amos Poe's "Unmade Beds" ~ a story set in Paris but shot quite obviously in New York City. The film starts with a woman reading a synopsis of the film in french. Even with this loose "narrative" it's hard to follow the plot, which is sort of about a photographer and sometime gangster but mostly about smoking as many cigarettes as humanly possible. Debbie Harry has an all too brief cameo at the beginning, the acting is wooden, and the sound mixing is frightful...and the whole damned thing is gorgeous.
I'd like to see "Blank City", but if time only allows for one more film this week, it'll have to be "Downtown 81", featuring Jean-Michel Basquiat (and Debbie Harry again). And Fab Five Freddie! I've been fascinated by Jean-Michel Basquiat ever since I read an article about him in Vanity Fair (don't judge!) in 1987, a year before he died. I can't miss the opportunity to see him on the screen, even if he's just guiding the viewer through Manhattan in an endless stream of randomness.
"Unmade Beds" has 2 screenings tomorrow 8/16, "Downtown 81" plays 8/17-8/18, and "Blank City" is playing in the big theater through 8/18.
Exhibit A is the New York Noise: Tales From the No Wave series at Northwest Film Forum. Three examples of the "No Wave" underground filmmaking movement, plus the Seattle premiere of the documentary "Blank City".
I just got back from seeing Amos Poe's "Unmade Beds" ~ a story set in Paris but shot quite obviously in New York City. The film starts with a woman reading a synopsis of the film in french. Even with this loose "narrative" it's hard to follow the plot, which is sort of about a photographer and sometime gangster but mostly about smoking as many cigarettes as humanly possible. Debbie Harry has an all too brief cameo at the beginning, the acting is wooden, and the sound mixing is frightful...and the whole damned thing is gorgeous.
I'd like to see "Blank City", but if time only allows for one more film this week, it'll have to be "Downtown 81", featuring Jean-Michel Basquiat (and Debbie Harry again). And Fab Five Freddie! I've been fascinated by Jean-Michel Basquiat ever since I read an article about him in Vanity Fair (don't judge!) in 1987, a year before he died. I can't miss the opportunity to see him on the screen, even if he's just guiding the viewer through Manhattan in an endless stream of randomness.
"Unmade Beds" has 2 screenings tomorrow 8/16, "Downtown 81" plays 8/17-8/18, and "Blank City" is playing in the big theater through 8/18.
 | |
| can you believe this is Steve Buscemi? ME EITHER. | (from Blank City) |
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Odd Duck Studio needs help!
One of the things that used to make Capitol Hill such a hotbed for performing arts was the plethora of small independent studios and theaters. No matter what your budget, there was someplace you could rehearse or put on your show. Most of those small spaces have been swept away in the tide of "revitalisation", but the Odd Duck Studio has continued on its merry way in their 49-seat theater space on 10th Avenue. Some summertime rental cancellations have caused cash flow headaches for them. Their landlord has given them an opportunity to stop the late fee madness if they can get caught up by August 15 - that's MONDAY.
Go to this page for ways to give...they owe a little more than $2K, which really isn't much, but tiny organizations tend to have very little margin for emergencies. Kudos to them for trying to get caught up before the debt gets unsurmountable. Show 'em some love and toss in a few bucks, even if you've never seen a show there.
Go to this page for ways to give...they owe a little more than $2K, which really isn't much, but tiny organizations tend to have very little margin for emergencies. Kudos to them for trying to get caught up before the debt gets unsurmountable. Show 'em some love and toss in a few bucks, even if you've never seen a show there.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
If a blog falls in the forest, will anyone read it?
So yeah...not so much with the arts blogging this year. I wish I could say that I was too busy attending shows and exhibits to write about it, but I've missed far more events than I made. Plus there's been a growing arts lethargy I've been dealing with - a topic for another time, if it doesn't take me 7 months to post again.
But I recently ventured out on an unbelievably sunny day to go see the Mad Homes exhibit. There have been several temporary installations in recent years giving doomed spaces one last time to shine (kicked off I believe with dk pan's amazing Bridge Motel event in 2007), but this is the first of its type that I've seen in daylight, and the only one that was all visual art. The project involved 11 artists/collaborators, each of whom were given space in 4 homes slated for demolition, and works ranged from more traditional sculptures placed in the space that could be exhibited anywhere, to art that actively interacted with and in some cases became part of the structure that housed them.
But I recently ventured out on an unbelievably sunny day to go see the Mad Homes exhibit. There have been several temporary installations in recent years giving doomed spaces one last time to shine (kicked off I believe with dk pan's amazing Bridge Motel event in 2007), but this is the first of its type that I've seen in daylight, and the only one that was all visual art. The project involved 11 artists/collaborators, each of whom were given space in 4 homes slated for demolition, and works ranged from more traditional sculptures placed in the space that could be exhibited anywhere, to art that actively interacted with and in some cases became part of the structure that housed them.
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