08 January 2011
Last Look: ALL Screendances
8 janvier, 2011
As the final entry to the Videojournal de Paris, I offer a listing with links to the newly revised selection of screendances made while in Paris between 3 septembre and 26 decembre, 2010. Some works (Group A) I feel are ready to send out into the world. They have been worked sufficiently and have musical scores that I have been granted permission to use, without copyright issues. Others (Group B) remain in rough form or do not hold up for me as works made specifically for the screen; they do not carry the balance of kinesthetic force, movement ingenuity and variety, and cleverness of editing to sustain them consistently over the duration of time I’ve given them, within the space of the frame. Or they should perhaps exist on stage (Group C) … if I am bold enough to get my dancing body in gear and plan performances in the near future. But alas, I have no such interest. For whom would I perform them? Ann Arbor, Michigan no longer inspires me with its audiences, and most likely, it feels the same about me. I say this after four months in Paris. Jaded? Lazy? Give me some time to adjust to my old life and perhaps my attitude will improve.
I will say that a few of the pieces I Group C were made with live performance in mind; I would love to set the Bach Cantata/Compagnons du Devoir on a company of dancers. I might consider performing petite méditation sur l’espace and Étude Perdue et Trouvée on stage. Only the last aria of the Bach/ I Have Enough holds together as a screendance. I have no idea what to do with the rest of it. Could I show some of the works to other dancers to see what they would do with the material—like scores to lend out for live embodiment and translation/interpretation? If anyone out there is interested, please contact me at petespar@umich.edu. Or if any of the works appeal to you for inclusion in public screenings, please do not hesitate to ask!
As mentioned in the journals, I plan on making an hour-long performance using sections of the videos and texts to be performed in a large studio with three video screens. I intend to weave together various threads that surface in the works and overlay an arrangement of the video materials (sometimes divided up and projected onto 3 screens) with spoken word that draws from the journals, comments on the development (or lack thereof) of emerging themes or motifs, and reflects upon my time in Paris. For example, I want to project 3 different “rants” from Andrew Shirvell, I Am Man Enough For You on three diffeent screens to surround the audience with the rage I felt about the creep and my home state of Michigan. And I really like sections of the Buddhas, Études après Cluny, the last part of Roi Vain et Stupide, and all of Les Panneaux. It could work well on three screens. So it will be both a retrospective sampling and a simulation or staging of the actual process, i.e. I spent most of the four months resisting retrospection and immersed in the moment, day by day. I want one moment where I improvise live with three cameras trained on me from different angles and simulcast onto the three screens.
Until then, I offer these works for your viewing pleasure and thank you for taking the time to peruse the list and website. Simply click on the title and you are in YouTube world.
Cordialement,
Peter
Group A:
Paris Cut-ups in Red & Black
Paris/Last Looks
In Memorium/Shirley Verrett
Nudie Strips
Dance Panels
Group B
Petit Bach
Buddhas at the Musée Guimet
Études après Cluny
Dimanche/10 variations Part 1
Dimanche/10 Variations Part 2
Andrew Shirvell, I Am Man Enough for You
Group C
I Have Enough Part 1
I Have Enough Part 2
I Have Enough Part 3
petite méditation sur l’espace